Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, be sure you have named your sins privately to God the
Father.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (Known, Unknown
and Forgotten sins) (1Jn 1:9)
You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with God the
Holy Spirit and ready to learn Truth from the Word of God.
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship in Spirit and Truth," (Joh 4:24)
Rebound Revisited
THE
APOSTLE PAUL, above all men, completely understood the importance of rebound,
confessing his sins privately to God the Father. When rebound is neglected
carnality is perpetuated and the Spiritual life self-destructs. Without rebound
the filling of God the Holy Spirit is grieved and then finally quenched; the
Christian way of life disintegrates.
In,
(2Co 7:5) Paul has deserted his post at Troy; he has
gone AWOL. (Absent without leave) He is emotionally tormented.
For even when we [Paul, Silas and Timothy]
came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted [Under stress]
on every side: [In every way] conflicts without, [Adversity] fears within.
[Emotional irrationality] (2Co 7:5)
The Corinthians are still immersed in
carnality. Reacting in anger and despair over developments in Corinth, Paul has
also become fleshly. (Carnal — out of Fellowship) (1Co 3:1-3) Paul describes his distress this way — "this body, this flesh, of
ours had no rest but we were under stress" or ''stressed out in every
way" — conflicts on the outside; fears on
the inside. Paul is in the grip of fear and stress.
There
is a Principle we will extract from this passage: Every believer is culpable
for his own sinfulness under the Law of volitional responsibility. Thus, when
God initiates any of three stages of Divine discipline upon the carnal
believer, (Warning, intensified, or dying discipline; 1Co 11:30) it is with a desire for the believer to recover fellowship using
the rebound technique. When a believer refuses
to or fails to acknowledge his carnality, he must hurt before he will receiver.
In carnality he is in a
position of weakness. From weakness springs fear, a malevolent fear now
internalized by both Paul and the Corinthians.
Without
rebound any believer can be enslaved by fear; or any other sin as well.
1.
The more things you surrender to fear, the more things you fear.
2.
The more things you fear, the more you increase the power of fear and or sin in
your life.
3.
The more you increase the power of fear in your life, the greater your capacity
for fear.
4.
The greater your capacity for fear, the greater the stress factor in your soul.
5.
The greater the stress factor in your soul, the more you concentrate on the
problem and the less you concentrate on the Divine solution. (God's Thoughts; 2Pe 1:10)
Paul, currently mired in human false reality and
human solutions, is a prisoner of fear. This tenacious carnality would persist until Titus arrived in
Macedonia. (2Co 7:6-7) By that time Paul had rebounded and was
encouraged.
But God, who comforts the depressed, [The
carnal believer who humbles himself by employing God's grace provision of
rebound] comforted [Encouraged] us by the coming of Titus. (2Co 7:6)
And not only by his coming, but also by the
comfort with which he [Titus] was comforted in [About] you. as he reported to
us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more.
[Because the authority of Paul among the Corinthians was restored] (2Co 7:7)
DIVINE SOLUTIONS vs. HUMAN SOLUTIONS
If
we confess (Homologeo) our sins. He is faithful (Pistos) and righteous
(Dikaios) to forgive (Aphiemi) us our sins and to cleanse (Katharizo) us from
all unrighteousness. (1Jn 1:9)
Rebound is the Divine solution for recovering
fellowship with God and defeating fear in life. Just as faith in Christ
is the solution for Spiritual death; (Eph 2:1-5) so rebound for the recovery of the filling of
God the Holy Spirit is accomplished in the status of carnality. In each case
God does all the work. That is grace.
Countless
believers fail to understand and rely on the grace of God. When they reject
God's grace in rebound and continue in carnality, their attention is gained
only through the pain and suffering of Divine discipline. God disciplines the
believer as a Father disciplines a child. He loves and desires only the best
for every believer. Divine discipline alerts
believers to the futility of human solutions. Human solutions are no solutions! Divine solutions are the only solutions! (Being in fellowship and Thinking with God's Thoughts)
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God [Stay in fellowship] and Keep His Commandments, [Think with God's
Thoughts] because this applies to every person. (Ecc 12:13)
cf. (Joh 4:23-24)
The
believer who receives Divine discipline will eventually be motivated by the
pain and anguish where, unfortunately, he is not motivated by grace. Homologeo, "to confess" or "to admit" being
out fellowship, this is a non-meritorious grace function. How do we know it is a grace function? Once we
come to point X, the Divine solution, we rebound by admitting our sins and or
being out of fellowship; (For known, unknown or forgotten sins) and then God
forgives us. To KNOW when we are
Spiritual or carnal, is one of the most important issues of the Spiritual life!
If we are THINKING:
worry, fear, bitterness, arrogance, pride, subjectivity, hate, lust, deception,
competition, sensuality, criticism, revenge, greediness, envy, condemnation,
etc., we are CARNAL; and need to rebound! When we are Spiritual God the Holy Spirit produces Virtue in our
Spiritual life!
But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no Law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh [The old sin nature] with its passions and
desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not
become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. (Gal 5:22-26)
We never earn or deserve the wonderful recovery
of fellowship, God provides for us. Recovery is not based on how we feel, it is not based on how we
agonize, it is not emotion, (Metamelomai: 2Co 7:8) it is not sorrow;
(Lupeo: 2Co 7:8) IT IS "sorrow according to the will of God." The change of mind [Repentance; in the Greek, Metanoia] This is what motivated the Corinthians to rebound. (2Co 7:9) All emotional gimmicks are signs that believers
do not understand the grace of God. The believer who tries to recover through
emotion and remorse is the believer who has misplaced the key to the Spiritual
life. Instead, he substitutes emotional human penance — for God's wonderful plan of recovery.
Two
nouns in, (1Jn 1:9) describe God's grace in rebound — "faithful and righteous." The Greek word pistos means
"faithful." The faithfulness of God always forgives and cleanses the
believer who admits his sins to the Father. God always extends the same grace,
even when we admit being out of fellowship, for the 1,385th time. He never
tires of forgiving us because those sins were judged on the cross.
Dikaios
means "righteousness" — God's perfect righteousness. His
righteousness is never compromised by forgiving our sins. No matter how evil we
are, God never compromises His righteousness by forgiving us. Why? Our sins
have already been judged on the cross. We receive the imputation of perfect
righteousness at the moment we express faith alone in Christ alone. Nothing we
can do extinguishes that judicial, forensic righteousness in us. (1Co 1:30)
Remember
a basic Principle: In eternity past, God isolated every problem in human
history and God provided the solution to every problem in human history. All
solutions for the believer are contained in the ten problem-solving devices. No
believer will ever have a problem that cannot be worked out through the ten
problem-solving devices.
The
first problem-solving device and gateway to the other nine devices is rebound.
