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 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)
Christian
Integrity (God’s Game plan)
GOD HAS A PLAN FOR OUR
LIFE
NEVER BEFORE IN HISTORY has every
believer in Jesus Christ possessed two royal Warrants — his priesthood
directed toward God and his ambassador-ship directed toward man and
circumstances. Never before in history has every believer been indwelt
simultaneously by God the Son; Jesus Christ, and by God the Holy Spirit. Never
before in history has so much personal responsibility been delegated to every
believer as in the present era — the New Covenant Church Age. Never before in history has a body of believers received all
its instructions in writing — the completed
canon of Scripture. Never before in history has
the ritual in worship been replaced by
illustrations.
In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle, (Exodus
25:8-9) the Feasts, the Offerings, the Sabbath, the New Moon, and
later the Temple and the Gates of the City of Jerusalem, (Neh 12:31-39) Etc. Represented
who Christ Was, Is, and will always Be, and what He would do, and the
progressive stages of the Spiritual life of Israel and the Spiritual life
Christ would use to grow to Spiritual maturity. In the past believers
used ritual as teaching props, (Theatrical property) to aid in understanding the
meaning of the Doctrines. Today we have the Reality
of what Christ has accomplished! All these advantages and many more have
been taken by God and reduced to a system, a protocol system designed in heaven
to function on earth now. The unprecedented series of
blessings from God to the believer has been reduced not only to a protocol
system but to one system with eight categories for Christ and ten for the
believer. Since this is a Divine power system, it is
called, the fruit of the Spirit, (Gal 5:22-23)
Spirit and Truth, (Joh
4:24) Joy, (Joh 17:13) the Divine
dynasphere, (Act 1:8) Glory, (Joh 17:22)
Love, (Joh 17:26)
the Tabernacle
(Exodus 25:9; Heb 8:5) the Temple,
(1Ch 29:19; 2Co
6:16) the New self, (Col 3:10) the Divine nature; (2Pe
1:4) the Edification complex, (Eph 4:16) the bottom
circle — The New Covenant Spiritual life
— all mean the same thing the Spiritual life for the
believer NOW! (Joh 17:13-26)
Beyond the
protocol plan of God, with its one system of ten gates, is the plan of Satan
for your life — a cosmic system designed to make you, the believer, an enemy of
the Cross. (Php 3:18) As a believer
living in this New Covenant Age, you have an option to exercise: life in the
Spiritual life as the protocol plan of God, or life in the cosmic system, as
the strategy of Satan. (Eph 2:2-3) (Spirit and Truth
or Ignorance, arrogance; Eph 4:18) You cannot exercise that option until
you have accumulated the facts — information about the plan of God for your
life.
This book is designed to place in perspective the simple and sometimes
complex facts about the plan of God. The Principles
of the Bible presented in this book bring together categorically the
information you need to be a winner! Ignorance
of God’s plan will make you a loser! Rejection
of God’s plan will keep you entangled in yokes of bondage to Satan’s cosmic
system and your old sin nature. (2Ti 2:25-26; 1Sa 15:22-23)
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of
man was great on the earth, and that every intent of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5)
I will never again curse the ground on
account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil
from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I
have done.
(Gen 8:21)
And just as it happened in the days of
Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying,
they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and
the flood came and destroyed them all. It was
the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking,
they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;
but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained
fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same
on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. (Luk 17:26-30)
O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted
to you, [Spirit and Truth] avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what
is falsely called "knowledge"-- which some have professed and thus
gone astray from the faith. [Spirit and Truth] Grace be with you. (1Ti 6:20-21)
But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for
you are not setting your mind on God's interests, [Spirit and Truth] but man's. [Ignorance and arrogance] (Mat 16:23)
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,
your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to
Christ. (2Co 11:3)
These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. [Spirit and
Truth]
(Jude 1:19)
The only way out is to learn God's
Thoughts in the filling of God the Holy Spirit and Think with them, God has made a way, regardless of human intellect or IQ, we can all reach maturity!
For to us God revealed them [His Thoughts
— Truth] through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the
depths of God. Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, (Satan’s system) but the Spirit who is
from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which
things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught
by the Spirit, combining Spiritual thoughts with Spiritual words. But a natural
man [The unbeliever and carnal Believer] does not accept the things [Thoughts]
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand
them, because they are Spiritually appraised. But he who is Spiritual appraises
all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND
OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have The Mind of Christ. (1Co 2:10-16)
Mastery of these Spiritual Thoughts will
provide for you the options and decisions necessary to glorify God in the
fulfillment of His plan.
The plan of God for the believer is that intersection of life where the
protocol of heaven meets the protocol of earth, (Protocol: A strict long
established code or procedure, (God's Plan) giving complete submission to
superior rank and authority, (God's Word) with due order of precedence,
(Christ; Heb 12:1-4) coupled with exact
correct precise procedure! (Obedience:
for the purpose of glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ; 2Ti 2:4).
You stand at that crossroads as you read the pages of this book! On the first Christmas in history, the virgin birth of
Christ, God the Father gave Jesus Christ the prototype New Covenant Spiritual
life. This protocol system sustained our Lord throughout His life on
earth. An unprecedented change had taken place which necessitated a new plan;
the presence of Jesus Christ, the God of Israel — who had resided as the
Shekinah Glory in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and later the Temple —
had come in the flesh!
And the Word [Logos, the title of Christ
as eternal God] became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory
[Shekinah Glory] glory as the unique Son of the Father, full of grace and
Truth. [Spirit and Truth] (Joh 1:14)
We are now Commanded to reflect that same Spiritual life, and the
presence of Jesus Christ, who indwells us. (Joh 14:20;
Col 1:27) Our bodies are His temple
during the New Covenant Age; we are His new
sanctuary. (Rom 8:9-11; 1Co 6:19-20)
Jesus Christ is the “author and
perfecter of our Spiritual life” because, as a man, He resided in the prototype;
the operational Spiritual life now belongs to us. (Heb 12:2) God has given us the sphere of power,
the system of protocol that we need to “proclaim the Virtues” of Christ in
our lives. (1Pe 2:9) As believers
we come to love our Lord Jesus Christ — our “most important love” (Rev 2:4) — by
living within the system in which His humanity lived. By obeying the Commands of His protocol system, by Thinking
with His Thoughts — Bible Doctrines, Promises
and Commands — the “Mind of Christ” (1Co 2:16) — by
utilizing the filling of God the Holy Spirit Who sustained our Lord, we become
“imitators of God.” (Eph 5:1) The dynamics
of Christ’s humanity becomes our dynamics. His Virtues become our Virtues; His
capacity for happiness becomes our capacity; His glory, (Divine nature) becomes our glory. (Our new Divine nature; 2Pe 1:4) cf. (2Co 3:18)
INNOVATION WITHIN A SYSTEM
God’s plan for your life is analogous to the game plan for the
Super-bowl. Two teams are involved, and two systems are in competition. One
game plan works and wins; the other fails and loses. There is only one game
plan that wins for the believer—the Spiritual life with its ten gates.
In His matchless grace God has provided a precise instrument system. We
are not authorized to fly by the seat of our pants. Without
a system we have no Standards, no coordination, no performance, and no
effectiveness. Success demands a system! A system is a coordinated plan
that unifies and directs the efforts of all the diverse individuals and
elements within an organization. No coach can innovate on the playing field
without a cohesive system of organization, authority, training, and discipline.
Innovation without a system is disastrous in any realm — athletics,
business, politics, economics, the military, social life and the Spiritual
life. We as believers in Christ cannot successfully innovate in our
lives, exercising wisdom and common sense in the challenges that confront us, unless we live in the system God has ordained.
Each life is unique; the system establishes protocol for all. God does not tell
us precisely what to Think and do in each situation; He gives us freedom to apply the correct Verse and or Verses, Doctrine
and or Doctrines, Promise and or Promises in our own lives. But
innovation and practical application must be within His system. Each believer must learn God’s game plan just as a
professional athlete learns the playbook.
One of the most effective systems in professional football forbids the
quarterback to call the plays. The coach personally directs every play from the
sidelines. He is the one who does the thinking and plans the strategy. The
players execute the game plan with confidence because they know the system
works. No quarterback under pressure on the field can out-think the coach.
Every successful system has a purpose, policy, and structure of authority.
On a football team the coach’s purpose is to win; his policies promote
winning; and his structure of authority takes the talented, the arrogant, the
strong, the weak, the lazy, the unconcerned, and then teaches them to
concentrate under pressure, and transforms them into one of the finest teams in
professional football. The smart coach devises his system to be greater than
any of its component parts, greater than any individual player. The system
enables his organization to establish a consistent winning record over
the years regardless of who is on the team. It does
not matter who executes the plays, as long as he does it the coach’s way! God’s
perfect system — the Spiritual life — is greater than any human system or individual believer.
God’s plan works in every generation, for anyone who will follow its Mandates.
The Divine system transforms all kinds of believers into Spiritually mature
believers; winners in the devil’s world. (Joh
12:31; Joh 14:30; Joh 16:11; Eph 2:1-8;
1Jn 2:13-14)
In God’s system the purpose is to
glorify Jesus Christ;
the policy is grace; the authority is the sovereignty of God. Christ is glorified by the Salvation of unbelievers and the
imputation of blessings to believers; the policy of grace is defined in
the Bible; Divine authority is embodied in the Word of God (Rom 1:16) and delegated as temporal authority
under the Divine laws of establishment. (Rom 13:1-8)
Like the coach, God has done the Thinking, planned
the strategy, and called the plays. As believers our responsibility is to
execute His plan! (Isa 14:24)
MANY COMMANDS, ONE SPIRITUAL LIFE
God has issued hundreds of Commands
throughout the New Testament. We are instructed to be filled with God the Holy
Spirit, to confess our sins, to love the brethren, to rest in the Lord, to
maintain humility, to learn and apply the Word of God, to love God and be
Occupied with Christ, to acquire Virtue, to resist evil, to achieve Spiritual
maturity!
These imperatives are not isolated Commands unrelated to one another; all these
diverse Commandments for the believer combine to form the perfect Divine
system.
If you keep My Commandments, you will
abide in My love; [Spiritual life] just as I have kept My Father's Commandments
and abide in His love. [Spirit and Truth] (Joh 15:10)
God’s system is designated the “sphere of love” or love complex to emphasize
love as the supreme Christian Virtue. (1Co 13:13)
The New Testament Commands us to love, but no one can obey this Command without
understanding that love is an entire sphere, a complex of interrelated
elements, a system of power. The coined term for this Divine system, from the
Greek is dunamis, “power,” and sphaia, “sphere”: the “Divine dynasphere
— Spiritual life — Spirit and Truth.” These
descriptive synonyms emphasize the efficacy and sustaining strength of the love
complex. (The fruit of the Spirit; Gal 5:22-23)
In the future, keep on being strong
[Dunamai, the cognate verb of dunamis] in the Lord, even by means of the inner
rule of His endowed power [The Divine dynasphere] Wear for yourselves the full
armor from God [The Spiritual life] that you may be able [Dunamai] to hold your
ground against the tactics [False thinking] of the devil. (Eph 6:10-11)
In, (Eph 6:13-17) Paul
illustrates the Spiritual life through an analogy to the Roman soldier’s
uniform — his belt, breastplate, sandals, shield, helmet, and sword. The
panoply of God consists of separate items of Spiritual armor and weaponry,
each of which contributes to the believer’s victory in Spiritual combat. Just
as the Directive to “don the full armor of God” requires you to
skillfully wield an array of offensive and defensive weapons against the enemy,
so also the Command to reside in the Spiritual life demands obedience to an
entire system of Divine Imperatives. The Divine system coordinates every
legitimate temporal and Spiritual activity in life. By
consistently living in this power system, the believer obeys all God’s
Commands. (Joh 14:21; Gal 5:22-23)
THE GATES OF THE SYSTEM
Since Divine Commands can be
organized into categories, the prototype Spiritual life has eight
“gates.”
1. THE POWER GATE: the
filling of God the Holy Spirit.
2. OBJECTIVITY: basic
Christian modus operandi.
3. TEACHABILITY: enforced
and genuine humility.
4. SPIRITUAL MOMENTUM: perception
and application of Bible Doctrine.
5. MOTIVATIONAL VIRTUE: Personal
love for God.
6. FUNCTIONAL VIRTUE: Impersonal
love for mankind.
7. MOMENTUM TESTING: acceleration
of Spiritual growth.
8. THE WINNER’S GATE: Spiritual
maturity, sharing the happiness of God.
Because all eight gates are engaged as one dynamic unity, this is also
designated the love complex as the “interlocking system of love.” A diagram of
the system shows the coalescence of the gates.
Compare
Gates one, two, and three interlock to provide the power, objectivity,
and receptivity needed for learning and applying the Word of God at gate four.
Gate four is the momentum gate. All momentum in the
Spiritual life is fueled by knowledge of Divine Thoughts and accelerated
by proper application of God's Spiritual Thinking. Spiritual
momentum carries the believer to Spiritual maturity. Gates one through three
constitute motivation essential for concentration on Truth, whereas gates five
through eight are result gates, the results of Spiritual momentum. Gates five
and six form a double gate that expresses the most vital Concept in
experiential Christianity: integrity precedes love. In
dealing with mankind, God’s integrity always comes before His love; the
essence of God establishes the precedent for the Christian way of life. We,
too, must possess integrity before we have capacity to love God or man. This is the Doctrine of Virtue-love.
The first four gates of the system
build Christian Virtue, honor, and integrity; Virtue love pervades the system
at gates five and six. The Spiritual Virtues in gate
five directed toward God motivate the functional virtues in gate six directed
toward people, self, things and circumstances. These motivational and
functional Virtues stand or fall together. Gate seven provides Divine solutions
to resolve the problems of life as the believer’s Spiritual momentum is
repeatedly challenged. Passing these tests accelerates Spiritual growth. (Sin nature, people, thought, system — organization, and
disaster testing) Gate eight, the objective is Spiritual maturity!
And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in
weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults,
with distresses, with persecutions,
with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when
I am weak, then I am strong. (2Co 12:9-10)
MATURITY AND INTEGRITY
Maturity, the goal of the
Christian’s life, is achieved through steadfastness in the Spiritual life,
where the believer acquires capacity for life, for love, for happiness, for “greater
grace” or super-grace, (Jas 4:6)
beyond God’s faithful sustenance of all believers. The believer in gate eight
has become a Spiritual aristocrat invested with the title “Friend of God.” (Jas
2:23) Through his tenacity to reside and
function in the Spiritual life, he has attained an honorable status in his soul
that glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.
The superior quality of the
Spiritually mature believer’s life is a testimony to Divine grace; all the
mature Christian has and is depends entirely on Christ’s saving work and His
gift of the Spiritual life. God can prosper the mature
believer with a maximum expression of grace because he has capacity to
appreciate God’s blessings without forgetting their source. In gate eight the believer recognizes the giver, God
Himself, in every gift received.
The Spiritually mature
believer approaches life from the Divine Viewpoint, which is manifested in
discernment, thoughtfulness toward people, and the ability to astutely
interpret current trends of history. Stabilized by his love for Truth, he is
distinguished by his Spiritual common sense. He
maintains his poise in all circumstances, sustained by the unseen Reality of
his Virtue love for God. In the strength of the Spiritual life, the
mature believer has constructed an edifice in his soul, (1Co 3:9-17; Eph 4:12)
an inner structure called the “edification complex,” with a penthouse that
represents the happiness of God.
True happiness is achieved only in the
Spiritual life. Happiness depends on Virtue, honor, and integrity.
Integrity is a state or quality of
being complete; an unimpaired state of honesty and purity; a soundness of
Principle; the character of uncorrupted Virtue, especially in relation to Truth
and fair dealing. Integrity is uprightness of character; probity; candor;
uncompromising adherence to a code of Spiritual or professional values; the
avoidance of deception, expediency, artificiality, or shallowness of any kind.
Reduced to essentials, integrity
is loyalty to Truth. Truth exists in three
categories: the Divine laws of establishment, the Gospel, and Truth — the
Divine Thinking of the Bible. Our residence in the sphere
of God’s power is our loyalty to the absolute Truth of His design. In Commands
that form part of the Bible, He has prescribed for us this complete,
interlocking structure for developing integrity so that, from His own
integrity, He may share His happiness with us both now and forever.
For by these He has
granted to us His precious and magnificent Promises, so
that by them you may become partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption [The old sin nature] that is in the world by
lust. (2Pe 1:4)
PAUL’S PRAYERS CONCERNING THE
SPIRITUAL LIFE
The Spiritual life is the subject of two apostolic prayers by Paul, the
man who exploited God’s power and advanced farther in the Spiritual life than
any other believer. (2Pe 3:15-16)
For this reason I [Paul] too, having heard
about your faith in the Lord Jesus and the love toward all the saints [Functional
Virtue, Impersonal love toward all believers, gate six] do not cease giving
thanks for you while mentioning you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a Spirit of wisdom and of
revelation [The filling and teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit, gate one]
in the full knowledge of Him, [Learning and Thinking
with the Mind of Christ, gate four, resulting in Personal love for God, gate
five] that the eyes of your heart [The Thinking portion of the soul] may
be enlightened [Perceptive ability based on the first four gates of the system]
so that you may know what is the hope of His calling [Spiritual maturity] and
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, [Temporal and eternal blessings to believers who live in
the system] and what is the surpassing greatness of His power [Spiritual
victory from living in fellowship with God] toward us who believe. These are
according to the standard of the operational power [The function of the Divine
system] of His inner power, [The Spiritual life] which power that has been
operational in Christ [The humanity of Christ living in the prototype
throughout the First Advent] when He [The Father] raised Him from the dead and
seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places. [Christ’s strategic
victory over Satan through death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session] (Eph 1:15-20)
The second apostolic prayer expresses Paul’s exhortation that believers “Become
strong by means of His power [The Spiritual life] through His Spirit [God the
Holy Spirit, gate one] in the inner man” [The new Divine nature] and that they
“may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph
3:16-19) A synonym for Spiritual maturity. This second prayer
concludes:
Now to the One [God the Father] Himself
being able [Dunamai, referring to Divine omnipotence] far beyond all things to
do infinitely more than that which we could ask or imagine, according to the
power [Dunamis, the Spiritual life] being itself effective in us, to Him be the
glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus with reference to all generations
forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)
SPIRITUAL ARISTOCRACY
The New Covenant Spiritual life is here at unique period of human
history from the day of Pentecost, (Act 2:1)
circa A.D. 30, through the Church Age, Tribulation (Luk 12:35-53;
2Co 3:6;
Rev 14:4-5) and until the end of the
Millennium. (Jer 31:33-34) cf. (Heb 13:20) We are on the victory side of The
Cross, The Spiritual life for the Reality plan, was
designed for Jesus Christ. This system of
power could not be given to believers until Christ had proven the system
throughout His life, accomplishing His mission for the First Advent, earning
the glory of a new royal title, founding a new royal dynasty to which He could
bequeath His system of power and love. (Joh
4:23; Gal 5:22-23) During
the Church Age, Jesus Christ as glorified royalty is seated at the right hand
of God the Father in heaven, while the Father forms on earth a royal family for
Him. We are the New Covenant royal family!
Jesus Christ retains three titles of royalty, each with a royal family.
As God, our Lord is Divine royalty, the “Son of God,” and His royal
family is the Trinity. As man, Jesus is Jewish royalty, the “Son of
David,” and His royal family is the line of King David. As the God-Man, the
Lord Jesus Christ won the strategic victory over Satan at the Cross and earned
a third series of royal titles, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” and “The
Bright Morning Star.” (1Ti 6:15; Rev 19:16; Rev 22:16)
These last titles signify His battlefield royalty, His strategic victory over
Satan.’
