[Study Aired May 9, 2026]

Gen 2:18  And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

In a world devoid of the whole stay of bread and water of Christ’s word, these studies aim to explore the gender-specific attractions that males and females in Babylon have, which lead them to unite sexually—I say “unite sexually” since increasingly, Orthodox Christian’s never conclude that sex before marriage is an act of marriage (Deu 22:28-29).

Exo 22:16  And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow [Hasten to marry or pay the price] her to be his wife. 

He hastens to pay the price since he, and in the Eccl’s highest likelihood, amplified his enticements, has committed fornication, and as is required of an Elect, he swiftly acknowledges his sin before he brings his gift, his any other prayer to the Altar, Christ.

Mat 5:23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 
Mat 5:25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Mat 5:26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Since Eden and reaching a peak in the 1850s-1860s, this period is often considered the height of the Victorian “crisis of faith.” During this time, the infamously heathen Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” (1859) questioned the literal interpretation of Genesis. Science, already biased against the concept of an almighty God, is influenced by the genuinely noble ‘Scientific Methodology, that is, a systematic, empirical process for exploring observations, answering questions, and testing hypotheses to acquire knowledge while consciously aiming to delete bias. Its involvement is in making honest observations in the entire process of forming testable hypotheses, conducting experiments, analysing data, and drawing conclusions. This iterative method is crucial for ensuring the accuracy and reproducibility of scientific research, whereas geological findings, no doubt now corrupted by Darwin, supported the concept of “deep time” rather than a young Earth. Completely blinded by the fact that science cannot discover God. Consequently, in these apparent final decades, the decline of traditional Christianity is no longer a concern of radical intellectuals.

Nevertheless, it was, as noted, “a conscious phase of the human intellect” influencing both the general public and clergy alike. Beyond evolutionary theories, the “higher criticism” of the Bible—which involves examining it as a historical document rather than the infallible word of God—and the emergence of atheistic philosophies undermined theological foundations. The rapid expansion of industrialised cities in the 19th century disconnected many individuals from traditional ecclesiastical authority, thereby facilitating the dissemination of secular, materialist worldviews. Despite this decline, the 19th century was not entirely devoid of religiosity; it also experienced evangelical revivals and the emergence of alternative religiosities, such as Spiritualism. As faith in a personal deity waned, many individuals in the late 19th century sought new, often secular, faiths, including scientific rationalism, political socialism, or fervent nationalism. It all spawned the “Happy-clappy” Christianity, which originated in the late 1960s to 1980s, stemming from the charismatic movement and Pentecostalism as they entered mainstream churches. It is characterised by passionate worship, acoustic guitars, drums, hand-clapping, and raised hands, often described in a BBC Learning English article as a 1980’s term for enthusiastic Christian charismatic groups. The phrase, often used to describe churches, originated in Kansas in 1901 and spread rapidly to the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other nations to highlight a shift towards shallow, emotional, or “superficial” worship.

We are well aware that the name Babylon means “confusion (by mixing)”. Since Eden, the world has been covertly highly influenced by men and husbands unwittingly injured in their privy and stones, who imagine they are honouring women and wives by ensuring their wives’ creeping authority is heard, and respected for gender equality across the social, political, economic and most insidiously, the same ideologies in marriage, spiritually. She, and because of her curse in Eden, effectively has her psychological and ‘spiritual DNA’ embedded in her heart beneath her breasts, inherently injured, determined, although ‘confused’, never to have a man, and particularly a husband, have headship over her. All for exceptionally good carnal reason, since carnal Adam could only be relied upon by her to pursue her with all his heart, substituting God—and, an idol is born—a signified whorish one at that.

The concept of love as understood by humanity is predominantly depicted in the Introductory Studies. Building upon this foundation, humanity—mostly utterly unaware of the curses bestowed upon Adam and Eve—is historically Biblically rebellious, focused covertly sexually for its spiritual filth. 

Zep 3:1  Woe to her [Old Israel, Jerusalem and we while in Babylon] that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! 
Zep 3:2  She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
Zep 3:3  Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones [of her ideologies of self-ravishment] till the morrow.
Zep 3:4  Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
Zep 3:5  The just LORD is in the midst thereof; [for the five wise virgins, sleeping with their hearts awake] he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. 

From these initial, unfavourable, and swiftly deteriorating beginnings, rapidly advancing since the mid-eighteenth century, stiffens humanity’s inherently unruly mindset—long ago, succumbed to the neglect of Judah and Babylonian Christian leaders—has dreadfully influenced young men and women in their conceptualisation of love.

Directly stemming from Adam’s fear of loneliness, young women since Eden, inherently base love on how much a young man of their focus listens to their ‘song’ sensually. But in 2026, it has reached fever point. Young men, and like Adam, willfully deceived, and particularly since the growth of the Internet, are mostly patently aware of women’s artifices, but, and because of Adam’s curse, they are stuck on the iron rails of sexual cravings. Based on those chaotic longings, avoiding marital commitment, knowing it more frequently ends in intimate and economic bitterness. In consolation, young men default to choosing whom they desire from the billions of literal and emblematic harlots to satiate their imagined rationale sexually for what they believe constitutes love.

Gen 6:1  And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 
Gen 6:2  That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 
Gen 6:3  And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 
Gen 6:4  There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 
Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 
Gen 6:7  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 
Gen 6:8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 

Old Israel, who today represents Babylonian Orthodox Christianity and our former vows of marriage to Christ, insisted on singing her own song, not just for forty years in the wilderness, but all the way to Babylon and the Cross—even to this very day. Unwittingly to her, it ends with a new song, effectively a five-book, succinct dirge in Lamentations, causing her, ‘the daughters of musick to be brought low’ (Ecc 12:4) . While the Song of Solomon (The Bride knows as her Husband’s Song of Songs) is a celebration of Christ-centric love, union, and joy, Lamentations is a collection of poems focused on grief, destruction, and the sorrowful disunity between God and his now-harlot wife, Israel.

As opposed to Adam and all men, Noah, the signified ‘elect’ of God, listened to God instead of his own heart, not feminised by women—more directly, not defiled by the feminised Adam within!

Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. 

First, what does it mean in Genesis 2:18 to be “alone”? Unlike the Word with the Father, ironically, and by design, it means that it wasn’t going to be “good” when Adam conceived in sinful flesh, when he would inevitably and immediately “be alone” again if he (absurdly) chose not to listen to Eve. 

Be H1961 [alone] – 1. to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out. From H183 – 1. desire, incline, covet, wait longingly, wish, sigh, want, be greedy, prefer a. (Piel) to desire, crave (food and drink) b. (Hithpael) to desire, long for, lust after (of bodily appetites) 

Alone H905 – 1. to withdraw, be separate, be isolated a. (Qal) an army straggler (part.) 1. of Ephraim (metaph.) 2. (TWOT) alone.

The distinction for an Elect between the solitude of being alone and the anxiety frequently produced by enduring loneliness without love elicits different emotions; however, both often evoke a sense of inconsolability. Subconsciously, solitude is the tolerable version, whereas an Adamic ‘loneliness’ is the excruciating version. So, when a Christian is dedicated to marrying someone who is the closest spiritual match, he or she also has to consider the myriad personal likes and dislikes, which vastly complicates the decision. Facing the dilemma of singledom, one has to weigh whether they can live with a functional, bearable relationship rather than remain unmarried. In Babylon, faced with the stark reality of loneliness, people are going to make bad choices, since they are apt to choose anyone other than the conclusive person. The substitute, while hopefully adhering to one’s spiritual beliefs, is to relax one’s expectations and ideals. In the confusing flush of timorous romantic intimacies, that is precisely what most of us do in the Adamic-type lust of the eyes and the flesh to settle for what we feel we can tolerate.

Being alone is equated with not being chosen, that something is wrong with you, and with carrying an unseen personality or physical deficiency or contempt. Feeling that nobody, other than out of nuanced politeness, wants to be in your company is a phenomenally heartbreaking condition, born alone. 

Whereas an Elect equated with a signified Abishag-like devotion, fantasised in Solomon’s Shulamite creation, perceiving that God has chosen him (Joh 15:16) for an infinitely higher calling than what the flesh can lust, proceeds to bear his cross of physical, psychological and intimacy-deficient loneliness as dreadful as it is, but in faith and hope, is made by God through his ‘comforter’, guaranteed more bearable. Both camps cry out Psalms 34:

Psa 34:17  The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Psa 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 
Psa 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. 
Psa 34:20  He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. 
Psa 34:21  Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. 
Psa 34:22  The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

A true Elect is choosy, physically and particularly spiritually, about who he chooses, and gladly concedes that leaving Babylon often means being alone without one’s spouse, family, or friends, which is indeed a lonely affair. Particularly when loneliness, as inevitably does, drags on for the rest of one’s life, separated without the immediate emotional closeness of another person of the same Christ-centric mind, even when electronic media fantastically brings everyone into the living room. Still, it is not the same as physical closeness. It is all part of the emblematic cross one has to bear.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

The catalyst for the horror of becoming alone stemmed from Adam’s ungovernable lust to satiate the five senses, neurologically extending to twenty-one senses that scientists have discovered, which highly amplify nuances of experience, all of which the Serpent employed to arouse and deceive Eve:

• Sight or vision
• Hearing or audition
• Smell or olfaction
• Taste or gustation
• Touch or tactition

The young and beautiful Eve’s visual attraction is to a wide range of visually (Gen 3:6) appealing material things, quickly enhanced and triggered all of her other four senses to eat of the forbidden fruit. Similarly, Adam’s sensory arousal is only that it is immensely visually centered on Eve sensually, whereby material things become the primary means to sustain Eve’s romantic appetite, to which he, too, is drawn for their mutual benefit to ‘inventively’ stroke her sentimentalities. So, too, is Christ’s spiritual focus on His Bride, only to ‘stroke’ her spiritual appetite, and she, his, as elegantly expressed in the SoS.

All of those meanings of Adam’s loneliness precipitate his inevitable siding with his sensually desirable lusts for his beautiful wife, Eve, much preferring death with her, and his intense certitude of not wanting to be again, isolated and be a “straggler”. Unconsciously, Adam, in unity with his wife, Eve, temporarily hated his spiritual life, which fell to the ground and brought forth much physical fruit as numerous as the stars of heaven. He and Eve, representing the world, incapable of serving two masters, now served Satan.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 
Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. 

Some may think it unfair, since although Adam is the first and greater sinner, these studies begin with and more notably focus on women’s reasons to engage a potential fiancé. The reason is that Eve was deceived, thereby engendering the order of God’s curses and instigating the most unpalatable term, whore. Not only that, but significantly, it is the Woman who, in the flesh, is the central figure in scripture after the pattern of Christ’s flesh, paradoxically becoming the New Man! Christ in the New Covenant now supercedes Adam’s abdicated authority and is the supreme protagonist beginning the unifying process with His Wife. She now has an incredible and almost unspeakable reason to ‘listen to, and understand her husband’s song of songs’ that only she can orchestrally harmoniously sing.

Although women, it seems, are better able to cope with being alone, unlike men, this certainly does not imply that women are ‘good alone’, as they, too, have sensual desires, most especially the desire to bear children. The Father was not necessarily motivated by loneliness. He is entirely content in his perfection; however, he desired to share his perfection with creation, beginning with the Word who became Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, in like perfection.

Gen 3:11  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 
Gen 3:12  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 
Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 
Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: [… and that is exactly what men reap in espousal disconnectivity in servitude to women] 
Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Gen 3:16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Secondarily,

Gen 3:17  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 
Gen 3:18  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 
Gen 3:19  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 
Gen 3:20  And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

There you go!—gender-specific lusts are the foundation for ‘a billion wicked thoughts’, the multifaceted Babylonian female and male’s cunning sensual ‘inventions’ used to ‘ensnare’ a partner, and by God’s design, all based sexually, unwittingly to Babylon, spawning harlotry.

It all is initiated in their youth, while hormones and the newness of sexual experiences unbridled by laws run rampant. So, and upon that introduction, let’s explore what ravishes a young man and woman to focus on a prospective mate.

In Babylon, what factors influence a woman’s willingness to accept her ravishment by a particular man?

In Babylon, and typified by these studies thus far, it’s a true statement that a man spends his entire life learning how to treat a woman, and a woman spends her entire life learning how to be treated by a man, not how to treat a man. It is only Solomon’s Shulamite creation that is given to know how to rightly treat a husband by Christ’s design, and not her dogma.

Eze 33:30  Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. 
Eze 33:31  And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
Eze 33:32  And, lo, thou art [Her husband] unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. 
Eze 33:33  And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.

Of course, the recurrent grand finale statement always is: The Shulamite in the SoS hears her Husband’s pleasant voice, always eager to ravish Him, and she, the final daughter of music, gladly ‘sings and dances to his tune’ since she becomes the prophet as He is.

Eve, representing all women, is first to receive her curse, even though Adam is the greatest sinner in virtually selling his wife into harlotry. She loves sensuality, pretty things, that all, and, broadly speaking, the five senses extended to 21 senses to find opportunities to maximize their value. Adam is the same, yet needs Eve’s wonderfully natural, therapeutic, ravishing responses as a young woman to vastly amplify his! From those standpoints, incredibly biased towards their gender-specific curses for selfish advantage, is the foundation of what ravages them individually. 

Regarding both believing and unbelieving Babylonian women, the fundamental principles that allure and captivate her into accepting a man involve a synthesis of emotional, social, and psychological factors. With Orthodox Christian women, his desirability is markedly variable, contingent upon the levels of belief and faith they share in their mutually acknowledged Jesus. Women are primarily drawn to men who display confidence, emotional intelligence, reliability, and kindness. 

Here are the universally agreed-upon key principles and traits Biblically correlating that make a Babylonian man desirable to a Babylonian woman:

1. The “Three As”: Attraction, Adoration, and Admiration 

For a woman to commit, she needs these three pillars: 

• Attraction (Physical): There must be a basic physical attraction to start.
• Adoration: Women need to feel valued and special. A man who shows he thinks she is worth the effort keeps her captivated.
• Admiration: A woman must admire her partner’s actions, character, or skills, not just be admired by him. 

2. Emotional Intelligence and Stability

• Emotional Safety: The ability to be vulnerable without punishment. A man who creates a “safe space” for feelings fosters trust.
• Kindness and Empathy: Are consistently shown through actions, not just words, which is a major factor in long-term attraction.
• Consistency: A man who does what he says he will do, allowing her to rely on him. 

3. Confidence and Masculine Presence

• Unshakable Confidence: Not arrogant, but comfortable with oneself, able to make decisions, and not desperately trying to impress.
• Initiative: Taking charge of planning dates or solving problems shows leadership and reduces the burden on her.
• Purpose and Ambition: Having a passion for life and goals outside the relationship shows direction. 

4. Integrity and Trustworthiness

• Being a Man of Principle: Integrity is at the top of the list. A woman honours a man who honours himself by living by his own set of values, and an Orthodox Christian, a personalised selection of Christ’s values.
• Transparency: Liars are not trusted, and without trust, no long-term relationship can be built. [1, 2, 3]

5. Respect

• Respecting Her Autonomy: A woman wants a partner who views her as an equal and supports her career, passion, and personal goals.
• Respect for Others: How a man treats others (service staff, strangers) is a major indicator of his character. 

Summary of What Women Value in 2025–2026

Recent studies (2024–2026) indicate a shift in which kindness and humour are often valued more highly than status or financial means alone, though these remain important for security. 

• Social Intelligence: Ability to handle social situations and show humour.
• Maturity: Emotional stability and capacity for a serious relationship.
• Good Hygiene: Taking care of oneself shows respect for oneself and the partner.

Next week, Lord willing, we shall elaborate on how women in Babylon utilise the five aspects employed in mate selection.

[Posted March 11, 2004 – Updated May 8, 2026]

Hi Mike!

I was reading some of your comments in “You asked” regarding the function of the spiritual gifts and specifically on speaking in tongues.

Although, I can see your point that prophecy is preferred to tongues, I believe that you are missing it that we should not be speaking in tongues.

I have never said ‘we should not be speaking in tongues.’ Here is what I did say:

“There! That is my commentary on the tongues part of 1 Corinthians 14 – ‘The Tongues Chapter.’ I believe it is true to the scriptures. I simply cannot vouch for something God has given me no experience in. When I witness a true Acts 2 tongues experience, I will immediately share it with my reading audience. Just because I have never experienced something does not mean that others haven’t.” (End Quote)

You cannot show me where I have ever said that the gift of tongues has completely passed from the scene because I have never said that. It is true that I believe that as one matures gifts become less and less of a factor in one’s faith. I have gone on the record as saying that any gifts we possess should rest upon our faith and not vice versa. In other words, our faith should not depend upon the number of gifts we possess and the number of prayers we have answered to our liking. This would lead to nothing less than immaturity and a whole church full of spoiled rotten spiritual “babes in Christ.” I welcome anyone, who has never spoken in French, being able to communicate the gospel to someone who does not know English but only French. That is the true Acts 2 experience. Anything less is a sign to no one and is without scriptural basis.