(1Jn 1:9) is a statement about the essence of God when He confronts all
our sins. Is He shocked? Does He revile us? Definitely not! He has already
taken care of every sin we will ever commit — He took all our sins to court at
the cross. In dealing with our sins
God sees only the righteousness of Christ, His substitutionary sacrifice that blots out those
transgressions. His work on the cross
is the basis for Salvation — "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be
saved." (Act 16:31) Concurrently, the work of Christ on the cross is also the basis
for forgiving the sins of the believer in rebound.
What
does God do for the carnal believer, in every case, when a sin is acknowledged?
First of all, God "forgives" (Aphiemi) our sins. Secondly, God
"purifies" (Katharizo) from all wrongdoing. God's grace does it all!
Just as He provides thirty-nine irrevocable things plus one revocable the
moment we believe in Christ,
But He restores the filling of the Holy Spirit and
fellowship with Himself at the moment any carnal believer rebounds.
We
can temporarily lose our Spirituality; we can quickly recover our Spirituality.
We can fail in our Spiritual life, but we can never lose our Salvation from the
Lake of Fire. What we do lose through carnality are eternal rewards in heaven
and temporal blessings in time. (2Co 7:9; cf., 1Co 3:15; Php 3:18-19; 2Jn 1:8; Jude 1:11-19)
Despite
his Spiritual maturity, the Apostle Paul had entrapped himself in pain and
emotions. He suffered anguish in Troy, then later in Macedonia. What Paul was
experiencing, the Corinthians were also experiencing. Paul's anguish is
reflected in the Greek verb metamelomai which is used twice in, (2Co 7:8). Metamelomai is regret, sorrow, feeling sorry for sins, being
desperately sorry for wrongdoing. Metamelomai is strictly emotional, a penitence
which is incompatible with the grace of God. Just like the Corinthians, Paul
had allowed his ''feelings'' to supersede his Spiritual Thinking; in this case,
of God's faithful provision of rebound.
A
believer may feel sorry for his sins but his feelings carry no merit with God.
Emotion is never a criterion for the Spiritual life. Emotion may be a grateful
response to God's magnificent care and provision, but emotion has no value in
God's forgiveness.
The
solution is homologeo, the non-meritorious act of confessing your own sins to
God the Father. To interject our feelings
into God's method of rebound is arrogance. Only what God Thinks
about our sins is important, not
how we "feel" about them! He despises our sins.
However, He is faithful and righteous to forgive them based on the work of
Jesus Christ. You cannot help God — that is anti-grace and
legalism.
When
I first came to Berachah Church, forty-five years ago, I taught rebound. Some
people resented this Concept of grace. They wanted to help God — to justify God's
forgiveness of themselves.
Rebound is still resented, but the message is the same: Rebound results in the filling of God the Holy
Spirit and restores the Spiritual life. (Pro 28:13) You will never recover the filling of the Spirit
by feeling sorry for your sins. If you have to hurt or be disciplined as a
motivation for rebound, then the Law of volitional responsibility takes over.
For they sow the wind, and they reap the
whirlwind... (Hos 8:7)
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own
flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption. (Gal 6:7-8)
You
conclude, "I must help God to recover — I felt sorry for my sins! I
regretted what I had done; I apologized to God!" This becomes your
criterion for forgiveness by God. What arrogance; what legalism! How dare we have the
colossal ego to attempt to bribe God with our pitiful sorrow! God never asks for an apology or regrets. He
says only, "admit sinning!" You can do nothing about your past
failures, but through rebound you can do something about your future, your
Spiritual life. You make wrong decisions, you sin, and you hurt. You lose track
of the grace of God. You must come back to square one. Do you know what square
one is?
If we admit our sins He is faithful [He
always does the same thing; forgives] and absolute righteousness to forgive us
our sins [We cannot be judged for the same crime twice; Christ was judged ONCE
AND FOR ALL, already; Heb 7:27; Heb 10:10; 1Pe 3:18] and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. [Known, unknown and forgotten sins] (1Jn 1:9)
When
you get out of fellowship and you rely on so-called "godly sorrow"
for recovery, you are a loser.
You
find the same sort of problem today in Lordship Salvation — faith plus
commitment. As a Spiritually dead person you can never make Christ
"Lord," (HE IS, WAS AND ALWAYS
HAS BEEN THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!; Rev 1:8) or gain the
approbation of God by making a dedication, walking an aisle, raising your
hands, jumping through a psychological hoop. You can never invite Christ into
your heart or into your life. (Of course most believe in Christ, before they
ask Him to come into their heart) When you invite Christ into your Spiritually
dead heart, you are inviting Him into a sewer; you are inviting Him into a
tomb. Instead, God summons us
to share His eternal life through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Joh 3:16) Only the Holy Spirit can make Christ OUR Lord at
the moment we express non-meritorious faith in Christ alone.
Likewise, only the filling of the Holy Spirit
makes the believer Spiritual.
Without rebound the Holy Spirit is grieved and quenched by carnality. No wonder
believers have so little impact for Christ. Political activism and rigid morality are the only impression many
unbelievers have of Christianity. Activism and morality are not Spirituality. Spirituality is on a higher plane and is
derived from the filling of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23) The believer who substitutes human morality and political activism
for the Virtue of the Spiritual life; is in the snare of the devil. (2Ti 2:24-26)
As a believer progresses in the sphere of
Christian Virtue; develops a sense of responsibility. That sense of responsibility is not based on an
emotional guilt trip, but on Divine Viewpoint from metabolized Truth. Hence,
the believer is no longer carried away with short-lived emotional compassion,
as he watches television reports of unfortunate, starving people around the world.
Such fervent sympathy fades when the momentary emotion subsides.
Instead,
the compassion of a believer with Virtue is permanent, a far loftier empathy
than exists in fleeting emotional outbursts. This true compassion puts human
tragedy in perspective. We live in a lost and
dying world in which the Gospel and the Bible must take priority!
The
Spiritually mature believer realizes the solutions to wretched human conditions
in Satan's world are not political activism, not well-meaning compassion, but ONLY Spiritual regeneration and growth to
maturity! Hunger, famine,
starvation, war will be present until the Lord returns. Only the Gospel and Divine Thinking can heal
the misery of human circumstances. Those who accept the Gospel of faith alone
in Christ alone will not spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. (Joh 3:18) For those believers who grow Spiritually;
peace, happiness, and contentment characterize their lives. Circumstances are not the consuming issue.
Believers
who reject rebound reject the only means of gaining and maintaining Spiritual
momentum. They say, "I cannot
just rebound; I need to feel remorse. I do not feel forgiven unless I regret my
sins." But how you feel is
inconsequential!
The issue is not your feelings; the issue is
the Cross where your sins were judged. The issue is the righteousness of God the Father. Countless
millennia ago God the Father isolated every problem in human history and
provided a solution based on grace. There never has been a Divine solution that
was not based on grace.