Royal Title
|
Royal Family
|
|
Divine
|
Son of God
|
God the Father
God the Holy
Spirit
|
Jewish
|
Son of David
|
The Davidic
Dynasty
|
Battlefield
|
Lord of Lords
King of Kings
The Bright
Morning Star
|
The New Covenant
Age
|
THE THREE
ROYALTIES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
When Christ ascended to heaven, after perfectly accomplishing His
mission on earth, He was rewarded with this third patent of royalty from the
Father. (Eph 1:20-23) For the first
time our Lord possessed a royal title with no royal family. To establish a
royal family for Christ’s new aristocracy, God started the New Covenant Age of
the Church. Designated the “body of Christ” (Eph 1:22-23;
Eph 4:12) the “bride of Christ” (2Co 11:2; Eph 5:25-27)
and implied in the vocatives “beloved” and “brethren,” the Church, the 144,000,
the Millennial believers, all receive the
New Covenant Spiritual life. (2Co 3:5-11;
Heb 8:8-13) cf. (Heb 10:14-17; Heb 13:20)
And this is His third royal family. Everyone who believes in Christ from now
till the end of time, simultaneously becomes a member of the royal family of
God forever and has access to the completed Spiritual life! (Rom 8:11-14)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, [God Himself in
a human body] glory as the unique Son of the
Father, full of grace and Truth. [The New Covenant
Spiritual life] (Joh 1:14)
And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and
stature, and in favor with God and men. (Luk 2:52)
Although He was a Son, He learned
obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect,
[Spiritually Mature] He became to all those who obey
Him the source of eternal Salvation. [In time and through Eternity] (Heb 5:8-9)
Who, although He existed in the form of
God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the
form of a bond-servant, and being made in the
likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. For this
reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which
is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those
who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Php 2:6-11)
As a demonstration of love for the Son, God the Father provided the
Spiritual life to sustain the humanity of Christ who, from the virgin birth
until His ascension to heaven, would face continuous opposition in the devil’s
world. God combined certain Divine Principles into a unique system. He took Impersonal love and Personal love —patterned after His own Divine attribute of love — and added the ministry of God the Holy Spirit as the
power to support our Lord during his earthly ministry. (Given at the virgin birth) After
He reached Spiritual maturity He was fully empowered by the Holy Spirit.
(Isa 11:2-3; Isa 61:1)
Now when all
the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying,
heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a
dove, and a voice came out of heaven, You are My beloved Son, in You I am
well-pleased. (Luk 3:21-23)
Then tested! Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for
forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days,
and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, If You
are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, It is written, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE. [He passed the lust of the
flesh] And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in
a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, I will give You all this domain
and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I
wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours. Jesus answered
him, It is written, YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR
GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY. [He passed the lust
of the eyes] And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the
pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw
Yourself down from here; for it is written, HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS
CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU, and, ON their HANDS
THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.
And Jesus answered and said to him, It is said, YOU
SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST. [He
passed the pride of life!] When
the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.
(Luk 4:1-13)
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the
Spirit, And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the
book and found the place where it was written, "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO
PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET
FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." And He closed the book, gave it
back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were
fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. (Luk 4:17-21)
The earth was lost by Adam and Eve to
Satan. When
the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that
the tree was desirable to make one wise, she
took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he
ate. (Gen 3:6)
And the LORD won it back! and set the Standard that we must overcome. For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is
from the world. (1Jn 2:16)
He who overcomes, [The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life]
I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and
sat down with My Father on His throne. (Rev 3:21)
Ten days after our Lord ascended and was seated in heaven, the New
Covenant Church Age began, and the completed Spiritual life was the first
blessing given to each member of the royal family. On the night He was
betrayed, fifty days before the Church Age began, our Lord prophesied to His
disciples that they would receive the same system of Divine power that had
sustained and blessed Him throughout the First Advent. He taught them that His
Virtue love in the prototype was patterned after the Virtue love of God.
Reside [Remain, persist] in My love. [In
fellowship] If you keep [Observe, fulfill] My Commandments, [Thoughts] you shall reside in the sphere of My love, [The Spiritual life] just as I have fulfilled the Commandments [Thoughts]
of My Father and I reside in the sphere of His love. [Spiritual life] (Joh
15:9-10)
Christ lived and functioned
for thirty-three years in the very system in which we are now Commanded to
live!
He succeeded in fulfilling perfectly God’s plan, not
in His own power but in the power of God the Holy Spirit and the Spiritual
life. This
same Divine power is now available to us; we too can fulfill the plan of God.
We cannot be sinless, as was the humanity of Christ, but with the rebound
provision, (1Jn 1:9) which enables us
to recover instantly from the control of the sin nature; we can execute God’s
game plan for our lives.
If we walk in
the light [In fellowship with God] as He is in the light we
have fellowship with each other [God and the
Spiritual believer] and the blood of Jesus Christ [The basis for
rebound] cleanses us from all sin. (1Jn 1:7)
The believer inside the Spiritual life is also described as “filled
with the Spirit”; (Eph 5:18) he “walks
by means of the Spirit” (Gal 5:16)
and he is said to be “cleansed.” (1Jn 1:9)
He has “put on Christ” (Rom 13:14)
because Christ lived in the original system. The believer in the love complex
is “walking in love” (Eph 5:2) “loving
one another” (1Jn 3:23) and, as we
have seen, “residing in the love. [Complex]” (Joh 15:9-10) He is “holding his ground” in the full
armor of God. (Eph 6:11) Each phrase emphasizes a different aspect of our royal
way of life.
Aristocracy means
achievement.
Christ achieved strategic victory in the angelic
conflict and established a new and unique dynasty of Spiritual nobility.
As His eternal royal family we depend entirely on Christ and therefore must
emulate the integrity He possessed in the prototype Spiritual life. He gave us
the system by which we can in our temporal lives manifest the superiority of our
eternal position. Integrity perpetuates nobility. Royalty lives by a superior
code of honor, and as members of Spiritual aristocracy, we fulfill the royal
family honor code and create Christian integrity by functioning in fellowship
with God.
CHARACTERISTICS AND PRIORITIES
In summary, God’s game plan, the Spirit and
Truth, has the following general characteristics:
A purpose: glorification of
the Lord Jesus Christ in time. The believer’s tactical victory exploits our
Lord’s strategic victory over Satan in the angelic conflict.
An objective: Spiritual
maturity. Momentum toward Spiritual maturity is possible only in fellowship
with God.
A policy: grace. Grace is
always the policy of God in the administration of His plan for sinful man.
A protocol: obedience to
Divine Commands. Believers and elect angels in heaven observe Divine protocol; happiness on earth is based on the precisely correct
procedure of the Spiritual life.
A system: Virtue first. The
foundational Virtue of humility, which is directed toward authority,
lays the groundwork for motivational Virtue toward God and functional Virtue
toward man and circumstances.
A point of
reference: the
justice of God. The holiness or integrity of God is composed of His absolute
righteousness and perfect justice. Our point of contact with God is His integrity.
An authority: the Word of God.
The Bible reveals the essence of God to man and embodies the absolute authority
of Divine sovereignty.
A result: good decisions
from a position of strength in the Divine system, control of your life, and a
personal sense of destiny.
An enemy: the cosmic system
of Satan.
These nine characteristics will become meaningful in the study we are
about to begin. We can translate these axioms into a
set of priorities, which provide a framework for organizing our life and
Thinking with the correct Divine Thoughts under all circumstances.
In God’s plan the
priority is Commands first.
In God’s system, Virtue
first.
In God’s purpose, Christ
first.
In God’s policy, Grace
first.
In God’s objective, Momentum
first.
In God’s authority, Divine
Thinking first.
These six priorities represent one superior way of life, one system of
power and love with different emphasis as the believer continues to grow. As we approach all the gates of the Spiritual life, you
will learn that these priorities enable you to make good decisions from a
position of strength, take control of your old sin nature, and acquire a
personal sense of destiny within God’s game plan.
Gate One, The
Power Gate
THE SOURCE OF ENERGY
Just as God the Holy Spirit sustained the earthly ministry of Jesus, (Mat 12:18; Joh 3:34)
the filling of God the Spirit provides the power for our lives. On the
eve of His crucifixion, fifty days before the feast of Pentecost when God the
Holy Spirit would be given and the New Covenant Age would begin, Christ Himself
prophesied the advent of God the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant Spiritual
life.
And when the Energizer comes [God the Holy
Spirit as the power source of the New Covenant Spiritual life] whom I will send
from the Father, that is, the Spirit of Truth [A fact
that God ALONE owns all Divine Thinking] who proceeds from the Father,
that He will give evidence [Make a deposition, testify] concerning Me. (Joh 15:26)
The Greek noun parakletos, which I have translated “Energizer,”
is used in the Bible only by the Apostle John, referring once to Christ (1Jn 2:1) but generally to the Holy Spirit. (Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26;
Joh 16:7) This title for God is
translated “Comforter” in the King James Version and “Helper” in the New
American Standard Version.
In the classical Greek a parakletos was someone called to the aid
of another, particularly in the legal process; hence, an advisor, intercessor,
or mediator in court. In Roman times, when the official Greek language of the
eastern empire was translated into the official Latin of the west, the Latin
equivalent for parakletos was advocatus, from which we derive the
English word “advocate” or lawyer.
A parakletos was a professional legal advisor, sometimes a
defense attorney. The word connotes ability, aid, and
assistance, rather than assuagement of pain or distress, as the
translation “comforter” suggests. Certainly comfort is implied; the one being
aided by a powerful helper is relieved and encouraged. But eternal God, the
third Person of the Trinity, does not come to the royal family to say, “There,
there, everything will be all right.” Instead, He was sent by the Father (Joh 15:26) to empower, help, and sustain the
humanity of Christ against all the forces of evil Satan could hurl against Him.
This same omnipotent Member of the Godhead was in turn sent by the
Father and the Son, (Joh 14:26) to be
the power source for the new royal family. The Holy
Spirit reproduces in us the Virtues of Christ as we advance to Spiritual
maturity. (Eph 5:1-2; Gal 5:22-23; Rom 13:14)
The Spirit’s title, Parakletos, must be understood in terms of power
within the Divine system, in which we, like the humanity of Christ, must live
in the devil’s world.
Christ’s final words on earth before ascending into heaven prophesied
the coming of God the Holy Spirit, the Energizer of the Spiritual life. The Divine power system would motivate growing believers
to spread the Gospel and the teaching of the Mind of Christ throughout the
world.
But you shall receive power [The Spiritual
life] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses
both in Jerusalem and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. (Act 1:8)
God the Energizer has two basic ministries to the royal family, one of
which is indicated by His functional title in, (Joh
15:26) “Spirit of Truth, or Spirit of
Divine Thoughts.” He provides the Spiritual IQ for learning
Truth, which itself is the power of God. (Rom 1:16)
Thus the filling of God the Holy Spirit at gate one and the perception and
application of Divine Thinking at gate four interlock with each other. (1Co 2:9-16) The Word
and the Spirit join forces to form the greatest power system ever offered to
any dispensation in the history of mankind.
And my message and my preaching [Divine Thoughts] were not in persuasive words of
[Human] wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, [The Spiritual
life] that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (1Co 2:4-5)
Enhancing the believer’s IQ for perception of the written Word of
God in gate four, God the Holy Spirit also supplies energy for the believer’s function
in the entire love complex. (Gal 5:16-23)
At all gates of the Divine system, God the Holy
Spirit energizes the Christian life with an unseen power that surpasses any
ability, talent, genius, or achievement of man.
It is the Spirit
who gives life; the flesh profits nothing;
the Words that I have spoken to you are spirit and
are life.
(Joh 6:63)
We have an inexhaustible supply of Spiritual strength in gate one, with
this power we can obey God’s Commands and receive Divine blessings
beyond imagination! Apart from the power of God the
Holy Spirit there is no Spiritual life!
Holding to a
form of godliness, although they have denied its power;
[The filling of God the Holy Spirit] avoid such men as these. (2Ti 3:5)
The Holy Spirit had a limited ministry to believers of Old Testament
dispensations, but the procedure of believers changed dramatically when the New
Covenant Age began. The Spirit temporarily indwelt certain
believers of the past; He permanently indwells all
believers in the New Covenant Age. (Joh 14:17)
We have a superior system that even mature Old Testament believers did not
possess. Never before has every believer been Commanded to “be filled
with God the Spirit” (Eph 5:18)
and to “walk by means of the Spirit.” (Gal 5:16)
TWO POSITIVE MANDATES
The first of these two Mandates Commands the New Covenant Age believer
to reside in the bottom circle — in fellowship — in the Spiritual life —
in the love complex — in our new nature — in our Temple — in Spirit and Truth.
Stop being intoxicated with wine, which is
dissipation, [And escapism] but be filled with the Spirit. (Eph 5:18)
The Greek verb pleroo, translated “be
filled,” conveys a wealth of related meanings. Each of its four
basic definitions applies to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
“Fill up a deficiency”: Outside the bottom
circle we possess no ability to learn or Think with Divine Thoughts or resist
the influence of Satan's false Biblical and non-Biblical systems of thinking. (2Co 11:13-15; Col 1:27-28;
1Jn 4:4)
“Be fully possessed”: God the Holy
Spirit, who indwells the body of every believer, (1Co
6:19) empowers the soul of the believer residing in fellowship with
Him. (1Jn 1:3-7)
If we say that we have fellowship with Him [Spirituality]
and yet walk in the darkness, [Carnality] we lie
and do not practice [Think with] the Truth. (1Jn 1:6)
“Be fully influenced”: The Spiritual
life, with the Holy Spirit as the power source, is a comprehensive system that
influences every facet of the believer’s life.
“Filled with a certain quality”: The ministry of
God the Holy Spirit is to lead the believer to Spiritual maturity. (Eph 3:19; Php 1:11;
Rev 3:2; 1Jn
1:4)
This Command to “be filled with the Spirit” orders us to enter
the Spiritual life at gate one.
Pleroo indicates that the filling of God
the Holy Spirit is an absolute. You are in fellowship or you are not; there is
no middle ground for the believer. Under His filling ministry, God the Holy
Spirit fully energizes the believer and fully protects his soul. Although the
Spirit fully protects the believer whenever he resides in fellowship,
the manifestations of the filling of God the Holy Spirit increase with
Spiritual maturity. In the immature Christian the Spirit has little Spiritual
Thinking to use as raw material for the “fruit of
the Spirit” to be produced in the believer. (Gal 5:22-23) The
Spiritually mature believer can use the Mind of Christ. (1Co 2:16) Spirit and
Truth, together reproduce the Virtues of Christ! (Joh 4:23-24; 1Pe 2:9)
(Eph 5:18) teaches that the
filling of the Spirit is the opposite of drunkenness. As the believer’s IQ for
“Spiritual Appraising” increases, (1Co 2:14-15)
the filling of the Spirit contributes to concentration and mental focus, not
to dissipation. Imbibing too much alcohol depresses the mentality, releasing
uninhibited emotion; the filling of God the
Holy Spirit supports lucid Divine Thinking and is undetectable, behind
the scenes, and unrelated to emotion. The mission of God the Holy Spirit
to the royal family is not to make a name for Himself by interjecting ecstatic
experiences but to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ. (Joh
16:13-15)
This first Command regarding God
the Holy Spirit contributes to the integrity of the entire Divine system.
Christians who lack the complete Doctrines of the Spiritual life assume that
the filling of God the Holy Spirit is an end in itself when actually the power
of God the Holy Spirit is a means to an end. The ultimate objective is the
consistent, coordinated function of all the gates of the system, which result
in phenomenal blessing for the believer and maximum glorification of the Lord
Jesus Christ. (Eph 4:13-24)
The Spiritual momentum required to reach this objective is Commanded in
the second positive Command concerning God the Holy Spirit.
Keep walking by means of the Spirit, and you
will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Gal
5:16)
God never forces your volition. He designed you and knows what is best
for you at each moment of your life. He has established clear Thoughts for you
to Think with that you may fulfill His perfect plan for your prosperity and
happiness. You can accept His authority and obey His
Commands, or revolt and disobey. God’s
sovereign authority cannot prosper you without your consent. (1Sa 15:22-23)
The filling of God the Holy Spirit
alone is not the entire thrust of the Christian way of life. Gate one, the filling
of God the Holy Spirit, functions as part of a system in conjunction
with our volition. After we have entered gate one, we must by our own decisions
enter the other gates of the complex; this is “walking by means of the
Spirit.”
While filled with God the Holy Spirit, we
claim promises, resist temptations to sin, and maintain the objectivity of
basic Impersonal love in gate two. We remain teachable through enforced and
genuine humility in gate three. We establish the habit of Doctrinal perception in
gate four, where we also maintain a constant alertness in the application of
Divine Thinking to circumstances. (Luk 16:10) Thousands
of positive decisions in these first four gates of the Spiritual life comprise
our Christian walk, resulting in Personal love for God in gate five, the
integrity of Impersonal love in gate six, stability under testing in gate
seven, and the happiness of Spiritual maturity in gate eight. The filling of
God the Holy Spirit is the motivation of the Spiritual life; walking by
means of the Spirit is the function of the Christian life.
TWO NEGATIVE MANDATES
Two additional Commands define the power struggle in which the believer
must rely on the Holy Spirit. God Commands us to resist the power and influence
of Satan. And stop grieving the Holy Spirit from God. (Eph 4:30) Do not quench the Spirit. (1Th 5:19)
These two Commands warn us that, when we
sin, we cut off the power of the Spiritual life and permit the old sin nature
to seize control of the soul. Fellowship with God and Satan’s cosmic system are
mutually exclusive! We always reside in one or the other: if not in
God’s system, we live in Satan’s power system. We “grieve” the Spirit when we enter Satan’s system
of preoccupation with self; we “quench” the Spirit when we live in Satan’s system of preoccupation with
others and antagonism toward God, Truth, and the Divine plan. Both of these
negative Commands describe God the Holy Spirit in terms of anthropopathisms. Grieving
and quenching are language of accommodation, describing God in human terms to
make His infinite functions perspicuous to finite man. Perfect happiness
belongs eternally to the essence of God. The third Person of the Trinity cannot
suffer grief, nor can His infinite power be quenched. He is always omnipotent.
By negative volition we refuse to benefit from the plan of God so that
the attributes of God do not have their intended function in our lives. We may
reject the grace provisions of God’s power system, but we cannot jeopardize the
essence of God. God will always have His way; He will
be glorified with us or without us! Our blessings accrue through
obedience to the positive and negative Commands concerning the Energizer of the
Divine system.
OPPOSITION THROUGH DISTORTION
So effective is our power source that we
are not surprised that Satan would mount a concentrated assault against this
Divine provision. With insidious cunning he has distorted the Doctrines
pertaining to God the Holy Spirit by counterfeiting bona fide functions of the
past and linking them to human emotion and arrogance to consolidate his evil
sedition. Satanic false Biblical Doctrines influence people to vie for
Spiritual status by claiming to speak in tongues, hear voices, see visions,
perform miracles, heal the sick — all in a welter of emotionalism. The post
canon New Covenant ministry of God the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with
such practices. (Rom 16:17-18; 1Co 13:8; Php 3:18-19)
The pursuit of such ecstatic
experiences in the name of Spirituality obscures the Truth and blasphemes
against God. Christianity is a system of Thinking — Thinking With the Mind of
Christ — and God the Holy Spirit
provides the power that, first, aids our concentration in learning the Word of
Truth and, second, enhances our ability to apply those Thoughts in EVERY
CIRCUMSTANCE.
A period of transition existed between the beginning of the Church Age
in A.D. 30 and the completion of the written canon of Scripture in A.D.
96, when the Apostle John wrote Revelation. During this time spectacular
but temporary Spiritual gifts facilitated the change from the completed Old
Covenant; (Mat 5:17; Act 3:18) into the New Covenant. Miracles and
healings were performed to focus attention upon the Divine authority of the
apostles and to authenticate their new message. (Act
19:11-20) The Spirit inspired the apostles to write the New
Testament canon, including the Doctrines of the New Covenant, (Act 3:24) because they were now pertinent to the
royal family. (Joh 14:26; Eph 3:2-6) The gift of tongues was a bona fide
ministry for the first forty years of the Church Age as a warning sign to
Israel of her approaching national destruction, which occurred in AD. 70
(Isa 28:11-12; 1Co 14:21) In that pre-canon transition
period of the New covenant Church Age, the coming of the Holy Spirit as the
power for the Spiritual life was accompanied by unusual and now defunct
manifestations.
On the day the Church Age began, temporary gifts accompanied the New
Covenant Spiritual life; initially the ministry of the Spirit included
functions that have since ceased to legitimately exist. (1Co 13:8; Php 2:27;
2Ti 4:20) In the Scriptures we must
distinguish these overt, temporary ministries of the Spirit from His invisible,
permanent ministries if we are to avoid the trap of emotional arrogance. We
must “rightly divide the Word of Truth” in order to execute God’s game plan for
our lives. (2Ti 2:15)
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE AT SALVATION
Christ received the prototype at His virgin birth; the apostles and
others received it on the day of Pentecost; we receive the Spiritual life at
the new birth.
At the moment when anyone is born from God, [The moment of Salvation
through faith in Christ] he is not sinning [It is impossible to sin inside the
Spiritual life], because His seed [God the Holy Spirit] keeps residing in him.