“What is your understanding of the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Do you believe in this second experience which parallels the feast of pentecost?”

There were no ‘unknown,’ tongues on Pentecost, at the home of Cornelius, or at any of the cities where Paul met believers who had been ‘baptized into John’s baptism.’ The word ‘unknown’ is never used in conjunction with tongues. All the tongues spoken at Pentecost are enumerated in Acts two:

Act 2:7 And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
Act 2:8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Act 2:9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Act 2:10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Act 2:11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
Act 2:12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

Incoherent ‘unknown tongues’ would never have produced such questions and such astonishment. Rather, they would have produced just what Paul tells us they produce when virtually no one can understand what is being said:

1Co 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

If this is true of a real tongues, real languages, how much truer is it of non-existent, ‘unknown’ tongues? My personal ‘experience’ has demonstrated the truth of that statement on several occasions when I was a believer in ‘unknown tongues.’ I do not despise what I once was. I thank God for that experience. If I had not been there, I would not be able to write this email with any sense of conviction. However, I have asked God to help me to rid myself of any ‘idol of the heart’ (Eze 14:1-9). This ‘I-have-the-baptism-of-the-Holy-Ghost-and-you-don’t’ doctrine was one of the first ‘idols of the heart’ I had to give up. It was no easier for me than it will be for you. If you come to the word of God placing your “experience” ahead of scripture, you are exactly where Ezekiel says the elders of Israel were when they came to “enquire of the Lord:”

Eze 14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

Their ‘experience’ had led them to preconceived conclusions, and they wanted God to now put His stamp of approval upon their ways.

Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. [Their “idols of the heart”. Their false doctrines.]
Eze 14:6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet [comes to God’s Word and adds the word ‘unknown’ where the Lord simply said ‘tongue’ or language] to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Eze 14:8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

Here is the Biblical definition of ‘iniquity’ which is a “stumblingblock” to all men:

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

God answers us according to the multitude of [our] idols:

Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

“I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols,” means that if you have your mind made up about this subject of ‘unknown tongues’, or any subject, before you go to the scriptures, if you are not sincere in seeking only the mind of God, then God will use “[your] own righteousness”, your own self-righteous deception, to deceive you. Christ demonstrates how He applies this principle in:

Mat 25:24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, [This is a false doctrine] reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: [Another false doctrine. The Lord had invested a year’s wages in this man.]
Mat 25:25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
Mat 25:26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked [lying] and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

The Lord did not even bother to show this man how wrong he was. He answered him “according to the idol of his heart.”

Mat 25:27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Mat 25:28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

David expresses this same principle in these words:

Psa 18:26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

Now, with these stern warnings against allowing anything other than the word and mind of God to be our guide, let’s go two chapters earlier, to where Paul poses this question:

1Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
1Co 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

These eight gifts are all listed in order of importance, ‘First … secondarily … thirdly…’ etc. The answer to every question asked here is emphatically, ‘No! not everyone has all these gifts.’ Yet according to what I understand you to be saying when you asked me:

“I have never heard of anyone without the baptism of the Spirit that has healed anyone, had a word of knowledge, prophecy, etc? Have you?”

What I gather from this question is that you are asking me if I have ever known of anyone who has ever “healed anyone, had a word of knowledge, prophecy, etc” who did not first speak in unknown tongues. If I am understanding your question, you are telling me that without the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which you equate to speaking in unknown tongues, you cannot ‘heal anyone, have a word of knowledge, prophecy, etc.’ and you ask “Have you… ever heard of anyone without the baptism of the spirit [speaking in unknown tongues] healed anyone, had a word of knowledge, prophecy, etc.”

Am I wrong about what you are saying? I know that is exactly what I used to think in my puffed up immature spirit. The answer to your question is, yes, indeed I know of many who healed the sick and prophesied who had never spoken in unknown tongues.’ None of the apostles, not the 70 who the Lord sent out by twos had ever spoken in tongues because the day of Pentecost had  not yet come:

Luk 10:1  After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

Luk 10:9  And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

None of the apostles who healed the sick in the book of Acts ever spoke in an ‘unknown tongue’.

The Truth revealed in those questions posed by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:28-30 is that God does not necessarily give any one of these gifts to everyone. Neither does He give all of these gifts to any one person.

The “fruit of the Spirit,” is not the gifts of the spirit, and it certainly is not ‘unknown tongues.’ It is ‘the fruit of the spirit’, not ‘unknown tongues’ which is contrasted with ‘the works of the flesh’:

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the [holy] Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the [holy] Spirit, let us also walk in the [holy] Spirit.
Gal 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, [‘I have “the initial evidence” of my gift of the holy ghost’] provoking one another, envying one another.

Verse 26 is speaking directly to those who believe that their physical “experience” with speaking in unknown tongues has somehow given them a spiritual edge over those who merely bear the “fruit of the Spirit.”

I have had acquaintances who have discussed my web page and my teachings with their Charismatic friends. Inevitably the first question out of the mouth of the charismatic is not, “Does Mike Vinson have love, joy, peace, etc.? Is he crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts?” No, the first question from charismatics is invariably, “Does he speak in tongues?” The word ‘unknown’ is understood in charismatic circles. It is strange to me that with all the tongues all around that the only ones spoken on the day of Pentecost (I mean known languages that serve as a useful ‘sign to unbelievers’) are not to be found in any of the charismatic churches here in Georgia, and I have heard a lot of ‘unknown tongues’ spoken here in Georgia.

First of all, I agree that prophecy is better IN the church. If you read 1 Corinthians 14:5, you’ll see that Paul refers to tongues that are interpreted EQUALLING prophecy, thereby the church is edified.

Here is that verse:

1Co 14:5  I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

Certainly, a true Pentecostal experience would be very edifying. When a real language is being spoken by a person with no training in that language, and it is being understood by people who know that the person speaking that language doesn’t have training in the language he is speaking, that is a miracle. Faking this experience with so-called ‘unknown tongues’ and telling your followers that this is just as good as what happened at Pentecost, edifies only the person who falls prey to this doctrine. He can now feel spiritually superior to his fellow Christians who haven’t yet been able to have this “second work of the spirit.” Why would God speak to anyone in a language that exists nowhere on earth and then “interpret” it? The word “interpret” necessitates that it is a known language, and yes, when a person speaks fluently in a known language in which he has no formal training, this is the exact same thing as prophesying. Furthermore it becomes, under those true Pentecostal conditions, a powerful “sign, not to them that believe but unto them which believe not.” None of this is true for what is passed off as a ‘language’ spoken nowhere on earth.

1Co 14:2 For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

Yes, there is, and that ‘tongue that no man understands howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries’ is an earthly language that is uninterpreted. It clearly tells us that it is “speaking mysteries” – not speaking incoherently.

You didn’t really comment on this verse in your responses. There is a tongue that by a believer is speaking to God, and speaking mysteries! In verse 4 it says he is edified, or built up. Your comment was this was not a compliment from Paul.

The ‘no man understandeth him’ is merely a statement of fact when you have someone speaking French when there is no one around who understands French. Paul is not saying that ‘No man understands him because he is speaking in an unknown tongue.’ Paul is having to tell these overzealous and immature Corinthian ‘carnal… babes in Christ’ that they ought not be abusing their gifts to simply show off or “edify himself.”

I am going to cut and paste my comment to this verse:

1Co 14:2 For he that speaketh in an [unknown – this mistaken insertion is quoted as if it were scripture] tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth [him]; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

Since “no man understands him,” Paul says, “He edifies himself.” This is not a compliment, nor is it advice. It is a reprimand, and it is contrasted with “edifying the church” (vs 4).

1Co 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. [This is the preferred gift of this chapter.]
1Co 14:4 He that speaketh in an [unknown – leave this word out. It was not in the original texts.] tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

Here is one of the least quoted verses of this chapter, and it is the heart of this chapter.

1Co 14:5 I would that ye all spake with tongues [I wish all my children could receive the gift of languages, not mumblings], but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

Edifying the church is the required product of both prophesying and tongues. I, too, would rather that my children prophesy than speak in languages.

1Co 14:6 Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?

Paul is telling us, with this verse that the gift of languages should be used “for a sign to unbelievers”, and it should always be interpreted for the purpose of edifying the church, not to demonstrate for the whole congregation that this brother has ‘received his gift.’

“I don’t believe tongues are just for a sign, but they are to build up believers. See Jude 20, we’re exhorted to build ourselves up PRAYING in the holy ghost.”

What you are saying to me, and to all those who do not have what you consider to be ‘the baptism of the Holy Ghost’, is that we cannot be ‘built up’ without speaking and praying in an unknown tongue because we don’t know what we should ask for, and therefore if the Holy Ghost does not ask for the things we need in a language that cannot be understood then we (those of us without this gift) are at a terrible disadvantage, and will never be able to  make our requests known to the Father because we don’t have the gift of unknown tongues.

You said:

“A man with a theory is at the mercy of a man with an experience… So I believe that you speak in tongues unto God mysteries and then pray to interpret which in turn edifies the body with a revelation, etc.

The ‘theory’ is the false doctrine of ‘unknown tongues’. Scripture, “that which is written” is not ‘a theory’; it is The Truth. Nevertheless my own “experience” has been that God did not begin to open my eyes to all the truths of His Word, for which you have expressed your gratitude, until I matured to the point that I did not consider my ‘gift of unknown tongues’ and my ‘gift of interpretation of tongues’ to make me any closer to God than those without such false gifts. Eventually I was brought, through the scriptures, to see the truth about ‘unknown tongues.’ My ‘experience’ at that point was that I had to choose between a false doctrine which I had accepted all my life, and The Truth about that doctrine which I was beginning to see in the scriptures. Any revelation I have received has come to me since I have seen through the false doctrine of ‘unknown’ tongues (‘Unknown’ being a word which is not found in the original Greek in 1 Corinthians 14). The only thing better than having an experience is ‘trying a spirit’ and seeing through an experience. If King Saul could have seen through his experience at Endor, he would never have fallen in battle. God had told Adam that he would return to the dust. The serpent had told Adam that he would not surely die. King Saul’s “experience” lined up with the serpent’s lie, and Saul went with his ‘experience’ and against the scripture. So in the final analysis a man with an experience had better be at the mercy of the scriptures, because the scriptures are dictated to by neither ‘experience’ nor ‘theory.’

“Verse 17-19 Paul says speaking in tongues gives thanks WELL [in the spirit] but then you must then speak in english so others are edified.”

That is not what Paul says at all. Here is what he does say starting in verse 14:

1Co 14:14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

I left ‘unknown’ out, because it was added to the Word of God by the King James translators. So let us continue:

1Co 14:15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
1Co 14:16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?[Does that sound like Paul was speaking of a ‘secret prayer language’?]
1Co 14:17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
1Co 14:18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
1Co 14:19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that [by my voice] I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an [unknown] tongue [not understood by the congregation].
1Co 14:20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

Read and reread that last verse. Don’t overlook the whole point of this chapter.

Pay very close attention to what Paul tells us in verse 28:

1Co 14:28  But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

That verse tells us that it is incumbent upon the person with the gift of speaking a language which is not the language of that congregation, to first seek out an interpreter of the language with which the Lord has gifted this speaker, and if no one is there who can interpret that language then the brother with the gift of speaking in that language is told “let him keep silence in the church.”

Paul’s focus is on “understanding.” Yes, he does say, “forbid not to speak with other languages”, but he qualifies that statement by telling us to seek out an interpreter first and then proceed to demonstrate your gift as “a sign to unbelievers” and do it in order and not all at one time. ‘Unknown tongues’ is an unscriptural phrase found nowhere in this or any other chapter in scripture.

You are telling me that if I pray with the understanding that I am not ‘praying in the Spirit.’ I don’t think you realize what you are implying. You are saying that if Paul (or I) were to pray with the understanding, then we would not be praying in the Spirit. You go as far as to quote Jude 20 as proof that we are to pray in unknown tongues. Here is Jude 20:

Jud 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

Do you see now how you are equating ‘unknown tongues’ to the words ‘Holy Ghost’ here in Jude 1:20. You point to that scripture and ask me if I can’t see that we are to pray in unknown tongues. The plain scriptural answer is I do not see the words ‘unknown tongues’ anywhere in the book of Jude or anywhere else in scripture. The kind of tongues being spoken of here are revealed in verse 21. We need not speculate:

1Co 14:21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.

It is the very next verse which tells us what the purpose for speaking in other languages is:

1Co 14:22  Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

There it is. Paul makes it clear that what he is talking about throughout this chapter are the “tongues… and … lips [of] other… men.”

“Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe, but to them that believe not” is the exact opposite of the doctrine so common in the Charismatic churches which states “We believe that the gift of unknown tongues is the initial evidence of the gift of the holy ghost.” Nothing could be further from The Truth. That statement is the exact opposite of “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, NOT to them that believe, but to them that believe not.”

When Paul refers to what the law says on this subject, he is referring to Isaiah 28:11-12, where Isaiah is prophesying of the impending fall of the northern kingdom of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians:

Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

The ‘men of other tongues’ referred to there are men of the Assyrian tongue.

Paul says he speaks in tongues more then them ALL [Greek: all of them put together]. Should we not see that Paul himself who said to imitate him, encourages us to speak in tongues??

We know from the book of Acts that Paul was at least bi-lingual. We know he spoke both Hebrew and Greek, and he almost certainly spoke Latin, the language of Rome. Nowhere are we told that Paul had the gift of tongues. Paul is not making that claim here. You have to read that into the text.

1Co 14:27 If any man speak in an [unknown] tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
1Co 14:28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

The word ‘unknown’ is in brackets because it is not in the Greek text. Does “let him keep silence in the church” sound like Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to speak in ‘unknown tongues?’ Let us return to the beginning of this 14^th chapter of 1^st Corinthians:

1Co 14:6 Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
1Co 14:7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
1Co 14:8 For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
1Co 14:9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.
1Co 14:10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.
1Co 14:11 Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
1Co 14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

Does one single verse of this section of this chapter sound like Paul is encouraging you to pray in an unknown tongue? I appreciate your zeal. It seems that many people who come to my site are charismatics who are serious and zealous to serve God. I repeat Paul’s advice:

1Co 14:4  He that speaketh in an [unknown, not in the Greek] tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth [speaks in plain English] edifieth the church.

This is where Paul’s emphasis is:

1Co 14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

That is what Paul is encouraging these zealous but “childish” (1Co 13:11), and “carnal” (1Co 3:1-4), Corinthians to do in this chapter. There is not one word about praying in an ‘unknown’ tongue here or anywhere else in the Bible.

Also, notice vs 19: yet IN the church [inferring that he speaks in tongues not JUST in church] but when he comes to church is to edify and teach others.

That is the exact opposite of what Paul is saying. What he is saying is that it is far better to speak to people in their own language, which I refer to as ‘plain English’, rather than speaking to them in a language which they do not understand and which requires an interpreter.

Here is the proof:

1Co 14:19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my [clearly understood English] voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an [foreign] tongue.
1Co 14:20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

Paul is not inferring that he speaks in ‘unknown tongues’. Read verse 19 again:

1Co 14:19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my [clearly understood English] voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an [unknown, he is referring to a foreign] tongue.

Notice that I have the word ‘unknown’ in brackets along with my commentary, “he is referring to a foreign…” neither of which are in the original Greek text.

Every time you see that word ‘understanding’ Paul is contrasting it with the much abused gift of real languages which these zealous but mislead and ‘carnal’ ‘babes in Christ’ wished to display to “edify [themselves]”, rather than the church:

1Co 14:4  He that speaketh in an unknown [foreign] tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

 Paul is right up front with these people. He first tells them:

1Co 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and [in] all knowledge;
1Co 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Then only two verses later he tells them:

1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
1Co 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them [which are of the house] of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
1Co 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
1Co 1:13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Then in the next breath he is telling us this of this same congregation:

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

The Corinthian church was not able to receive the strong spiritual meat of the Word, but they “came behind in no gift,” and they were especially proud of their gift of languages.

You say:

“We use tongues to speak to God mysteries from our spirit to His. We prophecy to edify the body of Christ.”

I know exactly how charismatics think, and I know their doctrine. It used to be my own doctrine. When you use the word ‘tongues’ you mean ‘unknown tongues’. However, that was not Paul’s conclusion. This is how he concludes this subject of the proper use of the gift of real languages:

1Co 14:37  If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
1Co 14:38  But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
1Co 14:39  Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with [true] tongues.

I welcome a true Pentecostal experience with the true gift of true “men of other tongues and of other lips.” But I see now see clearly through the zeal that has led me and millions of other sincere ‘babes in Christ’ to fall for a very poor counterfeit of what actually happened on the day of Pentecost.