Unbelievers
have access to Divine solutions through the Laws of Divine establishment, the
four Divine institutions that deal with individuals and nations. These
institutions are volition, marriage, family, and government. For the individual believer — the child of God in the New Covenant Age is a priest indwelt by
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and is also an ambassador
for Christ — the Divine institutions are just one aspect in
a myriad of significant Principles and Divine Thoughts inherent in the
Christian life. The Virtue of the
Spiritual life includes the Principles of Divine establishment.
The
believer has access to all Divine assets — the filling of God the Holy Spirit,
Bible Truth, ten problem-solving devices. The function of the Spiritual life depends upon the filling of
the Holy Spirit, the Great Equalizer. The filling of the Holy
Spirit converts even the lowest human IQ into Spiritual IQ. Every believer now has equal opportunity and equal privilege to
perceive and understand Divine Thinking. With Spiritual IQ the believer is
capable of understanding and metabolizing Truth and forming problem-solving
devices in the soul.
Metabolized Truth also provides a mirror in the
soul for objective self-evaluation. (Pro 27:19) When the believer sins and fails, he can look
into the mirror of his soul. The quicker the believer sees his reflection in
the mirror of Divine Viewpoint, the sooner he rebounds and avoids hurt and discipline.
Until
you understand grace in rebound, you will have an emotional hangover. You will
be emotionally wrung out from all the attempts to help God forgive your sins.
Hangovers originate from a lack of grace orientation; from believers who do not
understand what God can and will accomplish. You must recognize that the Divine solution IS the only solution; human solutions are no solutions! In Spiritual death the Divine solution is faith alone in Christ
alone. Anything you add to
faith is a human solution and Salvation is not yours. Faith accompanied by
human works is invalid. The only faith that is valid is faith without works.
Then, God takes over and provides thirty-nine irrevocable things plus one. That
one is the filling of God the Holy Spirit — Spirituality. Spirituality is
obtained through God's gracious provision at Salvation. Spirituality is
maintained through the gracious provision of God at rebound.
SPIRITUAL
FREEDOM
God
gives every believer a system of freedom based on metabolized Truth circulating
through the seven compartments of the stream of consciousness. With this
Spiritual freedom we can fulfill His plan. God provides the time and the means
to fulfill His plan. When the believer perpetuates Spiritual freedom in his
life, he moves into the sphere of Virtue.
If
your happiness depends on people, things, self and or circumstances, if your
happiness depends on your sex life, if your happiness depends on approbation, you are not free! If certain people can
upset you, you are not free.
You are a slave to
whatever ruins your peace of mind. You do not know Spiritual freedom or true contentment.
At
one time Paul was a slave to fear, worry and anxiety, as we have noted in, (2Co 7:5). His fear made him unhappy. Ask yourself. Who makes me unhappy?
What makes me unhappy? Who does things to hurt me? What gives me the
"blues"? If your happiness depends
on people, things, self or circumstances, that is slavery. When you have a happiness that does not depend
upon people or circumstances, but rather your well-being is based on the Word
of Truth in the soul, you share the Happiness of God. God has never been
unhappy.
In
eternity past Lucifer, the highest angelic creature created by God, revolted
against Him. Satan, as he is now called, persuaded one-third of the angelic
creatures to join the mutiny. Nevertheless, God did not become unhappy. The
defection and loss of those super-creatures could not make God unhappy.
When
Adam sinned and died Spiritually, God never became despondent. God has eternal,
infinite, perfect happiness that does not depend upon people, things or
circumstances. (His happiness does
however depend on His perfect essence; HIMSELF) This same magnificent
Virtue can be ours! (Gal 5:22-23) Yet, you will never attain His happiness if you operate on
unstable, pseudo-compassionate, emotional binges, instead of Truth.
The truest and most genuine compassion is based
on Spiritual Virtue-morality and on the Divine Thinking resident in the soul! Such compassion motivates people to witness and teach give Truth.
Such compassion inspires noble kindnesses. Bona fide Christian compassion
reveals Divinely influenced contentment and happiness in your soul to a lost
and dying world.
According
to, (2Co 7:5-6) Paul was "comforted," he was back in
fellowship by the time Titus arrived in Macedonia. As a born again believer in
the adult stage of the Spiritual life, Paul recovered his fellowship with God
through the rebound technique. His comfort came from his confidence in the
faithfulness of God. He was, therefore, prepared for either a good or bad
report from Titus concerning the Corinthian problem.
The
nature of the report was not the issue. Rather, the issue was the status quo of
Paul's Spirituality after he confessed his fear and trepidation to the Lord.
After rebound God took over and solved Paul's anxiety problem.
God IS faithful. God IS righteous. God forgave Paul's sins. God purified Paul from all
unrighteousness. At the point of
purification Paul was again filled with God the Holy Spirit, restored to
fellowship with God, and had resumed his Spiritual life. Paul was relaxed and
ready for anything by the time Titus arrived. The report from Titus was
excellent and Paul "rejoiced." It is interesting to note that while
Paul was out of fellowship in Troy and Macedonia, that the Corinthians were
also carnal, Titus remained Spiritual.
THE
FOLLY OF EMOTIONALISM
For though I caused you sorrow [Lupeo,
severe mental anguish] by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it
[Metamelomai, extreme emotional anguish] -- for I see that letter caused you
sorrow [Lupeo], though only for a while. (2Co 7:8)
I now rejoice, [After Paul utilized rebound]
not that you were made sorrowful, [Lupeo] but that you were made sorrowful
[Lupeo} to the point of repentance; [Metanoia; "change of mind" that
brought them to rebound] for you were made sorrowful [Lupeo] according to the
will of God, [Kata Theon, idiomatic usage meaning "as God would have
it"] in order that you might not suffer loss [As a loser believer] in
anything through [Because of] us. (2Co 7:9)
For the sorrow [Anguish of Divine
discipline] that is according to the will of God [As God would have it]
produces a repentance [Change of mind; the motivation to rebound] without
regret, [Ametameletos, without any emotional remorse] leading to salvation,
[Deliverance from the anguish] but the sorrow of the world produces death.
[Sin unto death] (2Co 7:10)
Under
the filling of God the Holy Spirit Titus had delivered a now lost letter from
Paul to the Corinthians. The epistle was a severe reprimand. It caused the
Corinthians severe mental anguish and agony. [Lupeo] Paul matched their agony
for a short time with his own emotional torment. (2Co 7:8) When Paul recognized his emotional folly and realized that the
Corinthians had responded positively to his letter, he stopped emoting,
rebounded, and rejoiced. (2Co
7:9) The anguish the
Corinthians suffered from the letter also brought them "to the point of
repentance, "metanoia," a change of Thinking" that induced
rebound. Paul's triumphal rejoicing occurred not because the Corinthians
"were made sorrowful," but because their sorrow and anguish caused the change in their
Thinking.