Furthermore, he is not able to sin [In fellowship with God] because he has been
born of God. (1Jn 3:9)
The Greek personal pronoun autos, takes the same form in both
neuter and masculine genders; the context determines whether this pronoun is
translated “it” or “him.” In (1Jn 3:9) autos
is rendered by the neuter, “keeps residing in it.” (The Spiritual
life) The Holy Spirit, as the “seed” or source of Divine energy for Spiritual
growth, perpetually belongs to God’s power system. The Holy Spirit does reside
“in him” — in every member of the royal family — but in this passage
John is not teaching the indwelling of the Spirit. (1Co
6:19-20; Gal 3:2; Gal 4:6; Joh 7:37-39;
Joh 14:16-17) The Spirit indwells the
believer’s body, where He opposes the genetic old sin nature and seeks to fill
and empower the soul. (Eph 5:18) We
are permanently indwelled by the
Spirit, even when we sin, (Rom 8:9) but
we are filled with the
Spirit only when residing in the bottom circle. Empowered by the infinite power
of God the Holy Spirit, the agent of our eternal Salvation, we cannot sin inside the bottom circle, a status we first
attain at the moment of Salvation. When anyone believes in Christ during
the Church Age, he receives simultaneously — entirely unfelt and undetected —
the baptism of God the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, and
the filling of God the Holy Spirit. The baptism of God the Holy Spirit
places us into union with Christ so that we share all He IS and all He has;
this union makes us members of the royal family. Unique among believers in all
dispensations, we are “in Christ,” identified with Christ forever. (Rom 16:7; 2Co 5:17)
Like the baptism of God the Holy Spirit, which has eternal repercussions, the indwelling
of God the Holy Spirit is also permanent. Never before has God the
Holy Spirit permanently resided in the body of any believer, but from
the moment of Salvation, God the third Person perpetually indwells the
body of each member of the royal family. The finest believers, and all
believers in between, are beneficiaries of this aspect of gate one — the body
of every Christian is the temple of God the Holy Spirit. (1Co 6:19) just as in the prototype our Lord
described His body as a temple. (Joh 2:19-21)
LEAVING AND REENTERING THE DIVINE
SYSTEM
The baptism and indwelling of the Spirit cannot be lost, but we close
down the filling of the Spirit each time we succumb to temptation and
decide to sin.
And this is the message which we have
heard from Him [Jesus Christ] and communicated to you, that God is light and in
Him darkness does not exist. [No compromise of God’s system with Satan’s
system] If we contend [Claim, assert, maintain] that we have fellowship with
Him [God] and keep walking in darkness, [Living in carnality through sin,
followed by continued function in Satan’s system] we lie and do not practice
the Truth... If we contend that we have no sin, [No sin nature, the source of
temptation] we are deceiving ourselves and the Truth [Divine Thinking] is not
in us... If we contend [When we have sinned] that we have not sinned, [Have not
succumbed to temptation, have not exited the bottom circle] we keep making Him
[God] a liar, and His Word is not in us. (1Jn 1:5-10)
Under His filling ministry God the Holy Spirit empowers, only when we
reside in fellowship. We begin our Christian lives filled with God the Holy
Spirit, but that initial filling is short-lived because we still possess
volition and the old sin nature still resides in our bodies. (Rom 6:16-22; Rom 7:7-18;
1Jn 1:8)
As the resident antagonist against the
indwelling Holy Spirit,
the old sin nature is Satan’s inside agent for
distracting us from God’s game plan. (Joh 2:24-25;
Gal 5:17) The sin nature is the source
of temptation, but our volition is the source of sin. When
the sin nature tempts us to commit a sin, we can resist the temptation and
remain filled with God the Holy Spirit. The
Biblical Commands to resist temptation are incorporated into the Spiritual life
at gate one.
Submit therefore to God. [Stay in
fellowship with God] Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [Be cut off
from your sin nature]
(Jas 4:7)
No testing has caught up with you except
the human kind; moreover, God is faithful who will not allow you to be tested
beyond your capabilities, but with the testing He will also provide [Through
Truth] the way of escape so that you may be able to endure it. (1Co 10:13)
We can choose to resist temptation and
remain in fellowship, or we can acquiesce to temptation and eject ourselves
from God’s power system. Because no one can sin inside the filling of God the
Holy Spirit, we exit when we choose to sin. We are still saved,
still in the royal family of God, still in union with Christ, still indwelled
by the Spirit, but we must return to God’s system. If we are outside, we can
reenter through gate one just as we first entered at Salvation. God has given
us the rebound technique, which restores us to the Divine system after we have
sinned.
If we acknowledge [Name, admit, confess]
our sins, He [God the Father] is faithful and just so that He forgives us our
sins [Known sins] and also cleanses us from all unrighteousness. [Unknown and
forgotten sins]
(1Jn 1:9)
By acknowledging our sins privately to God, we restore the filling of
God the Holy Spirit and once again reside in the sphere of Divine power. All
Biblical Commands to recover from sin and resume our fellowship with God
pertain to gate one. These Commands are variously phrased to emphasize
different facets of the Doctrine. We are Commanded
to “acknowledge our sins.” (Pro 1:23;
Jas 5:16; Rev
3:3) “yield” ourselves to God, (Rom
6:13) “judge ourselves,” (1Co 11:31-32)
“lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us,”
(Heb 12:1) “put aside all
filthiness,” (Jas 1:21) “be in
subjection to the Father,” (Heb 12:9)
“lay aside the old self,” (Eph 4:22)
“present our bodies” (Rom 12:1-2)
“make straight paths,” (Mat 3:3;
Heb 12:13) “stand up again from out
of death,” [Temporal death — Carnality] (Eph 5:14)
and “lift up the hands that hang down.” (Heb 12:12)
Once we reenter the bottom circle
through rebound, the pertinent Command then becomes “walk by means of the
Spirit,” (Gal 5:16) the
Command to advance Spiritually in the other gates of the system powered by the
Energizer.
Gate Two, Basic
Christian
Modus Operandi
THE BELIEVER’S OBJECTIVITY
Early in his Christian life the believer must learn the basics of God’s
game plan. He must practice and master certain rudimentary skills until they
become second nature to him. The new believer may not understand the system,
but God has issued basic Commands and the believer must obey them. The Christian way of life
begins with obedience, not with perfect understanding.
Gate two represents the routine
procedure of the Christian way of life. Obedience to basic Doctrines in our
daily lives keeps us in God’s system and creates and maintains objectivity. (Looking at life, people, circumstances and self the way
they are! not the way you “feel” they should
be!) Gate two, the objectivity gate, is mandatory for the function of
the other gates. (2Ti 1:7) The techniques of gate two are designed to sustain the daily
discipline of Thinking with the Word of God, (Psa 1:2-3)
The basic techniques of gate two go beyond
rebound to include Thinking with Divine Promises (Rom 8:28-32) and exercising Impersonal love. (Rom 13:8) I
will summarize the Principle of Thinking with Promises then define
Impersonal love, which is essential to the dynamics of Christian integrity.
Thinking with the Promises that God has
given us eliminates fear, worry, and anxiety — sins
that cut off Divine Thinking. The immature believer can cling to Promises until he
can learn enough Truth to fully understand God’s plan for his life.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And do not lean on
your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your
paths straight. [Accurate] (Pro 3:5-6)
And the LORD is the one who goes ahead of
you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or
be dismayed.
(Deut 31:8)
Therefore, the LORD waits to be gracious
to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD
is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who wait for Him. (Isa 30:18)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the
mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your
cares on Him, because He cares for you. (1Pe 5:6-7)
Promises enable the growing believer to
enter the “peace of God which passes all understanding.” (Php 4:7) In this peace or “rest,” (Heb 4:1-3) he possesses the objectivity required
to Think clearly and function in the other gates of the Divine system.
Relying on the Promises of God is only the first step of the faith-rest
drill, a three-step technique for applying Divine Thinking to life. A believer acquires the ability to utilize the entire
faith-rest drill as he grows in Truth, but from the beginning of his Christian
life he can latch on to Divine Promises and stabilize himself under pressure.
The practice of Impersonal love also contributes to the new believer’s
objectivity. An entire gate, gate six, is devoted to the Virtue of impersonal
love, but at this point in gate two, Impersonal love becomes an issue and must
be developed as a category of Doctrine.
SPIRITUAL PRODUCTION AND THE
SUPREME CHRISTIAN VIRTUE
In John 15, where our Lord prophesied the coming of the New Covenant
Spiritual life, He also identified Spiritual growth
and maturity as the objective of the Divine plan! He emphasized that properly
motivated Christian production results from Spiritual advance. (We grow to be
productive! We are not to be doing
to grow! Production is a result of
Spiritual growth!) Impersonal love is a category of Spiritual production
and is essential for further growth.
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and
appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, [Reach Spiritual maturity] and
that your fruit would remain, [Blessings in time and eternity] so that whatever
you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. (Joh 15:16)
To illustrate mature production, Christ described effective prayer as
the mature believer’s tremendous privilege to engage Divine power in personal
or historical circumstances. Prayer is a weapon for the strong, not an
expedient for the weak. Except for the rebound prayer, which restores the
believer to the Divine power system, all effective prayer must be offered in
fellowship with God. (Psa 66:18)
Because the Father is the author of the Divine plan and designer of the
Spiritual life, all prayer is addressed to God the Father, filled with God the
Holy Spirit, in the name of Christ, who won our Salvation and pioneered the
Christian way of life.
God’s Commands for the royal family are classified as Commands for
either residence or function. Residence in the bottom circle is
exploited through function in the bottom circle. Rebound fulfills the
Command to “reside in love,” (Joh 15:9)
then in the strength of gate one, we generate Christian production as we “walk
by means of love,” (Eph 5:2)
obeying the functional Commands. Prayer is an example of a functional
responsibility of every believer, (1Th 5:17)
in the power of God the Holy Spirit, (Rom 8:26-27)
the believer is given the privilege of bringing
gratitude, intercessions, and personal petitions before the throne of grace.
(Heb 4:16)
A further definition of the “fruit” mentioned by our Lord in, (Joh 15:16) is found in, (Gal 5:22-23).
The fruit of God the Holy Spirit is love,
happiness, prosperity, steadfastness, integrity, generosity, Doctrinal
confidence, humility, self-discipline. Against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:22-23)
From these two verses we learn that
the believer’s production encompasses far more than just the overt fulfillment
of Christian responsibilities — giving, prayer, witnessing, and service in the
local church. These legitimate demonstrations of Christian service, when
properly motivated, are the result of Spiritual growth, not the cause. Integrity
comes first; service demands integrity. True Spiritual Thinking creates true
motivation; true motivation creates true action, a
right thing must be done in a right way! Christian production is the
coordinated; interlocking function of all the gates in the Divine system
empowered by God the Holy Spirit. (2Th 1:11) This takes time and
function in fellowship with God.
FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE
Heading the list in, (Gal 5:22-23) love receives top billing because
it is the title of God’s game plan. First Corinthians 13 shows that love is a system
and states that love is the supreme Christian virtue.
Now remain [Temporary Spiritual gifts
are excluded] faith, hope, and love, these three, and the greatest of these is
love. (1Co 13:13)
Given to only a few believers in the
pre-canon period of the New Covenant Church Age, temporary Spiritual gifts are
gone; only the superior Virtues remain, which are available to all. The Virtues
of faith, hope, and love are part of our permanent heritage as Spiritual
aristocracy.
Translated “faith,” the Greek noun pistis
has a dual connotation. In its objective sense pistis means “what
is believed,” Truth. Never in any previous dispensation has Bible the Mind of
Christ been committed to writing in a completed canon of Scripture. Pistis also
refers, as here, to the believer’s application of Divine Thoughts to
experience, the faith-rest technique. Just as “faith”
represents an entire system of applying the Word of God, so also “hope” is a system,
which is derived from knowledge of God's Word. Hope is absolute confidence in future Divine provisions
and blessings. (Rom 8:24-25) At
each stage of a person’s life, he not only can enjoy the blessings he has but
also can anticipate with assurance or “hope” for the blessings that will come
with the next stage of growth. Thus, there are three
hopes; together they trace an individual’s
advance from being an unbeliever who anticipates Salvation, to becoming an
immature believer who looks forward to super-grace blessings, to becoming a
mature believer who eagerly awaits the eternal rewards of heaven. The
fulfillment of each hope lays the foundation for the next hope. No matter how much God blesses us, we can always
anticipate more!
Both faith-rest and hope are subordinate
systems that function within the larger sphere, the bottom circle. A believer can Think with
Truth and advance from hope to hope to hope.
Faith and hope depend on the Divine system, which empowers us to learn
Spiritual Thoughts and sustain our Spiritual momentum. Virtue love is superior
to either faith or hope because Virtue love is the characteristic Virtue of the
entire Divine system. We will develop the full significance of this Virtue when
we study the Doctrine of Virtue love in connection with gates five and six of
the Spiritual life.
Even before the Church Age began, Christ encapsulated the entire Mosaic
Law in two Commandments: to love God and to love man. (Mat 22:36-40) In the Spiritual life every gate
involves Virtue love. In order to describe the basic exercise of Impersonal
love in gate two, we must define the overall Concept of Virtue love. We must
understand why it is the highest Christian Virtue and the Biblical designation
for the Christian way of life.
IMPERSONAL AND PERSONAL LOVE
In English as well as the Greek, “love” is a transitive verb; love takes
both a subject and an object. The subject is the one who loves; the object is
the one loved, the recipient of love. In the sentence I love you, “I” is
the subject, and “you” is the object.
This distinction between subject and object explains the two basic types
of genuine Virtue love that exist. I have designated these two categories “Impersonal love” and “Personal love.” Impersonal love emphasizes the subject; personal love emphasizes the
object. Impersonal
love depends on the honor and integrity of the one who loves; personal love depends on
the attractiveness, capacity, and response of the one who is loved.
By “Impersonal” I mean
that this love does not require intimacy, friendliness, or even acquaintance
with the object of love.
A close relationship between subject and object may exist but is not necessary;
Impersonal love is simply the consistent function of
your own Spiritual life toward other people. Impersonal love can be directed toward friends, enemies,
loved ones, strangers the attractive and or repulsive! — in fact, toward the entire
human race. (Luk 23:34) In contrast, Personal
love requires that you know the object with some degree of intimacy. The object
of Personal love must be attractive to you, share basic Divine Thoughts with
you, and have capacity to love you in return. (Amos 3:3) Only a select few people qualify as objects of
your Personal Esprit de corps love, whereas all mankind can be the object of
your Impersonal love. Personal Esprit de corps love, is designed for
interaction with a few; Impersonal love is designed to benefit the human race.
Personal love is highly discriminating; Impersonal love is non-discriminating.
Personal love is conditional; Impersonal love is unconditional. (With the
condition we are in fellowship) Personal HUMAN
love creates weaknesses. You bring your own problems into any personal
relationship, but so does the one you love. The problems, shortcomings, and
faults of two people are combined and multiplied by personal love. Your
vulnerability to the influence of the one you love can spawn subjectivity and
the mental attitude sins of jealousy, self-pity, and bitterness. Personal love
in the human race is highly volatile, emotionally charged, and complicated with
variables and unpredictables that personal love cannot control. Often turbulent
and frustrating, Personal love is never stronger than the integrity of
those involved. An enduring Personal Esprit de corps love depends on
Impersonal love.
Impersonal Virtue love is the integrity that alone can strengthen,
stabilize, and perpetuate Personal love. The only variable in Impersonal love
remains under your control: your own mental attitude. Whereas
personal Human love may lead to compromise of true norms and
standards. Impersonal love for mankind is a
result of your Personal love for God; (Mar 12:30-31) Personal love is often a distraction from what is
most important, God's Word. Impersonal love is a
problem-solver; Personal love can be a problem,
if we use for anyone besides GOD
ALONE!
IMPERSONAL LOVE
I
Love
Emphasizes
subject
Demands
integrity in subject
Requires
no personal acquaintance
Directed
toward all
Unconditional
Virtue
Strong
Stable
Variables
under control
Depends
on Divine Thinking and The Spiritual life
Problem
solver
Mandatory
|
PERSONAL LOVE
You
and or them
Emphasizes
object
Demands
attractiveness in object
Requires
personal acquaintance
Directed
toward few
Conditional
Virtue
dependent
Vulnerable
Volatile
Uncontrollable
variables
Depends
on Impersonal love
Problem
maker
Optional
|
IMPERSONAL
AND PERSONAL LOVE
In, (1Co 13:13) Divine
Personal and Impersonal love are proclaimed the ultimate Christian Virtue.
Impersonal love, furnishes the environment for faith and hope. Impersonal love is mandatory; Personal love is mandatory
toward God ALONE; optional toward others.
Certainly Personal love toward others is legitimate
and potentially wonderful, but it is Virtue-dependent, hinging on the Virtue of
Impersonal love, which represents the highest degree of integrity the soul can attain.
LOVE AND INDEPENDENCE
A believer with
Impersonal love does not rely on any person, circumstance, thing or self for
strength and support; he is sustained by Divine Thinking in his own soul. No variables or
unpredictables are involved except those controlled by his own
self-determination. Based on his own right decisions over an extended period
of time to learn and Think with the Mind of Christ, he can solve or cope with
the problems of Personal Esprit de corps love toward members of the human race
and maintain a marvelous relationship with another person, or he can be content
alone. He functions consistently whether faced with hostility or admiration,
antagonism or Personal love. His attitude of Impersonal love does not depend
on emotional stimulation, reciprocation, or attraction. He cannot be
manipulated by flattery or approbation. This is the genuine and honorable independence
of the believer who is Spiritually self-sustaining. He does not depend on the
advice of others or on a pastor’s counseling; the Word of God in his own soul
gives him the strength and wisdom to live his own life before the Lord.
Although genuinely humble and teachable, he is not controlled by what anyone
else thinks, says, or does. Impersonal love, generated in the believer’s soul
no matter whom he encounters, is the only category of love that can fulfill the
Divine Command to love all members of the human race!
A
new Commandment I give to you, that you [Virtue] love one another, even as I
have [Virtue] loved you, that you also
love one another. (Joh 13:34)
Some Christians are Virtuous, but then
again others are among the most arrogant, self-righteous, boorish, obnoxious
people on the face of the earth. Believers can have a background, personality,
life-style or combination of interests that makes him utterly incompatible with
you. According to Divine Commands you must love ALL
these believers and ALL believers must Think with the Mind of
Christ. (1Co 1:10) Obviously
your exclusive Personal love cannot be granted to rude, arrogant believers or
to those with whom you have no rapport of Thought. Nor should you burn up your
nervous energy trying to do the impossible — Personally
love all Christians.
The only love you can possess for most
individuals is based, not on their weaknesses, idiosyncrasies, or
incompatibility with you, but on the strength of your own Spiritual life. Through Impersonal love your attitude toward everyone will
be basically the same, manifested in courtesy, thoughtfulness, sensitivity to
the feelings of others, tolerance, and flexibility in nonessential areas of
disagreement or dispute. Such attitudes can be
consistently maintained toward any person, regardless of how incompatible your
personalities or modus vivendi, (Way of life) may be. Virtue love is not condescending, hypocritical, or
self-righteous.
Let love be
without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. (Rom 12:9)
Impersonal love is not a stoic,
artificial, emotionless facade, but rather a gracious attitude consistent with
the Divine Thinking in your soul. The policy of Impersonal love is simply
this: integrity
toward all, no matter who or what they are. Through
this attitude your Spiritual aristocracy is revealed as you honorably represent
Christ in the devil’s world.
Impersonal love must be directed not just
toward other believers but toward unbelievers as well. You need not determine
that a person is a Christian before you exhibit Virtue love. This explains
God’s Commands that you love your neighbors — everyone in your periphery
— and even your enemies.
Jesus answered, "The
foremost is, HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE
THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL
YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH. The second is this, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR
NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. There is no other Commandment greater than these. (Mar 12:31)
You have heard that it was said, YOU
SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your
Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the
good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love
those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do
the same? (Mat 5:43-46)
Personal love for another member of the
human race is not a Virtue in itself but must rely on the true Virtue of
Impersonal love. The Divine Command to love all mankind; Commands us to develop
Virtue.
With people this is
impossible, but with God all things are
possible. (Mat 19:26)
REBOUND
AND THE RELAXED MENTAL ATTITUDE
In contrast to the advanced integrity of
the Spiritually mature believer, basic Impersonal love at gate two of the
Spiritual life is simply a relaxed mental attitude. Basic
impersonal love is the absence of mental attitude sins toward
those you know or do not know, toward friends or enemies.
But I say to you who hear, love
your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray
for those who mistreat you. (Luk 6:27-28)
The believer who utilizes
rebound to reenter gate one after he has sinned, but who then becomes arrogant,
jealous, angry, petty, vindictive, afraid, or filled with self-pity or guilt,
has again removed himself from the bottom circle. He has been tempted to sin and has acquiesced. This
problem of chain sinning is solved by rebound and an immediate interlock with
gate two. The relaxed mental attitude of basic
Impersonal love insulates the believer against the temptations of the old sin
nature. You must rebound and then start
remembering Verses, Principles and Promises (Rom 8:28-32; Rom 14:13)
or the lack of stability will continue! When (Gal 5:22-23) states that “the fruit of the
Spirit is love,” some believers expect the fruit of the Spirit to appear,
as if by magic, as soon as they rebound and regain the filling of the Spirit.
