Class Notes: 10/1/2014

Mark 12:36-37; Jesus evangelizes the Jews one last time but they remain in unbelief. The doctrine of negative volition part 1.

In our study of Mark we are in Mark 12:36; where Jesus is attempting to evangelize the Pharisees with directed questions one final time. After this He will not say a word to them other than a few terse answers to their questions when He is forced to answer.

He does this by quoting David in Psa 110:1;"The Lord (Jehovah) said unto my Lord (Adonai)." In our passage the Greek says: "Kurios said unto my kurios."

This leaves no doubt regarding what God's Word is saying about Jesus Christ in Psa 110:1. God is saying to God. In the Greek kurios is the word for deity.

God is saying to God, "Sit down at my right hand," and God doesn't sit down because God is omnipresent. Sitting is a posture that human beings take.

The scribe had answered with a correct answer it just wasn't a complete answer and the Pharisees are being willfully ignorant. Messiah is the son of David but Messiah is also son of God so their answer ignored the fact that Jesus Christ is Messiah, Savior and this is the critical issue for salvation in the Gospel.

John 3:16; Salvation requires belief in the uniquely born Son of God.

As Messiah Savior, Jesus Christ is not only a descendant of David, He is the God-Man in hypostatic union so if He is going to be approached from the standpoint of His being Savior you start from the fact that He is God because He was God long before He was man. John 1:1,14;

When God says to God, sit down, it means that the God who is to sit down has to be more than God, He must also have a resurrected human body.

When did God say this? He said it after the cross, after Jesus resurrection and after He had ascended into heaven. That is when the Lord Jesus Christ was told to sit at the right hand of the Father because His humanity was acceptable and God was satisfied with His work. Rom 3:23-26;

His deity was always omnipresent and that never changes, so when salvation is being emphasized and the unique person who can provide salvation must be emphasized so you don't start with His humanity you start with His deity that has eternally existed because God being propitiated is the basis of salvation.

When God the Father said, Sit down, it was the humanity of Christ that sat down, but since the deity and humanity are inextricably linked together forever He says it to His Deity.

Jesus is the God-Man, undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever, and the doctrine of the hypostatic union is the key to recognizing Him as Savior. He was the Son of God before He was the son of David and this is as close as some of the Jewish leaders would ever get to the truth because they were operating on locked in negative volition.

Mark 12:36b; "Until I put your enemies beneath your feet." God makes Satan and the fallen angels a footstool for Jesus. So between the session of Jesus Christ and the second advent of Jesus Christ His enemies, (Satan and the fallen angels) are being made into the footstool of Jesus This is the ultimate resolution of the angelic conflict.

Mark 12:37a; Jesus quoted the verse where David refers to the son as God and now He hits them with the big question: "If David himself called him Lord (kurios), God), how is he his son?" Net note 72

If they will answer correctly they will be saved. David called him Lord because He is God; He is also David's son because in His humanity He is a descendant of David.

To be the savior of the world He had to simultaneously be God and man, because only a man could be judged on the cross.

The parallel passage in Matt 22:46; says they refused to answer so they remained on negative volition.

Mark 12:37b; But the large crowd was listening to Him with delight. They loved that Jesus was able to completely shut down the Jewish political party bosses who had arrogated to themselves power that they did not have the authority to possess through their traditions (the oral "law").

We have seen that all the way through the temple discourse in that the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, the Herodians, the Sadducees and the Pharisees all attacked Jesus Christ in waves in their effort to discredit Him but His answers shut them up every time.

Then Jesus turns around attacks them with the gospel. But again they demonstrate negative volition and because of this Jesus will attack and excoriate religion because religion is the product of the vacuum of the soul created by negative volition.

Remember religion is a system that man uses in an attempt to acquire the approval of and reconciliation with God by doing "good" things.

Religious people generally reject God's system of Grace that requires Faith in Jesus Christ Alone for reconciliation and approval.

Religion focuses on what man does. Grace and Faith focus on what God has done.

But before we go there we are going to take a side trip into a discussion of negative volition to the Gospel in unbelievers because was the cause of these confrontations followed by a discussion of the doctrine of operation footstool.

We will start with the doctrine of negative volition to the Gospel in unbelievers since that is the problem Jesus faced with the religious Jews.

Negative volition is the refusal of God's Word in one of its four categories.

Remember God's Word for the unbeliever exists in three categories: Divine Establishment, God consciousness, and the Gospel. The believer has the additional category of Bible Doctrine.

The unintended consequences of negative volition depend on what category of God's Word of truth that is rejected.

For example when believers or unbelievers reject Divine Establishment it results in the loss of freedom loss of order and loss of prosperity in time. The natural man without the ministry of God the Holy Spirit can understand Divine Establishment.

This is what is happening in our country today. Rejection of divine establishment is why the country is going to hell in a hand basket. Everything that they have said won't happen is happening because they have not fulfilled their responsibilities under the Divine Establishment.

When unbelievers persist in rejecting God at God consciousness they may never get a hearing the Gospel. The natural man can come to God consciousness without the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Psa 19:1-3;

This is what happens in areas of the world where there is chronic negative volition. People who have rejected God at God consciousness may not be presented with the Gospel because they would be negative if they were so there is not point.

When an unbeliever persists in rejecting the Gospel they are left in their status of eternal condemnation. John 3:18,36; Receiving the Gospel requires the common and efficacious grace ministries of God the Holy Spirit.

When believers reject Bible Doctrine they remain eternally secure in their salvation but they lose out on tranquility, freedom and prosperity in time and they also lose out on eternal rewards. Only a believer can receive Bible Doctrine and it requires the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

Negative volition can be expressed by the refusal to even be exposed to the communication of God's word.

Negative volition can also be expressed by the rejection of the message that has been heard.

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