Lupeo,
"sorrow," has a number of meanings in the passive voice: "to
become distressed, to be sorry, to be grieved, to be hurt, to be sad, to be
insulted, to be irritated, to be offended, to be in mental pain or
anguish." The passive indicates that the carnal Corinthians in, (2Co 7:8-9) were acted upon by the Divine Laws from the Supreme Court of
Heaven. Two Laws were operational: the first was the Law of volitional
responsibility and the second, the Law of Divine discipline.
The
carnal Christians of Corinth were disturbed by Paul's lost letter delivered by
Titus. Titus was face-to-face with hostile Corinthians full of iconoclastic
arrogance and evil obsession. They were resentful of him at first, but through
teaching and explanation he finally straightened them out. They saw the issue
clearly and came around to rebound and began to Spiritually advance.
I now rejoice, not because you were
distressed, [Lupeo] but because you were in pain [Lupeo] to the point of
repentance... [Metanoia] (2Co 7:9)
The
first appearance of lupeo in, (2Co 7:9) connotes outright
emotional anguish. The second use of the verb lupeo follows the adversative
particle "but" and sets up a contrast with the emotional grief of the
first lupeo. Metanoia distinguishes the unsettling distress of the first phrase
from the encouraging distress of the second phrase. Metanoia does not connote
an impulsive action based on emotion.
THE
CHANGE OF THINKING
"Repentance,"
metanoia, is a vastly misunderstood term. Many people think repentance means to feel sorry for sins, an
emotional loathing of sin. What
does repentance actually mean? It
means "a change of mind" — to Divine Thinking, ("Seeing" things God's way) not temperamental
emoting.
Divine
Thinking refuses emotion as part of the solution. How do we know that? Because,
(2Co 7:10) abandons emotion: "repentance without
regret." [Emotion] Emotional reaction is the
source of countless sins. Emotionalism actually functions as a catalytic agent
that locks in the arrogance and emotional complexes of sins.
The carnal believer in an emotional state cannot
think accurately. Therefore, the
emotional inclination must be rejected if the believer is to start Thinking
correctly. When the believer sets aside emotional activity, he can, then recall
what is hidden in the recesses of his mind. If he has been taught rebound, God
the Holy Spirit will help him remember the Divine method of recovering his
Spiritual life, (Joh 14:26) restoring fellowship with God.
The
Corinthians had to endure mental agony to overcome their emotional reactions.
They needed to Spiritually Think, not emote. They needed to search the recesses of their minds for the Divine
solution.
If
the carnal believer does not rebound, he will "suffer loss" at the
Judgment Seat of Christ. (1Co
3:15; 2Co 7:10) He loses his eternal rewards but never his eternal Salvation
from the Lake of Fire. Therefore, the Corinthians must change their minds. A
change of Thinking results in their accepting the Divine solution of rebound.
However,
emotional garbage in the soul must be eliminated. Hang-ups, defense mechanisms,
denial — all the psychological garbage must go! That is the reason for
"repentance," metanoia, being introduced in a prepositional phrase.
Metanoia is the result of eliminating all the refuse of emotional activity. Garbage includes feeling sorry for your sins,
going through penance, pleading with God for forgiveness, agonizing, feeling
guilty to get back in fellowship. All of these false
Principles prevent rebound.
Rebound requires no
emotional activity.
If you add emotion, regret, penance, and or
guilt; you have not recovered your fellowship with God. You are not filled with the Spirit. You remain
in a state of carnality, only now you are worse off than you were before. The Divine solution is simply to
"confess" or "admit" your sins in the privacy of your own
soul.
The
arrogance of those who believe they must do something, feel something, or
renounce something to effect a Divine solution is appalling. Some believers are
going to stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ in a resurrection body in a state
of shame. (Php 3:18-19) Why? Because they never could get it through
their heads that you only do something one way — GOD'S WAY!
The
Corinthians had been taught God's solution to sin. Rebound instructions had
already been given by Paul.
For he who eats and drinks, [At the
Communion Table] eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the
body rightly. [Through rebound] For this reason many among you are weak and
sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, [Rebound] we
should not be judged. ( 1Co
11:29-31)
But the Corinthians were still doing things their
way — what seemed right to them. Human thoughts and
ways are NEVER God's! (Isa 55:6-9) Because of their perpetuation of carnality, the Corinthian
believers were losers. God had to get the attention of these carnal, loser
believers.
"GODLY
SORROW"
...For you were made sorrowful [Lupeo]
according to the will of God, [Kata Theon] in order that you might not suffer
loss in anything through us. (2Co 7:9)
The
use of the aorist passive of lupeo reveals unequivocally the non-emotional
content of the word "sorrow." It was God's intention for the
Corinthians to feel pain, not to squeeze a passionate apology from them, but to
induce rebound. The pain caused objective
self-examination which brought on a change of Thinking that resulted in a
decision. The carnal Corinthians
chose to acknowledge their failures and sins to the Father. That decision was the solution, the only
solution. Divine discipline
pressured these believers to comply with God's grace method of rebound.
Lupeo
is followed by another prepositional phrase, kata Theon. I want you to notice
that Theon is the accusative case of the proper noun for "God." This
noun is not an adjective to be translated "godly." To make an adjective out of the proper name for
God is false and blasphemy. Theon
is never an adjective.
What
does the preposition kata plus the accusative of Theon mean? Kata Theon can
legitimately be translated three ways:
1.
A literal translation is "according to God" which actually means
"according to the will of God" There is a problem with this
translation. The believer is in a state of carnality, "out of
fellowship." The will of God cannot be associated with carnality.
2.
"In accordance with God" is also a legitimate translation. The phrase
literally means "in accordance with the standards of God."
"Standards
of God" presents the same problem as the first translation, "the will
of God." Carnality is no more compatible with the norms and standards of
God than it is with the will of God. The norms and standards of God in the
believer are related .to the filling of the Spirit. The norms and standards of
God are related to the Spiritual life — fellowship with God. These standards
are irreconcilable with carnality.
These
first two phrases would ordinarily be sufficient as translations, except we are
discussing a believer in carnality. No carnal believer is in the will of God or
functioning under the norms and standards of God.
3.
The third literal translation is "on the basis of God."
"On
the basis of" is an unusual rendering of the preposition kata. This usage
often denotes a combination of norms and purpose: "in accordance
with" and "because of." The same problem exists. Carnality is
never in compliance with the will, standards, and purpose of God.
The
three previous translations are all legitimate when the believer is in
fellowship. But, (2Co 7:9) describes believers out of fellowship. So what
translation remains? The idiom, "as God would have it."
What
does "as God would have it" imply? The idiom simply states the Divine
purpose to stimulate thinking in the carnal believer and to set aside emotion.
Thinking brings the believer to a decision about rebound, God's way of dealing
with carnality.
I now rejoice, not because you were
distressed, in pain, anguish, sorrow and grief, but because you were distressed
resulting in a change of mind; resulting in Thinking that led to a decision to
rebound, for you were distressed as God would have it,
so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. (2Co 7:9)
This
translation avoids the blasphemy of making an adjective out of the proper noun
for God. "As God would have
it" is the correct
translation of kata Theon in, (2Co 7:9-10).