When a feeling of love for all mankind does not materialize instantaneously,
they assume that something is wrong with the rebound technique. They then
resort to remorse, penance, self-effacement, or self-reproach in an attempt to deserve
God’s forgiveness and feel restored to fellowship with Him. This
common practice among immature Christians is an exercise in futility. First, God forgives us because He IS perfect
justice; (1Jn 1:9) the sin we confess
in rebound was judged on the Cross. Second,
we cannot earn forgiveness. Restoration to fellowship was earned for us by the
only One who is qualified to earn it, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who gave
us His Own Spiritual life. Human works added to the work of Christ is
blasphemous. (Eph 2:8-9) Third, we are instantly restored to fellowship —
the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant Age is not related to
feelings or emotion. We may feel wonderful or wretched and still be filled with
God the Holy Spirit, just as we may have felt wonderful or wretched when we
first believed in Christ yet we were still saved. Emotion is never the
criterion of Spiritual status. (Rom 16:18)
Fourth,
the love designated as the fruit of the Spirit, is
Personal love for God and Impersonal love for all mankind. We need not
feel any kind of special inner warmth to manifest the fruit of the Spirit. (The
Spiritual life) We must, however, avoid mental attitude sins in order to
fulfill the Divine Command to “love one another.” Finally, even freedom from mental attitude sins
is not automatic with rebound. God is faithful; (1Jn
1:9) rebound always works; we are always forgiven, cleansed, and free
from mental attitude sins when we rebound. But our restoration to fellowship
with God may last only a split second. We possess free will, and as soon as we
rebound we can choose to sin again. At all times we are solely responsible for
our own state of mind. We must interlock gate one with gate two as soon as we
rebound, or we will be out of fellowship again. Consistent Impersonal love as
the fruit of the Spirit requires us to be continually filled with God the Holy
Spirit.
APPLYING
DOCTRINE IN REBOUND
Only our volition can resolve the problem
of chain sinning. With rebound, the filling of God the Holy Spirit, and the
application of Bible Doctrine, God has given us the power to break the momentum
of consecutive sinning. Upon rebounding we must use Divine Thinking to resist
the temptation to follow one sin with another. Hence, rebound has three stages.
First, we claim God’s rebound Promise by admitting our
already-judged sins to Him.
Second, we remember the Doctrine that, because of the Cross, we are
completely restored to fellowship.
Third, we take control of the situation by forgetting that sin and
moving on in the plan of God.
Claiming Promises, recalling a logical
rationale, and reaching Doctrinal conclusions that enable us to take control of
the situation constitute the three stages of the faith-rest drill. Faith-rest,
which we will develop in greater detail in our study of gate four, and is an
essential technique that adapts to rebound or any other practical application
of God’s Word. The ability to avoid mental attitude sins comes from
self-discipline in applying the Doctrines we know. There
is a pertinent Divine Spiritual thought to neutralize every mental
attitude sin! Vindictiveness and implacability are dispelled
by taking God at His word when He says, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.”
(Rom 12:19) Fear is removed by the
Doctrine that “Since God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31) Arrogance and self-righteousness are
excluded when we remember that we are not appointed to judge other people. (Mat 7:1-2; Luk 6:37;
Rom 2:1) And we are left with no cause
for jealousy since our own blessings are sufficient and perfectly timed for our
maximum benefit: we must concentrate on what we have, not on what we have not.
(Mat 6:25-34)
Your love must be non-hypocritical; despise
the evil, [Including mental attitude sins] adhere to the good; [Stay in
fellowship] with regard to your brotherly love, [Esprit de corps Virtue love]
be devoted to each other. (Rom 12:9-10)
In place of
mental attitude sins, Impersonal love insures the serenity of mind that lays
the foundation for toleration, flexibility, courtesy, thoughtfulness, and
discretion. These manifestations of integrity, demanded by the royal
family honor code, become stronger and more constant as the believer advances
in learning Truth under the power of God the Holy Spirit. (1Co 2:4-5) Divine
Thinking in the soul is the raw material from which God the Holy Spirit
manufactures the fruit of the Spirit. If you are negative toward Doctrinal teaching and refuse to
store up God’s Word in your soul, the filling of God the Holy Spirit will be
intermittent and will not produce the characteristics of Spiritual maturity.
In the absence of Spiritual Thoughts, the old sin nature dominates the inner,
Spiritual conflict for control of the soul. By
giving God's Thoughts first priority in your life, you rise above the pettiness
that engenders mental attitude sins, and you establish yourself in gate two of
the love complex. God's Thoughts strengthen objectivity and sustains the
relaxed mental attitude.
JESUS
CHRIST’S IMPERSONAL LOVE
The perfect example of Impersonal love was
the Lord Jesus Christ living in the original New Covenant Spiritual life. Since
sin is impossible inside the love complex (1Jn 3:9)
and Christ remained in the bottom circle throughout His Incarnation, (Joh 15:10) our Lord never committed a
mental attitude sin. He never departed from His Impersonal love for all
mankind, not even when being ridiculed by arrogant scribes and Pharisees. (Mar 15:29-32) In addition to being our unique
Savior, Jesus was also a man of matchless grace, courage, thoughtfulness, honor,
and integrity toward people and circumstances. He possessed a resolute,
stabilized mental attitude. Indeed, He reached the first stage of Spiritual
adulthood sometime before twelve years of age (Luk
2:40-52) so that His Virtue love rapidly exceeded the basic modus
operandi, (Way of operating) of gate two of the love complex and became the
functional Virtue of gate six.
During His life on earth, the ultimate
demonstration of Christ’s Impersonal love was His stalwart attitude throughout
His trials and crucifixion. Certainly no one can duplicate His saving work, but
Christ enjoins us to emulate toward others the attitude He sustained toward all
of us when He acquiesced to the ordeal of unjust and discriminatory treatment
at the hands of evil men.
When anyone loves father or mother
[Personal love] more than Me, [Personal love for Christ, which motivates impersonal
love for mankind] he is not worthy of Me. [He is not living in the New Covenant
Spiritual life as Christ lived in the prototype] And when anyone does not take
up his cross [Human old sin nature thoughts and desires] and follow Me,
[Putting the Thinking and desires of Christ above our own thoughts and personal
desires] he is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life [Human old sin nature life] will lose it, [As
a believer; die the sin unto death] and he who has lost his life [Stops
living in and by the old nature] for My sake will find it. [The New nature and life that appreciates God His Thoughts
and Virtue] (Mat 10:37-39)
Christ does not suggest we stop loving our
parents, exhort us to endure literal crucifixion, or teach us to place a
premium on suffering. Only His suffering was efficacious — the
self-flagellation of religion is an abomination. Instead, our Lord Commands us
to obey the plan of God for our lives, setting aside
every distraction. For Him the plan of
God required death on the Cross; for
us the plan of God requires death to the old sin nature.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with
its passions and desires. (Gal 5:24)
The growing believer’s
Impersonal love establishes his inner strength and separates him from people,
organizations, and activities that would clutter his mind with false concepts,
dissipate his time and energy, and interfere with his Spiritual progress.
Taking up one’s cross occurs in the soul; it is mental separation from the
influences of the old sin nature and Satan’s world system.
Do not love the world [Satan’s world
system] nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the [Virtue]
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful
pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. (1Jn 2:16)
THE
EXAMPLE OF THE CROSS
Christ had been tortured and abused
throughout the night in Jewish and Roman courts, but when He staggered from the
Praetorium carrying that beam of wood on His lacerated back, He was neither a
Jewish nor a Roman criminal. He was the perfect God-Man, the unique Person of
the universe. He had been beaten and condemned to death by men who did not
deserve to touch the hem of His robe. Throughout His
seven trials He refused to utter obscenities or complain against His cruel and
unfair treatment. When scourged, He “opened not His mouth.” (Act 8:32) Our Lord’s valiant courage under the
most agonizing pressure is proof that the power of Impersonal
love does triumph over evil.
As Christ was nailed to the Cross, He saw
around Him wicked men gloating over their apparent victory. Yet He did not
lower Himself to their level by denouncing them. He functioned on His own
honor and integrity. He did not react to their dishonor. (Luk 23:32-46) Christ
remained free from all mental attitude sins even when God the Father, who loved
Him and whom He loved, imputed to Him the sins of mankind and became His judge.
The pain of Spiritual death and judgment was so excruciating to our perfect
Savior that He screamed and kept screaming. (Psa 22:1)
He had the power to end His ordeal at any moment, yet He remained on the Cross
and bore the punishment until every human sin was paid for in full.
As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be
satisfied; By His
knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. (Isa 53:11)
When Christ was bearing our sins, no
member of the human race deserved to be the object of His Personal love. Only
Christ was impeccable; everyone else is a sinner and contributed to His agony
on the Cross. Personal rapport with anyone was impossible, and He endured the
Cross alone, in the strength of His Spiritual maturity; He took up His Cross,
He switched from Personal to Impersonal love, mentally separating Himself from
the entire human race, including those He had Personal and Esprit de corps love
with during His Incarnation. (Joh 19:25-27) Under Divine judgment
Christ concentrated exclusively on the Word of God in His soul, and He Commands
us to emulate His concentration on God’s Word and to remember Him and follow
His example. (Heb 12:2-4)
In the Communion service, or Eucharist, we
focus our minds on Jesus Christ in a tribute, an auld lang syne, to the
One we Personally love. (Luk 22:19) The bread represents the
Person of Christ; the cup, His work of Salvation on the Cross. As we
partake of the bread, we remember the Personal love of Christ: His love for the
Father that motivated Him to obey God’s plan in every detail “unto death,
even the death of the Cross.” (Php 2:8)
As we partake of the cup, we concentrate on His Impersonal love: His integrity
as He “endured the Cross, having disregarded [Thinking little of] the shame”
of being imputed with the sins of ALL mankind and
judged by the Father in our place. (Isa 53:10;
2Co 5:21; Rom
8:3; 1Jn 2:2) Impersonal
love for all mankind, and Personal love for God, enabled Jesus to remain
undaunted against those who were reviling and mocking Him, those who would
never appreciate His saving work on their behalf, who would live out their
lives in unbelief, die, and spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. He was fully
aware of their arrogant and adamant hostility against Him, yet He died in their
place without harboring a single mental attitude sin, without succumbing to the
temptation to retaliate. (1Jn 2:2; 1Pe 2:22-23) Christ demonstrated a perfectly
relaxed mental attitude as He operated on His inner resources of Truth even
when the sins of Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, Herod and the priests of the
Sanhedrin came up for judgment on the Cross. Perhaps more startling to us, when
the sins of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung were imputed to Him and judged,
Christ’s Impersonal love kept Him on the Cross without complaint.
SEPARATION
AND IMPERSONAL LOVE
When our Lord Commands, “Take up your
cross and follow Me,” He means, “Develop Impersonal love. Live on the basis
of your own integrity from the Word of Truth in your own soul. Do not let the
pressures of life distract you from living according to God’s game plan.” By
the order “take up your cross,” Christ is not advocating a martyr
complex or self-sacrifice, as some Christians assume; He
is advocating personal control of the old sin nature's thoughts and desires.
And they went on to another
village. As they were going along the
road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You
wherever You go. And Jesus said to him, The
foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has
nowhere to lay His head. (Luk 9:57-58) (God's will must become more important than our human
security. Luk
12:29-31)
And He said to another, Follow Me. But he said, Lord, permit me first to go
and bury my father. But He said to him, Allow the
[Spiritually] dead to bury their own [Physically] dead; but as for you, go and
proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God. (Luk 9:60)
(God's will must also be more important than
tradition, sentiment, or social acceptance. (Joh 15:19)
Another also
said, I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to
those at home. But Jesus said to him, No one, after
putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luk 9:61-62) (Truth must be more important than what your family thinks
you should do. (Luk 18:29-30) So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up
all his own possessions. (Luk 14:33)
“If
because of the Sabbath, (Heb 4:9-11)
you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure
on My holy day, And call the rest a delight, the holy
day of the LORD honorable, And honor it,
desisting from your own ways, From seeking your
own pleasure And speaking your own word, Then
you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the
heights of the earth; [Be a Spiritually mature
believer] And I will feed you with the heritage [Mature
Truth] of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isa 58:13-14)
As members of the royal family of God, we
are in the world but not of the world. Our Spiritual heritage is
heavenly, not earthly, yet God preserves us alive in the devil’s world after
Salvation to represent the absent Christ. God does not totally separate us from
the devil’s kingdom but intends that we advance to Spiritual maturity and
become imitators of God and ambassadors of Christ in whatever circumstances we
find ourselves. (Eph 5:1; 2Co 5:20) God is glorified by our lives in the
devil’s world when we can be prospered with phenomenal blessings of super-grace
in the midst of the failures, pseudo-blessings, pseudo-happiness, and misery
that characterize Satan’s counterfeit systems.
The devil’s world has a
pull greater than any force of gravity to draw the believer away from
fellowship with God. Regardless of our dedication or altruism, we cannot
improve Satan’s evil system; we can only avoid his influence by opting for the power of God’s
perfect system. God alone can successfully oppose evil. He will eradicate evil
in His perfect time, but our human old sin good contributes nothing to the
Divine plan. (Isa 64:6) Indeed, Satan
sponsors human old sin nature good, and the old sin nature produces human good.
The quickest road to evil is always through human old sin nature good. We must depend on Divine
power, which alone produces intrinsic Divine good. (Rom 8:28)
God’s purpose for our
lives on earth requires that we mentally separate ourselves unto Him. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we renew our minds with the Mind of Christ. (2Pe 1:2; Rom 12:2;
1Co 2:16) Simultaneously we separate ourselves from
satanic distractions that would swerve us away from God’s plan. Impersonal
love, which depends on the subject, never the object, is the requisite attitude
toward anyone or anything that would prevent us from fulfilling our Spiritual
destiny. Impersonal love obeys the Divine Commands to avoid reversionism, (2Th 3:6-15; 2Ti 3:5;
Heb 13:13) perversion, (1Co 5:10) emotionalism, (Rom 16:17) negative volition, (Mat 10:34-40; 1Jn 2:15-17)
social life, business, marriage etc., with carnal believers and unbelievers, (2Co 6:14) idolatry, (2Co
6:15-16) distracting social life, (1Pe 4:3-4)
and crime. (Pro 1:10-19)
We must separate ourselves from Satan’s
nefarious, multifaceted systems, but always our emphasis must be separation unto God, not
separation from the world. Each believer must stress the function of the
Word of God in his own soul and his own Christian integrity, not the object he
wishes to avoid. We must focus on Divine Thinking, not on the false thinking we intend to leave behind.
In this manner we avoid the arrogance of self-righteous
crusading, which itself is a subtle satanic trap. The proper Spiritual
priority places God's Word before the influence of any personal relationship,
even beneficial relationships. (Mat 10:37;
Rom 12:1-3) As a result of Spiritual
growth, we leave behind entanglements that would impede our continued advance.
(2Ti 2:4) Loyalty to the Truth
supersedes but does not eliminate loyalty to people and organizations.
Separation means, first, to avoid distractions by switching from Personal to
Impersonal love in mental separation. Then, only if necessary and if possible,
physical separation is a drastic measure to avoid satanic influence by removing
yourself from a relationship. In most cases mental separation is sufficient
without the unwarranted major surgery of abruptly removing yourself from those
who were once close friends, loved ones, or associates. If you retreat from
every situation that puts pressure on you, you will be continually running from
one problem to another without making any progress in the Christian life. Often pressure is designed to teach, and you accelerate your
Spiritual growth by remaining under pressure, exercising Impersonal love, and
waiting on the Lord! Impersonal love insulates
you from false influences, even when you are in their presence, while also eliminating instability, bitterness, hostility, malice,
subjectivity, revenge, and arrogance. Impersonal love is not swayed by
any relationship but continues to operate with capacity for life under all
circumstances. Impersonal love is civilized separation, in contrast to
the boorish, arrogant behavior of those Christians who call attention to
themselves by self-righteously “taking a stand” against the world!
THE
INTEGRITY OF GOD / DIVINE LOVE
In
designing the power system that would sustain Christ’s humanity on earth, God
patterned Virtue love after His own Divine attribute of love.
According to
all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the
pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it. (Exodus 25:9)
The
outside of the Tabernacle was plain leather ram's skins. (Heb 10:5; Exodus 36:19)
(The Human body of Christ)
The Inside Pure
Gold, Silver, Beauty. (Exodus 39:35-40) This is an illustration of the copy of God's Nature
— the Spiritual life that Christ perfected by staying
in fellowship —
and we reach Spiritual maturity by staying inside the same system!
For
by these He has granted to us His precious and
magnificent Promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the Divine Nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
(2Pe 1:4)
We have come to know and have believed
the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love
abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love
is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the Day of Judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. (1Jn 4:16-17)
God is much more than love. He is a
Person; His essence consists of many attributes, all of which exist together in
complete consistency and integrity. The function of one attribute never
compromises any other. God’s love is perfect, but His love is also perfect in
its relationship with His sovereignty, righteousness, justice, eternity,
omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability, veracity, and all other
characteristics of His essence, A case in point: God never blesses us on the basis of His love. God’s love motivates
Him to prosper us, but any Divine blessing given to imperfect man must be
compatible with God’s justice.
Justice and righteousness are the two
Divine attributes that directly influence all God’s blessings to us. Together
these two attributes have been traditionally designated the holiness of
God, (Isa 6:3) but holiness has become
an obscure term. Integrity is a more definitive and meaningful word. Righteousness
is the Principle of Divine integrity; justice is the function of
Divine integrity.
God’s justice is not an arbitrary or overhasty attribute but invariably
operates according to the absolute standard of His perfect righteousness. What righteousness demands, justice executes: if
righteousness disapproves, justice condemns; if righteousness approves, justice
blesses. Hence, grace involves far more than “unmerited favor,” as grace is
commonly defined. Grace is the policy of the justice of God for blessing
mankind.
Since our sinful status at birth violates God’s Standards, He cannot
treat us on the basis of His Personal love. Instead,
every action that God takes toward sinful man must be endorsed by His justice
to avoid compromising His righteousness. Because
justice is the guardian of the essence of God, Divine justice, not Divine love,
is man’s point of contact with God. Justice, not love, is the source of
all Divine blessings. Toward us, Divine justice takes
precedence over Divine love.
Under grace the justice of God has
accomplished everything necessary to make us acceptable to His righteousness.
This is the Doctrine of propitiation; (Rom 3:25;
1Jn 2:2, 1Jn
4:10) as the foundation for the Doctrine of justification. (Rom 3:28; 2Co 5:21)
Propitiation means that on the Cross Jesus Christ satisfied the righteousness
of God the Father on our behalf. Justification is the Doctrine that, at the moment we first believed in Christ, God credited to
us His own absolute righteousness and declared us to be totally acceptable to
His integrity! By imputing Divine righteousness to us, God has made our
position so absolutely, eternally secure that He blesses us on the Principle
of His impartial fairness. Divine righteousness,
resident in us, deserves blessing! (Not Us) The approval to bless us has come from the most
exalted authority, the supreme court of heaven. Nothing can overturn that
decision. Divine righteousness in the essence of God
gives approval for justice to bless Divine righteousness in us. This
judicial verdict is executed by God’s absolute justice, which gives us the
right blessings at the right time.
Timing is essential. Even
when we are Spiritually mature, timing must be right. God has
a plan for each believer’s life and knows each individual’s capacity; too much
prosperity at the wrong time can destroy a person more quickly than intense
adversity. (1Co 10:13) Only
through the filling of God the Holy Spirit and Thinking with Truth can we keep
pace with God’s timing! In grace, therefore,
God gives us every blessing that we have the capacity to receive and appreciate.
He has already given us the means for developing capacity: Spirit & Truth. If
grace were based on love instead of justice, God’s plan would be reduced to
favoritism, maudlin sentimentality, and competition for Divine approval; the
Spiritual life would become a hollow shell of superficiality.
LOVE BASED ON INTEGRITY
When we understand God’s policy of grace, we are confident that when He
prospers us His entire essence is involved, not just His love. Divine love does
not and cannot function independently of His integrity. But the connection
between God’s love and God’s integrity has escaped most Christians today. Tragically, believers have created God in their own image,
ascribing to Him their own superficial, emotional love. The Bible tells us that God is love, but that does not imply
that He is sentimental about us. He does not bless or reward us for our human
good works or sincerity in wanting to please Him. These are man’s illusions,
not God’s plan. God blesses us only according
to His own game plan, and He disciplines us when we depart from His plan. God
never changes: only man changes. Blessing or discipline from God perfectly reflects changes
in man while the justice of God remains consistent. God is completely
impartial; His standards are absolute; His
love comes to us only by way of His integrity.