You say:

“I’ve had this experience and received ‘tongues’ not by making something up but by the Spirit. I believe the saying that a man with a theory is at the mercy of a man with an experience. I cannot deny this baptism in the Spirit.

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Again, I have been encouraged and blessed by your writings; it’s just on this point that I felt I needed to share this with you.”

I appreciate you sharing this with me. I hope that “a man with a theory is at the mercy of a man with an experience. I cannot deny this baptism in the Spirit” does not mean that you place your experience “above that which is written” (1Co 4:6). I believe that a man with an experience should “try the spirits” just as diligently as a man with a theory. The Truth of the scripture is determined by neither ‘experience’ nor ‘theory.’ It is determined only by “the sum of thy Word” (Psa 119:160).

Let’s both pray that God will remove any idol of our heart and reveal His Truth to us. That is truly and honestly all I want.

God bless you as you seek to know the mind of Christ.

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

YbiChrist, Mike

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/from-whence-come-wars-and-fightings-among-you-pro-2817-28/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=from-whence-come-wars-and-fightings-among-you-pro-2817-28 Fri, 08 May 2026 04:11:22 +0000 https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=36075 Audio Download

“From whence come wars and fightings among you?”

(Pro 28:17-28)

[Study Aired May 8, 2026]

The answer to the question posed in the title is found in (Jas 4:1-10) and the accompanying proverbs we will look at in this last section of chapter 28 explains how we rob ourselves of a rich and abundant life in Christ by wanting the riches of this life at all costs, losing sight of the true riches which are incomparable to that which God has set before those who love him, and who are called according to His purpose (Php 3:8 , 1Co 2:9 , Rom 8:28).

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

As we go through these last proverbs of chapter 28 we’ll look at how they correlate with these commandments of Christ (Mat 5:44 , Luk 6:27 , Luk 6:35) that tell us to love our enemies. The world cannot reconcile these verses in their hearts, and a warring spirit, one that hates, is associated with one who is wanting and willing to do what it takes to get what we want. The result is war in our hearts, and whether we know it or not, this avarice is the breeding ground for the entire history of humanity’s warring ways.

Pro 28:17  A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.

This proverb is true of everyone who has ever picked up a sword and thought that an eye for eye and a  tooth for a tooth was the way to go, whether you picked up a real physical sword or not (1Jn 3:15).

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

But this is what Christ commands us today: (Mat 5:38-42). Everything that follows (Mat 5:38) tells us what we must actively be doing to demonstrate by our actions that we love our enemies (Mat 5:39-42). Violence does not have to be physical violence, it can a violent act of neglect, or seeking vengeance in some way when God tells us that this belongs to him (Rom 12:19).

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Mat 5:42  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

“let no man stay him” is just another way of saying “let the dead bury the dead” (Luk 9:60). We don’t try to shelter the guilty, not within the body of Christ or without, but we bury our own dead in Christ in the prescribed manner God has ordained found in (Mat 18:1-20) along with our own dying daily examination of whether we be in the faith or not (Rom 14:4).

Luk 9:60  Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

Rom 14:4  Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

The court measures itself (Rev 11:2), and as hard as it was for Cain to be a marked man, God did not shelter him from the punishment that was due for his actions of murder against his brother (Gen 4:12-14). The Corinthian fornicator was not sheltered from the punishment of being put out of the church, and neither was Paul or any of us exempt from being buffeted by “the messenger of Satan” as Paul was (1Co 5:5 , 2Co 12:7).

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not;[Luk 9:60] for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

Pro 28:18  Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.

We are all perverse in our ways at first as we read in (Eph 2:1-3), and not able to walk “uprightly” in order to be saved. Only Christ can change our walk and wrestle our old man to the ground and leave us in a state for the rest of our lives (2Co 12:7-8) knowing that we can only be more than conquerors through Christ, as this story of Jacob typifies (Num 14:22 , Gen 32:24-25).

2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

Gen 32:25  And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

It is a lifetime of overcoming that is required as we completely fall seven times (Pro 24:16) and by God’s grace get up and keep overcoming as we confess our iniquities to our merciful and forgiving Father who knows our frame and is cleansing us through Christ. This judgment and wrestling match that the elect have their whole lives (1Pe 4:17) is how our “life is preserved” (Lev 26:40 , Eph 4:22-26 , Lev 16:21 , Gen 32:30).

Gen 32:30  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Pro 28:19  He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.

Howbeit in vain Christ said do they worship me (Mar 7:7), and that vanity spoken of in this verse, “but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough”, points to our labours in Babylon where there was no stay of bread and water (Isa 3:1), and we were in fact building our own houses, and bigger barns, as opposed to examining ourselves and being led unto true repentance which is what this statement is a shadow of, “He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread”.

The harvest comes after the hard work of tilling the land, which is a symbol of examining ourselves, and being prepared in heart to receive the word of God that our Father will give increase to in our lives as He wills “plenty of bread”. It is when we labour for the meat that does not perish (Joh 6:27), that we do so without vanity, as a result of presenting our lives to him as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1-2 , Joh 6:44). This is what will give us “plenty of bread” and enrich our lives in Him.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Pro 28:20  A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

The “faithful man” represents the elect in this age who are blessed with Christ’s wisdom (1Co 1:29-30). It is the Lord who makes us as such so that we can provide our portion or be a joint that supplies in love in due season that which the body needs to the edifying of itself in love (Luk 12:42-43 , Eph 4:16).

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Luk 12:42  And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
Luk 12:43  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Pro 28:21  To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.

Christ is the one who has kept us thus far, and Christ is the one who will give us the power to endure until the end (Php 4:13), no one taking us out of the Father’s hand (Joh 10:28). If we contributed one iota to our salvation then perhaps we could “have respect of persons”. But God tells us in this proverb that glorying in men or the flesh of men is akin to this statement, “for for a piece of bread that man will transgress”. We do this at first when we are dragged to the body of Christ when we innately, because of our past making an idol of the beast (Rev 14:9-11), continue in this vein falling at the feet of John to worship him approach (Joh 6:44 , Rev 19:10 , Rev 22:9).

Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

Pro 28:22  He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

An evil eye is an eye that is not single (Mat 6:22) and tries to serve both God and mammon (Mat 6:24). By doing this spiritual poverty is certain to “come upon him”.

Mat 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Seeking the kingdom of God first (Mat 6:33), and laying down our lives for each other is what will bless us with peace that passes all understanding (Php 4:7), whether we have a little or a lot (Php 4:12).

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Php 4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Pro 28:23  He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.

Everyone that Christ rebuked will benefit from His correction, as God’s elect are today (Heb 10:26 , Pro 27:6). The many examples of Christ rebuking in the bible is for our sakes as scripture tells us “that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God” (2Co 4:15).

Below are some of the examples of Christ rebuking, and never flattering flesh, including His own flesh of which He told someone right after he explained that we must be as humble as a child to enter into the kingdom of God, “And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”[in other words having a right perspective of what flesh is, including Christ’s flesh, is absolutely needful if we are going to “inherit eternal life”]

Christ rebuked the religious leaders (Mat 23:27-28), his disciples (Mat 16:23), again his disciples for a lack of faith (Mar 16:14), the sons of thunder were rebuked (Luk 9:55), he rebuked the crowd, the wicked and adulterous generation (Mat 12:39), He rebuked the corruption in worship (Mat 21:12-13), and the unrepentant cities mentioned in (Mat 11:20-24).

Pro 28:24  Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer.

Wherein have we robbed you Lord? That was the question in the book of Malachi (Mal 3:7-9).

Mal 3:7  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?
Mal 3:8  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.[the fig tree cursed Mar 11:14]

We have robbed God in tithes and offerings which represents the whole of our life (Rom 12:1). We naturally rob God of His glory when we don’t present our lives a living sacrifice and continue to conform to this world (Rom 12:2). And when we take glory unto ourselves by being found operating in our flesh, by our own righteousness, our companionship at that moment is with the devil who is called a destroyer, making us “the companion of a destroyer”(Rev 9:11).

Rev 9:11  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon^G3, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon^G623.

G3 Abaddōn ab-ad-dohn’
Of Hebrew origin [H11]; a destroying angel: – Abaddon.
Total KJV occurrences: 1

G623Apolluōn ap-ol-loo’-ohn
Active participle of G622; a destroyer (that is, Satan): – Apollyon.
Total KJV occurrences: 1

It is our “father or his mother” we are robbing, who typify God the Father and Christ who is the head of the church, or we could say it is Christ and the church who we are robbing, when we don’t present our bodies a living sacrifice unto Him (Rom 12:1-2). The opposite effect of robbing Him is pronounced in these verses that proclaims that if we keep his commandments, his words, the Father and the Son will abide in us (Joh 14:20-23).

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:22  Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Joh 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Pro 28:25  He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.
Pro 28:26  He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

A proud heart is a heart that trusts in his own righteousness (Php 3:9). Pride comes before a fall, and what causes that fall is the inability to walk humbly with God and mankind (Mic 6:8 , Zec 4:6). God therefore humbles His children so that we can walk humbly with Him, no longer trusting in our hearts but yielded to His will (2Co 1:8-9 , Pro 3:5-6).

2Co 1:8  For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

When we don’t bind His laws around our hearts we are going to bring strife upon others and not know the way to peace (Deu 11:18 , Pro 3:3 , Pro 6:21 , Pro 7:3 , Isa 59:8). When we trust God emphatically it is because we have been going through fiery trials (1Pe 4:12) which create zeal within us so that we can bind God’s laws continually upon our hearts.

Pro 3:3  Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

Pro 6:21  Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

Pro 7:3  Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

It is a fool who trusts in his own heart (Jer 17:9-10), and it is a wise man who sees the need to examine himself and die daily (1Co 15:31) so that we can walk wisely and be delivered from our flesh (Pro 3:5-10).

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;(Jer 17:9) and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Pro 28:27  He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

We are to do good unto all men, but especially unto the household of faith (Gal 6:10), and this is the way of life we’ve been called unto (Luk 6:38 , Pro 19:17).

Luk 6:38  Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Pro 19:17  He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

If we forsake this way of life it will bring “many a curse” on us (1Jn 3:17), but if we present our bodies a living sacrifice and give our entire life to God as a living scapegoat sacrifice, we “shall not lack” and will be blessed for helping the poor in spirit who Christ says the elect are (Mat 5:3).

We are poor because we truly see the impoverished state that flesh is in, and the need for continual deliverance, as opposed to those who we once were, thinking, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev 3:17 , Joh 9:41).

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.

Pro 28:28  When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.

Another way of saying this part of the proverb, “but when they perish, the righteous increase”, is found in (Joh 3:30).

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

The wicked within us must be made manifest, and those giants in the land may cause us to hide ourselves, but not in a negative sense but rather in the Lord who will do battle against those giants in our land, those powers and principalities that He is far higher than (Eph 6:12 , Eph 1:19-21).

Every battle in history is just a reminder for God’s elect that the main battlefield we are always to be identifying is within us, “From whence come wars and fightings among you?”(Jas 4:1-7).

This is where the battles are taking place and why Christ tells us not to worry, because the battle is of the Lord and we will be more than conquerors through Him (1Sa 17:47 , Mat 24:6 , Rom 8:37).

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, [within the hearts and minds of His children]
Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

1Sa 17:47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.

Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

The Two Works of Scripture, Part 3: The Judgment of Works

[Study Aired May 5, 2026]

Recap and Orientation

Parts 1 and 2 have established the two categories of works and the passage from one to the other. The works of the natural order — dead works produced by the Adamic nature, whether profane, moral, or religious — cannot justify because they proceed from a source in which the quickening spirit has not yet come. The works wrought in God — the works of the spiritual order produced through the indwelling Spirit — cannot be manufactured by human effort but must be received in the Worker who takes up residence in the believer. The work of God is believing; the fruit of faith is works wrought in God; the apparent tension between Paul and James dissolves when we recognize two kinds of works rather than two competing bases of salvation.

Part 3 now addresses the final element of the doctrine: the universal judgment of works. Scripture teaches plainly that every work will be brought into account, tested, and rewarded or burned. Far from contradicting the doctrine of justification by faith, this judgment vindicates the apostolic pattern with finality. Every work that was wrought in God endures; every work that was wrought in the flesh burns — regardless of the label under which it was performed.

The Universal Judgment of Works

The principle that every work will be judged is not a New Testament novelty — it is the conclusion of the wisest man in Israel: For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil (Ecc 12:14). Paul grounds the same universal principle in the character of God Himself: Who will render to every man according to his deeds (Rom 2:6). These are not threatening words for those who have entered the rest of Hebrews 4 and ceased from their own works — they are the promise that what the indwelling Worker has produced will not be forgotten. Every work will be brought into account. Scripture speaks of two judgments in which this accounting takes place.

Of the believer’s judgment Paul writes: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad (2Co 5:10). The Greek word rendered “judgment seat” is bema (G968) — not a criminal court but a raised platform of accounting and award, the same word used for the athletic victor’s platform where prizes were given to those who had run and prevailed. The Corinthians knew the bema as a specific stone structure in their own forum, the very platform before which Paul had stood (Acts 18:12-17). When Paul invokes it here he is not describing a trial of condemnation — for there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1) — but an accounting of what each believer built, where every work is disclosed according to its substance and rewarded or lost accordingly.

Of the unbeliever’s judgment John writes: And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works… And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:12, 15). The unbeliever’s works are the evidence, not the cause, of his exclusion. His works belong entirely to the natural order because he never entered the spiritual; no Worker has indwelt him; nothing he produced belonged to the living order.

These two judgments together, when understood, do not threaten the doctrine of justification by faith — they complete it. Works are the final witness of what faith has or has not produced. The fire does not determine who is in Christ; it discloses what was wrought in those who were, and the absence of works wrought in God in those who were not.

1 Corinthians 3: The Testing of Believers’ Works

The most searching passage on the judgment of believers’ works is Paul’s architectural image in 1 Corinthians 3. Having established that the foundation of the Christian life is Christ alone — For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1Co 3:11) — Paul turns to the materials each believer builds upon that foundation.

Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire (1Co 3:12-15).

Six materials in two categories. Gold, silver, and precious stones share one property: they endure fire. Wood, hay, and stubble share the opposite: they burn. The distinction is not in how a work appears to observers but in where it originated. Two men may preach the same sermon — one from the flesh, one from the indwelling Spirit — and only the fire of that day will reveal which was gold and which was stubble. Gold, silver, and precious stones are works wrought in God; wood, hay, and stubble are works of the natural order produced by the flesh of a believer whose foundation is Christ but whose materials are mixed.

The sobering implication is that a regenerate believer can build much of his life with the natural order’s materials. Paul names this condition plainly in the verses immediately before the fire-test: I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ… for ye are yet carnal (1Co 3:1-3). In Christ — the foundation is secure. Yet carnal — the materials are mixed. The flesh and the Spirit are contrary the one to the other within the same believer (Gal 5:17), and Christ Himself warned that the two cannot be mixed without cost — no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out (Mat 9:17) — for the walk determines which produces the day’s labor. A believer who walks according to the flesh, even while resting on Christ for salvation, accumulates wood, hay, and stubble — works that bear the believer’s name but were not wrought by Christ. On the day of manifestation the fire speaks, and these materials return to the ash from which their nature always belonged.

What belongs to the natural order returns to ash; what was wrought in God cannot be burned away, for it was never the believer’s own production to begin with. The Spirit confirms this through John: Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them (Rev 14:13). The labors cease at death; the works follow. Works wrought in God cannot be consumed by fire — they are His, and what is His endures the fire.

This evaluation is not only a future event. To each of the seven churches Christ declares the same opening word: I know thy works (Rev 2:2, 2:9, 2:13, 2:19, 3:1, 3:8, 3:15). The Worker who dwells within is already examining what is being built — not with condemnation for those whose foundation is Christ, but with the clear-eyed knowledge of one who sees the difference between gold and stubble long before the fire speaks. The day of manifestation will not surprise Him; it will confirm what He has known all along.

He himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire (1Co 3:15). The believer’s person is preserved because his foundation is Christ; his reward is lost because his materials were flesh. The foundation is not in jeopardy; the building upon the foundation is. The question every day poses is not whether Christ is the foundation — for those who are in Him, He is — but whether today’s labor will prove gold or stubble when the fire speaks.

Matthew 7: Religious Works Rejected

If 1 Corinthians 3 warns the believer about materials that burn though the foundation endures, Matthew 7 warns the professing Christian about works that will be named “iniquity” though performed in Christ’s very name. This is the devastating capstone of the doctrine of dead works.

Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (Mat 7:21-23).