The
King James Version of, (2Co
7:9) is translated,
"after a godly manner," and (2Co 7:10) is translated
"godly sorrow." The New International Version translates the phrase
correctly in 7:9, "as God intended," but inaccurately in 7:10,
"godly sorrow." Three of these translations are blasphemous. Theon
should always be translated as a noun.
Metanoia is a change of Thinking that results in
a change of mind. The change of mind is
not the solution but leads to the solution, the decision to rebound. The
believer changes his mind by rejecting all of the emotionalism which has no
bearing on forgiveness and cleansing by God.
You must understand that emotion has no faculty
for thinking. Emotion is a responder, not a thinker. You must set aside emotion as a Spiritual standard. You must
start Thinking according to the Word of Truth! (As God would have it)
Emotion
is no gauge of Salvation — you are never saved because you feel saved. After
Salvation you are not restored to fellowship because you feel restored or feel
forgiven. There is only one way to recover fellowship with God after you sin
and that is God's way. God's way is to "admit" your sins to Him. God
takes over from there.
The carnal believer loses fellowship with God and
the Spirit's power for living the Spiritual life until he rebounds. At the Judgment Seat of Christ the consistently
carnal, loser believer feels shame when he is evaluated. (2Co 5:10; cf., 1Co 3:12-15; Php 1:20; 1Jn 2:28) He will not receive greater blessings which were set aside for
him by God in eternity past but can never be conveyed to him. What a tragedy!
"I
now rejoice" is Paul's legitimate emotion after the rapid employment of
rebound. He continues his
Spiritual life with great contentment. When Titus came from Corinth with a good report, Paul was already
in fellowship, and, therefore, he was already rejoicing.
THE
LAWS OF VOLITIONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND DIVINE DISCIPLINE
I now rejoice, not because you were
distressed but because you were distressed resulting in the Thinking that led
to the decision, [The decision is the Divine solution] for you were distressed
as God would have it, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything
through us. (2Co 7:9)
Paul adds a clause at the end of verse 9 —
"in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us,"
which indicates the carnal Corinthians will "suffer loss" but not
because of Paul. They will suffer from their own bad decisions, the Law of
volitional responsibility, and from distress "as God would have it," the Law of Divine discipline.
What
is the Law of volitional responsibility? Scripture states the Law:
For they sow the wind, and they reap the
whirlwind... (Hos 8:7)
The longer you stay out of fellowship, the
greater your misery and pain becomes.
He who sows iniquity will reap vanity...
[Trouble] (Pro 22:8)
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh
will from the flesh reap corruption, [Divine
discipline] but the one who sows to the Spirit will from
the Spirit reap eternal life. [Divine blessings] (Gal 6:7-8)
Paul wrote to the Colossians the effect of
both Laws as they work in combination. For he who does wrong [Volitional
responsibility] will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, [Divine
discipline] and that without partiality. (Col 3:25)
When
you stay out of fellowship and fail to rebound, you extend carnality indefinitely.
You can be revived in only one way from a state of carnality and emotional
revolt. The consequences, "as God would have it," become increasingly miserable. God uses the Law of volitional responsibility
and the Law of Divine discipline to remind you of Spiritual priorities. He
allows you to wallow in the pain of your own making and if that does not remind
you to rebound, then He applies Divine discipline to hasten your recovery. The
justice of God makes you hurt! But remember, His Laws are compatible with His
perfect righteousness.
At some point you must recognize God's Reality. You must realize the consequences of your sin.
Do not blame the torment from your sin on someone else. The ultimate self-deception is never taking
responsibility for your own thoughts, decisions, and actions. We always do things because we decide to do them. Only when we reverse bad decisions can we
reverse stress. The trend-reversing decision is homologeo, confess your sins to
God the Father. (1Jn 1:9)
Prayer
cannot be the means to recover fellowship with God either. Prayer is not a
problem-solving device and can be effective only under the filling of God the
Holy Spirit. You can pray fervently for forgiveness of sins and you are not
forgiven. God heeds no prayers offered in a state of carnality. (Psa 66:18)
Too
often prayer for forgiveness is substituted; but prayer for forgiveness is not
an adjustment to the Light which God IS. Prayer for forgiveness really assumes
that God Himself needs to be changed in His attitude toward the one who has
sinned.
You can feel perpetually sorry, guilty, and
remorseful; you are not forgiven. You can apologize, you can try to make it up
to God, you can go through all the penance in the world and you will not be
forgiven. (And or Saved; Mat 27:3-5) That is not God's way. If you will not agree
to God's way, the alternative is suffering under the Law of volitional
responsibility and Divine discipline, "as God would have it." You will reap what you sow. Divine discipline is administered in three
stages. First is warning discipline, "Behold, I stand at the door and
knock..." (Rev 3:20) Knocking is God's warning. "...If anyone
opens the door" is addressed to believers only. What does "opens the
door" mean? Admit being out of fellowship; to God. What happens next?
"I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." (Rev 3:20) Fellowship is restored! If the believer ignores warning discipline and
keeps the door shut, he then moves into the second stage of Divine discipline
called intensive discipline, a more potent form of warning discipline.
Believers who are out of fellowship and ignorant
of Truth, exist on how they feel, on their emotions. Feelings are subjective
and irrational. Such believers are
Spiritually blind. A physically blind person must feel his way through life. Likewise, a Spiritually blind person feels his
way through the Christian life. And if you are feeling your way through life, you have had it!
Spiritual
blindness is a dangerous condition which may lead to the third stage of
discipline, a dismal departure from life under the sin unto death. (1Jn 5:16-17) The loser believer will still go to heaven and be absent from
the body and face-to-face with the Lord. The purpose of certain earthly
suffering is to encourage rebound; rebound is unnecessary in heaven.
Whether
you are a winner or a loser believer, when you die you are in a place of
perfect happiness until the believer approaches the Judgment Seat of Christ.
However,
inequality will always exist for believers while in this life and also in
eternity. (Rev 22:14-16) The only equality in life is the freedom to use volition. Persistent positive volition toward Truth
advances the believer to become a winner. Persistent negative volition minus
rebound generates a loser.
Thus, freedom spawns inequality.
Where freedom reigns,
inequality exists.
The
Ten Commandments are a freedom, code. Destruction of freedom is caused by
violating that code. "You shall not steal" affirms the right to own
property. (Exod 20:15) When someone steals, they are the enemy of freedom.
The Bible asserts that property is sacred — "you shall not steal."
Scripture also says, "You shall not commit murder," not "thou
shalt not kill." (Exod
20:13; KJV) Homicide is the
ultimate deprivation of freedom. The criminal who kills should be executed.