God’s love, therefore, possesses all the strength of His integrity. Likewise, in fellowship, our Espirt de corps love
for a few, derives its strength from our Spiritual maturity, and our
Spiritual growth is demonstrated in our Impersonal love for all.
Beloved, [Members of the royal family] let us love one another,
[Impersonal love] for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God
and knows God. (1Jn 4:7)
Love is from God because He is the source of Virtue love and because His
love is the pattern for all genuine love. As John continues to explain
Christian love, he specifies “everyone who loves,” referring to believers only,
those to whom the epistle is written. Unbelievers are never addressed as “beloved.”
Furthermore, everyone who loves [The believer’s Impersonal love] has
been born from the source of God [Initial entry into the bottom circle at the
moment of Salvation] and has come to know God [Impersonal
love is visible evidence of the believer’s Spiritual maturity. Jer 9:24] When anyone does not love, [With
Virtue love] he has not come to know God, because God
IS love. (1Jn 4:7-8)
Capacity for Virtue love involves Spiritual
Thought, emotion, physical and Spiritual expressions from Truth in the soul.
Knowledge of Truth builds our integrity, which is our capacity for love,
and orients us to the Reality of God’s essence.
In God’s essence His attribute of love is the pattern for human love.
God’s attribute of love shows us in terms of absolute, ultimate Reality the
difference between Impersonal and Personal love and the true superiority of
Impersonal love. These distinctions are clarified by understanding the three
categories of God’s love. His Personal love is
classified according to its objects: Divine Personal love directed toward
Himself, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the elect angels and humans that are
going to be with him forever and toward His Thoughts and Virtue.
GOD’S LOVE FOR GOD
PERFECT
SELF-SUFFICIENCY
God’s love for His Own essence
explains (1Jn 4:8) “God is love.”
Only God is said to be love. We may love someone or something or may be in
love, but we never are love. Human love is always related to an
object. “God IS love” means not only that His love is an attribute of His essence, an integral part
of Who and What He IS, and that Divine love is the quintessence of love, but
also that His love does not require an object. Before
God created the universe, He loved just as He loves today and will love
forever. God is immutable and eternal, and as an attribute of His
perfect Divine essence, His love always existed. We may or may not have
capacity to love, depending on our integrity. Our love
for another person can grow or disappear. We can fall in or out of love,
but God does not. Our love fluctuates; His
does not. God’s love
remains eternal and changeless because He is eternal and changeless. Changes in us do not
create changes in God’s love. His love does
not depend on us or any other object.
God’s integrity supports and guarantees His love, but His love also is
directed toward His own integrity. This tremendous inner affinity within
the attributes of God is expressed in the statement that God IS love. He loves Who and what He IS. God perfectly fulfills His Own
uncompromising Standards; therefore, He loves His Own righteousness and
justice. (Psa 11:7; Psa 33:5; Psa
37:28)
In man, total self-love is arrogance because we are imperfect and
sinful; in God, total self-love is legitimate
because He is absolutely worthy. God would
compromise His integrity if He loved anything less than perfection, (As with the believers personal love) but He would also be compromised if He failed to love what
is perfect, His Own essence. If God did not love Himself, there would be no
reason for us to love Him, but when we share His Thinking we come to share His
Own respect and love for Himself!
Remember the former things
long past,
For I
am God and there is no other;
I am
God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring
the end from the beginning
And
from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, “My purpose will be
established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” (Isa 46:9-10)
God knows Himself to be beyond comparison
with any other being, and in the interest of absolute Truth He claims all glory
for Himself.
The purpose of God’s game plan is His Own
glorification through blessing us. Indeed, only omnipotent God is
capable of glorifying Himself as He deserves, which explains why human old sin
nature good is unacceptable to God. (Psa 39:5)
Our residence and function inside His power system
enables God to demonstrate the utter superiority of His Divine nature — the Spiritual life in us and to be glorified to the maximum in our lives.
SUBJECTIVE AND
OBJECTIVE DIVINE LOVE
God exists in three separate and distinct personalities, each having
identical Divine attributes from eternity past: the Father, (1Co 8:6; Eph 1:3)
the Son, (Joh 10:30; Joh 14:9; Col 2:9)
and the Holy Spirit (Isa 11:2; Exodus 31:3; Act 28:25;
Pro 1:23) The
Godhead is One in essence, Three in Personality (Isa 6:8-9) We have been created in the Image of God. Body, Soul and
Spirit, and these three are one! As believers we share His Body Soul and
Spirit!
So we, who are many, are one
body in Christ, and individually members’ one of another. (Rom 12:5)
He who does not
love Me does not keep My Words; and the Word which you hear is not Mine, but
the Father's who sent Me. (Joh 14:24)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:22)
Our body has life, our soul
has life, and our spirit has life, and they are one! (1Th 5:23) When
the essence of God is in view, God is said to be One; (Deut 32:39) when
the individual Members of the Godhead are in view, God is said to be Three! (Luk 3:22; 2Co 13:14)
The Doctrine of the Trinity introduces a distinction in describing God’s love: God’s love for God is both subjective and objective.
God’s subjective love is the love of each Member of the Trinity for His
Own integrity. God’s objective love is each Person’s love for the equal
integrity of the other two Members of the Trinity. This means that God the
Father subjectively loves His Own righteousness and justice with maximum love,
but since God the Son and God the Holy Spirit possess identical righteousness and
justice, He also loves them with maximum objective love. Likewise, the Son
loves His own integrity as a matter of subjective love and loves the integrity
of the Father and the Holy Spirit with objective love. So also, the Spirit
loves Himself subjectively and loves the Father and the Son objectively.
Subjectivity is different in God than in man. The attributes of God’s essence
guarantee that God’s subjective Thinking is perfect, just as His objective
Thinking is perfect. In human beings subjectivity is a
breeding ground for evil. A subjective person,
whether believer or unbeliever, is preoccupied with himself. Subjectivity
cuts him off from God’s game plan. Therefore, the self-occupied person is
arrogantly divorced from Divine Reality and in opposition to the Truth. God is the author of Reality, the designer of the Spiritual
life which is patterned after His Nature. God IS Truth! (Joh 14:6; 1Jn 5:6)
We can learn Truth and Think
with Truth, but God IS Truth. We comprehend Truth in
three categories: the Divine laws of establishment, the Gospel, and Bible Doctrines. Every
category of Truth is an aspect of God’s perfect purpose and design. The Divine
decrees, through which God established the existence of every detail of
Reality, are based on all the attributes of Who and What He IS,
which He has objectively revealed in the written canon of Scripture. God’s
Veracity guarantees His absolute freedom from compromise, contradiction, or
falsehood in all He Thinks, says, or does. (Deut 32:4) His omniscience knows all
things from eternity past, throughout history, and forever. His knowledge is
not restricted, nor is His span of concentration limited, as is ours.
Concentration is a human attribute, but God never needs to exclude one subject
in order to focus on another. He is constantly
occupied with all things at once! He cannot be
distracted, lose His perspective, or become divorced from Reality. Since He is
a Person, God is conscious of Himself, and when He Thinks about Himself, as He
always does, He is Thinking the Truth. God’s subjectivity is legitimate,
necessary, and perfect, just as His self-love is legitimate, necessary, and
perfect.
God’s love for God is subjectively internal within the essence of
each Member of the Godhead and objectively external between the Members
of the Godhead. This establishes the pattern of Virtue love as a transitive
verb with a subject and an object. At the absolute source of love, both the
subject and the object are equal. Both are God. This love relationship between
the three Members of the Trinity is the most exclusive relationship in the
universe. The entry requirements are infinite, absolute and perfect — impossible for sinful man to meet. As fallen
mankind we simply do not qualify for the same love that the Members of the
Trinity merit. Our beggarly human old sin nature
morality, by which we attempt to please God, is not only a blasphemous insult
to His superior Standards but is an arrogant attempt to intrude on God’s
Virtue love and God’s plan. No wonder the Scriptures say, “By
grace are you saved... not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph 2:8-9) No wonder we
are dependent on the interlocking system of Virtue love, the system of power — that God has ordained. We
have no entrance with God apart from the system He has given us!
GOD’S LOVE FOR MAN
The second category of Divine love
is directed outside the Godhead toward imperfect man. As in God’s love for God,
Divine integrity is involved, except that now the integrity resides only in the
subject, not in the object of love. Hence, God’s love for man is classified as Divine
Impersonal love and, toward those who fulfill His plan by staying in
fellowship, Divine Personal esprit de corps love. This further establishes
the pattern for Virtue love, inside the Divine dynasphere. Divine Impersonal
love emphasizes the subject; Divine personal love emphasizes the
object. Divine Impersonal love emphasizes the integrity of God; Divine personal love emphasizes the Spiritual
condition and positive volition of the object. Divine Impersonal love
is unconditional, directed toward all; Divine Personal
love is conditional, directed toward the few who execute God’s game plan (Rom 9:13; Act 26:17-18)
Divine
Impersonal Love
|
Divine
Esprit de corps Personal Love
|
Emphasizes
subject
Integrity
of God
Unconditional
Toward
all
|
Emphasizes
object
Positive
volition of man
Conditional
Toward
a few
|
GOD’S
IMPERSONAL AND PERSONAL LOVE FOR MAN
The
criterion for God’s Virtue love, both Impersonal and Personal, is always His
Own absolute integrity: He loves only what His
righteousness approves. Each Person of the Godhead loves absolute Divine
righteousness, but how can God direct that same love toward imperfect human
beings whom His perfect righteousness rejects and His justice has condemned?
God cannot compromise any Divine standard without destroying His integrity. If
His integrity is destroyed, so is His love. This is a critical issue for man to
understand. God cannot be God if He loves the unworthy, yet He is said to love
all mankind, (Joh 3:16) whom He
condemns at birth. (Rom 5:19) The
solution is found in Divine Impersonal love, which depends exclusively on the
absolute character of God. Perfect God can create only that which is perfect.
When He created Adam and the woman, the human race was a fitting object for
Divine Personal love. As perfect humanity Adam was not equal with God, but
neither did he violate God’s integrity. No conflict with Divine righteousness
and justice existed with man in the perfection of the Garden, with the result
that Divine love was God’s point of contact with man. Adam and the woman were
blessed from God’s love rather than from His justice. Grace is the policy of God’s
justice in blessing sinful man, but man had not yet sinned. There was no
need for grace until the Fall of man. (It was just God's good pleasure to do
so. Php 2:13)
When Adam chose to sin, God condemned him.
Divine justice, the executor of Divine righteousness, became God’s point of
contact with man in place of Divine love. The
emphasis in God’s relationship with Adam shifted from the object, man, to the
subject, God, whose righteousness and justice are absolute, immutable, and
eternally worthy of Divine love. At the Fall
of man, God switched from Divine Personal love to Divine Impersonal love.
Divine Impersonal love never relies on the merit of its object. Instead, the
integrity of the subject established grace as an entirely new Divine policy,
under which the justice of God initiated a plan to save fallen man.
For God did not send the Son into the
world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him.
(Joh 3:17)
...Believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall
be saved... (Act 16:31)
THE
EXTENT OF GOD’S IMPERSONAL LOVE
Can perfect God love imperfect, condemned,
depraved, unregenerate man? Yes, but only with Impersonal love. We are born
Spiritually dead because of Adam’s Fall, (Rom 5:12)
but from the moment of physical birth every human being is the beneficiary
of the integrity of God. Our lack of merit does not prevent God from designing
and executing a plan to save us without violating His own Standards. Under the
Principle of grace before judgment, God delays final judgment to permit us the
opportunity to believe in Christ and receive eternal life.
Or do you disparage [By maliciously
judging each other] the riches of His generosity [God’s Impersonal love, His
“kindness” to man based solely on His Own integrity] and clemency [Delay in
judgment] and patience, [His consistency regardless of our recalcitrance] not
knowing that the kindness of God brings you to a change of mind.
(Rom 2:4)
God delayed mankind’s final judgment so
that He could extend to us His kindness, and Virtue love. An impassable barrier
stood between man and God.
God cannot tolerate sin (Rom 3:23;
Jer 17:9) He cannot cancel the
penalty of sin; (Rom 6:23) nor can He
ignore the problem of our physical birth and Spiritual death. (Eph 2:1) Our position in Adam, which makes us
objects of Divine condemnation, and we by ourselves cannot
suddenly become pleasing to God. (1Co 15:22)
God’s absolute righteousness can never accept our relative righteousness, (Isa 64:6; Rom 9:30-33)
nor can any attribute of God’s essence be compromised. (Isa 46:9; Rom 8:8;
1Ti 6:16) This barrier was removed by
the work of Christ on the Cross so that only the Cross now stands between man
and God. Only one issue remains: our volition. God cannot force our free will
without compromising His integrity; He cannot arbitrarily save us. We must
freely believe in Christ to be saved and avoid the Last Judgment. (Joh 3:18)
If God preempted our volition in Salvation, He would destroy His own plan.
He would cancel the very purpose of THE EARTH: that each individual might
choose to have a personal relationship with Him. Therefore, in Impersonal love God does everything except make the
decision for us! Positive volition is the only missing link, the only factor
needed to complete our reconciliation with God. We are born totally
abhorrent to God, but a single decision of non-meritorious faith in Christ
closes the gap and establishes us as God’s beloved sons forever. The mechanics
of Salvation demonstrate the tremendous scope of God’s Impersonal love, the absolute
“riches of His generosity.” Without
violating His integrity or relying on the unworthy objects of His Impersonal
love, God marshaled all His infinite genius and power for our advantage, “not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” [A
change of mind concerning the Word of Truth] (2Pe
3:9)
THE ALL AND THE
FEW IN EACH PHASE OF GOD’S PLAN
God has provided everything for the eternal
Salvation of every unbeliever and the maximum prosperity of every believer in
both time and eternity. If an unbeliever rejects God’s saving grace, he
remains the object of only Divine Impersonal love until he dies, when the
delay in judgment runs out. (Heb 10:27)
When the unbeliever accepts the work of Christ, he becomes the object of Divine
Personal love just as Adam was the object of God’s Personal love in the Garden.
But God’s plan for the royal family gives us a higher
position after Salvation than Adam enjoyed before the Fall. God’s game
plan is to make us like His Son. (Heb 2:10-11)
This is the Doctrine of sanctification.
Sanctification is a technical, Theological term that refers only to the
royal family. (1Co 1:2; 1Co 1:30) Heb 10:19-20)
We are set apart as sacred or consecrated to God; we belong to God under a
unique, eternal contract. Faith in Christ affixes our signature to a royal
contract under which we share the sanctification of Jesus Christ, the “Holy
One from God.” (Luk 4:34; Joh 6:69) The death, burial, resurrection,
ascension, and session of Christ fulfilled and therefore abrogated the old
contract or Old Testament of the Mosaic Law. (Rom 10:4;
Gal 4:4-5) We live under a new grace contract, the New Testament,
which we fulfill in fellowship with God. (Gal
5:14-25)
Sanctification is accomplished in three phases: positional,
experiential, and ultimate. At the moment of
faith in Christ, the believer is placed into union with Christ — positional sanctification
and retroactive positional death. (1Th 5:23;
Rom 6:3) As
the believer functions in Christ’s Spiritual life and acquires the Mind of
Christ, he reaches Spiritual maturity — experiential
sanctification and experiential death. (Joh
12:24-26; Joh 17:17) And in heaven the believer receives a body like Christ’s
resurrection body —ultimate sanctification and ultimate death to the old sin
nature. (1Jn 3:2; 1Co 15:53-54)
This plan is based on God’s integrity and the work of Christ, not on any
merit in the human race. We are the beneficiaries of God’s plan. God
loves us because of Who and What He IS, because of the provisions He has
made, because on the Cross His justice fulfilled the demands of His righteousness.
This is grace! After Salvation the justice of
God remains the source of all our blessings. We were saved by grace; we are
always under grace, whether objects of God’s Impersonal love or objects of His
Personal love.
In each phase of God’s plan — phase one,
Salvation; phase two, the believer in time; or phase three, the believer in
eternity — a different category of people is specified. All members of
each category receive Divine Impersonal love; a few in each group
qualify for Divine Personal love by obeying God’s will.
God’s
Impersonal Love for the All
|
God’s
Personal
Love
for the Few
|
|
PHASE
ONE
Salvation
|
ENTIRE
HUMAN RACE
Unlimited
Atonement
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BELIEVERS
IN CHRIST
Imputed
Righteousness
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PHASE
TWO
Believer
on Earth
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ALL
BELIEVERS
Logistical
Grace
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MATURE
BELIEVERS
Super-grace
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PHASE
THREE
Believer
in Heaven
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ALL
BELIEVERS
Resurrection
Body
|
MATURE
BELIEVERS
Eternal
Rewards
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OBJECTS
OF GOD’S IMPERSONAL AND PERSONAL LOVE
In phase one God offers Salvation to all
mankind from His Impersonal love, but only the few accept Christ as Savior
and come under God’s Personal love. In phase two all believers on earth
are sustained and protected by God’s logistical grace from His Impersonal love,
but only the few utilize logistical grace, advance to maturity, and become
recipients of super-grace blessings motivated by His Personal love. In phase
three all believers in heaven possess the resurrection body, but only
the few receive special rewards, decorations, and honors as the most eminent
eternal aristocrats.
DIVINE
LOVE IN SALVATION
The category in
view in phase one of God’s plan is the entire human race. The Doctrine of
unlimited atonement declares that Christ died for all mankind. (Rom 5:6; 2Co 5:15;
1Ti 2:6; 1Ti
4:10; Tit 2:11; Heb 2:9)
And He [Jesus Christ] is the
propitiation [He satisfied God the Father] for our sins, and not ours only, but
also for the entire world. (1Jn 2:2)
For God so loved the world [With Divine
Impersonal love] that He gave His uniquely-born Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have eternal life. (Joh
3:16)
God manifests Impersonal love toward
everyone He imputed human life to, evil men, like Stalin and Hitler, and
presented them with repeated occasions to be saved. (Rom 11:32; 2Pe 3:9) The
Cross is a conditional possibility for ALL. In contrast, God reserves His
Personal love for only those few who believe in Christ and thus fulfill the
conditions of the Gospel. In each generation a different proportion of all
living people will trust in Christ, but those few, whatever their number, are
the objects of Divine Personal love with reference to phase one.
The work of Salvation exacted a terrible
price, the Spiritual death and judgment of Christ on the Cross. No unbeliever
has ever earned or deserved Salvation, but if God has accomplished the most for
those He Impersonally loves, He can do only much more than the most, for those special
few He Personally loves. God imputed all man’s sins to Christ on the Cross
in behalf of the entire human race, but God goes much farther for those who
believe in Christ: to them He imputes Divine righteousness.
One of the most remarkable Bible Doctrines is that God credits His
Own righteousness to every believer. We possess forever the very Principle and Standard of God’s
integrity, the quality that God has respected, honored, and loved throughout
all His eternal existence. We could receive no more valuable or significant blessing. Now the same phenomenal love that has always existed between the
Members of the Trinity is directed toward us. God loves His own righteousness; He has given us His
righteousness; therefore, He loves us!
He [God the Father] made Him [Christ]
who knew no sin [Impeccable in the Spiritual life] to be sin on our behalf,
[The judgment of all human sins in Christ] that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him. (2Co 5:21)
For by one man’s disobedience
[Adam’s original sin] many [The entire human race] were made sinners, so by
the obedience of the One [Christ submitting to the Spiritual death and
judgment of the Cross] shall many be made righteous. [Imputed
righteousness at Salvation] (Rom 5:19)
And he [Abraham] had believed in the Lord, and
He [The Lord] counted it to him for righteousness. [Abraham received God’s
righteousness at the moment of Salvation] (Gen
15:6)
So I stand convinced that neither death
nor life, neither demons nor rulers of demons, neither present things nor
future things, neither powers, neither height [Nothing in heaven] nor depth
[Nothing in hell] nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [In union with Christ we
share His righteousness] (Rom 8:38-39)
As Spiritual royalty each believer
possesses a double portion of Divine righteousness. The righteousness of God
the Father is imputed to us at Salvation, as it is to every believer of all
other dispensations. (Gen 15:6) But we
also share the righteousness of God the Son through our royal position in union
with Christ. (2Co 5:21) We are included in the dynamics of “God is love,”
not because of who and what we are, but because of Who and What God IS, because
of His integrity!
DIVINE LOVE FOR THE BELIEVER IN TIME
THE GRACE PIPELINE
After Salvation
the imputed righteousness of God becomes the home or target for Divine
blessings that exceed Salvation itself. This
Principle does not diminish God’s matchless grace in saving us but reveals His
infinite capacity for prospering those He Personally loves. God’s capacity never changes,
but He can do far more for His sons than for His enemies. (Rom 5:10) Imputed righteousness creates in us a
potential for blessings that never exists in the unbeliever. As a result Divine
blessings after Salvation can be greater than Salvation itself because they are
easier for God to give.