The passage is devastating because the works in view are not immorality. They are not works of the flesh in the Galatians 5 sense. They are religious works of the most impressive kind — prophesying, casting out devils, performing wonderful works — and they are performed in Christ’s name. The name is invoked; the vocabulary is Christian; the outward shape is ministry. Yet Christ calls the whole catalog iniquity and names the workers as those whom He never knew.

The category of dead works therefore includes more than moral failure and more than ceremonial law-keeping. It includes religious ministry, spiritual gifts, and miraculous deeds performed by the old man in the flesh, even when the name of Christ is borne upon them. The reason Christ gives is telling: I never knew you. The issue is not the label on the work but the relationship from which the work proceeds. Where Christ has not known the worker — where no indwelling, no yielding to the Worker within has ever taken place — the works, however impressive, are dead works. They return to ash before the throne no matter how many they appeared to bless.

The warning functions as a flare to every generation of the church. Religious activity is not proof of life in the Spirit. Even miraculous activity is not proof of life in the Spirit. Sincere invocation of Christ’s name is not proof of life in the Spirit. The only proof is the Worker’s indwelling presence, manifesting in works wrought in God rather than merely wrought under His name. The question this passage leaves with every reader is not whether the work impresses observers but whether the Worker knows the one performing it. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (2Co 5:17). Apart from that new creation, the most spectacular labor is still the old Adam’s — belonging to the natural order and dead.

Matthew 25: Works as Evidence

The sheep-and-goats scene in Matthew 25 has been taken by some as proof that salvation itself turns upon works — that acts of mercy toward Christ’s brethren are the basis of entrance to the kingdom. A careful reading reveals the opposite: works are the evidence of kingdom-belonging, not its basis. A still more careful reading reveals that the sheep and the goats are not two permanently separate groups of people but the two natures within each of us — the old man and the new — brought at last to their final separation before the King.

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats (Mat 25:32). The shepherd does not bring two separate flocks from two separate fields. He divides what was gathered together — one assembly, two natures within it. The old man and the new man have coexisted in the believer throughout the walk. The day of judgment is the day of their final separation, when the King at last divides within each of us what the fire of 1 Corinthians 3 has already been testing: what was wrought in God and what was wrought in the flesh.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt 25:34). The kingdom is prepared — and prepared from the foundation of the world, before any of the works in question could have been performed. The sheep-nature inherits what has been laid up for it; it does not purchase the inheritance with its deeds.

The list of deeds that follows — feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned — is confirmatory evidence rather than meritorious cause. Observe the response of the sheep-nature: Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? (Mat 25:37). What was recounted to them is not recognized as what they stand on before God. They are surprised by it. Works wrought in God are not performed to earn anything. They flow naturally from the indwelling Christ, the way a branch bears fruit — not by striving but because of what it is connected to. They are the evidence that the Shepherd’s Spirit produced in His sheep the very compassion they exhibited toward Christ’s brethren — as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me (Mat 25:40).

The goat-nature, conversely, is set aside not because it failed to perform a certain quantity of works but because no works wrought in God ever appeared in it. The goat-nature belongs entirely to the natural order — the labor of the old man who never received the Worker, who never entered the rest, who never bore the fruit that would testify to Christ’s indwelling. When the book is opened there is nothing on the spiritual side because no spiritual life ever proceeded from it. The age-lasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Mat 25:41) is the appointed chastisement for what the natural order produced — not the final destination of a person but the consuming judgment of the old man within, whose works return to ash as all natural things must: I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth (Eze 28:18), and what remains of the natural becomes ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts (Mal 4:3). The fire does not end the story; it clears the ground for what the spiritual order will walk upon.

This is how the universal judgment of works harmonizes with salvation by grace through faith. Works do not save, but works reveal whether the indwelling Worker has been at work. The tree is known by its fruit; the man is known by his works; the root of each being whether the old Adam still reigns or the Last Adam has entered in to work. The separation the King performs is not a sorting of persons into permanent categories — it is the final, decisive division within the whole man between what was natural and what was spiritual, what was dead and what was living, what was the old Adam’s and what was the Last Adam’s.

Conclusion: The Worker Glorified

The two works of Scripture, rightly seen, declare a single testimony: Christ is the Worker, and every valid work is finally His. The old man’s labor, however religious, was dead works because the source was the natural man as God created him — a living soul subject to vanity by God’s own purpose (Rom 8:20), a natural shadow ordained to foreshadow the spiritual reality to come. The new man’s labor is living work because the source is the quickening spirit, and God Himself worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Php 2:13). The shadow did not fail; it succeeded perfectly in revealing that a Worker must come who could accomplish in His people what they could never accomplish on their own.

This is not a narrative of rescue from calamity but the unfolding of a sovereign design. Humanity was not created in spiritual perfection and afterward corrupted; humanity was created a living soul, earthy, natural, subject to vanity by the One who subjected it in hope (Rom 8:20-21; 1Co 15:45-47). The first Adam’s inability was not defect but design, for that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual (1 Cor 15:46). The very dead works of the old man served the plan by making visible the need and glory of the Last Adam, the quickening spirit, the living Worker who would dwell in His people and accomplish through them the works prepared before the foundation of the world.

The apparent tensions in Scripture’s testimony concerning works—between faith and works, between Paul and James, between grace and judgment—dissolve when we see that Scripture speaks with one voice about the natural and the spiritual. Faith is the entrance; works are the manifestation; grace is the foundation; and judgment is the final disclosure of which works were wrought in God and which were not. The gold, silver, and precious stones endure because they were Christ’s working; the wood, hay, and stubble burn because they were the flesh’s labor even in a believer’s life. The religious works of Matthew 7 are rejected because the Worker never knew the worker. The sheep-and-goats catalog of Matthew 25 vindicates the indwelling Christ in those who belong to Him and exposes His absence in those who do not. The fire reveals what the day has hidden, and the Worker is glorified in His works through His people.

For those in Christ, the ancient burden has been lifted. We do not labor to become accepted; we labor because we have been accepted. We do not strive to build righteousness; we walk in the good works prepared for us. We do not work in order to become God’s workmanship; we are His workmanship, and therefore we work. The weariness of dead works gives way to the rest of the one who has entered in—For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his (Heb 4:10). The old Adam has ceased. The Last Adam works, and the works that now appear in the believer’s life are no longer the monument of self-effort but the testimony of the indwelling Christ, from whom, through whom, and to whom are all things (Rom 11:36).

Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual… For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (1Co 15:46; Eph 2:10).

1 Samuel 17:1–30 David and Goliath, Part 1

[Study Aired May 4, 2026]

Chapter 17 of first Samuel emphasizes the victory of David over Goliath, demonstrating the triumph of faith over fear. It also shows us that the battle is indeed the Lord’s. 

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 

1Sa 17:47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands. 

The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part, which is the study today, highlights how David came to the battle field where Goliath was defying the armies of Israel. The second part of the study will focus on how David won the victory over Goliath and his army. 

Introducing Goliath

1Sa 17:1  Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. 
1Sa 17:2  And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 
1Sa 17:3  And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. 

The verses above demonstrate how we are in conflict with our flesh as long as we live. As we have indicated in previous studies, the Philistines represent our flesh and this conflict with our flesh is what is spoken of in the word of the Lord as follows:

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 
Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.  

In verse 1, we are told where the Philistines were gathered – from Shochoh to Azekah. The names of where the Philistines were gathered show us some of the characteristics of our flesh. Shochoh means ‘hedge’; which can mean limiting an action. This implies that our flesh signified by the Philistines, is limited in terms of its ability to derail the Lord’s elect from the prize. Azekah means ’tilled.’ The Philistines’ residence stretching to Azekah implies that the carnal mind of  the flesh, powered by the devil, can dominate those in whom the Lord is preparing their hearts and minds. Our Lord Jesus warned us that when an unclean spirit leaves a man, he comes with seven more spirits to reside in the man whose heart and mind is garnished. That is why we must test the spirit to see if what is said is of the Lord or from the carnal mind of the flesh. 

Mat 12:43  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. 

The fact that the Philistines were in Ephesdammim, which means the boundary of blood drops suggests that in our fight against the flesh, we do not have to resist to the point of shedding blood. 

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

Saul and the men of Israel were camped by the valley of Elah. In the scriptures, valleys represent places where we are tried and tested, just before the Lord elevates us spiritually.  

Psa 84:6  Who passing through the valley of Baca (Baca means weeping) make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. 
Psa 84:7  They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. 

Hos 2:15  And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor (Achor means troubled) for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. 

The fact that in verse 3, the Philistines were on a mountain, while the Israelites, too, were on a mountain with a valley between them signifies that we must be full of the flesh before we are judged or taken through bitter experience, resulting in our elevation to become part of the children of Israel which denotes the Lord’s elect. 

1Sa 17:4  And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 
1Sa 17:5  And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. 
1Sa 17:6  And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. 
1Sa 17:7  And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him. 

Goliath’s stature, protective armor and weapons of warfare typify the formidable opposition of our flesh. Goliath means exile and Gath signifies wine press. This shows us that the work of the Lord is to exile or cast out the flesh of the elect through judgment (winepress) in this age.

In verse 4, one of the notable features of Goliath was his height of approximately six cubits. The number six is the number of man, and therefore this shows us that Goliath represents our flesh. Height in the negative context denote pride. One of the notable characteristics of our flesh is its pride in lifting ourselves or not submitting to the Lord. 

Eze 31:10  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 

Eze 31:14  To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.   

In verse 5, Goliath’s body armor weighed 5,000 shekels of brass. Brass or copper on a negative note describes our carnal state in Christ which must be purified with a furnace of fire. What this implies is that the carnal mind of the flesh is what protects it from the truth of the word of the Lord. The number 5,000 signifies our carnal state in Christ such that we cannot understand the mysteries of the kingdom. 

Mat 14:21  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.

Mat 16:9  Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 

If we are called and chosen by the Lord, then in the fullness of time, the stronger man (Jesus Christ) will grant us victory over the carnal mind of our flesh as He disarms the flesh. 

Luk 11:22  But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. 

Goliath’s weapon is the spear which spiritually is the same as the sword. 

1Sa 13:22  So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.

In the negative sense, the sword or the spear represents false doctrines. This is supported by the fact that Goliath’s spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron. The number six hundred is composed of six and two tens (600 =6x10x10). Six is the number of man, and the two tens represent a witness to the fullness of the flesh. This implies that the false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition is what is spewed by our flesh. 

Col 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 

It is through false doctrines that the devil empowers our flesh and therefore, deceives the whole world.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.  

It is also instructive to note that there is one who bears Goliath’s shield before him. The person bearing his shield represents the false teachers and apostles parading in the corridors of the church system of this world. These false messengers come as angels of light, spewing false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition to strengthen the flesh.

Mat 15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.    

1Sa 17:8  And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. 
1Sa 17:9  If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. 
1Sa 17:10  And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. 
1Sa 17:11  When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. 

As indicated, Goliath represents the formidable opposition of our flesh. Since creation until the time of Christ, no man was able to overcome the flesh except Jesus. Jesus is the first overcomer. 

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. 

Goliath throwing a challenge that the Israelites should choose a man to fight him and that whoever wins becomes the Lord is to let us know how our flesh makes his boast through the false doctrine that no man can overcome him.

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 

Saul and the people of Israel becoming dismayed and greatly afraid in verse 11, shows that as long as we remain in the church system of this world or Babylon, we are not going to overcome the flesh. This is due to the false doctrine that no man is able to make war with the beast or our flesh. 

How David Entered the Battle Field

1Sa 17:12  Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. 
1Sa 17:13  And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 
1Sa 17:14  And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul. 
1Sa 17:15  But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

In the previous study, David was anointed with the spirit of the Lord coming on him. This serves as the beginning of the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. 

Col 3:10  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 

The fact that David was the eighth son affirms his new beginning or the new man in him, since the number eight represents new beginning or the new man. David therefore signifies the Lord’s elect.   

The number three denotes the process of spiritual maturity through the Lord’s judgment. The fact that three of the eldest sons of Jesse went to battle the Philistines implies that it is through judgment that we overcome the old man or the flesh. 

In verse 15, David going from Saul, who symbolizes the church system of this world, to take care of his father’s sheep means that we must leave Babylon to become part of the church of the new Jerusalem or the first born.  

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 

1Sa 17:16  And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 

The number forty signifies the periods of trial and testing in our lives. Goliath presenting himself for forty days to the Israelites without any challenge shows how when we were in the church system of this world or Babylon, we were not given to enter the rest of the Lord since we were always erring in our hearts and had not known the Lord’s way of overcoming the flesh. 

Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. 

1Sa 17:17  And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; 
1Sa 17:18  And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. 
1Sa 17:19  Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

The fact that David was sent by his father Jesse to send food to his brothers and the captains of thousands, in the camp of the Israelites, signifies that there is lack of food or the word of the Lord in Babylon. 

Eze 4:16  Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: 
Eze 4:17  That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity. 

As indicated earlier, valleys represent places where we are tried and tested, just before the Lord elevates us spiritually. Saul and all the men of Israel in the valley of Elah fighting the Philistines in verse 19 implies that they were being tried and tested. As we shall see later, none of the men of Israel or Saul was able to confront Goliath in the valley. This suggests that when we were in the church system of this world or Babylon, we were tried and tested, and found lacking the ability to overcome the flesh. 

1Sa 17:20  And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. 
1Sa 17:21  For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. 
1Sa 17:22  And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. 
1Sa 17:23  And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. 
1Sa 17:24  And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.  

As we have shown earlier, David represents the Lord’s elect. The fact that David was not part of Saul’s army facing the Philistines is to show us that David had left Babylon. In verse 24, all the men of Israel fled from Goliath and were afraid. This demonstrates how our brothers and sisters in the church system of this world are not given to overcome the flesh in this age. On the other hand, David was not afraid when he heard the words of Goliath. It shows us that it is only the Lord’s elect who are favored to overcome the flesh in this age. 

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.  

1Sa 17:25  And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel. 
1Sa 17:26  And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 
1Sa 17:27  And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. 

Verse 25 shows us the reward for overcoming the flesh in this age. The king enriching the one who kills Goliath signifies being enriched in Christ as we overcome in this age. This is a continuous process as long as we live in the flesh.

1Co 1:5  That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 
1Co 1:6  Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 

The king giving his daughter to the one who overcomes Goliath symbolizes the overcomers becoming the bride of Christ. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

The third reward for overcoming in verse 25 is that the king will not require his father’s house to pay taxes. As we overcome and are being enriched in Christ, we come to realize that we are free from the burden of the law of Moses which includes tithing, which is equivalent to paying tax. 

Mat 17:24  When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” 
Mat 17:25  He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” 
Mat 17:26  And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.” (ESV)

David enquiring about the reward for overcoming Goliath in verse 26 indicates that David, as a symbol of the Lord’s elect, had respect for the reward. As we are aware, the Lord Jesus was motivated by the joy that was set before Him or the reward. Similarly, Moses also had respect for the reward. As the Lord’s elect, we must be motivated to overcome in this age by the reward set before us. 

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

1Sa 17:28  And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 
1Sa 17:29  And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? 
1Sa 17:30  And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

It is important to note that in verse 28, David’s brother, Eliab, was angry with David’s enquiry about the reward for defeating Goliath. Eliab represents our brothers and sisters in the churches of this world or Babylon, whose anger is kindled against us when we question their beliefs about the future reward. Just as Eliab did not think that David had changed inwardly and was pointing to David’s pride and naughtiness of heart, our brothers and sisters in the church system of this world do not consider us as inwardly changed from our former way of life. They consider us as dead in the street of the church system of this world or Jerusalem (Sodom and Egypt).

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 

As David turned from his brother Eliab to someone ready to provide him with answers about the reward in verse 30, we must turn to those who are willing to help us understand the joy that is set before us.

Mat 7:6  Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.  

May the Lord grant us the grace to have respect for the reward. Amen!!

Not All Speak With Tongues – Part 2

[Study Aired May 3, 2026]

You ask:

“So [you believe] there’s no need for what Paul did [when he laid] hands on believers that they’d be filled with the Holy Ghost?”

The account of Paul laying his hands on 12 men who then received the holy spirit is found in:

Act 19:1  And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Act 19:2  He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Act 19:3  And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
Act 19:4  Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Act 19:5  When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Act 19:6  And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
Act 19:7  And all the men were about twelve.

This story taken alone could indeed indicate the need for laying on of hands before one could receive the holy spirit. However, this is not the only account of how the holy spirit was given, and we must always consider “the sum of Thy Word” while we establish our doctrine:

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

Peter ‘laid hands’ on no one at Cornelius’ house. Yet they were given the Holy Ghost:

Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.

Just because Paul laid hands on these twelve men before they were given the holy spirit does not make the laying on of hands is a requirement for receiving the holy spirit.

Christ entered the home of Jarius, ‘a ruler of the synagogue’, and ‘laid His hand’… “took her by the hand”, and raised her from the dead:

Luk 8:54  And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.