Otherwise, the victim is forgotten. The Law demands death for a murderer, so he
will never again strip the freedom of another victim. (Lev 24:21; Rom 13:4)
"As
God would have it," then, relates to the Principle of freedom and the Law
of volitional responsibility. Every
believer will be accountable for his decisions both on earth and before the
Judgment Seat of Christ. (Rom 10:1; 2Co 5:10) Those who regularly utilize the rebound
technique in life; remain in fellowship with God, grow to Spiritual maturity;
will not feel shame at the Judgment Seat. (Php 1:20)
For the distress as "God would
have it" [Divine discipline] produces a change of Thinking without regret,
resulting in deliverance; [From Divine discipline] but the guilt complex of the
world produces death. (Carnality
and the sin unto death) (2Co 7:10)
"Distress
as God would have it" produces a change of Thinking that brings on a
decision. What is the decision? Rebound that results in, (Soteria)
"deliverance." What is deliverance? When you rebound, you are
forgiven and cleansed. God takes over. God forgives your sins; God purifies all
your wrongdoing.
AMETAMELETOS
Notice
the phrase, "a change of Thinking without regret" The alpha prefix on
the Greek word metamelomai denotes a negative. Ametameletos means feeling no
remorse, having no regret — hence, the word has no emotional meaning. The
deliverance of rebound requires no emotional activity. If you bring emotion to
rebound, it is no solution. Ametameletos prevents rebound through guilt,
penance, or feeling sorry for sins.
God's
plan is never fulfilled by emoting. When you do fulfill His plan, you may feel some emotion as you
respond to the wonders of His grace. But the great enemy, the
worst arrogance in the world is to believe that you have to feel saved to be
saved and that you have to feel forgiven to be forgiven. How you feel is of no consequence! Ametameletos, "no emotion," contributes to this vital
knowledge.
As
Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer clearly taught, God always forgives and cleanses the
sinner from sin "regardless of emotions."
Great
emphasis is placed on the fact, that the one condition to be met for
restoration of fellowship with God; is acknowledgement of being in the state of
carnality. (1Jn 1:8-10)
(2Co 7:10) reflects the Law of volitional responsibility. "Distress as
God would have it" is the three stages of Divine discipline designed to
eliminate emotion as a criterion for the Spiritual life and elicit a change of
Thinking. A change of Thinking
evokes rebound and results in the restoration of fellowship with God, the
recovery of the filling of God the Holy Spirit, the grace method of resuming
our Spiritual life.
If we stubbornly prefer to trust our emotion, a
false standard for the Spiritual life, then worldly sorrow, (A guilt complex)
and stress bring
"death." If we rely on feeling forgiven, feeling sorry for our sins,
or a system of penance, we will never return to fellowship, and may die the sin
unto death. God alone forgives and purifies.
THE
SOLUTION TO SIN: REBOUND
In
this study of, (2Co 7:5-10) we learned of Paul's failure, his tormented
decline, and then his recovery. At the same time, we studied the source of
Paul's unhappiness, the Corinthians. Paul's distress over these carnal
believers developed into an emotional reaction. The effect is depicted by the
Greek word metamelomai, "to have great regret, to feel sorry, to enter
into guilt reaction." We also studied kata + Theon + lupe, mistranslated
"godly sorrow." Godly sorrow would erroneously involve God in the
emotional reaction of Paul and the Corinthians.
Emotion
is not necessary for rebound recovery. In fact, emotion hinders the function of
the rebound technique. Therefore, in the same passage there are other Greek
words that signify to the believer the Divine method of recovery.
Ametameletos
signifies "the absence of emotion," the state of mind which promotes
rebound. Metanoia means a "change of Thinking," remembering Divine
Thoughts — Truth and picturing the true Concept of rebound. Once you decide to
rebound, soteria is the "deliverance." You are delivered from sin and restored to fellowship with God.
Rebound
as a problem-solving device is not victory over sin. The rebound technique is recovery from sin and
carnality. Victory over the old sin
nature occurs from routine use of Spiritual mechanics — the protocol plan of God. (Rom 6:17-18) Spiritual mechanics include utilization of the two power options — the filling of God the Holy Spirit and Operation Z; also the three
Spiritual skills — the filling of God the Holy Spirit, Operation Z,
and all the ten problem solving devices.
Without
the Premise of rebound, there can be no Spiritual conclusion. What is the
Premise of rebound? It is found in the first half of, (1Jn 1:9) The Premise comes in the form of a Greek third class condition,
a more probable future condition. The purpose of the third class condition is
to indicate that you have a choice, in this case a choice of whether to remain
carnal or not. "If we admit our sins," maybe we will and maybe we
will not, is the Premise. The Greek verb homologeo means "to admit, to
name to cite" your sins. Non-meritorious homologeo is the Divine solution
of rebound.
If
the Premise is false, then, of course, the conclusion is false. If you add
anything to "confess," homologeo, it cancels recovery of fellowship,
just as in Salvation, if you add anything to faith, (Pistis) it cancels faith
for Salvation. Faith plus "lordship Salvation," faith plus
commitment, faith plus anything negates faith. Rebound plus sorrow, rebound
plus anguish, rebound plus emotion, rebound plus penance superimpose human thoughts against Divine Thoughts
and negate rebound. The result is no
recovery of fellowship with God. When the believer consistently fails to
utilize rebound, he is on the road to becoming a loser.
A
loser believer can never lose his Salvation from the Lake of Fire, yet he
resides in a state of perpetual carnality. The ONLY exception, is a believer
living in the Tribulation period who takes the mark of the beast; (Rev 14:6-12) if an unbeliever takes the mark of the beast or does not take
the mark — DOES NOT send him to the Lake of Fire. NOT believing in Jesus Christ
DOES! (Joh 3:18; Rev 14:6-7)
A Believer who is given the GRACE, to see and hear an angel tell him NOT to
worship the beast and take his mark; AND DOES! ...HE ALSO WILL... Go to the
Lake of Fire. (Rev 14:9-12)
With the sin nature in control the loser believer
develops a smug and pompous mental attitude. In emotional revolt he
becomes jealous of those in his periphery. Jealousy develops into bitterness.
By neglecting rebound bitterness turns to anger and implacability, then hatred
and vindictiveness. Now, the loser begins a pattern of self-justification,
self-deception, and self-absorption, the three arrogance skills.
Once the arrogance skills are in place the
believer acts no differently than the unbeliever. He is capable of being full of malice, revenge
motivation, vituperation, vilification, violence, even murder. Even the most
Spiritually mature of believers is susceptible to this road to ruin if he
neglects rebound.
Rebound
is the road to restoration accomplished in the privacy of your priesthood.
Every believer in the New Covenant Age is a priest, (1Pe 2:5-9; Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10) and has access to God
the Father. The sins that you admit to God the Father are the same sins He
imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. Christ received the judgment of
your sins on the cross. "He who knew
no sin was made sin as a substitute for us" (2Co 5:21) — the corrected translation of the Greek preposition hupo + the
genitive plural of advantage from ego, "a substitute for us." He was our substitute: He took
our place; He was judged for our sins; "He carried our sins in His own
body on the cross!" (1Pe 2:24) Therefore, when we use homologeo, when we "name, cite,
admit, confess, acknowledge" our carnality, we are acknowledging sins that
were judged in the courtroom of the Crucifixion.