This is the Doctrine that motivates the
advancing believer to persist in learning God’s Word. As he makes the
transition from ignorance to cognizance of Divine Thinking, the believer
creates in his soul capacity for blessings. The believer’s
capability to receive and appreciate Divine grace enables God to prosper him
without distracting him and halting his Spiritual momentum. Capacity from Truth
in the soul is the missing link that converts potential for blessings into
Reality. The growing believer anchors his
hope or confidence in the knowledge that, far more than his first entrance into
the Spiritual life at Salvation, his life in gate eight will glorify Christ and
result in maximum blessing and impact. The Principle of greater grace
after Salvation (Jas 4:6) is expressed
by Paul in the words “much more” and “abundance of grace.”
For if by the transgression of the one, [Adam’s original sin]
[Spiritual] death ruled through the one, [And it did; we are all condemned at
birth for Adam’s sin] much more they [Spiritually Mature believers] who
receive in life the abundance of grace [Super-grace blessings in phase
two from the justice of God] and the gift of righteousness [Experiential
righteousness as the target in us for super-grace blessings] shall reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. [Now;
by living in fellowship, we will reign over our old sin nature] (Rom 5:17)
The goal is experiential
death, to reign over the sin nature now! (Mat 26:38-39;
Then we will reign with Christ in eternity! (Rev 3:21) This is what it means to overcome. Christ did not have a
sin nature, but was tempted far beyond anything we can imagine! (Heb 4:15) On the cross Satan tempted our LORD using the minds of the chief priests, the elders the rulers,
the people, the scribes the soldiers and the criminals. It was foretold what they would say!
All who see me sneer at me;
They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver Him;
Let Him rescue Him, because He delights in Him. (Psa 22:7-8)
Those passing by were hurling
abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ha! You who are going to destroy
the temple and rebuild it in three days. (Mar 15:29)
In the same way the chief priests also,
along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and
saying, He saved others; He cannot save Himself.
He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from
the cross, and we will believe in Him. HE TRUSTS
IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, I am
the Son of God. The robbers who had been
crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the
same words. (Mat 27:41-44)
And the people stood by, looking on.
And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, He saved others; let Him
save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One. The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him,
offering Him sour wine, and saying, If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!
Now there was also an inscription above Him, "THIS IS THE KING OF
THE JEWS. One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at
Him, saying, Are You
not the Christ? Save Yourself and us! (Luk 23:35-39)
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose
it, [Die the sin unto death] but whoever loses his life [Puts God's Thoughts above our own] for My sake and the
gospel's will save it. For what does it profit
a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? (The Thinking and Virtue of Christ's Nature completed in us!)
(Mar 8:36)
By imputing to us Divine righteousness,
God has constructed a grace pipeline down which, in His perfect timing, He can
pour all the blessings we have the capacity to receive. (Job 1:21) With Divine justice as the source and imputed Divine
righteousness as the target. The grace pipeline is perfectly insulated or
encapsulated by the integrity of God. The
encapsulated pipeline seals out all human merit because man’s relative
righteousness falls short of God’s absolute righteousness; and would create a
weak link in the plan of God. Human old sin nature good is abhorrent to God. (Isa 64:6) He never
blesses us because of our sincerity, personality, talent, intelligence, personal
sacrifice, diligence, social action, tithing or emotionalism. Genetically acquired advantages are ultimately a gift from
God, and the opportunities to exploit advantages or overcome disadvantages are
also a Divine gift. We cannot take credit for
grace and demand that God prosper us for what He Himself has accomplished!
Nor does legitimate Christian service, prayer,
witnessing or giving qualify us for Divine blessings. Honorable Christian activities are in themselves blessings
and privileges, not the cause but a result
of Spiritual growth; they are Divinely
afforded opportunities to express our love for God, which itself is a result of growth. (Joh 15:5) Even morality is excluded from the
grace pipeline. Old sin nature morality exists between members of the human
race, but no human action, not even the most “meritorious,” has any credit with God! (Jer
17:5) Divine justice can bless only Divine
righteousness. (2Pe 1:1-4) The
encapsulated grace pipeline prevents all possibility of compromise to the
essence of God while excluding all human self-righteousness. (Tit 3:5-7) God is never
impressed with what we do; only we are impressed with what we do. (Pro 18:2) God pours blessings through the grace
pipeline to every believer in phase two of His plan, but, as in phase
one, a distinction exists between objects of Divine Impersonal and Personal
love. Phase two includes all believers alive on earth. All members of
this category experience Divine Impersonal love through His ceaseless
logistical support, but only the few who
persist in the Spiritual life become objects of Divine Personal love with
capacity for super-grace prosperity.
Divine Personal love remains constant toward imputed righteousness in
all believers, but in the Christian life, God’s integrity continually evaluates
believers for blessing or cursing. Volition remains an issue. Even while He
disciplines the reversionistic believer, God faithfully supplies all the
necessities of life, just as He unfailingly supports the Spiritually mature
believer — while also enriching him with super-grace. Certain basic blessings
are poured out to all believers; special additional blessings are reserved for
the few.
LOGISTICAL GRACE
Logistical grace, imputed by the
justice of God to the righteousness of God in each believer, includes four
interrelated categories of blessings.
1. Life support keeps the
believer alive until the moment God has decided to call him home. (Psa 68:19-20)
2. Temporal supply furnishes
such necessities as air, food, shelter, clothing, and transportation. (Mat 6:11; Mat 6:25-34)
3. Security provisions protect
the believer amid the hazards of the devil’s world. (Heb 1:14; Rom 13:4)
4. Spiritual provisions enable every believer to learn
God's Word and grow to Spiritual maturity regardless of human IQ, background,
or environment. (Mat 4:4; Joh 17:17)
No matter how you fail or succeed, God
will never abandon you. (Heb 13:5-6) Wherever you go, whatever you do, as
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you will always be supported by the power
and Impersonal love of God, for “underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deut 33:27) When the need is greatest, the
Lord is nearest. (Psa 46:1; Php 4:19)
The Lord is the One shepherding me. I
cannot lack for anything. (Psa 23:1)
This [God's Word] I recall to mind; therefore, I have hope.
[Confidence concerning phase two] the Lord’s grace functions never cease,
[Logistical grace] for His compassions [Divine Impersonal love] never fail;
they are renewed every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. [Divine integrity]
The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore, I have hope [Confidence] in
Him. The Lord is good
[Super-grace
blessings in phase two] to those who wait on Him,
to the soul who seeks Him! (Lam 3:21-25)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus illustrated God’s generosity
toward even the most undeserving believer by showing that every common sparrow
and lily of the field receives the equivalent of logistical grace.
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you
not worth much more than they? (Mat 6:26)
Logistical grace is supplied to all believers, in sufficient, though
unequal, quantities to enable them to advance to gate eight of the Spiritual
life. Equality is never the issue; neither envy of those with more, nor
haughtiness toward those with less, has any place in God’s game plan. What matters is, how you use the grace God has given you.
The Spiritual life itself is the epitome of logistical grace. All receive the Spiritual life; few utilize its power. Every believer in phase two
has resolved the issue of Salvation and constantly receives logistical grace,
but many Christians fail to progress beyond salvation!
But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, (Believers
who reached Spiritual maturity) then
the tares (Carnal believers) became
evident also. (Mat 13:26) Mature believers (Virgins) (Rev 14:4-5)
are invited to the marriage supper, (Rev 19:7-9)
and are reaped for the wedding. (Rev 14:14-16)
The bride is the Spiritually mature believers from every dispensation. (Heb 11:6; Heb 11:33-40;
Psa 45:9-17) Carnal
believers living during the tribulation are gathered and put into the wine press, (Rev 14:17-20; Joe 3:11-17
) and will not get into the wedding, (Mat 25:1-13)
Mature believers receive 30, 60 & 100 fold, in
rewards. (Mat 13:23) Carnal believers receive a few lashes, many lashes, (Luk 12:45-48) or are
thrown into outer darkness, (Mat 24:50-51; Mat 22:12-14)
Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they
have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of
Korah. (Believers!) These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts
when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without
water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead,
uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam;
wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
(Jude 1:11-13)
Forsaking the right way, they have
gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the
wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression,
for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of
the prophet. These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom
the black darkness has been reserved. (2Pe 2:15-17)
At the Second Advent all unbelievers and believers
who received the mark of The Beast are killed by His sword and go to Hades until
the end of the Millennium and then go to the lake of
fire! (Rev 14:9-12; Rev 19:20-21) The
millennium is started by the protected believers. (Rev 12:6)
Now at that time
Michael, the great prince who stands guard over
the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be
a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that
time; and at that time your people, everyone
who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Many of those who sleep
in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (Believers!) (Php 3:19; 1Jn 2:28) Those who have insight [Spiritual maturity] will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of
heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, [Salvation and Spiritual Maturity] like the stars forever
and ever. But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the
book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase. (Dan 12:1-4)
So you
will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves
God and one
who does not serve Him. (Mal 3:18)
But grow by means of grace [Logistical grace] and by means of the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. [Logistical grace supplies Truth for
the believer’s Spiritual momentum] (2Pe 3:18)
SUPERGRACE
Divine justice is impartial; God’s game plan succeeds for anyone who executes
its Commands. God imputes the “much more”
abundance of grace, (Rom 5:17)
or greater grace, (Jas 4:6) to any
believer who exploits Divine logistics. In
any generation relatively few believers take advantage of their Spiritual royalty,
“grow by means of grace,” and live as true Spiritual aristocrats. Only a
few establish the correct scale of values with the Word of Truth as first
priority, refuse to be distracted from staying in fellowship and maintain their
momentum to gate eight. But these few believers become
the objects of God’s Personal love.
Only Christ has ever
remained perpetually inside the Prototype Spiritual life, but
those Christians who grow until they spend the majority of their time in the
Divine power system become the objects of Divine Personal love. Thousands
of decisions are required: to rebound whenever necessary, to persist daily in
learning the Word of God, to Think with God's Thoughts as opportunities
develop. (Php 2:12-16) Perception
of Truth is constant, a daily habit; application varies with circumstances. The Spiritually mature believer has not attained sinless
perfection, but by his consistent good Decisions he has established a trend of
relying on God’s power — the filling of God the Holy Spirit, and God's
Thoughts, The Mind of Christ!
Spiritual maturity consists of six
categories of special blessings.
1. Spiritual blessings are
the inherent reward of Virtue directed toward God. The Virtues of confidence,
worship, and Personal love toward God give the believer strength and happiness, while motivating the
Virtues of courage, Virtue morality, and Impersonal love toward man!
Motivation VS.
Function
Personal love toward
God = Impersonal love toward man
Confidence in God = Courage
toward man
Worship toward God = Virtue
morality toward man, self, things and circumstances. (1Jn
4:20; 1Jn 4:18; 1Jn 3:16)
2. Temporal
blessings are designed uniquely for each mature believer. God gives
the right blessings at the right time, which may include wealth, success,
promotion, mental and cultural enrichment, leadership dynamics, improved
health. (1Pe 5:6-7)
3. Blessing
by association overflow to family, friends, and associates as God
prospers the super-grace believer through blessing those in his periphery. (Eccles 9:14-15)
4. Historical
impact is blessing by association extended to the believer’s
community, state and nation. Jesus Christ controls history for the purpose of
protecting and blessing those who love Him. (Lev 26:3-13)
5. Undeserved
suffering demands intensified application of Truth, accelerating
Spiritual growth and increasing the believer’s appreciation of the Lord. (Rom 8:17-18)
6. Dying
grace is the mature believer’s final, glorious experience of Divine
grace on earth. (Psa 116:15) With supernatural
tranquility and eager anticipation, the “friend of God” (Joh 15:14) crosses the high golden bridge from
the blessings of time to greater blessings in eternity.
Spiritual blessings give capacity for all
the others. Spiritual blessings include sharing the Happiness of God, capacity
for life and love, a total appreciation for God and His Word! He has an
unlimited capacity for Love (Fellowship) and
Truth! (Psa 84:10) As our capacity increases God
is free to give more and more! If God doubled His blessings every day (And He
Does!) through eternity! We will never even start to tap the infinite
capacity of God! (Luk 8:18) Amazing! (Song 2:16; Song 5:16) Also the ability to
handle disaster, the ability to interpret contemporary history, freedom from
slavery to the details of life, (Money, sex, social Life, entertainment, material things,) adaptability to change,
and a sense of security from knowing the plan of God for your life! Based
on these Spiritual blessings at gate eight of the love complex, God can then
give the five additional categories of blessings.
DIVINE LOVE FOR
THE BELIEVER IN ETERNITY
In phase three of God’s plan, every Spiritually mature believer resides
in heaven forever. In this category of mankind, the objects of Divine
Impersonal love are again distinguished from objects of Divine Personal love.
All believers in heaven receive a resurrection body, (1Co 15:43, 1Co 15:53;
1Jn 3:2) but only the few receive
special rewards. In heaven as on earth, Divine Impersonal love is
unconditional; every believer receives ultimate sanctification. But Divine
Personal love is conditional, depending on how we utilized God’s grace provisions
on earth. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, our Lord as judge will recognize
those who attained Spiritual maturity on earth. (Joh
5:22, Joh 5:27; 1Co 3:11-14) Their positive volition will have
permitted God to glorify Christ by imputing super-grace blessings to them in
the devil’s world. The perfect, just pronouncement of the Lord Jesus Christ
will be to multiply those wonderful blessings into still greater rewards in
heaven. (Mat 13:11-12; Rev 2:17) These surpassing
grace rewards will glorify, the Lord to the maximum throughout all eternity.
Believers will be
rewarded in eternity in proportion to their Divine blessings in time. There is no equality in time; there will be no equality
in eternity! God designed man to be free,
not equal, and each believer will be rewarded according to the sum total of his
freewill decisions for or against the Spiritual Life! There are now on
earth and always will be in heaven degrees of Divine blessings according to the
individual’s execution of God’s game plan. There
are no degrees of Divine Impersonal love because God’s Impersonal love for man
depends only on the unchangeable integrity of God.
GOD’S LOVE AS A POLICY
God loves God; God loves man; God
loves as a matter of policy. Actually this category is a system of
communication designed to explain Divine policies to man. For this purpose the
Scriptures ascribe (Human characteristics) to God, called an
anthropopathism. Derived from the Greek anthropos, “man,” and pathos,
“an inner function of the soul with overt manifestations,” an
anthropopathism is language of accommodation through which infinite God
reveals Himself to the finite mind of man. The Bible declares that God hates, (Rom 9:13) harbors jealousy; (Exodus 20:5; Exodus
34:14; Deut 4:24; Deut 6:15) changes; (Gen
6:6) and vents a violent anger. (Jer 4:8;
Jer 12:13; Jer
25:37; Jer 51:45; Eze 5:15) These
qualities are incompatible with God’s essence, but such statements are
descriptive and gain the attention of the hearer. When an unbeliever first
hears the Gospel, he cannot comprehend all the coordinated functions of the
essence of God that guarantee Salvation. Knowledge of God develops later, after
he becomes a believer and learns the Word of Truth over an extended period of
time. But the unbeliever can understand the Gospel message. (Joh 6:44-45) A classic illustration of an
anthropopathism is quoted by Paul from the Old Testament (Mal 1:2-3) to demonstrate the contrast; between
God’s policy for believers, and unbelievers, and positive believers negative
believers. (Heb 12:25; 1Pe 4:17)
I love that Jacob, but I hate that
Esau. (Rom 9:13)
God does not hate anyone. Personal hatred is a sin, strictly a human
fault. Since human characteristics are being contrasted in, (Rom 9:13). We need to see: The Transponsive Policy of God.
God controls the stimulus and the results of His plan, we control the
response. With believers God works the same way, the stimulus is His Word and
Spiritual life; (Joh 4:23) if we are
positive blessing, (Pro 8:17) negative
discipline, (Pro 8:36)
When Jacob finally grew up Spiritually and became the object of Divine
Personal love, God changed his name to Israel. (“For you have striven with
God and with men and have prevailed.”) (He
Reached Spiritual Maturity!) (Gen 32:28-30;
Gen 35:10)
GATE THREE,
TEACHABILITY
HUMILITY DEFINED
Strength of character and resultant
happiness are constructed upon a foundation of humility. Humility is freedom
—freedom from arrogance — allowing you to comprehend objective Reality, the
essence and plan of God. Humility is the basic Virtue of teachability.
Good and honorable is the LORD; [Divine
Integrity] Therefore, He instructs sinners in the way. He guides the humble in
justice, Consequently, He teaches the humble His way. (Psa 25:8-9)
Self-centeredness is arrogance, delusion
and foolishness. You are not the center of your life; you belong to a
far greater plan centered in God. He “has blessed [Us] with every Spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ...” (Eph
1:3) Your proud self-sufficiency is a myth
that complicates your life, blinding you to
the fascinating, gracious Person of God, separating you from your most
important love.” (Rev 2:4)
Humility seeks Reality; humility
desires and accepts Truth. The
marvelous Reality of God’s Personality and plan gives your life its meaning, purpose,
and definition, furnishing the perspective — Divine
Viewpoint — for solving your problems. But the
humility needed to learn “God’s way” achieves far more than just the solutions
to your problems; The Word of God in your soul
creates Christian integrity, (Virtue) which is your capacity for
life, blessing, and happiness! Humility is the initial Virtue or
strength of character that leads to all the Christian Virtues in the remaining
gates of the Spiritual life.
Humility is both a system of Thinking and a
way of life. As a system of Thinking, humility is freedom from arrogance; as a
way of life, humility is submission to legitimate authority. Humility responds
to establishment Truth by submitting to temporal authority and responds to the
Word of God by living in fellowship with God. Humility is a state of honor and
integrity.
The fear [Being in fellowship] of the Lord is the instruction for
wisdom, and before honor comes humility. (Pro 15:33)
When arrogance comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is
wisdom. (Pro 11:2)
A person’s arrogance will bring him low, but a spirit of humility
will attain honor. (Pro 29:23)
Humility is a system of Thinking under
pressure.
Courage and poise are the clothing that covers such
Thinking with glory.
The curse of the Lord is on the house of evil, [The family living
under Satan’s influence] but He blesses the home of righteousness. [The family
whose members live in God’s system] He makes war against the arrogant, but He
gives grace to the humble. The wise person [Humility is teachability] will
inherit honor, but fools [Those who are unteachable] carry away dishonor. (Pro 3:33-35)
But He gives greater grace;
[Blessings after Salvation] that is why the Scripture says, “God makes war
against the arrogant but gives grace to the humble.” (Jas 4:6)
God blesses all believers with logistical
grace as He keeps us alive for the purpose of advancing us to Spiritual
maturity within His system. He gives super-grace blessings only to those who
possess capacity for blessings, and humility is essential for capacity.
In the same way, comparative novices, [In the Christian life] be
under the command authority of the pastors. [Elders] All of you, [In the
congregation] fasten yourselves to each other with grace Thinking, [Impersonal
love] because God makes war against the arrogant, but He gives grace to the
humble. Therefore, become grace-oriented under [The authority of] the ruling
hand of God, that He may promote you at the proper time. (1Pe 5:5-6)
If God does not promote you, you are
not promoted. Humility prevents inordinate competition, self-advancement,
and the arrogance of achievement. Achievement belongs to God; happiness
belongs to the believer. This Principle is fulfilled only in the life of the believer who
resides and functions inside the Divine power system!
For everyone who exalts self shall be humbled, and he who humbles
himself [Living in God’s system] shall be
exalted. (Luk 14:11)
But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for
the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly
I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.
(Mar 10:14-15)
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers
of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over
them. It is not this way among you, but whoever
wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your
slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give His life a ransom for many. (Mat 20:25-28)
ORIENTATION TO REALITY, AUTHORITY
AND TRUTH
Both Spiritual humility and arrogance are patterns of thought, but a humble person is oriented to Divine Reality whereas an arrogant person is divorced from Reality. A genuinely humble man acknowledges his weaknesses and
depends on strength greater than his own, the power of God the Holy Spirit. Since he recognizes and submits to Truth, he Thinks and
acts from a position of strength. Paradoxically,
an arrogant person places himself in a position of weakness by overestimating
his strengths. He lives in a house of cards built on illusions of
self-importance. He can neither think rationally nor make wise decisions, but
succumbs to flattery or self-pity, allowing his soul to be dominated by the old
sin nature. Nearly every sin that man can commit expresses some form of
arrogance, whereas the relaxed mental attitude of basic Impersonal love
demonstrates humility. Gates two and three of the Spiritual life interlock: no
one can build the Virtue of Impersonal love except on the foundational Virtue
of humility.
Stop thinking of yourselves in terms of arrogance beyond what you
ought to think, but Think in terms of sanity [The
Divine Viewpoint] for the purpose of being rational without illusion as
God has assigned to each one a standard of thinking from the Word of God.
