OBTAIN AND MAINTAIN THE UNDERSTANDING

March 11, 2001 am
MF Blume


Exodus 25:18-22  And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.  And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.  And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

Ephesians 1:17-18  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:



The faces of the cherubims on the ark of the covenant were fixed permanently on the mercyseat of that ark. The cherubim were figures that were shaped out of hammered gold. Many of you are slowly having your minds renewed to the truths of who you are in Christ. I commend those who realize there is something here they have not known, and that they must seek God to open their eyes to see this more. The word for “hearing” here is receiving INSTRUCTION. Psalms said:
Psalm 80:1  Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
That means that God’s Glory was between the cherubims on the mercyseat.

Just as the cherubims would stedfastly behold the glory of God over the mercy seat, we read Paul saying:

2 Corinthians 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
How many want to be more like Jesus? Read the Bible to find out who Christians are! You will find that you get a boost of faith when I teach this. Joshua took this ark of the covenant and had the priests carry it on their shoulders and step into the Jordan river that barricaded them from the Promised Land. Maintaining an understanding of who you are in Christ will cause you to walk right into your fears and see them step aside for you to cross over into your promises from God.

But nothing happened until they first stepped into it.

You are not going to step into any problem that formerly held you back until you maintain this understanding.

If you are afraid to walk into the things that scared you away before, then you have not maintained what I am teaching today. Look at the glory of God and see yourself change and become a person filled with faith!

Also, the mercyseat is where the blood was sprinkled on the day of atonement.

Leviticus 16:14  And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.

Leviticus 16:16  And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

Atonement was when all the sins of Israel were taken away from them for one year. And he only had to be sacrificed once and for all.
Hebrews 10:12-14  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
We need to understand that.

We need to maintain that understanding.

After we read about the eyes of understanding in Eph 1:18, we turn to Eph. 4:13 and see what our modern Exodus is taking us into. The fullness of Christ.
John 16:13-14  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Notice that Jesus said that the Spirit of Truth will glorify Jesus. So this is bringing us into the fullness of Christ. This is what we have been preaching for years now.
Romans 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.
It will transform you from a weakling hristian to a power-house!

The perfect will of God is getting into Canaan.

Church, refuse to fail! Refuse to fail! Refuse to fail! You were baptized into Jesus’ death, and that old person you used to be is gone and crucified now forever! The cherubim were situated on the mercy seat right beside the place where the glory of God dwelt. Notice that His blood is linked to the fact that we are kings now.
Revelation 1:5-6  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 5:9-10  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Notice that each time we read of being kings, we read about the blood redeeming us! Notice that faith and receiving an understanding are linked here too. But how did he look at these things?
2 Corinthians 4:8-12  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
He said these things cannot defeat him! That is how Paul viewed those torments!

Wow!

2 Corinthians 4:16-17  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
Those trials were light afflictions?! How could he regard such tremendous troubles as light? What is he talking about? Glory stood between the cherubim on the mercyseat. Look at his key to being able to look at troubles like he did:
2 Corinthians 5:1-10  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 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.
He kept these unseen things in his mind! Paul had a lot to discourage him if he would let it.
1Timothy 1:12-13  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

Galatians 1:13  For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

Acts 26:9-11  I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

Acts 22:4  And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

You fill those verses in with all the bad things you did and everything that anybody ever thought of you before in a negative way.  And then say this!
1Timothy 1:14  And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

2 Corinthians 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.  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Even if you cannot understand how God can look at you like this, you need to accept it as fact because God’s word cannot lie! Find a picture of the ark of the covenant and hang it on your wall to remind you to maintain an understanding!


SERMONS