Again when a Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, Jesus offered to go to his house and heal the servant. The centurion told Jesus he knew that if Jesus indeed had the power to heal, then Jesus did not need to physically lay His hands on anyone:

Luk 7:2  And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.
Luk 7:3  And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.
Luk 7:4  And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this:
Luk 7:5  For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.
Luk 7:6  Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:
Luk 7:7  Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.
Luk 7:8  For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Luk 7:9  When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Luk 7:10  And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.

Receiving the gift of the holy spirit is no different than receiving the gift of being healed as the story of the Gentiles in the home of the Roman centurion, Cornelius, demonstrates. There are three accounts of the giving of the holy spirit in the book of Acts. The first was on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, when the gift of the holy spirit was first given. The second was at the home of the Roman centurion, Cornelius, in Acts 10. There was no laying  on of hands at either of these events.

Act 2:1  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Act 10:44  While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Act 10:45  And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 10:46  For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Act 10:47  Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Act 10:48  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

As Paul’s ministry matured, he was brought by God’s Spirit to see that many things he once did were simply no longer necessary.

There was a time when Paul also baptized with water. Later he tells us:

1Co 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
1Co 1:15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
1Co 1:16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
1Co 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel:

Then he tells us:

Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify [the church] and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.

It was to Paul that God first revealed that the ritual of circumcision was totally unnecessary. There was a period where anointed cloths were sent out from Paul’s presence for the healing of others. God honored these actions because they were done in faith, as they still are by some. As Paul matured, he became aware that sometimes our faith is “tried.” Not all our prayers are answered in the way we might desire, anointed cloths or not, hands laid on or not.

He tells Timothy, who apparently suffered digestive issues, to drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities (1Ti 5:23).

Again we are told:

2Ti 4:20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.

Again Paul’s faith was tested:

Php 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
Php 2:26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
Php 2:27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

Why didn’t Paul just send Timothy an anointed cloth or lay hands on him and pray for his healing? I feel sure that Paul had prayed fervently for Timothy’s “often infirmities.” Does anyone doubt that Paul prayed for either Trophimus or Epaphroditus? Of course Paul prayed for them all, but their immediate healing was not in God’s will at that time. That did not shake his faith because Paul’s faith did not depend on outward signs. Likewise our own faith must be based on more than outward displays. If not, the fiery trial of our faith will shake anything that can be shaken.

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

To answer your question directly, circumcision, water baptism, foot washing, the Lord’s supper, anointed cloths and the laying on of hands, are all outward displays of one’s faith. They are not a sin any more than “another who is weak in the faith eats herbs.”

Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

So it is with those who must have these displays of their faith. I lay my hands on a person when I pray for them if I can and if that is what they want, but I do not for one minute believe that this ritual is a requirement for an answered prayer. You cannot do physical things to become spiritual.

Tongues are no exception to that truth. When we take the spiritual truths of the new covenant and turn them into physical requirements, like water baptism and ‘unknown tongues’ and laying on of hands, we are not manipulating God at all. He will grant our request only if it is according to His will:

1Jn 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
1Jn 5:15  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask [“according to His will”], we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

“I have never heard of anyone without the baptism of the Spirit that has healed anyone, had a word of knowledge, prophecy, etc? Have you?”

If you are asking me if I know anyone who healed the sick, had a word of knowledge, or prophesied without speaking in unknown tongues the answer is… Indeed I do! Christ healed the sick, had all knowledge and prophesied. Yet He never once spoke in an unknown tongue. The same is true of every one of the apostles. As a matter of fact they did all these things before they were even converted. Yes, they did!

Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying,

Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Luk 10:1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

The 12 and the 70 performed miracles before they were even converted.

Luk 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

Yet years later, the night of His apprehension by the Jews, Christ tells Peter:

Luk 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted,  strengthen thy brethren.

Spiritual gifts are not a Biblical equivalent to the fruit of the Spirit. They are not even in the same league. I cannot over-emphasize this. Paul tells the Corinthian church:

1Co 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and [in] all knowledge;
1Co 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Do you see that? The church at Corinth “came behind in NO GIFT.” Yet in the next breath Paul tells them:

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

So do not measure a man by the gifts he possesses. Measure him only by the fruit he produces. How does he react to being mistreated? Is he even capable of “loving his enemies?” That is a far better measure of a man’s spiritual condition than whether he can pray for the sick and experience healings, and it is far superior to whether he speaks in ‘unknown tongues.’

“So when believers sincerely ask to receive the Holy Ghost and begin to speak in tongues, God is giving them a counterfeit gift? Is that what you’re telling me? I’m curious, I thought Jesus said if you ask your father for a fish will he give you a stone?”

If you insist on equating ‘unknown tongues’ with the real languages spoken by those who were given the gift of the holy spirit on three occasions in the book of Acts (Pentecost, Cornelius’ house, and the Ephesian converts), then you alone must decide, “Am I asking sincerely, wanting only to know the truth of the word of God on this subject, or do I have a personal ‘idol of the heart?” which insists that ‘speaking in unknown tongues is the initial evidence of the gift of the holy spirit.’ I cannot answer that question for you. I can tell you on the authority of God’s Word that ‘unknown’ tongues have no basis in the scriptures. Known languages? Sure! However, the word ‘unknown’ is not in the Bible regarding the gift of tongues. God will not give you a stone for asking for a fish, and He will not give you a counterfeit gift of tongues if you ask Him for the gift of His spirit with a sincere and open heart. If you come to His word with your mind already made up that ‘the gift of unknown tongues is the initial evidence of the gift of the holy spirit’, and then self-righteously twist His word to fit into your heart’s idol, then yes, God Himself will answer you according to the multitude of the idols of your heart, and He will deceive you. Here are His own words:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
Eze 14:5  That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Eze 14:6  Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Eze 14:7  For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
Eze 14:8  And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

“Again I’m not trying to argue with you, just want to understand what God’s word teaches us in this regard.”

Keep this attitude. Ask God not to deceive you but to give you a love of the Truth.

2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

If you have not yet read the article entitled Strong Delusion. be sure to do so. When the Lord says, “If the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet”, the Lord’s deception is not just a delusion, rather it is “strong delusion”:

2Th 2:8  And then [When we come to see the man of sin, our own carnal mind, sitting in the temple of God, “which temple we are”, (1Co 3:13-15)], shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming [the coming of His Truth]:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The doctrine of unknown tongues is not “the Truth” of the scriptures, and anyone who believes they are is under the Lord’s “strong delusion.” That is The Truth of scripture.

YbiChrist,
Mike

Romanticism Holds Husbands to Ransom, Escalating the Idolisation of Women
—An Artifice of The Great Whore

Conclusion Study

[Study Aired April 25, 2026]

1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

It’s important to remember in these studies, that since ‘all things are the Bride’s’, any perceived overuse or unearthings of women’s natural tendency unconsciously and consciously to manipulate using her arresting feminine wiles to influence a man for various reasons—particularly sensually targeting a specific man—may appear utterly vulgar and discriminatory to most women. However, the focus of every nuance of whoreish-like attention brought to the Bride’s attention is the price she unhesitatingly and gladly pays to be increasingly given her incredible calling to be Christ’s wife. It’s an understanding that the Shulamite in the SoS is so wholeheartedly and unashamedly devoted to reversing the shame of her former nakedness, to devote those same feminine jewels of mind, body and spirit washed sparkling and clean by her Lord and saviour, solely devoted to, and for his ravishment. Knowing that both sides of the equations, good and evil, are how the Lord designed her for his specific purpose for her to no longer resist being dragged to understanding her incredible calling, but to passionately get up and run to Him.

Psa 109:22  For I am poor and needy, and my heart [my breasts are…] is wounded within me. 
Psa 109:23  I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
Psa 109:24  My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
Psa 109:25  I became also a reproach unto them: when they [Her sisters, the world] looked upon me they shaked their heads. 
Psa 109:26  Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:
Psa 109:27  That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. 

Pro 18:10  The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. 

While running that race, every female (the Body of Christ), regarding their physical nudity in self-examination to painstakingly amplify spiritual beauty, and while the flesh remains, she still bears remnants of infamy from her deeply rooted feelings of shame, stemming from Adam’s rejection of their Lord’s command in her presence. His already weak flesh, injured in his privy and stones while chaotically aware of her imminent eating, and no doubt, dread in his heart, his preconception to eat with her, unwitting that he is the cause of her exposure to the entire world, (Rev 17:16), effectively prostituting her (and all women thereafter) to the Serpent, thus spawning harlot churches.

Lev 19:29  Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.

So it’s no wonder, and natural that that same shame can well up particularly in women today for her nudity to be laid bare before any audience—even in these studies that are designed to hopefully not deny any aspect of Christ, our Husband. That former shame is what the Shulamite in the SoS fully understands, and is given to reverse as honour for her high calling, and treasure her God-given feminine delights elegantly and dynamically for her Husband’s pleasure (Luk 12:32).

It has been patently clear in these Introductory Studies that all men, young and old, are captivated by any woman, young and old, who honours and respects him, and particularly if she is young and beautiful in her authentic personality, devoted in the moment, just for him, is an incredibly beguiling characteristic. Consequently, all men, to varying degrees of susceptibility to lustful visual attraction, influenced by diverse and self-professed moral perspectives, often believe that they could easily fall in love with such an exquisitely attractive being exuding sexual appeal. All women are highly attuned to their relative attractiveness and use it both righteously and in Babylon mostly unrighteously for their Ecclesiastes 7 advantage, and an idol is born.

So, let’s review and conclude how romanticism holds husbands to ransom and escalates the idolisation of women. But first, a recall of the overtly female proclivity of what ‘inventiveness’ means, while always remembering that her more, and highly varied from woman to woman, theatrical artifices, mirror men’s and mankind’s fabrications, their 200,000,000 lies. Since women represent a church or churches, indicative of mankind, Solomon, in his vast wisdom, concluded that all women, and from our experience, to highly varying degrees of intensity and cunning, use their inherent and natural beguiling ways both for good and for evil.

Ecc 7:23  All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.
Ecc 7:24  That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
Ecc 7:25  I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:
Ecc 7:26  And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
Ecc 7:27  Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account:
Ecc 7:28  Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man [Solomon, indicating Christ] among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. 
Ecc 7:29  Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. 

Women, in the context of the Bride’s deep personal reflection that ‘all things are hers,’ are starting to realise that she, the Church, filled with men, has developed many ‘inventions’. Specifically, she has romanticised the idea that her husband must focus on giving her sentimental gifts to evoke her sensual feelings, effectively holding him hostage when he inevitably grows weary of a lack of genuine, consistent reciprocation. We know that by Old Israel’s same God-given tardy libido for her Lord and Husband.

We will recall the meaning of “inventions”, and for our ‘romantic’ cause, from Ecc 7:29 – H2810 – “inventions” 1. device, invention. From H2803 – 1. to think, plan, esteem, calculate, invent, make a judgment, imagine, count.

Strong’s: A primitive root; properly to plait or interpenetrate [- permeate; pervade; mix; alloy] that is (literally) to weave or (generally) to fabricate; figuratively to plot or contrive (usually in a malicious sense); hence (from the mental effort) to think regard value compute: – (make) account (of) conceive consider count cunning (man work workman) devise esteem find out forecast hold imagine impute invent be like mean purpose reckon (-ing be made) regard think.

Romanticism heightens the idealisation of women as it “inventively” (The term seen in Ecc 7:29 – an inherent feminine trait to create circumstances, especially for personal romantic benefit) asserts that, and evolving out of her Edenic curse, that her husband should focus predominantly on listening to his wife’s intellectual sensuality (Gen 3:6 – “to make her wise”) to foster a state of blissful anticipation before she can engage coitally—and is the anthesis of the Bride’s newly acquired “wisdom” from eating of the Tree of Life, her Husband! However, in the flesh, and due to her being effectively injured and bruised in her breasts, her heart in Eden, having discovered that her newly acquired “wisdom”, derived from the anticipated thrill, the lust for the ‘stolen fruit’ (Pro 9:17) of God’s word, instead devastated her sensual sentimentalities; utterly negating her expectation to have God’s wisdom through this initially fearfully unarousing knowledge of sin!—a massive disillusionment!—immediately experiencing the brand new emotion of shame of nakedness. Nonetheless, sin, entering the world first through Adam, had now steadily become her preferred method of experiencing physical affection. She now inherently holds him accountable for failing her. Adam is consequently compelled to undertake the largely unattainable role of trying to fulfil his ‘first estate’ as her head. This position is challenged by her newly acquired wisdom that Adam’s lust for her supersedes his love for the Lord’s word. Although Adam now appears weak to her, effectively wounded in his privy and stones, and initially irritates and unsettles her sensibilities, she still has to contend that he, as opposed to her, was not deceived; nonetheless, he deliberately watched her stumble since he couldn’t suffer the thought of once again being alone. Now, she cannot implicitly trust him to make wise decisions in anything, most eminently rightly washing her with their Lord’s word! Accordingly, akin to Adam’s injury, she, now severely wounded in her breasts, with her heart spiritually under Adam’s subordination to this veritable idol, steps forward to fill the largely vacant space characterised by his wounded leadership. Because of Adam and all men’s abdication of authority, here is feminism born in Eden.

Jud 1:6  And the angels [Including the budding Elect of God] which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness [The vast majority of whom] unto the judgment of the great day [The White Throne Judgment].

Since Eden, all women with varying degrees of sociopathic inventiveness derive ravishment from men, particularly young males, lusting after her sensually, maintaining her idolisation—now, effectively a whore even if men and women are not explicitly fornicating since our worship is to be solely for our Husband Christ, and God.

Possibly, there isn’t a more apt scripture to denote, particularly young men’s lust and idolisation of young women, than the following artistic verse to describe their lust, with personal focus on verse 10 for the spiritually astute, without raising exasperation for over-simplification:

Ecc 11:9  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart [Initially, the flesh], and [Like Eve] in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. 
Ecc 11:10  Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity. 

As Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam’s studies identified in “A Billion Wicked Thoughts”, the anticipation of sensuality is the most potent aphrodisiac, thereby fueling desire. In the SoS, it is the very same yet masterfully controlled mechanism our Lord demonstratively uses spiritually to fuel His Bride’s ravishment for Him, even while she sleeps, anticipating ‘an expected end’.

Although Solomon in the SoS perfectly patterned that erotogenic virginal anticipation, even with starting anew with training a prepubescent young girl in righteous ministrations, the reality is that the flesh is intrinsically corruptible. He experienced the perfection of the flesh with his 1,000 wives and observance of Israel’s and her neighbours’ women’s Eve-like proclivity to revolt against men of rulership and, of course, their husbands, the always present negative representation of her stone wall, and breasts like towers petulently blocking the fulfilment of his Shulamite’s ‘perfection’. Of course, the Body of Christ is given to break down that wall from where Solomon left off in his very last verse, where he says, “Make haste, my beloved [My pattern of the Heavenly], and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices” (Son 8:14), and make haste with the sweet-smelling balm of our Lord’s spirit where I can ‘rest betwixt your breasts’, your heart in total unity with mine.

Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 

Driven sexually, men are infinitely greater romantics than women, forever searching for that “… thing of beauty, a joy forever; its loveliness increases; fantasising it will never pass into nothingness. Now a soft kiss-Aye, by that kiss, [he longs to] vows an endless bliss”… and diludedly, they do, on bended knee exchanging endless vows impossible to keep, all powerfully and unwittingly biased towards ‘searching for their wive’s heart’, a kind of appology for Eden’s injury in his privy and stones.

By now, I hope that we see that the world’s slowly evolving concept of “romance“, emanating from Eve’s wounded breasts, is a phenomenally insidious lie, serpentine, choking our Lord’s love, and is a corrupted version of Christ’s (romantic) allurements that ravish his Bride to reverse her curse.

As seen in all of these Introductory Studies, in our Babylonian marriages, bluntly, we, the woman, acquired a disconnection problem derived from Eden, expressed perfunctorily sexually—becoming typically carried out as a routine, mechanical duty rather than an expression of passionate desire, emotional connection, or mutual pleasure. It is often described as “going through the motions,” where one or both partners are physically present but emotionally or mentally disengaged. It is exactly what happened to our Lord, formerly with us, as Old Israel. Its origin was directly instigated by Adam, largely for Eve’s evil experience for the Bride’s journey. This venture exemplifies Israel’s Lord and Husband as uninjured in his figurative privy and stones, utterly refusing to ‘romanticise’ his wife by her methodologies, nonetheless eventually chastising her by giving her the idols of her heart, fruitlessly. It is exactly what all carnal husbands contend since Eden, and because of their combined curses, it is impossible to reverse. So, to keep the sensuality hopefully flowing, he has to bow in romantic servitude. It all was designed to be an uphill battle interacting with his wife, Old Israel, since she continued holding over him her bruised and injured heart beneath her breasts, resisting intimacy for not just forty years, but seven thousand. She, therefore, could not consistently and enthusiastically engage her husband with a Shulamite spirit as don’t the vast majority of worldly Babylonian wives today, without a good reason to venerate her husband, and thus resorts to worshipping herself (Rev 18:7).