(Rom 12:3)
No sane person considers himself perfect, nor is any man an island.
People who live in close proximity to each other or who belong to any
organization that seeks to accomplish an objective must submit to authority. Authority is the primary issue that humility faces.
Submission to legitimate authority is humility;
rebellion is arrogance. (1Sa 15:22-23)
There is nothing demeaning or degrading in obedience to authority. Humility is
not humiliation. True humility must never be confused with self-denial or
asceticism. Nearly every self-abnegating person held up as a model of humility
lives for the approbation of others and cultivates their pity or sentimentality
as a means of controlling them. False humility is a malicious strain of
arrogance. (Col 2:18) Humility is always related to Truth, and the source of all
Truth is the Thinking of God. The Bible defines three categories of Truth: the Divine
Laws of establishment, the Gospel, and the Spiritual Truth of Bible Doctrines,
Promises and Commands. The Laws of
establishment are designed by God for the survival, orderly function, and
prosperity of the human race; these Laws pertain to believer and
unbeliever alike. (Rom 13:1-7; Mat 22:21) The Gospel of Salvation is addressed
to unbelievers only. (Joh 10:28;
Heb 7:25) And
Spiritual Thinking is nourishment only for believers in fellowship! Because unbelievers and
believers out of fellowship cannot comprehend Spiritual Truth. (1Co 2:9-16)
Orientation to any category of Truth requires
humility. Humility provides teachability.
THE UNBELIEVER AND THE LAWS OF
DIVINE ESTABLISHMENT
God’s attribute of love is the pattern for all genuine love in
the human race. Love among unbelievers, although
limited, (Eccles 3:18) manifest
God’s design just as with Virtue love among
believers. The believer has full access to the Spiritual life through the
filling of God the Holy Spirit and Divine Thinking. (Joh 4:23) The
unbeliever has a limited life. (Eccles 9:3)
Through genuine humility in obedience to the Laws of Divine establishment and
Divine Institutions. (Freewill, Marriage, Family and Nationalism) (Neh 4:14) Under the Laws of Divine
establishment, unbelievers function to have the freedom to believe in Christ! (Joh 3:18) And believers to reach maturity! (2Ti 2:15)
For while I was passing through and
examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this
inscription, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I
proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is
Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He
served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all
things; and He made from one man every
nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their
habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for
Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some
of your own poets have said, For we also are His children. Being then the
children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine
Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought
of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now
declaring to men that all people everywhere
should repent, (Change their mind and believe in
Christ!) because He has fixed a day in which
He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed,
having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. (Act 17:23-31)
Enjoy life with the woman you love all the days of your life of
vanity [The unbeliever’s life on earth] which He [God] has given to you under
the sun; for this [Marriage as a Divine institution for believers and
unbelievers alike] is your reward in life, and in your toil [Profession] in
which you have labored under the sun. (Eccles 9:9)
The establishment unbeliever may be oblivious to the Divine origin of
his personal Principles and will spend eternity in hell, but he can experience
a “marvelous life on earth.” (As a beast in a cage!)
(Pro 1:32-33) God’s system never depends on man but is
effective for anyone, including the unbeliever, who will reside under its
influence. If the Spiritually dead unbeliever can discover happiness in a
limited way how much more the believer, who can anticipate blessings in the
complete, interlocking Spiritual life. The believer
outside the Spiritual life cannot be distinguished from the unbeliever,
except that Divine discipline compounds the believer’s self-induced misery. (Heb 12:5-6) The believer who rejects God’s game
plan still belongs to the royal family, and will get his evaluation at the
Judgment Seat. (Jer 18:12; Pro 30:21-22)
THE HERITAGE OF FREEDOM
The Laws of establishment declare that freedom
is man’s most valuable possession. Human
freedom is the heritage of human birth, the extension of the volition of the
soul as the uncaused cause of man’s thought and action. Freedom is
self-determination, the function of free will uncoerced by threat or violence
and not determined by environment, society, or genetics.
As a true man with human volition, Jesus
Christ was free to accept or reject God’s plan for His first advent, and,
contrary to Personal desire, (Mat 26:39) Christ agreed to be “obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the Cross.” (Php 2:8) In the Prototype New Covenant Spiritual
life our Lord established the precedent of voluntary obedience to Divine
authority; (Heb 5:8-9) in the sphere of
freedom, He freed us to receive Salvation and to
advance in the Spiritual life. (Gal 3:13;
Gal 5:1) Thus freedom also becomes the
heritage of the new birth or regeneration, which gives the believer access to
the complete Love complex, the realm of Spiritual freedom. With reference to
gate one: “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom,” (2Co 3:17) and regarding gate four: “you shall
know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.” (Joh 8:32) Truth is
called the “Law of freedom” because Divine Thinking defines the believer’s
freedom to glorify God. (Jas 1:25;
Jas 2:12) Positive volition toward the
Word of God is the basis for freedom, as the Jewish prisoners of 586 B.C.
dramatically proved while marching in chains to Babylon.
For I will walk
in freedom because I seek Your Thoughts. (Psa 119:45)
Not even the cruelest tyranny can remove your freedom to Think with the
Word of God, nor can any excuse relieve you of your responsibility, for “redeeming
the time” in fellowship with God. (Eph 5:15-16;
Col 3:10) Freedom as our human heritage
and Spiritual heritage also has become our national heritage. The Founding
Fathers rose to the challenge of “Give me liberty
or give me death” and introduced the Constitution with their
determination to secure the blessings of liberty. The existence and
perpetuation of national liberty demands respect for legitimately established
authority, and depends on adherence to the Laws of Divine establishment,
believers and unbelievers. Ultimately, national freedom is maintained by God
through believers who reach maturity! (Psa 127:1;
Eccles 9:15) and military victory! (2Ch 20:27-30; Neh 4:9-14)
FREE WILL AND THE ANGELIC CONFLICT
Human volition resolves the angelic conflict, the prehistoric warfare
between God and Satan. As one of the most powerful angels, Satan abused his
freedom by revolting against God, (Isa 14:13-14;
Eze 28:14-16) and then accused God of
injustice in sentencing him to the Lake of Fire. (Mat
25:41) God created the human race in answer to Satan’s false
charge, that freewill is not truly free unless you can do whatever you want,
and that God in unfair telling us that His Thoughts and Rules are the only way!
God is perfect in every way, and His Love and His
Truth are perfect and unlimited! God has infinite capacity for fellowship! And
He does not want robots! He wanted
Angels and Men, and they must have freewill! And this is what it takes for God
to show His Plans are perfect! And this is the only perfect way that it could
be done! BECAUSE GOD IS PERFECT! (Isa 43:10-13; Isa 44:6-8)
Everyone who is in opposition must be removed from His presence! God The Son became a man and put God The Father's Word and
Authority and Will above His Own to the point of death! (Isa 50:4-10) To
resolve the false charge; and to acquire a family of angels and men and to show
that God's Thoughts and Plans are perfect! (Eph
3:10-11) So we see in Satan’s kingdom every
way to live apart from the Authority and Rule of God. (Jas 3:14-15) From
anarchy, (Freedom
with no authority) to tyranny, (Authority with no freedom) and of course religion: Man by man's effort to receive
Salvation, the Spiritual life or approval from God by something he does!
(Jer 17:5) Christianity
is God doing all the work and man receiving His Salvation, Thoughts, Spirit and
Spiritual life, (1Co 1:26-31) and using them to live by! (Gal 5:25)
God made man lower than the angels,
established him on one planet in the universe, and endowed him with
free will. The human race is a demonstration of God’s perfect essence in relation
to free individuals. Volition is the one characteristic that man has in common
with angels.
Thus, through mankind Satan and his demons are shown
that they are responsible for their own condemnation. God demonstrates His integrity to man under every possible
variation of historical, personal and Spiritual circumstances. Some people live
in the ideal environment of Eden or the Millennium; others amid the terror of
the Tribulation. Some are born into nobility and wealth; others into relative
obscurity or poverty. Some have advanced under the Spiritual heritage of
Israel; others under the New Covenant. Each
life is a unique demonstration of the Sovereignty of God and the freewill of man.
(2Th 2:13) (Authority with Freedom = liberty)
Man was never designed to be equal. We are born
unequal, and human free will insures further inequality. The more decisions people make; the more unequal they
become! God has chosen His Spiritual life
to be the way man can advance in His plan! We get in by faith in Christ! (1Pe 1:23-25; 1Pe 1:7)
This is the demonstration of God Thoughts and Nature
in class and finesse. (Refinement and delicacy
of performance, execution, or tactful, diplomatic maneuvering) The worst that Satan and
man can do! Only furthers God's Glory and
plan. (Rom 9:17)
(The folly of Satan and man only furthers God's
plan!)
For God has put it in their hearts to
execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to
the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. (Rev 17:17)
Some people make wise decisions that create future options for greater
decisions; others make wrong decisions that close down future options. No two
people are equal, but in every case man in his own strength is too weak to
resist the craft and power of Satan. (2Ti 2:26)
We acquire strength only by relying on the power of God. (1Co 2:5) In all
dispensations the Lord Jesus Christ is the key to history; Jesus Christ
controls history and Personally entered history to defeat Satan at the Cross. (Eph 6:11-13;
Heb 2:9; Heb
2:14; 1Pe 3:19-22)
The glorification of Christ is the reason for
the existence of angels and men! And all things are being brought into
conformity with this Divine objective! (1Co
15:27-28) God treats each person on an individual basis. God had you
personally in mind when He designed the universe. He decreed a plan for your
life that gives you a unique combination of limitations and opportunities
within which to exercise your free will. As you freely
choose to obey or disobey God’s Commands, you create your own integrity or
dishonor, success or failure, happiness or misery, reward or retribution from
the justice of God. But whether or not you
succeed in the Christian life, God continues to treat you as a person, not as a
failure or a success, not as attractive or unattractive. In impersonal love He
continues to faithfully provide logistical grace. Likewise, we must learn to treat others as individuals, not
as rich or poor, smart or stupid, black, white, or brown, someone who can advance
us or someone who might hinder us. In
Impersonal love from our own integrity, we must offer toleration,
thoughtfulness, and kindness to all. Each human life plays an essential role in revealing to
Satan and all the angels the absolute integrity of God. (1Co 4:9; Eph 3:10;
1Pe 1:12)
In perfect justice God permits Satan the freedom to prove his boast that
he is equal with God, (Isa 14:14) but
Satan continually fails. He usurped the ruler-ship of the earth from Adam but
has never been able to control his ill-gotten kingdom. Like a roaring lion,
Satan is angered and frustrated (1Pe 5:8)
because the counterfeit Millennium he seeks to
establish is marred by arrogance, evil, suffering, and disaster, while
God’s plan of grace extends the blessings of Divine Impersonal love to all
mankind. God’s perfect character is demonstrated in every human life; Divine Impersonal love reveals the integrity of the
subject, never the merit of the object. With
us or without us, through us or regardless of us, God will win the angelic
conflict! Christ purchased the Salvation of every human being, (1Jn 2:2) and God desires that all believe in
Christ, (2Pe 3:9) but even those who
emulate Satan’s arrogance and reject the riches of God’s generosity
inadvertently reveal God’s justice. Like Satan, the
unbeliever rejects the fabulous potential that God has given him; then after
maximum grace before judgment, (Gen 6:3;
Gen 15:16) eternal
condemnation! This expresses God’s uncompromising Integrity.
For the wrath of man [Mal-adjustment to
God] will praise You [God] (Psa 76:10)
In the negative volition of every
unbeliever and believer, Satan witnesses his own guilt and
God’s patience, kindness, and fairness, but the justice of God is revealed to
the maximum in the mature believer. The Doctrine of
the angelic conflict explains the importance of human volition: our free
decisions to reside and function in the Spiritual life enable God to glorify
Himself by blessing us with His fellowship, (Joh 14:21; Joh 14:23)
and Truth; that will be with us forever! (2Jn 1:2) The angelic
conflict also explains why increasingly marvelous blessings on earth become the
criteria for eternal rewards in heaven. (Luk
19:26; Rom 8:14-18) The positive volition that glorified Christ in the devil’s
world will much more glorify Him in eternity!
THE LINK BETWEEN FREEDOM AND
AUTHORITY
As the author of deceit, anarchy,
violence, and tyranny, Satan is the enemy of human freedom, which
must be protected in the devil’s world. When God fashioned human freedom, he also
designed multiple systems of authority to protect that freedom. Authority and
freedom are not antithetical concepts, Freedom cannot exist without authority,
nor can authority exist without freedom. There must be a balance. Freedom
without authority becomes anarchy, in which no one is free; but authority
without freedom is tyranny, which ceases to be legitimate authority. No tyrant can remain in power without the consent and
cooperation of his victims. Freedom and authority are two sides of the
same coin, and the Divine Laws of establishment define the ideal systems of
authority to sustain human freedom. Divine establishment is God’s organization
of the human race. This first category of Truth — Divine establishment —
defines the proper balance between freedom and authority. But humility is the link, the human choice of voluntary
obedience to authority that ties freedom and authority together. Whereas Impersonal love
is the supreme Christian Virtue,
humility is the basic human choice: for believer or unbeliever humility
is orientation to life. Humility is also the foundation for all other
categories of Virtue. The believer can have neither the motivational Virtue of
Personal love for God nor the functional Virtue of Impersonal love for the
human race unless first he possesses humility. Without humility he is
unteachable. Humility is the Virtue directed toward authority.
Just as God’s attribute of love is
the pattern for all true human love, so also Divine sovereignty is the
ultimate basis for all genuine humility in the human race. God is
absolute authority. (Psa 145:14; Mat 20:15; 1Ti 6:15)
Nothing exists that is not subject to Him. All
Reality is based ultimately on His Divine essence. Satan remains free to operate only by God’s permission; (Job 1:6-12) evil and human motivation continue
only under the Principle of delay in Divine judgment by which God allows the
angelic conflict to run its course. We exist by God’s
sovereign decree and cannot challenge Him: either
we adjust to His justice, (Through faith in Christ, Rebound, 1Jn 1:9, and Spiritual Maturity) or we are ultimately
destroyed by His justice. (Psa 73:27-28)
God’s authority is not a separate attribute of His Divine essence but is
derived from all His attributes functioning together in perfect harmony. He renders account to no
one; He consults no one; He needs no counsel or encouragement. God holds
authority over us because He is the creator and owner of all things! (Psa 50:10-12)
Because He is the Redeemer of mankind (Isa 47:4; Eph 1:7;
Col 1:14; 1Pe
1:18) and because He is the source of all
Truth. (Joh 14:6; Pro 8:5-8) From His sovereignty God has
delegated authority to positions of responsibility in the human race so that
those who hold them may sufficiently control and protect the freedom of
mankind. Delegated authority “is a minister of God to you for good,” furnishing
the environment for human prosperity. (Rom 13:1-6)
AUTHORITY IN HUMAN GOVERNMENT
The Laws of establishment recognize four
Divine institutions in the human race: volition, marriage, family and
nationalism. For each Divine institution God created a system of
authority. The authority in volition is each person’s self-discipline, in marriage
the husband, in the family the parents, and in the national entity the
government in whatever form it is established.
Authority in a nation may be vested in one person, a small group, or a
large segment of the nation’s population. Any of these governmental systems can
be good or evil, depending on the integrity or arrogance of those
in authority. Monarchy, aristocracy, and republic are positive forms of
government; tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy are negative forms. Arrogance
converts any legitimate governmental organization into a system of evil. Under
the distortions of arrogance, monarchy, which is the rule of one man for the
common good, is transformed into tyranny, the rule of
one man for his own benefit. Through arrogance aristocracy, which is
the rule of a small elite for the common good, becomes an oligarchy, the rule of a small group for its own benefit. And
through arrogance a republic, which is rule by the best of the population for
the common good, degenerates into a democracy; rule by
the worst of the population for their own benefit.
GOOD
AND BAD SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY
When the king is honorable and astute, monarchy is the most
effective form of government. Jesus Christ will return as the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords and as the absolute monarch of the earth will establish perfect
government during the Millennium. (Rev 19:15-16; Rev 20:6)
The worst form of government is democracy, which is a thin veneer over anarchy
devoid of Virtue and integrity.
The United States Constitution established
our nation as a republic, guaranteeing maximum Personal freedom to every
citizen. With freedom comes responsibility, and, more than any other form of
government, a republic stands on the Personal integrity of its people. In
the Founding Fathers’ original concept only the most qualified citizens could
vote and participate in government, but when the franchise is extended to
nearly all, a republic degenerates into a democracy in which the right to vote
means little. When every irresponsible person has a voice in government,
candidates campaign with slick public relations and mudslinging emotionalism.
Policies are often established on self-serving means, and fear, catering to the
greed of anyone who can organize a crusade and gain national publicity. A
democracy fosters dishonor; a burgeoning bureaucracy expands to appease the
selfishness of arrogant people and encroach on private enterprise. A republic
and rampant bureaucracy cannot coexist; one destroys the other. The purpose of
governmental authority is to protect citizens from
criminals, (Demonism
on the inside of a nation) and foreign aggressors, (Demonism from the outside)
so that each individual might express his volition in an environment as free
as possible from violence and coercion. (Jas 3:14-15)
HUMILITY
IN THE HOME
ORGANIZATIONAL,
ENFORCED, AND GENUINE HUMILITY
Authority precedes freedom. The Divine
pattern for nurturing and protecting freedom involves three categories of
humility: organizational humility, enforced humility, and genuine humility.
This pattern is repeated in the nation, business, the family, in the soul, in
the local church and, unique to the Lord Jesus Christ, in the plan of God for
the Incarnation.
Humility begins when the fetus becomes a
living human being at the moment of physical birth. The
old sin nature must be restrained. Parents must control the sin nature
in their children through discipline and training so that the children can
eventually assume responsibility for themselves. The family is organizational
humility, God’s initial defense of each person’s freedom in the devil’s
world.
In the home authority resides with the
parents. This is enforced humility. Whether a child is reared by both
parents, or only one, or another adult as a surrogate parent, the parents
possess the authority and responsibility to train their children, to designate
policy, and to require that their children comply with that policy. As long as
a child resides under his parents’ roof or receives their financial support,
he is subject to their jurisdiction.
CATEGORIES
OF HUMILITY
Train up a child in the way he should
go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Pro 22:6)
Children, obey your parents in the Lord,
for this is right. Honor your father and mother, (Which is the first Commandment
with a Promise) SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, [In adulthood] AND THAT YOU
MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH. (Eph 6:1-3)
Children, be obedient to your parents
in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord. (Col 3:20)
Hopefully, parents are more
discerning, prudent, and disciplined than their minor children, but this head
start quickly disappears as the child approaches adulthood. In the child’s
early, formative years, the father and mother must exploit these advantages to
establish an environment of authority in which their children can grow and
mature. Certainly love is not excluded from the training process, but parents
properly express their love and instill a true sense of adventure,
self-esteem, and personal destiny in their children only when the family
organization establishes, enforces, and maintains high standards of thought and
action. Within this structure of stability and discipline, the parents treat
the child as a person, not as an achiever who must constantly prove himself,
earn his parents’ love and approbation, and uphold the family name. When
excessive pressure to justify himself is removed, the child has maximum
opportunity to live his own life and develop capacity for happiness and freedom
as an adult. Authority demands responsibility, but no parent is perfect; all
make mistakes from time to time. God’s system of enforced humility in the home
does not require perfection. Certainly every responsible parent strives to be
as fair as possible, but most important is a consistent system of authority.
The objectivity of enforced humility, implemented by his parents, gives the
child a stable, external support on which to grow and learn. The child himself
is unstable enough without having to contend with weakness, permissiveness,
vacillation, and continual inconsistency from his parents. When a child
responds positively to parental discipline and respects authority in the home,
he becomes teachable. This genuine humility gives him the capacity to
learn from his parents; he is receptive to being inculcated with Truth. All
parents are responsible for teaching their children to be Thoughtful, courteous
and respectful of the privacy, property, and authority of others, as demanded
by the Laws of establishment. Christian parents are entrusted with the
additional responsibility of presenting the Gospel to their children and
educating them in Divine Viewpoint. (Eph 6:4)
Genuine humility in the home is the child’s self-motivated obedience to
parental authority and instruction.