Without
the basic Premise of rebound no Spiritual skills can exist. Without the true
conclusion of rebound no Spiritual life is possible. The conclusion is the
Greek form of the apodosis, of a third class condition — "If you confess your sins to God, God
forgives you."
Two
Greek words aphiemi, "forgive," and katharizo "purify,"
define God's actions when we rebound. He "forgives us our sins" and
"He purifies us from all wrongdoing." We resume fellowship with Him. When we do so many things and or sins that we
do not even know are sins; they are also wiped away. When we confess our known
sins and or being out of fellowship, He purifies us from sins that were not
known to be sins. What about rebound as a
problem-solving device? Here are a few Principles you should know:
1.
Rebound as the first problem-solving device on the FLOT line of the soul, is
the key to recovery of the Spiritual life from sin and carnality.
2.
Rebound is the only problem-solving device that functions in the status of
carnality.
3.
The only reason that rebound can function in the status of carnality is because
of the Doctrine of the universal priesthood of the believer.
4.
The universal priesthood of the believer is irrevocable and is not affected by
the carnality of the believer.
Since
the priesthood is irrevocable, when the priest is out of fellowship through
sin, he still represents himself before God. The believer-priest acknowledges
his sins to God in the privacy of his priesthood.
The
royal priesthood of the New Covenant Age is part of the equal opportunity for
the believer to execute the protocol plan of God. Therefore, the function of
the priesthood in rebound has three results:
1.
Recovery of the filling of God the Holy Spirit.
2.
Restoration to fellowship with God.
3.
Resumption of your Spiritual life.
When emotion becomes the criterion for the
Spiritual life, believers become subjective (How we "feel") and embrace Salvation by works and rebound by works. The believer can eventually become involved in crusader arrogance
and Christian activism. A few points to
remember:
1.
Rebound is not victory over sin or carnality; rebound is recovery from sin and
carnality.
2.
Pseudo rebound perpetuates carnality while true rebound has four important
results in the Spiritual life — well, actually three of them that we have
studied: recovery of the filling of God the Holy Spirit; restoration of
fellowship with God; resumption of the Spiritual life. The fourth is to reach
the point of a Spiritually mature, invisible hero.
Resumption
of the Spiritual life and consequent persistence in the grace mechanics of the
Spiritual life, sets the stage for the victory over sin.
Rebound
is not a victory over sin. Victory over sin is the procedure of the four
Spiritual mechanics of the protocol plan of God: the utilization of the two
power options; the function of the three Spiritual skills; the deployment of
the ten problem-solving devices; and execution of the three stages of the adult
Spiritual life. All of this is accomplished under the filling of God the Holy
Spirit as the first power option, followed by the second power option,
metabolized Divine Thinking circulating in the seven compartments of the stream
of consciousness.
NO
SUBSTITUTE FOR REBOUND
Faith
is not a substitute for rebound in the life of the believer. The faith of a
regenerate human being is ineffectual with God apart from the filling ministry
of God the Holy Spirit. (Joh
4:24) Since the carnal
believer grieves and or quenches God the Holy Spirit, such a believer is void
of strength to recover or to execute the Christian life. Faith, Bible Promises, Doctrines, and ALL
Scripture in use; without the controlling ministry of God the Holy Spirit is
futility, just another human activity! (Joh 4:23-24) That cannot gain forgiveness or the approval of God and has no part
in the Spiritual life! Homologeo, the confessing of sins, is the
Divinely ordained, grace method for reinstating the filling of God the Holy
Spirit, in the life of every believer. Only when filled with God the Holy Spirit; can faith be effective
for living the Spiritual life.
(Pro 1:23) The faith of a regenerate person functions
only under the filling of the Spirit.
The
exercise of human old sin nature faith without the filling of the Spirit is a
work. An act of faith lacking the filling of God the Holy Spirit is merely a
human endeavor to appease God.
Only faith in Christ for Salvation and rebound, for believers, the first Divine
problem-solving device, can operate without the filling of God the Holy Spirit.
(But God the Holy Spirit still provides the means
to make Salvation and rebound possible) Remember this Principle: God cannot have fellowship with believers who add human works to
rebound.
While
God gives every believer thirty-nine irrevocable things at the moment of
Salvation, there is one other gift, the fortieth thing, the filling of God the
Holy Spirit that can be interrupted through sin and lack of rebound or by
pseudo rebound. When sin puts us out of fellowship, how can we recover the
filling of God the Holy Spirit? Not by faith in anything; but God's Promise of rebound! (1Jn 1:9) Only after recovery of the filling of the God
Holy Spirit can Spiritual faith even function in the Spiritual life. (1Co 3:1-3)
Let
us examine the Concept of human faith. In eternity past our sins were collected
in one PROM chip in the computer of Divine decrees. The omniscience of God knew
all the knowable and programmed this one chip with all the sins of human
history. The impeccable humanity
of Christ on the Cross received the imputation and judgment for all those sins. Our sins went before the Supreme Court of
Heaven and were canceled.
This
is why anyone who expresses human faith in Jesus Christ can be eternally saved.
Yet this believing faith issues from a Spiritually dead person. Such faith has
no value or validity in itself. The value of faith lies in its object, Jesus
Christ, and the validity of faith exists only through the power of God the Holy
Spirit; who causes human faith to be effective for Salvation. Faith is
non-meritorious; the merit belongs to Jesus Christ for His work on the cross
and to God the Holy Spirit who substantiates faith by His work of common and
efficacious grace.
The
same is true of rebound. Admitting your sins is non-meritorious. Vindication
occurs because Jesus Christ was already judged for all our sins on the Cross.
When we admit our sins, God takes over. His faithfulness and righteousness
forgives us from all wrongdoing. Not our faith, but His faithfulness secures
forgiveness. Our failures are our own, but our recovery depends on the grace of
God.
Rebound
is never a work on the part of the believer. God does all the work. No
emotional purging, agonizing, "godly sorrow," or penance is required
of the believer. Neither can the nonfunctioning human faith of the carnal
believer bring forgiveness. We can recover fellowship only through
acknowledgement of sins, to God the Father. This is the mandate of, (1Jn 1:9). Once being out of fellowship is admitted, then the Spiritual
faith-rest life may again operate under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit.
Admitting
sins is accomplished by a priest; a priest represents himself before God. Who
is a priest? Every believer in Jesus Christ. You are a member of a priesthood,
different from all priesthoods of the Old Testament. In Israel the Levitical
priesthood served all the nation. But every believer in the New Covenant Age is
his own priest, a royal priest. At the moment of Salvation, the baptism of God
the Holy Spirit places us in union with Christ, in the royal family and
priesthood of God.