Now, it is understandable that these studies may well be accused of having a preoccupation with sex, and it is true, since the Bible begins in Eden with sex depicting the word of God, its seven thousand year long torturous intimacies debased, and ends in Revelation with spiritual sexuality in the Bride’s marriage to Christ consecrated. So, yes, unapologetically, we do have every reason to see the natural before the spiritual, our definite preoccupation with Christ, our Husband’s word that Solomon precipitated an answer and remedy in Christ’s Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon.

According to data cited by professional studies, the definition of a sexless or low-sex marriage can be characterised by a total absence of sexual activity or a significant, lasting impoverishment in sexual frequency that causes distress to one or both partners. Isn’t that precisely what our Lord experienced with us as Old Israel in the Wilderness? In that case, he, too, has a preoccupation with not having his Wife repeat that destructive spiritual ‘sexless’ disconnectedness. To try to reconnect with her while in that state is akin to remarrying a divorced wife.

Mat 5:31  It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Mat 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

In our carnal marriages, it is men and husbands’ fawning veneration of women and wives that profoundly keeps them going to incredible lengths to romance wives to close that ‘sexless’ marriage gap. By design, and while a wife covertly, by a ‘billion wicked’ nuances, demands her husband romances her, a most futile devotion our Lord likewise experienced with Old Israel.

Hos 11:7  And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
Hos 11:8  How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. 
Hos 11:9  I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. [Carnally, effectively refusing to submit to her romanticised ways]
Hos 11:10  They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, [As Adam should have with Eve in Eden] then the children shall tremble from the west. 
Hos 11:11  They [A female proclivity] shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD.
Hos 11:12  Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.

Jer 3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 
Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, [As is the Shulamite’s bed, (Son 1:16) a ‘green tree’ denotes’ young and enthusiastic intimacies both righteous and evil] and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

The Lord situated Ephraim and Greater Israel within the very dwelling they constructed for themselves, analogous to how contemporary carnal wives now establish romanticised households for their husbands to maintain, now increasingly in a platonic manner, where enthusiastic intimacy becomes unattainable.

Eze 18:30  Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your [for this cause, romantic] ruin. 
Eze 18:31  Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 
Eze 18:32  For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. 

When intimacy fades in a marriage, couples are usually advised to enhance communication and rekindle emotional bonds, hoping sex will naturally follow. (Sometimes that’s effective.) However, many couples facing difficulties are dealing with a different challenge: a marriage with low or no sexual activity, where, as Christ experienced formerly with us spiritually, sexual withdrawal becomes the main concern (Ecc 11). In long-term marriages, it’s common to see a decline in sexual desire, mismatched libidos, or extended periods without intimacy. These issues often lead to emotional distancing and communication breakdowns. For the most part, it is why our Lord said not to forsake meeting together (Heb 10:25).

Absent a more compelling justification than the ‘wisdom’ Eve stole in Eden, she and her sisters presently employ it primarily to ensure Adam remains attentive to her. Conventionally, this occurs chaotically, as is characteristic of lies, in an attempt to resolve dysfunctional relationships. Armed with that confounding delusion, now, and mostly irritatingly, our Lord says not to defraud a spouse of their marital dues, which compounds their already disconnected state, with her strong bias towards avoiding husband-focused intimacy, which appears optional.

1Co 7:5  Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
1Co 7:6  But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.

We have seen that romanticism is a form of “usury” whereby a wife effectively charges a contract over her husband with romanticism before she will allow him intimacy. Whereas the Shulmite instantly negates that folly by giving her whole body, mind, and spirit to her Husband.

Usury is extortion, interest, moneylending, and romantically is not engaging in espousal intimacy, enthusiastically devoting her mind and body wholly. Therefore, it’s the self-righteousness she charges endlessly that is the hire of a whore—of the type that puts his teeth on edge; him, if an Elect knowing that she, and as the aforementioned song goes, “makes a better man”.

Eze 18:12 [We] Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,
Eze 18:13  Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

Lev 25:37  Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.

Psa 15:5  He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

Because of Adam’s overweening love for the complexity of Eve’s beauty, as was King Ahasuerus (A-ha-sure-rus) for Queen Vashti, they, like wives finding hidden treasure, innately use that gift weaponised as romanticism, suspensfully concealing its immense power, insisting that it is the only avenue to their arousal; an insatiable and cunning technique exhausting husbands. Its intensity, she reluctantly relaxes from time to time coitally to keep the status quo—her husband, now the quintessential slave to both his and her gender specific lusts. That almost cultish intrinsic female artifice is an unspoken secret and unified spiritual-like understanding of the sisterhood (Pro 6:12-15) unyieldingly uses as a control, semiconsciously, a ‘confounded’ technique backfiring disasterously for Queen Vashti, as it does for The Great Whore and all carnal marriages; ‘ashamed’ for the underlying self-deception and resulting trauma of force-feeding husbands their bread, their doctrine of insatiable romanticised needs—of course, always signifying the world’s churches spiritually, and formerally we, ministering false worship of Christ. All the while moaning and groaning that His form of ‘romanticism’, his word is forboding, and decidedly judgmental and unloving, and so, and in representing The Great Whore, shockingly conceived in Eden at Adam’s hand, continues to the beginning of the One Thousand Years, demanding (“imperious”) to be ‘romantically’ ravished by her methodologies.

Eze 16:30 [Speaking of the Lord’s faithless Bride] How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious [Domineering; vixen – signifing cunning, inventiveness] whorish woman; 
Eze 16:31  In that thou buildest thine [for this cause, romantically] eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; [‘we don’t get paid for our services!’, yet stealing Christ’s fair jewels and in tithes and offerings]
Eze 16:32  But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! 
Eze 16:33  They [husbands] give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them [her 40,000 sister whores], that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
Eze 16:34  And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms [“… I am no widow” Rev 18:7]: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward [she has no husband, Christ] is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.
Eze 16:35  Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:

Psa 97:7 Confounded [H954 – “ashamed”] be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.

Confounded H954 – Origin: a primitive root. Ashamed, shame, shamefully 92 times. Confounded 22 times. Strong’s: A primitive root; properly to pale, that is, by implication, to be ashamed; also (by implication) to be disappointed or delayed: – (be make bring to cause put to with a-) shame (-d) be (put to) confounded (-fusion) become dry delay be long.

Of course, and from Eden, Adam’s actions didn’t give Eve and all subsequent women and wives a reason to desire him intimately. Due to Adam and Eve’s curses, women and wives (symbolising the Church) wounded in their breasts are now preoccupied with how much a husband makes them feel about themselves; how central they are to his world, and how feminine, seen, valued, understood, and thus alive they feel through his actions. Instead, it should be how much she esteems her husband, as typified by the Bride for Christ, for His peace and joy. She already knows how He feels for her and is thoroughly grounded in that belief.

In Babylon, whilst validation of each other’s qualities is a necessary validation, as the Shulamite expresses, it should not be a gun aimed at her husband’s head as a constant dripping of water of her doubting her husband’s devotion. She is a paradox. Since Eden, both husbands and wives overemphasise their neediness—women for constant romanticised validation, and men for sex—it being an unspoken truth, too prideful to acknowledge, their consciousnesses accusing and excusing themselves.

There is no escaping the overarching biblical theme established in Eden, where Adam’s psychologically and spiritually wounded privy engenders Eve’s equally bruised teats and breasts (Isa 23:3, 23:8), whereby both instruments now unrighteously govern their hearts’ Eccelesiastes 7 inventive treacheries to satiate their signatory lusts. Women crave romance, and men use it to seduce women. Women use sex to seduce men, with both contrivances carried forward in marriage, where each party grows weary of the other’s predictable, deceitful seductions.

Both genders’ customised wounds are the catalysts that later drive the Lord’s first wife, Old Israel’s same lusts against Him. Tremendously reinvigorated following the cross, that mysterious same Beast deludedly believing that they are saved, astride God’s throne, driven by those foundational lusts, now unwittingly expressed spiritually.

Rev 13:12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

The origin of Adam and Eve’s wounds, mostly symbolising those verses, is unintentionally prophetically depicted in John Keats’ ode. – “A thing of beauty is a joy forever; its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness”. “Now a soft kiss-Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss”.

The ‘thing of beauty’ that each gender desires for their ‘joy forever’ — being men’s hearts unquenchable yearn for sensual gratification, emanating from their private parts, and women’s hearts, radiating through every sensory organ in her body from her breasts — in Babylon, they are sensually insistent on being gratified. They gullibly believe that kisses and wedding vows, judicially fixed, would promise ‘endless bliss’. Historically, they are aware that their forbears’ marriages, dating back to Adam, were inherently fraught with disunifications of evil experiences. But, they sally forth, destined to repeat the sorry saga, demanding that their spouse ravish them by the very same creed Solomon’s 1,000 wives affirmed, and is the time-honoured model guaranteed to keep a husband in check—one that Solomon and all men hate, as does Christ.

Amo 5:21  I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 
Amo 5:22  Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
Amo 5:23  Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 

Son 1:12  While the king [Christ] sitteth at his table, my [the Bride’s] spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.

Mankind’s methods of seeking joy in marriage are entirely self-centred, with both genders focusing on their sensuality at the expense of the other. That diabolical problem is what Solomon devoted himself to addressing throughout his writings, culminating in the SoS. He found the outstanding solution detailed in his God-inspired Song. Yet, its righteous ravishing methodology, he concluded, was impossible for any woman, and particularly a wife, to implement since they all were inherently sexually mischievous in mind, body and spirit. He likewise concluded that neither men nor husbands could sustain his sensually elegant techniques. Because the holy spirit of all understanding wasn’t conceptualised, “he found not” that any husband or wife could ‘minister’ his formula righteously. So, he went back to indulging himself most unsatisfyingly with every conceivable pleasure.

Ecc 2:10  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
Ecc 2:11  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Nonetheless, what he didn’t know was that his God-inspired Song, “black” to his understanding, would shine more brightly upon the Bride, since the cross, and, maybe, Lord willing, be fully realised in these studies, whereby contemporary poets since early times no doubt inspired by scripture and Solomon’s verse, if righteously committed, would complement Christ’s love for his Bride.

Christ created the Serpent (Col 1:16-17; Job 26:13-14), his archnemesis, to humble and chastise mankind to establish his recreation of unity in him and the Father. He begins with the easily romanticised Eve, who effortlessly seduces her husband, Adam. He is eagerly entranced by this glorious creature, unwittingly establishing her as the idol of his heart, to which she, the more beautiful ‘Lucifer’ (H1966. Isa 14:12-19), equally unwittingly boldly agrees — incipiently emasculating the Old Adam, forever.

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” 
Gen 3:2  The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,
Gen 3:3  but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Gen 3:4  “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. 
Gen 3:5  “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Gen 3:6  When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 

1Jn 2:15  Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. 
1Jn 2:17  The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever. 

The subtle coup and emancipation brought forth by Eve’s devastating beauty in every nuance of her being, representing all women, particularly wives, is a gift and easy weaponisation of their beauty, compelling Adam and all men to submit uneasily, their teeth on edge, semi-consciously aware that further drip-fed intimacies will ensue. Irksomely to women, both parties know that male (God-given) dominance in headship will ultimately rule, with holding the cursed erotica trump card unflagging impudence—effectively the stamp of a whore on her forehead (Rev 17), alienating spiritual unity in marriage.

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Gen 3:16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to against thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 

Adam and all men thereafter suffer the cursed ground of their wives’ intimacy aversion; thorns and thistles painfully in bitterness restrain his ardour. Their wives are increasingly obstinate (and understandably so) against their husbands’ unrighteous endless demands for sensual attention, both oblivious to its significance—the Shulamite’s understanding of it in the Song of Solomon instigated her unashamed and abrupt about-face, saying, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine”, and deliberately guiding him to, ‘ravishing my her breasts, her heart’, as seen in Son 8:1-2 as the most powerful means of eroticising physically any husband, as we, the Bride does to Christ today elegantly, moment-by-moment, day-by-day to day and forever in delighted reciprocation of His love for us.

1Co 9:18  What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. 
1Co 9:19  For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 
1Co 9:20  And unto the Jews [My harlot-like wife] I became [listening amiably to their viewpoint] as a Jew, that I might gain [My wife] the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
1Co 9:21  To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. 
1Co 9:22  To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 

For this study’s purpose, those verses would require a husband to endlessly do what Christ did to his wife, Old Israel—fulfil her sensually in blessings of gifts, gold, silver and all sorts of riches, knowing that they never change any wife’s heart. So it is with an Elect husband and a non-Elect wife. In reverse, it is akin to some very few Christian sects where their young women go out of their way sensually and sexually to ensnare young men for Jesus. In both cases, the one supposedly gained for the cause was not won spiritually, but sensually. So, no matter how much a righteous husband wearily nurtures his wife’s romantic sentimentalities, she rarely responds with righteous coquettishness since it is not in her heart from the beginning.

It is similar to Aaron’s contriving a molten calf to be Israel’s god, usurping the Lord’s power and might and bringing them up out of Egypt, mixing her ‘romanticism’ with the Lord’s far more, nonetheless, unseen superior ravishments his word was to evoke, by making a feast to the Lord. Aaron, in making a feast to the Lord, is an ingratiating, blaspheming attempt to rule their Husband, and His subordination to her, by unwittingly placing herself on His throne as an unwitting Whore.

Thus, a Romantic is antagonistically ‘Christcentric’, as were Romans and every Epicurean mindset devoted to pleasing their wives rather than serving Christ. Romanticism can be considered a blend of Victorianism and Realism. Victorianism, which followed Romanticism, focused on rapid societal changes and technological advancements, contrasting with Romanticism’s emphasis on emotions developing from the organic nature of things—much like the million nuances, ‘too wonderful to know, such as the way of a man with a maid’ (Pro 30:18-19).

Romanticism is a convergence and mixture of mentally and emotionally charged sentiments, embroidering one’s established convictions, increasingly amplified with another’s actions—often heedless of the delusiveness and exemplified in all Babylonian marriages. The focus of attention is on the sensually beautiful fiancée becoming a bride and wife—a classic match made in heaven, facilitating the destruction of the flesh. Conversely, suppose we are to assume the term “romanticism”. In that case, the Bible represents Christ’s version from the Alpha and the Omega, the journey of His emergent Bride whose romantically ravished ‘Christcentric’ heart beneath her breasts, radiates out to every Christ-designed jewelled joint of her Body clothed in His fine linen. Her “reasonable service”, her responsive ravishment now equal to His breathtaking response.

Son 4:9  Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

The closure of the matter is that feminised romanticism is a gigantic Babylonian lie, facilitating the idolisation of women, now being reversed by the Shulamite-like Bride of Christ today, her Body wholly devoted to Him!

Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, [For this cause, romantically] not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

The Bride’s sisters, who were also asleep, possessed a lethargic ravishment of Christ’s word to construct their house after the Shulamite pattern for Him. Like Ananias and Sapphira, they reserved a portion of the value of their land for their own use (Acts 5:1-22).

1Co 3:10  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise [Wisdom has the feminine gender] masterbuilder, I [Christ, her Husband] have laid the foundation, and another [His Bride] buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. [Her sleepy sisters didn’t take heed of what ravishes the Groom, and it certainly wasn’t their idolised romantic dogma]
1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Pro 10:25  As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

In that ‘all things are the Bride’s’, neither party in the flesh are bitter for their God-deigned evil experience to journey. Elect husbands’ for their carnal wives continued withholding of enthusiastic intimacies, and Elect wives ‘endless portrayal from Eden to this day, having been emblematic of whoredom is, and for the major part, the Bride spiritually profits.

“God divided the light from the darkness”

(Pro 28:12-16)

[Study Aired April 30, 2026]

Many of the proverbs in God’s word have contrasting light and dark statements that act like contrasting colours in the natural world. The natural things do reveal spiritual truths as we read in (Rom 1:20). One can find webpages with examples of contrasting colours at work. For example, the effect of orange appearing more orange, and blue more vibrantly blue when they are set beside each other.

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Complementary colors – Wikipedia

The same principle is true with many of the proverbs that relay the positive and negative example of some particular subject in scripture to make both sides of the coin brighter in our heavens. God works continually through contrast that are both the same to him as we go from glory to glory (2Co 3:18) at the hand of the Master Potter who is dragging us to Christ (Joh 6:44), working out this process within us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure (Isa 45:7 , Psa 139:12 , Php 2:12-13). God does not do the evil, but he does facilitate such an evil experience at the hands of those who are being humbled in this life, which in time will be everyone (Eph 1:11 , Ecc 1:13).

Ecc 1:11 There is no remembrance of former generations, And also for those who shall come after us, A remembrance of them shall not continue With those who shall come afterward.”
Ecc 1:12 I myself, the Assembler, came to be king over Israel in Jerusalem.”
Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens:it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it. (CLV)

The old man and the new man within us are needful for the workmanship of His hands to be brought to see more clearly through this contrast that we are guilty of all, and chief of sinners, or as David was inspired to say, just as Saul of Tarsus did in their own words “you [Tony] are the man” (2Sa 12:7 , 1Ti 1:15). The only thing that is acceptable to God in us is Christ (Eph 1:6) who is the new creation (2Co 5:17).

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Christ is being formed within His body the church today (Col 1:24), and that’s why Paul was rejoicing because he was blessed to endure all that suffering he was going through in his day with the people of God, via the much tribulation (2Co 11:23-30), that must be a part of our lives if we are going to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection (Act 14:22 , Php 1:29 , 2Ti 2:12).

Pro 28:12  When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.

Pro 28:12 When the righteous are glad there is great felicity everywhere, Yet when the wicked rise humanity must lie low.”[CLV]

Pro 28:12  When the righteous triumph, there is great glory; But when the wicked rise, men hide themselves. [ASV]

Christ is our righteousness and if we are granted to endure to the end of this life to be those saviours that come up on Mount Zion (Oba 1:21) there will be great rejoicing from the saints at that time. In (Job 38:4-7) we read a typical statement of the great rejoicing of the morning stars that sang together. What they were rejoicing over is found in the context of the words which are typical of the body of Christ who are also measured and supported upon “the corner stone thereof” which represents Christ (Eph 2:20 , 1Pe 2:6). Again Paul was rejoicing as we rejoice knowing that Christ is being formed within the church (Col 1:24).

Job 38:4  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Job 38:5  Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Job 38:6  Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
Job 38:7  When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you,(Heb 11:26) and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

The wicked have risen in the lives of God’s elect and are being destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming within (2Th 2:2-8). Now we are hidden in the Lord, being judged first (1Pe 4:17), as God’s workmanship that is hidden from the world (1Co 2:7 , 1Pe 3:4).

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

1Pe 3:4  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Outwardly evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse at the end of this age (2Ti 3:13) and that is also a typical statement that Christ made reminding us that the outward wars and rumours of wars and breakdown of society (Mar 13:7 , 2Ti 3:1-9) are types and shadows of what has come to be realized is within us and needs to be destroyed by Christ. This is the first and perhaps most obvious contrasting proverb we’re looking at, where we learn that it is within us that light will come out of darkness as the Lord mercifully judges us and leads us unto repentance in this age (Tit 2:12-13 , Heb 12:6). This concept stems back to our title where the first use of the word light and darkness are used in the bible in (Gen 1:4), revealing the means by which God would work with His workmanship until the very end when He is all in all, and there is no more darkness (1Co 12:6 , 1Co 15:28 , Eph 1:23)

1Co 12:6  And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

1Co 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.

Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

What must be destroyed by the brightness of His coming into our heavens:

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Ti 3:6  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
2Ti 3:7  Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2Ti 3:8  Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
2Ti 3:9  But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.

Pro 28:13  He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Covering our sins is the same as despising God’s goodness that leads us unto repentance “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper” (Rom 2:4). We will not prosper spiritually with such a hardened heart, and therefore this section of the proverb is contrasted with the miracle that must occur in our lives as God give the increase by softening our hearts and making them contrite and broken (Isa 66:2 , Psa 51:17). It it with that heart alone that we can confess our faults from our heart and be shown mercy from our heavenly Father “but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy“. Again we see contrast here that is simply showing God’s elect that no one comes out of Egypt which typifies the bondage of sin except by the strong hand of our Lord, the fit man who takes us through our wilderness experience of evil (Joh 8:32-36 , Lev 16:21).

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

“but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy“

Joh 8:35  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Pro 28:14  Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

If we are as He is in this life (1Jn 4:17) then we are going to be blessed to have this Godly fear working within us so that we may be heard, in that we fear God as Christ did in the days of his flesh (Heb 5:7 , Eph 5:30).

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

If we don’t continue to hear him (Joh 8:31 , Mat 24:13) are hearts will be hardened, and this is the litmus test as to who it is that has God’s spirit within them or not (1Jn 4:3-6).

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Without Christ’s spirit working within us it is impossible to not have our hearts hardened as the love of many will wax cold because of iniquity abounding at the end of this age (Mat 24:12-13), due to the fact that God is not saving everyone in this age but a few who have been blessed to have their eyes and ears opened, and kept open, in order to hear Christ’s parables that reveal the kingdom of God within us (Mat 22:14 , Luk 17:21). The obvious contrast here is that you will either be given a heart that fears God until the end of this age, or  you won’t, saying my Lord delays his coming (Mat 24:48-50)!

Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

Pro 28:15  As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

There is no direct contrast with this proverb that is simply showing us in type and shadow how wicked Satan is, who is likened unto “a roaring lion” or a “ranging bear“. The “wicked ruler” is the god of this world (2Co 4:3-4) who has kept the world in spiritual poverty from the garden of Eden “a wicked ruler over the poor people“.

2Co 4:3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

He is like a “roaring lion” that wanders around, roaming, and searching and seeking who can destroy, all according to the counsel of God’s own will (Eph 1:11). He is likened unto a “roaring lion” seeking whom he may destroy (1Pe 5:6-8), which is why we must always be on our guard, ever vigilant (2Co 2:10-11). The positive use of a lion is the Lion of the tribe of Judah who is destroying all the false doctrines within us, giving us victory over the lies of the devil. The positive use of a bear in scripture is also in connection with the destruction of false doctrines that are in this story being likened unto children that were destroyed by a bear (2Ki 2:24)

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

2Co 2:10  To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; [“Humble yourselves“]
2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

2Ki 2:24  And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

Pro 28:16  The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.

When we are wanting and lacking in understanding we can feel oppressed and be oppressive due to the lack of good judgment, wisdom, and insight, that are all qualities that God is forming within the body of Christ. “The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor“.(1Co 10:11 , 1Ki 12:1-14).

1Ki 12:8  But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:
1Ki 12:9  And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter?
1Ki 12:10  And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.
1Ki 12:11  And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
1Ki 12:12  So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.
1Ki 12:13  And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;
1Ki 12:14  And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

We are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2Pe 3:18). Solomon in the positive view of his life typifies Christ, and his son and those who He put in charge are a good example of someone lacking understanding, reflecting this covetous me first attitude that has been dominating so many rulers throughout the ages “but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days “.

Next week will continue to look at how God is dividing the light from darkness within us, and how this process is being revealed in His word, and in particular via the proverbs we are studying.

The Two Works of Scripture: Part 2, The Work of God and Works Wrought in God

[Study Aired April 29, 2026]

Recap and Orientation

In Part 1 we established that Scripture recognizes two categories of works that no natural effort can produce — the one proceeding from the old man, the other from the indwelling Spirit. The natural man, proceeding from the living soul rather than the quickening spirit, produces only “dead works” — a category broad enough to include moral evil, works of the flesh, religious activity, and even the commanded ordinances of the Mosaic law, all of which fail to justify the man who performs them. Romans 7 disclosed the personal crisis: the will is present but the power is absent, and the cry of the chapter is for deliverance, not improvement.

Part 2 now turns to the resolution. If the old man cannot work the works of God, can the works of God be worked at all? The answer Scripture gives is both simple and staggering: yes — but only when the Worker Himself is received. The work of God is believing on the One whom God has sent. From that single act of receiving the Son, a new order of works begins — no longer originated by the natural man, no longer offered as the basis of our acceptance before God, but wrought in God through the indwelling Spirit.

The Hinge: What Is the Work of God?

The decisive question is asked in the sixth chapter of John. A multitude, having eaten of the loaves and sought Christ across the sea, approached Him with a question every natural man eventually asks: What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? (John 6:28). The question presupposes that God has works He desires performed, that men are capable of performing them, and that earnest labor is the path to God’s approval. It is the native religion of the sons of Adam, offered sincerely.

Christ’s answer dismantles the premise entirely: This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent (John 6:29). The singular — work, not works — arrests us. And the content — believing, not laboring — overturns the question’s assumption. The work God requires is not something man originates and offers to God, but something God does in man when man receives the Son. It is the moment the laborer ceases striving and receives the One in whom all of God’s working dwells.

Paul develops this same truth in Romans 4. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness (Rom 4:4-5). Two mutually exclusive categories: the one who works and earns debt, and the one who believes and receives righteousness. Abraham is the exhibit: For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness (Rom 4:2-3). Paul’s argument is not against works as such but against the works of the old man offered to God apart from faith in the One whom He has sent.

The same principle appears in Romans 9:30-32: What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. Israel labored; the Gentiles believed. Israel sought by works; the Gentiles received by faith. The paradox exposes the nature of the natural order’s labor: the more it is pursued as the basis of standing before God, the more it confirms the flesh’s inability to attain the spiritual.

Titus 3:5 places the same truth under the gospel’s own heading: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The verse speaks twice — first to exclude what cannot save, then to name what does: not our righteous works, but the regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The natural excluded; the spiritual introduced. And what the spiritual introduces is not less activity but differently sourced activity — for Paul declares in the same letter the very purpose of Christ’s purifying work: Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14). Christ did not ransom a people from the natural order’s bondage in order to leave them in idleness; He ransomed them in order to purify them into a people whose very character is zeal for works wrought in God. The regenerated man does not labor less; he labors differently — not by his own strength but according to the working of the One who works in him mightily (Col 1:29)

Hebrews 4: Ceasing from One’s Own Works

Before we can consider the works wrought in God, we must consider the cessation Scripture says must come first. Hebrews 4 develops the Sabbath typology in a way that directly applies to works. For we which have believed do enter into rest… There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his (Heb 4:3, 9-10).

The Greek word for “rest” in verse 9 is sabbatismos — a sabbath-keeping. The rest is a cessation, not an inactivity. It is the deliberate laying down of one’s own labor in order that another’s work may proceed. The pattern is Genesis 2. God finished His works; God rested; God’s rest was entered by all who participated in His finished work. Under the old covenant the weekly Sabbath commemorated this pattern as external sign — a natural shadow; under the new covenant the believer enters the reality the sign declared — the spiritual substance. Colossians 2:16-17 confirms the typology explicitly: Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. The weekly day was shadow; the rest in Christ is substance.

Observe the precise parallel in Hebrews 4:10: he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. The believer’s cessation is like God’s cessation. God did not cease working because He was tired; He ceased because His work was finished. Likewise the believer ceases not from all activity but from his own works — the self-originating labor of the old man offered as the basis of his standing before God.” What remains when that ceases is not idleness but a different order of labor — the works of Christ wrought through the believer by the Spirit.

This is why the writer issues the solemn exhortation: Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief (Heb 4:11). The only labor now appropriate is the labor of entering the rest. Every other labor, however sincere, returns the believer to the condition of the natural order from which Christ has delivered him. The Sabbath shadow ceased; the rest it signified remains, and the believer enters it by the cessation of his own works in order that the Worker may proceed unhindered.

This is the missing link between Part 1 and the spiritual works about to be considered. The works of the spiritual do not add themselves to the works of the natural; they proceed out of the cessation of the natural man’s labors. The old man must stop before the new Man can be seen. The burden of self-effort must be laid down before the yoke of Christ can be received, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt 11:28-30). The invitation to rest is the invitation to cease our dead works and receive the Worker whose labor is life.

Works Wrought in God

Our Lord draws the contrast in the third chapter of John with a single statement: But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God (John 3:21). The determining question concerning any deed is not what it looks like but where it was wrought. Two men may perform identical outward acts — one wrought in the flesh, the other wrought in God — and the first is dead while the second is living. Works wrought in God proceed from the quickening spirit rather than the living soul, manifesting the operation of the One who dwells within.

Jesus Himself, in the days of His flesh, modeled the pattern perfectly: The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works (John 14:10). Christ did not labor as the first Adam labored; He labored as the Last Adam, a quickening spirit, in whom the Father’s working was perfectly manifest. And He declared that the same pattern would extend to all who believe: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father (John 14:12).

The purpose of these works is not the believer’s own credit but the Father’s glory. Our Lord declared plainly: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matt 5:16). Works wrought in God are not performed for standing before God — that is already settled by faith. They are performed, or rather borne, so that the watching world sees not the believer’s effort but the Father’s life shining through him. The source of the work determines its direction: what proceeds from the old man points to the old man; what proceeds from the indwelling Worker points to the Father who sent Him.

The phrase “greater works” has stumbled many readers. The key is to let Christ interpret His own word. In Luke 7:28 He uses the same Greek term — meizon (G3187) — to declare that the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist, the greatest prophet born of women. This is not a comparison of individual ability; it is a declaration of order. The least of the spiritual surpasses the greatest of the natural, because the spiritual order is categorically greater than the natural. That same word governs John 14:12. The works believers do are greater not because they exceed Christ’s miracles in individual power — none has raised a Lazarus or stilled a sea — but because they belong to a higher order entirely. They are works wrought in God, proceeding from the indwelling Spirit rather than from the natural man, and what the Spirit produces belongs to the spiritual order. Christ’s ascension inaugurated the sending of the Spirit, who now works from within countless members of His body across every nation and age. The scope is greater; the order is greater; the source is the same indwelling Worker whose presence Pentecost multiplied into the members of His body. The “greater” is the greatness of the spiritual over the natural — the same greatness by which the least in the kingdom exceeds the greatest born of women.

God Working Within

Paul develops the indwelling Worker doctrine with a specific Greek verb that rewards careful attention. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13). The believer’s working out flows entirely from God’s working in. The verb rendered “worketh” is energeo (Strong’s G1754) — to operate effectively, to be at work within, to produce energy from within.

The same verb converges across the apostolic letters to establish the doctrine. God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will (Eph 1:11). The power that worketh in us (Eph 3:20) is the measure of what God can accomplish beyond what we ask or think. Paul labors according to his working, which worketh in me mightily (Col 1:29). The word of God effectually worketh also in you that believe (1 Thess 2:13). And the writer to the Hebrews brings it to its fullest statement: Now the God of peace…make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ (Heb 13:20-21). Six witnesses to the same operative reality: God at work within, producing through His people every good work that is wellpleasing in His sight. The consistent picture is not human effort directed toward God but God’s own energy operating within the vessel He has made.

Ephesians 2:10 supplies the capstone: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. The Greek word for “workmanship” is poiema — that which is made, a crafted thing. We are not the craftsmen but the craft. We are not self-constructed moral agents; we are His workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus — a new creation, not a rehabilitated old one. The good works are before ordained — prepared by God before we walk in them, like garments laid out in advance. We do not originate these works; we walk in them.

As we saw in the Hebrew Foundation, Isaiah already declared this centuries before Paul: LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us (Isa 26:12). What the Old Testament anticipated, the New Testament now confirms in full. The acceptable works of God’s people are works God Himself has wrought in them. The Worker and the works are both His.

This transforms our relationship to labor entirely. The old man labored to become something; the new man labors because he has been made something. The old man sought acceptance through his works; the new man has acceptance and expresses it in works. The old man’s works burdened and wearied; the new man’s works flow from the Spirit’s energy and fulfill the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:2). 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 (Gal 2:20). The Worker has taken up residence; the works are His.

The Unity of Faith and Works: Two Kinds, One Doctrine

Once the works of the natural order and the works wrought in God are clearly distinguished, the supposed contradiction between Paul and James resolves completely. The apostles are not teaching competing doctrines about the same category of works; they are addressing two different kinds of works.

Paul writes to the Romans: Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law (Rom 3:28). The works Paul excludes from justification are the works of the natural order — the labor of the old man offered to God as the basis of standing before Him. Such works cannot justify because they cannot produce what God requires. This exclusion is absolute.

James writes to the twelve tribes scattered abroad: Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only (James 2:24). The works James requires for the vindication of faith are works wrought in God — the living activity of faith that has entered into operation, the fruit that proves the tree, the evidence that Christ has taken up residence. James is not adding something else to stand on alongside what Paul establishes; James is insisting that faith itself must be alive, and living faith necessarily produces living works. What Paul calls “works” in the justification debate is a different category from what James calls “works” in the vindication debate. Same vocabulary; different referents; no contradiction.

Both apostles appeal to Abraham, and together they reveal the harmony. Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness (Gen 15:6, quoted both in Rom 4:3 and James 2:23). Yet James asks, Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? (James 2:21). The believing was Genesis 15; the offering was Genesis 22 — separated by years. The first was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness; the second vindicated it as genuine. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? (James 2:22). The works did not create the faith; they completed it, manifested it, proved it real.