Once
a priest, always a priest. There are two kinds of priests: a good priest and a
bad priest. A good priest is filled with the Spirit. A bad priest is in a state
of carnality. When a priest is carnal, how can he ever be Spiritual again?
Rebound! Yet, even in carnality he is still a priest — just like the Levitical
priest of old who could be unrighteous and still hold his priestly office.
Regardless
of whether a Levitical priest was carnal or not, he followed Divine
instructions as defined in the Mosaic Law. He was charged with interceding
between God and the sins of the people. What was the personal Spiritual life of
the priest? We do not know — he may or may not have been in a state of sin. But
whatever the status of his Spiritual life, he still followed instructions in
performing his priestly duties. Faith was not the issue; he was just to obey
Instructions. When he followed Instructions, even in carnality, God's grace was
made visible to all and the rebound offering was acceptable to God.
When
the Church Age believer commits a sin, the sin nature takes control of the
soul, and God the Holy Spirit is grieved, and with prolonged carnality —
quenched. The believer is powerless to express faith that is acceptable to God
the Father. He must simply follow the Divine Instructions laid down by, (1Jn 1:9). Those Instructions are to admit his sins. Then, God takes over.
The
believer uses his volition to enter into sin. Likewise, he uses his volition to
follow Divine Instructions to recover the filling of God the Holy Spirit — to
be restored to fellowship with God. Just as the Levitical priest followed the
mandates of the Mosaic Law, so the Church Age believer must follow New Covenant
Instructions. Faith alone for recovery of fellowship is not part of those
directions. For the believer, faith is the vehicle for learning and applying
Truth. This faith-rest drill operates only in the power of God the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, recovering fellowship with God through faith is not part of the
Divinely designed plan.
If you examine your Spiritual life in the light
of Truth and discover sin and failure, accept the blame and follow
instructions. What are the
instructions? Admit the sins that you know are sins, acknowledge them to God in
the privacy of your priesthood — no repentance, no works, no faith, no emotion,
no begging God for forgiveness, no "I'll do better, I promise." That is works! You have just ignored God's Instructions.
A
subtle attack on rebound has emerged: Since faith is the requirement for
Salvation, faith must also be the requirement for rebound. If you must believe
in Christ for Salvation, likewise you must believe to recover fellowship. Not
true! Expressing faith is not the Biblical mandate for Spiritual recovery from
personal sin. (Apart from believing that
you will be forgiven, if you follow the
Instructions) In, (1Jn 1:9) homologeo charges you only to admit your sins, acknowledge being
out of fellowship and that you want to
get back in! (Just open the door; Rev 3:20) To follow any other instruction perpetuates carnality and destroys
the Spiritual life.
Follow
your Instructions! What could be simpler or reveal God's grace more than
admitting your sins in the privacy of your priesthood? Acknowledging sins does
not require faith. Human faith without the filling of God the Holy Spirit is a
hollow gesture devoid of Spiritual power.
In
Spiritual death the unbeliever has but one Divine solution — faith in Christ.
In post Salvation carnality the believer has only one Divine solution — to follow Divine Instructions!
Unbelievers
are Spiritually dead and there is only one thing a Spiritually dead person can
do for Salvation. He cannot make a commitment; he cannot make Christ Lord; he
cannot go through agonizing emotional activity. He must simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. (Act 16:31)
Should
not the same be true for rebound? Definitely not! Spiritual impotence
characterizes a believer-priest out of fellowship. Faith has no power to induce forgiveness from
God. What is the solution
for the priest? The believer-priest
simply follows Divine Instructions. In the privacy of his priesthood, and God takes over. Then the recovery of the filling of God the
Spirit provides the power to utilize faith in the Spiritual life.
Since
Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all sins, fulfilling the mandate of, (1Jn 1:9) it is never an activity that earns forgiveness. The
acknowledgment of sins carries no merit in itself. When you name your sins to God, you are citing
sins that went to court at the Cross. God forgives based on the work of Christ,
never our work!
Faith
is never a requirement for forgiveness from God, only the function of your
royal priesthood in following Divine Instructions. You must represent yourself
before God. As a believer-priest in the state of carnality, you cannot deploy
any other problem-solving devices, including the faith necessary to launch the
faith-rest drill. You are out of fellowship, minus the filling of God the Holy
Spirit. All other
problem-solving devices function only under the filling of the Spirit. As long as carnality continues, you are
helpless to utilize faith or the faith-rest drill. That is why the Instructions
are so simple. (Pro 1:23; Isa 55:7)
God
is not emotional; God gave us emotion in our souls as an appreciator to enjoy
the wonderful things in life. God's solutions are not emotional. You can whine
and mew and beg God's forgiveness. You can express an enormous amount of faith.
You are wasting your time — follow Divine Instructions! Admit your sins to God
privately!
Rebound
is based on the function of the believer's royal priesthood. As a carnal or
sinful priest, believers simply fulfill the function of homologeo. Admitting
your sins does not require faith. All post-Salvation faith is related to one of
three stages of the faith-rest drill that functions on the filling of God the
Holy Spirit. The first stage is
faith-mechanics. Faith-mechanics includes Thinking with Promises and Doctrinal
Rationales and mixing them with the second stage, faith-function. When you believe the Promises of God under the
filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit, then faith is operational. The third
stage, faith-execution, relates to the four Spiritual mechanics of the protocol
plan of God for the New Covenant Age.
In
a state of carnality God the Holy Spirit is quenched and grieved and,
therefore, faith cannot operate. The carnal priest must follow instructions by
admitting his sins to God. When he does, the recovery of the filling of God the
Spirit causes faith to once again become operational.
You
were not a priest when you believed in Christ. Therefore, you employed faith
alone in Christ alone for Salvation. Now that you are a priest, you can deal
with your own sins. Follow the priestly Directions — confess your sins; nothing
more. When you OBEY Instructions, God's actions are described in the apodosis
of, (1Jn 1:9). Pistos, "He IS faithful" — He
always does the same thing. You may have to use rebound five hundred times or
more, but He is always going to do the same thing. He never loses patience. We
cannot be always consistent, but God is always consistent.
God
IS faithful, pistos, and He IS also righteous, dikaios. His righteousness is
not compromised by forgiving your sins. When Jesus Christ went to the cross and
every sin in human history was imputed to Him, He insured that the
righteousness of God could not be compromised in forgiving the believer's
personal sins.
Because He IS faithful and always does the same
thing and because His righteousness is never compromised, He
"forgives," aphiemi, our sins, and He "purifies,"
katharizo, us from all wrongdoing. The sins we forgot about or did not know; He
forgives those, too!
Who
does the work in rebound? God! We simply name our sins — sins that went to
court at the Cross. We are citing a case — the only case in our favor. The true
Principle of rebound is based upon the substitutionary Spiritual death and
judgment of Christ on the Cross. Rebound works because God the Father imputed to Jesus Christ
every sin that any human being ever has or ever will commit!
End
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