Paul himself affirms the identical reality from his own vocabulary: For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love (Gal 5:6). Faith that works by love — the very phrase joins what human theology so often separates. The same apostle who denies that works of the law justify affirms that faith, to be genuine, must work by love. The work is not an addition to faith; it is the activity of faith, wrought in God through the indwelling Spirit. Paul writes of the Thessalonians, Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 1:3). Paul has no quarrel with James; he uses James’s language.

So the apostolic witness is unified. Paul and James speak of two kinds of works — the works of the natural order (which cannot justify) and works wrought in God (which manifest the faith that already justifies). What we stand on before God is faith in Christ alone; the necessary evidence is works that faith produces through the Spirit. No one is justified by the first; no one who is justified remains without the second.

The Work is His

In Part 2 we have seen that the work of God is believing on the One whom God has sent, that faith enters the Sabbath rest by ceasing from one’s own works as God did from His, that the works which follow are wrought in God rather than in the flesh, that energeo reveals the indwelling operative power of God producing what no natural strength could, and that the apparent conflict between Paul and James dissolves when we see two kinds of works rather than two competing bases of salvation. The Worker has taken up residence in the believer; the works that now appear are His.

One final dimension remains. Scripture teaches a universal judgment of works — a day when every work will be manifested, tested by fire, and either rewarded or burned. In Part 3 we will consider that judgment, the testing of believers’ works according to 1 Corinthians 3, the devastating warning of Matthew 7 concerning religious works performed in Christ’s name, the sheep-and-goats scene of Matthew 25, and the final vindication of the apostolic pattern when the Worker is glorified in His works through His people.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:13)

The Two Works of Scripture, Part 1: Dead Works of the Old Man

[Study Aired April 28, 2026]

Introduction: The Apostolic Pattern and Its Witnesses

The doctrine of works stands at the center of Scripture’s testimony concerning God’s purpose — the redemption of the naturally captive creature, not from a lost perfection, but from the designed bondage of the natural order (Rom 8:20) — into the liberty of the life of the Spirit through the ransom of Christ. Few subjects have been more bitterly contested, more frequently distorted, or more desperately misunderstood. At first glance the sacred page appears to speak out of both sides of its mouth—commanding works while condemning them, judging by works while saving apart from them, declaring faith without works dead while declaring works of the law incapable of justifying. These apparent tensions are not contradictions to be resolved by choosing sides. They are differentiations to be discerned by the governing principle that orders all of God’s purpose: Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual (1 Co 15:46).

This article, the first of three parts, establishes the foundation of the doctrine by examining the nature of works under the old man—what Scripture terms “dead works.” Part 2 will treat the work of God (believing) and the spiritual reality of works wrought in God through the indwelling Spirit. Part 3 will address the judgment of works and the final vindication of the natural-first, spiritual-second pattern.

Before turning to the text, a word about the pattern itself. What follows is not a suggestive inference drawn from isolated verses — it is an apostolic doctrine, confirmed in the mouth of multiple witnesses across the New Testament. Paul contrasts works of the flesh with fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:19-23). The writer to the Hebrews contrasts dead works with serving the living God (Heb 9:14). Paul contrasts works of the law with the righteousness of faith (Rom 3:28; 4:4-5; Gal 2:16). Christ contrasts the multitude’s striving to work the works of God with the single work of believing (John 6:28-29). Paul contrasts man’s labor to establish righteousness with God’s own working within the believer (Phil 2:12-13). Where two or three witnesses establish a word (2Co 13:1), five apostolic witnesses establish a doctrine.

The pattern itself is one of apostolic contrast — the natural against the spiritual, the first against the second, the earthy against the heavenly. Paul does not merely demonstrate this contrast; he states it as the governing principle of all God’s purpose: Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual (1Co 15:46). The first man Adam was made a living soul; the Last Adam was made a quickening spirit (vs 45). The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven (vs 47). Every doctrine of works in Scripture moves on this line. The works of the first Adam and his posterity are the works of the natural — carnal and dead. The works wrought by the Last Adam in His people are the works of the spiritual — heavenly and living.

With this apostolic pattern in view, we turn to the Hebrew testimony of Scripture, where the terminology of works was first laid down.

The Hebrew Foundation: Ma’aseh, Pa’al, and ‘Avodah

The Old Testament employs three primary terms for what later Scripture will develop into the doctrine of works. Each contributes to the picture of the natural order, and each anticipates the resolution that belongs to the spiritual.

The most frequent is ma’aseh (Strong’s H4639), occurring over two hundred times. The word denotes a made thing, a deed, a work, an action. It is first used of God’s own works: And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made (Gen 2:2). It describes the heavens as the work of thy fingers (Psa 8:3). The same word is applied to man’s works — Cain’s offering, Noah’s ark, Bezaleel’s labor on the tabernacle. Critically, ma’aseh is the word used for idolatry: the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell (Deut 4:28). Man’s works take the form of man’s gods, and man’s gods are as lifeless as man’s works. The lifelessness of the idol testifies to the lifelessness of the labor that produced it.

The second term is pa’al (Strong’s H6467, with verb H6466), “to do, to work, to make.” It carries a more personal, agential weight than ma’aseh. David prays, Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours; give them after the work of their hands (Psa 28:4). It describes the wicked who work iniquity (Psa 6:8; Psa 14:4), and the righteous whose work God remembers (Ruth 2:12). Isaiah indicts Israel for disregarding the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands (Isa 5:12). The human pa’al is the subject of God’s evaluation throughout the prophets; God’s own pa’al is the subject of human neglect.

The third term is ‘avodah (Strong’s H5656), “service, labor, bondage.” It carries the connotation of servile toil. It is first used of Israel’s hard bondage in Egypt: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour (Exo 1:14). The same word is later applied to the service of the tabernacle (Exo 35:24; 38:21) — cleansed and consecrated labor, yet still belonging to the natural order. God’s appropriation of ‘avodah from Egyptian bondage to tabernacle service is itself instructive: labor is redirected but not yet transformed; the servant serves a new Master but still serves in the flesh. The tabernacle ‘avodah was external worship by external men — a natural anticipation of the spiritual reality, pointing forward to that indwelling temple the believer has become (1Co 6:19).

The bondage that ‘avodah describes is also the bondage from which God redeems. The primary Hebrew terms for redemption — ga’al (H1350) and padah (H6299) — do not describe the recovery of a prior perfection. Ga’al is the right and obligation of the kinsman to buy back what poverty or captivity has forfeited, moving the redeemed not backward but forward into new standing (Ruth 4:4-10; Isa 43:14). Padah is ransom-release — the payment of a price that frees the captive from the condition holding them (Deut 7:8; Exo 13:13-15). Neither term presupposes a fall. Both presuppose designed captivity awaiting a Deliverer. The ‘avodah of Egypt was not an accident to be corrected; it was the natural order crying out for the ga’al of God — a cry answered first in Moses and finally and fully in Christ, who gave His life a ransom for many (Matt 20:28).

Two Old Testament passages deserve special notice as foreshadowings of the spiritual reality to come. Isaiah 26:12 prays, LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. Here the prophet sees what Paul will later expound in Philippians 2:13 — that the acceptable works of God’s people are works God Himself has wrought in them. Psalm 90:17 confirms the same anticipation: And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. The man of God does not boast that his hands have established a work; he pleads that God will establish it. Even in the Old Testament the confession is already forming: Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it (Psa 127:1). The Hebrew foundation announces the problem; the Greek New Testament declares the resolution.

Dead Works: What Scripture Means by the Term

When the writer to the Hebrews coins the phrase “dead works” he is not speaking exclusively of acts of sin. He is naming a whole category of human activity—the full body of labor performed by the old man, whether openly wicked or outwardly pious. The phrase appears twice, each time identifying the believer’s deliverance from such works as foundational to the gospel: Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God (Heb 6:1). And more pointedly: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:14).

The Greek term rendered “dead” is nekros (Strong’s G3498)—the same word used for physical corpses, for the spiritually unregenerate, and for faith without works. This term does not refer merely to the cessation of life; it signifies lifelessness as pervasive character, a quality belonging to the thing itself. A dead body is not a living body that has stopped working; it is a different kind of thing, belonging to a different category. So with dead works. They are not merely ineffective works that need greater effort; they are a different kind of works, produced by a different source, belonging to a different order of being.

The same nekros terminology converges across three New Testament books to confirm this reality. Paul declares to the Ephesians that they were dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1), describing the old man’s condition before the Spirit’s quickening. James declares that faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:17), and again, faith without works is dead (James 2:26). The Hebrews passages already seen apply the same adjective to works themselves. Dead man, dead faith, dead works — all three share one source: the Adamic nature in which the quickening spirit has not yet come. The natural order cannot produce what belongs to the spiritual, for the Last Adam has not yet wrought His work within. The convergence across Hebrews, James, and Ephesians establishes the category with the full weight of apostolic testimony.

It is crucial to see that dead works include far more than moral evil. They include religious works performed without the indwelling Spirit. Our Lord Himself warned: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (Matt 7:22-23). Prophesying in Christ’s name, casting out devils in Christ’s name, performing wonderful works in Christ’s name—religious works of the most impressive kind, invoking the name of the Son of God—and yet classified as iniquity, the work of those whom Christ never knew. The name on the label does not change the substance within. Works wrought by the old man in the flesh remain dead works, even when performed under Christian vocabulary. Sincerity of invocation does not sanctify the source; only the indwelling Worker does. We will return to this passage in Part 3; here it suffices to establish that the category “dead works” is larger than sinful works too narrowly understood.

Works of the Flesh

Paul’s catalog in Galatians 5 names the works of the flesh with unmistakable specificity: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like (Gal 5:19-21). The catalog is deliberately mixed. It includes gross immorality (adultery, drunkenness, murder), occult religion (idolatry, witchcraft), and the internal works of pride and division (emulations, variance, heresies). The scope is the flesh as a whole — the natural Adamic nature in all its expressions, whether externally vile or internally respectable.

Observe how Paul concludes the catalog: they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5:21). The works of the flesh do not merely fail to earn the kingdom; they bar it. But notice the contrast that follows: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Gal 5:22-23). The works of the flesh stand over against the fruit of the Spirit — and Paul does not say “works of the flesh / works of the Spirit.” He changes the word, and the change is deliberate.

The Greek word behind “works” is erga (G2041) — deeds, actions, labor produced by an agent through his own exertion. The Greek word behind “fruit” is karpos (G2590) — produce that grows organically from a living source. These are not synonyms. Erga describes what a man does; karpos describes what a living thing bears because of what it is. Paul’s choice to use karpos rather than a second erga is itself the apostolic testimony to the natural/spiritual distinction. What the old man produces belongs to one category; what the Spirit bears through the yielded believer belongs to another entirely. Old-man activity is mechanical production — the output of a laboring agent. New-man activity is organic bearing — the increase of an indwelling life. The Lord stated the principle directly: As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me (John 15:4). The branch does not labor to bear fruit; it bears fruit because it is alive in the vine. So with the fruit of the Spirit — it is not produced by effort but borne by union. The vocabulary shift from erga to karpos is not incidental. It is Paul’s own word for the difference between the natural and the spiritual.

Works of the Law

Of all the categories of works belonging to the natural order, the most deceptive is that which Paul names “the works of the law.” These are not evil works. They are commanded works — ordinances given by God through Moses, constituting the external shadow of what Christ would fulfill. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ (Gal 2:16). Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Gal 3:2).

The Greek phrase Paul uses throughout these passages is erga nomou (G2041 + G3551) — works of the law. The noun nomos (G3551) in Paul’s letters describes a binding legal system that makes external demands and pronounces legal verdicts. Erga (G2041) is the same word for labor and deed already established as the natural man’s mode of production. The compound therefore describes precisely what the natural order does: it labors externally to satisfy the demands of an external code. The law is outside the man; his works are produced outside the man; and the verdict the law returns is that no such external labor can reach what the law actually requires — a righteousness that must come from within. This is not a flaw in the law. It is the law’s design — to demonstrate by its own inexorable demands that the old man cannot satisfy them — and that what the law requires, only God Himself can supply.

Some interpreters have argued that Paul’s “works of the law” refers narrowly to the ceremonial boundary markers that distinguished Jew from Gentile — circumcision, dietary laws, Sabbaths and feast days — rather than law-keeping in general. There is a measure of truth to this observation: the conflict in Galatia revolved precisely around Judaizers who imposed circumcision and feast observance on Gentile believers, and the controversies of Paul’s ministry often turned on these ceremonial markers. The narrow reading cannot contain the whole force of Paul’s argument. Galatians 3:10 quotes Deuteronomy 27:26: Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. The scope is the whole law, not merely its ceremonial portion. Romans 2:21-23 rebukes Jews for violating not ceremonial statutes but the plain moral commandments — stealing, adultery, sacrilege. Romans 3:19-20 concludes that by the law is the knowledge of sin — a principle that applies to the law’s moral function no less than its ceremonial function.

The erga nomou that cannot justify therefore include the law’s moral, ceremonial, and civil demands alike, precisely because the old man cannot produce the righteousness the law requires in any of its dimensions. The narrower reading captures the point of controversy; the broader reading captures the principle at stake. Both together give the full picture: the Judaizers pressed the ceremonial markers because they were the visible line dividing Jew from Gentile, but the principle Paul articulates applies universally to every work performed by the old man under any dimension of law.

The works of the law are the works of the natural order in their purest form. They are ordained of God, commanded by God, imposed upon the covenant people by God Himself, and yet they cannot accomplish the thing they point toward. This is because they were never designed to. They were designed as shadow, to testify that the substance must come. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God (Heb 7:19). For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect (Heb 10:1). The very inadequacy of the law’s works was the testimony; the ceaseless repetition of the sacrifices was the confession that a greater Worker must come.

Romans 7: The Old Man’s Crisis Laid Bare

No passage in all of Scripture so intimately depicts the futility of the old man’s attempt to produce righteousness as Romans 7. The apostle writes as one embodying the experience: For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I (Rom 7:14-15). And more pointedly: For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not (Rom 7:18).

This is the Adamic condition placed under a microscope. The law commands; the man consents; the flesh cannot perform. The will is present; the power is absent. I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (Rom 7:23). The cry that breaks forth from the crisis is not “Let me try harder” but O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom 7:24). The answer, when it comes, does not deliver by improved effort but by the replacement of the laboring agent: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25), and in the next breath, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh (Rom 8:3).

Romans 7 is therefore the hinge between the natural and the spiritual in personal experience. It is where the old man reaches the end of his striving and confesses that a different kind of Worker must come. The chapter is the personal testimony to what the apostolic epistles declare as doctrine. Paul’s confession strips away every illusion about what the natural man can produce — not because the flesh has failed, but because the flesh was never the appointed vessel for this work. The old man’s crisis reaches its conclusion here; the next chapter opens with no condemnation and proceeds to the full unfolding of life in the Spirit.

Much debate has centered on whether Paul speaks here as regenerate or unregenerate — but the witness of Scripture itself dissolves that question. The crisis of Romans 7 is not a narrative of fall and recovery; it is the disclosure of what the first Adam always was. Created a living soul, subject to vanity by God’s own purpose, never yet a quickening spirit — the old man’s incapacity is the very testimony that a Last Adam must come. The natural order was designed to fail as the basis of standing precisely in order that the spiritual might be received as a gift. Creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope (Rom 8:20). The hope was the spiritual all along.

Dead Works and the Living Worker to Come

In this first part we have laid the foundation. The Hebrew testimony shows that works are as ancient as creation and as varied as humankind, but that even the saints of old knew their works required God’s establishment. The New Testament declares that works performed by the natural man belong to a category Scripture names “dead works” — a category that includes moral evil, religious activity, and even ordinances commanded by God when performed by the old man in his own strength. The dead-works terminology converges across Hebrews, James, and Ephesians to confirm the doctrine with the full weight of apostolic testimony. The works of the flesh bar the kingdom; the works of the law cannot justify; and the crisis of Romans 7 discloses that the old man cannot perform the good he wills.

The apparent contradictions with which we began — Scripture commanding works while condemning them, judging by works while saving apart from them — are not contradictions at all. They are the two orders speaking in their own voices. The natural order produces what the natural order produces, and Scripture names it plainly: dead works. The spiritual order produces what only the indwelling Spirit can bear, and Scripture names that plainly too: fruit. The interpretive key is not a choice between the passages that command and the passages that condemn — it is the recognition that they are addressed to two different men.

The very inadequacy of the natural order testifies that the spiritual must come. The dead works of the old man cry out for a living Worker. In Part 2 we turn to that Worker — to the question Christ answered in John 6, to the Abrahamic pattern of faith accounted for righteousness, to the rest of Hebrews 4 where the believer ceases from his own works as God did from His, and to the works that are wrought in God through the indwelling Spirit.

Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual (1 Cor 15:46).