IMMATURE
ADULTS
The objective of rearing a child is to
prepare him to eventually leave home with an adult soul to match his adult
body. This transition from authority in the home to freedom in life is one of
the most difficult of all transitions. Many people never make the changeover. Enslaved by ignorance and arrogance, they remain mentally
childish long after they become physical adults. Such people never acquire the
true independence of human maturity, which is
self-restraint in accepting responsibility for one’s own life. They would rather be slaves than free. Slaves are restrained
by others and are responsible for nothing; juvenile adults shrink from
controlling themselves or accepting the liability for their own thoughts,
decisions, or actions. They avoid the most basic freedom, the freedom within
one’s own soul to think, decide, and feel. Their unwillingness to be free
manifests itself in incessant complaining. They blame their past or other
people for all their failures, insecurity, and frustration; they are
preoccupied with themselves. An immature person has no capacity for Impersonal
or Personal love. Like a cocked pistol with a hair trigger, his arrogance waits
to take offense at the slightest snub or inattention. And anyone hypersensitive
about himself is always insensitive to others. His subjectivity prevents
alertness to anyone else’s feelings; the thoughtfulness of Impersonal love
cannot exist when a person concentrates only on an exaggerated image of
himself. Instead of operating from a position of strength in fellowship, the
childish person depends on others for his happiness. In weakness and
selfishness he demands the impossible: unconditional Personal love, such as an
infant receives from its parents. He demands unmerited love and attention from
other people, and if such approbation is not forthcoming he conspires to make
them as miserable as he is. This is the demand syndrome, in which a weak person
seeks to control everyone in his periphery. The courtesy and generosity of an
individual may render him vulnerable to such unscrupulous manipulation. By
exploiting the strengths of people, the weak control them. Eventually the man of Divine Thinking must discern that he is
being victimized and separate himself mentally and or physically from the petty
tyrant in his midst. The arrogant believer in
the demand syndrome has never learned that his happiness depends on his own
free will exercised in Fellowship with God, not on what others must think of
him or do for him. Inordinately possessive, perpetually jealous, and in love
with himself, he never acquires the capacity to admire or love anyone else.
HUMILITY
IN THE SOUL
HUMAN
INEQUALITY
When a young person
leaves home, the new organization for humility is his own soul. He must face
the reality of who and what he is; he must assume responsibility for all his
thoughts and actions and for the development of his own integrity. He must
learn his limitations, abilities, and strengths and live within them without
frustration, without fighting them, without demanding equality with anyone
else.
Freedom and equality
can never coexist. God’s protection of freedom guarantees
that inequality will be a perpetual historical trend. Never in the history of
mankind can equality be achieved: first,
because Satan gives preferential treatment to his servants (Rev 13:4) and, second,
because God has designated human volition to be the key issue in the angelic
conflict. Both Satan’s injustice and God’s perfect justice insure human
inequality in all dispensations. We are born unequal,
but the very fact that God perpetuates our lives after birth means that we are
also born with opportunity. Each individual is given the chance to
succeed or fail, but even in success or failure inequality still exists. No two
people succeed to the same degree, and no two equally fail. In periods of
general prosperity, some people prosper more than others; in hard times some
still prosper more than others. In an environment of freedom, as in the United
States, good inequality exists; under tyranny, as in the Soviet Union, bad
inequality exists. But whatever the economic, social, or political conditions,
inequality remains an inescapable fact of life. Now and in eternity. (Rev 3:12) One person may be less intelligent
than another, yet he may surpass the intellectual in common sense,
practicality, integrity, physical attractiveness, or athletic ability. Everyone
possesses some trait in which he stands above other people and other traits in
which he is inferior. No equality exists in any category, but that should not
be a cause of frustration. There is nothing wrong because someone is better
than you are in some field. A humble person hates jealousy, (Pro 8:13) and appreciates excellence wherever it
is found. (Php 4:8) Inequality is not
detrimental in itself. Inequality is distorted into a problem by the arrogance
of resenting inequality or by the self-pity of refusing to face Reality and
exploit the opportunities of one’s own capacity in a particular realm.
Beginning with the woman in the Garden, who desired to be equal with God, (Gen 3:5-6) mankind continually seeks to solve
the problem of inequality, but alleged solutions merely create new
inequalities. “Liberty, equality, fraternity” became
the motivation of the French Revolution, but in deposing the crown and
declassing the aristocracy, the conspirators elevated themselves. They did not want equality; they lusted for power,
vengeance, and superiority. Robespierre climbed to power proclaiming
equality but inaugurated the Reign of Terror, in which the guillotine claimed
40,000 lives, in order to control his fellow citizens and prevent his rivals
from resolving their inequality with him. Victor Hugo later wrote that equality is merely the political translation of the
word envy. Violence or revolution never solves any personal, social,
economic, or political problem, but inequality is not even a problem. The
solution to people’s problems is not equality but happiness and the “pursuit of
happiness,” as expressed in our Constitution.
INEQUALITY
AND HAPPINESS
Happiness
can exist in every category of society, (Php 4:11-13)
for a mature believer, or one on the way to Spiritual maturity. When the
dissatisfied office boy who assumes he would be happy as the president of the
company is deluded. He would only take his old unhappiness with him into his
new situation.
A
dramatic historical example of a man who maintained his capacity for life under
diverse circumstances is Joseph. (Gen. Chapters 38 — 50) As a youth in Canaan,
he was happy while superior to his elder brothers. During his adventures in
Egypt he was happy as a slave, as the overseer of Potiphar’s estates, as a
forgotten prisoner, and as prime minister of the Egyptian empire. Although
Joseph was stripped of his insignia of rank — the coat of many colors — by his
jealous brothers, he retained his leadership ability. They could not remove his
mental attitude. (Psa 119:11; Pro 23:7) His integrity and happiness remained.
Joseph was a leader under all circumstances and was as industrious at the
bottom of the social scale as he was at the top. Slavery and prison tested and
strengthened Joseph; God included inequality tests in
his education, grooming this man of genuine humility to become the greatest man
of his generation. Joseph remained faithful
to the Lord, and his abilities were recognized, although he remained a slave. He
was promoted within the system of slavery (Gen 39:1-6)
and within the system of prison administration. (Gen
39:21-23) Rather than complain or
conspire to gain his physical freedom, (1Pe
2:23) Joseph exercised the freedom in his
soul. He oriented to his circumstances while exploiting the opportunities that
God provided.
Joseph illustrates the Principle that
there is nothing demeaning in inequality. Overt status symbols and success
standards are not the issue. The true issue is: Are you
adjusted to life where you are? Are you grateful for what you have? (Col 2:7) Are you happy
where you are? If you make yourself miserable there, you will never be
happy anywhere else. Nor is there any excuse for unhappiness, because God has
provided the logistical grace for every believer’s Spiritual momentum in the
Spiritual life. The believer’s happiness depends on
his attitude toward learning and Thinking with God's Word. Only you can
make yourself happy; only you can make yourself unhappy. (Col 2:8) By the time a person leaves home, he
must understand that the most significant issue in his life is his own
volition. Each individual life is determined by volition, not by environment,
genetics, or any other factor that psychology or sociology might hypothesize. Decision creates environment, not environment decision.
Man is designed to be formed and shaped by his volition. The proper use of
volition makes freedom a Reality; (Joh 8:32)
the false or wavering use of volition enslaves him to the details of life. (Gal 4:9) Despite any limitations in
circumstances, talent, mentality, health or appearance, each person has a soul
— organizational humility — and the realization of his life’s potentialities
come from his free will. Within the organizational humility of the soul,
volition carries the authority. (2Co 5:15;
Gal 2:20)
ENFORCED
AND GENUINE HUMILITY IN THE SOUL
When a person uses his
volition to obey legitimate authority, he has enforced humility. In his job or
profession he submits with enforced humility to the authority of his boss. In
athletics he willingly respects the authority of the coach and officials. In
school he respects the teachers and administrators and adheres to their
policies. In every contact with other people, his enforced humility causes him
to respect their Personal freedom, rights, privacy, and property. (1Co 13:4)
If a child fails to learn humility in the
home, he must eventually learn it the hard way from the police officer, the
judge, a demanding coach or an exacting employer. In this regard universal
military training is vital to any nation. Military training contributes to
national defense and, whether or not required by law, represents each man’s
obligation to his nation’s freedom. Military service also sets up a buffer zone
in which young men can acquire the discipline they lacked at home — only now
under the more stringent demands of a tough drill sergeant. Still, the best
conditions for developing humility are in the home. Few people who establish a
pattern of rebellion against their parents ever develop capacity for life,
love, or happiness. The young person immersed in unrestrained recalcitrance
closes down his future options. Bad decisions become cumulative; each abuse of
freedom further reduces his chances of exploiting what God has provided. (Eccles 8:11)
Every person lives within the overlapping
jurisdictions of different systems of authority, each of which predetermines
certain decisions by its policies. If he obeys the rules and contributes to the
purpose of those systems of authority that pertain to him, he possesses
enforced humility. Orientation to authority is orientation to objective
Reality. (Eccles 12:13-14)
Genuine humility in an
adult soul is a system of thinking and a way of life. As a system of Spiritual
Thinking, humility is freedom from arrogance and human viewpoint; as a way of
life, humility is grace orientation and capacity for life, thriving under
legitimate authority. A believer with genuine humility has the self-discipline
necessary to fulfill his objectives in life beyond what anyone requires,
forces, or influences him to do. He possesses a Personal sense of destiny
in that he eagerly submits to the plan of God. He understands the eternal
significance of the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that he
positively controls his life, redeems his time, and keeps his priorities
straight. He knows that God’s plan is greater than he is; he keeps his eye on
the goal. (Joh 12:24-26)
I have fought that honorable fight. I
have finished the course. I have guarded the faith. [The Word of Truth resident
in my soul] In the future a wreath of righteousness [One of many eternal
rewards] is reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge [Evaluator],
will award to me on that day, [The Judgment Seat of Christ] and not only to me
but also to all those [Mature believers] who love His appearance. (2Ti 4:7-8)
The believer with genuine humility knows
the Doctrines of supergrace and eternal rewards, and lives in the light of
Eternity!
HUMILITY IN LEARNING TRUTH
God has established for believers a way to
grow Spiritually, the autonomous local church, MP3 player, DVDs; and now the
computer; this is a provision of logistical grace. Like all effective
organizations this one also has a purpose, a policy, and an authority. Its purpose is the communication and inculcation of God's
Thoughts. And insists on good manners and restricts activities that
would distract serious students from concentrating on the Word of God. (2Ti 2:14-17) The pastor holds the highest
authority. (Heb
13:7-18) He oversees a system, and the pastor’s authoritative
teaching and his system of delegated authority constitute enforced humility for
the royal family. Within this system of enforced
humility, genuine humility is the believer’s positive volition toward Truth. Humility,
both enforced and genuine, provides teachability. If
you are emotional, if you are continually proving yourself to others, if you
relate everything in life to yourself, you are arrogant and unreceptive to all
categories of Truth. As does any unbeliever,
the believer requires genuine humility to adjust to life in general, but
he also needs genuine humility to faithfully learn and
apply Truth and must learn to stay in fellowship. The believer’s humility is positive volition toward the Truth
of the Bible as well as Divine establishment.
An arrogant believer may
listen to Bible teaching every day, but he is un-teachable. He may go through
all the proper motions; he may be considered a pillar of the church; but he
remains preoccupied with himself. He is too subjective to accept the Doctrines
that expose the frailties and flaws of his sin nature. A hypocritical eclectic,
he chooses to believe only what he wishes to hear and refuses to submit to the
whole realm of Truth. As a result he never grows Spiritually despite his
continual exposure. The humble believer attends
Bible teaching to learn God’s system, not
to agree or disagree. When a person does not know what God’s plan is,
his agreement or disagreement mean nothing. The
humble believer grows because he is receptive to the Truth rather than
protective of his inflated opinion of himself. The
sin nature is a direct link to demon influence and must be overcome.
(Jas 3:14-15) The enemy inside being rejected, is the key to learning,
so do not submit to self, (Rom 6:11-12) submit to
God! A person who becomes a believer in
adulthood has an advantage in the Christian life if he was authority-oriented
as an unbeliever; he has a foundation. As he
learns the Thinking of the Spiritual life, he recognizes this system to be the
accelerator of his freedom rather than a confining maze of Commandments, and prohibitions, as seen by a
believer who resists authority. (This is a
play book! Not a rule book!) But while there
is life there is hope; (Eccles 9:4)
God supplies him with the logistical grace to grow up Spiritually. His
environment or background is no excuse for failure to advance in the plan of
God. He can develop respect for authority and Truth, but he must enter gate
three the hard way. Under strict academic discipline and enforced humility he
must persevere under the authority and teaching of his pastor. He must avoid
mental attitude sins when he is tempted to malign the pastor, resent his
message, or criticize others. He must remain constantly alert and rebound
quickly when he sins. For any believer the transition from ignorance of Truth
at Salvation to cognizance at Spiritual maturity is as difficult as the
transition from authority in the home to freedom in adulthood. Few believers succeed.
Most lack the tenacity day after day, year after year, to make the many right
decisions to learn and Think with Truth, to keep residing and functioning in
Fellowship with God. (Mat 7:13-14)
THE
HUMILITY OF CHRIST
SUBMISSION
TO ESTABLISHMENT AUTHORITY
The
Divine Laws of establishment embrace all mankind. Since our Lord Jesus Christ
was true humanity, He too was subject to these Laws. Born into the organizational
humility of a family, He grew up under the enforced humility of His parents. In
genuine humility He was always obedient to His parents until He reached
physical, mental and Spiritual maturity. (Luk 2:40;
Luk 2:51-52) Christ as an adult was
subject to the same system of humility that for us replaces the authority of
the home. Our Lord’s human soul was His organizational humility, and His
positive volition in resisting every temptation to sin was His enforced
humility. (Heb 4:15) He was always obedient to the Truth. By His own
self-discipline He perpetually resided in fellowship
and developed maximum capacity for life. His enforced humility merged
into genuine humility. Since our Lord lived during the Age of Israel, Jesus
fulfilled the Principle of learning under authority. (Luk 2:46) So diligent was He in His studies that
at age twelve He surpassed the theologians in His understanding of Old
Testament Scriptures. (Luk 2:46-47)
SUBMISSION
TO A UNIQUE DESTINY
The prototype Spiritual life was designed
to sustain the humanity of Christ in accomplishing His unique mission, His
destiny on earth. God’s plan for the First Advent
called for Christ to enter Satan’s domain as a man, to remain impeccable and
thus acceptable to Divine righteousness, and to voluntarily go to the Cross as
our substitute in payment for the sins of mankind. (2Co 5:21) Christ lived under this system of
humility to which believers must adhere. The plan of God was organizational
humility for Christ. The will of God — the sovereignty of the Father, the
author of the Divine plan—was enforced humility. And Christ’s obedience to the
Father’s plan by going to the Cross was genuine humility. Shortly before He
was betrayed, Jesus expressed in prayer His genuine humility under Divine
authority.
Saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, [God’s
sovereignty over the humanity of Christ] remove this cup [The Cross] from Me;
yet not My will, but Yours be done.” [Christ’s genuine
humility] (Luk 22:42)
Although the prospect of bearing our sins was abhorrent to
Christ, He humbly submitted to Divine judgment in our place.
Keep on Thinking this within yourself,
which was also resident in Christ Jesus, who though He existed eternally in the
essence of God, [Christ IS God] did not Think equality with God a profit to be
seized and held, [Unlike Satan, Jesus was not arrogant] but He deprived Himself
[Of the proper function of Deity, voluntarily limiting Himself in order to
execute God’s plan] when He had received the form of a slave, when He was born
in the likeness of mankind. [Perfect man, like Adam before the Fall] In fact,
although He was discovered in the outward appearance as a man, [Without a sin
nature] He humbled Himself [Genuine humility] by becoming obedient to the point
of death, that is, the death of the Cross. (Php
2:5-8)
Christ’s attitude sets the example: (Mat 10:38-39)
equality was unimportant to Him. Although coequal with the Father and God the
Holy Spirit, “He did not Think equality with God a
profit to be seized and held.” Our Lord the
Creator submitted to the utter humility of becoming a creature, a man who was
ignored, rejected, misrepresented, ridiculed, and ultimately crucified.
Despite abuse and injustice from people and the
ignominy of exposing Himself to presumptuous, arrogant attacks from Satan, whom
He had created, Christ never succumbed to approbation lust or selfish
ambition. He was motivated by His Personal love for God; genuine humility gave
Jesus capacity to appreciate God’s faithful support. (Joh 11:41) Far from
being discouraged or bitter, our Lord’s Attitude was one of constant
thanksgiving, which is the essence of true worship. Yet without humility
gratitude cannot exist.
NO
SELF-GLORIFICATION, NO SELF-DEPRECATION
Jesus Christ had nothing to prove. He came
to pay for man’s sins, not to trumpet His own cause. Our Lord did not exalt
Himself; (Joh 8:50) the Father exalted
Him. (Psa 110:1) The mission of
glorifying Christ on earth was assigned to the Holy Spirit. (Joh 16:14) The Holy Spirit empowered the
apostles to spread the Gospel of Christ and to record Church Age Doctrine in
the New Testament; (2Pe 1:20-21) the
Spirit also empowers us to glorify Christ. God the Father loved the humanity of
Christ with conditional, Personal love, which hinged on our Lord’s
obedience to the Father’s plan. (Joh 10:17-18)
Christ succeeded in every respect. (Joh 15:10)
He relied on the Father’s power system and was sustained by the Holy Spirit
throughout His life, never once utilizing His own Divine power to act independently
of the Father’s plan. (Mat 4:3-11) Christ’s submission to the plan of God resulted in judgment;
our submission results in blessing. This
complete reversal of the purpose of the Spiritual life reveals the efficacy of
Christ’s finished work and the scope of God’s Impersonal love for mankind. Knowledge of Divine Thinking fuels in us the same mental
dynamics that Christ possessed. But our genuine humility orients us to
blessing, not cursing, from the justice of God. Humility generates gratitude,
which results in true worship and love of God. In blind arrogance some
Christians falsely claim to be humble in that they follow Christ in His sufferings,
failing to recognize that Christ’s sufferings were unique. There is no
Spiritual significance or merit in our pain; only the work of Christ on the
Cross was efficacious for our Salvation. We add nothing to His finished work.
This is not what the Bible means by humility. Christianity is not a system that
glorifies believers for their legalism, sacrifice, and self-denial;
Christianity is a life of multifaceted prosperity that glorifies the Lord Jesus
Christ. (Col 1:27; Gal 4:19) Humility is orientation to Principle,
to Truth, to the Reality of God’s grace.
Gate
Four, Spiritual Momentum
THE
MOST IMPORTANT GATE
The fourth gate of the
Spiritual life is a double gate — perception
and Thinking with Truth — that opens upon the richest treasure
in the universe. Truth is the Thinking of God. The Bible is designated as the
Word of God, (Heb 4:12) the Mind of Christ, (1Co
2:16) and the Voice of the Holy Spirit.
(Heb 3:7) Truth
is our door to the Reality of God and His marvelous plan. His Word is more
reliable than anything we see, hear, touch, smell, taste, or feel; more real
than empirical knowledge. (2Pe 1:15-21)
Truth preexisted the human race, (Pro 8:7-9; Pro 8:23)
so that through the generosity of logistical grace, God makes available to us
the wisdom of the ages. During the Church Age God reveals His essence and plan
only through His Written Word, the completed, inerrant Canon of Scripture. (Heb 1:1-2) Our
attitude toward Truth is our attitude toward God. If we pursue Truth, we love
God; (Joh 14:24) if we listen to Bible teaching only at our convenience or
when we are in trouble, then we ignore and insult God, (Heb 10:28-29) despite
our pious pretenses. The one form of worship
that gives meaning to all other expressions of worship is our perception and
Thinking with the Word of Truth. Without a
thorough growing knowledge, any alleged worship of God becomes ritual without
Reality. (Mat 15:8)
When David wrote (Psa 138:2) the earthly temple did not yet exist.
He was reflecting on the Spirit & Truth (Temple) in his soul, which
revealed God in the true Holy of Holies located in heaven. In the next generation David’s son, Solomon, would
construct the Temple in Jerusalem to exacting Divine specifications. (Exodus 25:9;
1Ch 28:19) As a place of worship, the Temple itself was designed to
communicate Truth by its very structure and furnishings. God’s grace
enabled David to learn Truth, which gave him capacity to appreciate and delight
in God's Thinking and Nature that was being constructed in his soul — the copy
of the Divine nature of God. (The Edification complex) (1Co 3:9-10; 2Pe 1:4)
God’s Person is Who and What He IS, and in order to live with God now and in
eternity, we must share His Divine nature, (1Pe 1:15-16)
the perfect coalescence of all His attributes. Now David makes one of the most
dramatic statements in all of Scripture.
I will bow down toward Your holy temple
And give thanks to Your name For You have magnified Your Word [Divine Thinking]
according to all Your name. (Reputation) (Psa 138:2)
God Himself elevates
His Thinking above all else, above even His Own Name. In no other way can we approach Him, understand Him,
(Pro 23:7) or
fulfill His plan for our lives. Truth is more
important than the food we eat or the air we breathe. Divine blessings in both time and eternity are distributed
according to the believer’s understanding of Truth. (Heb 11:2) Nations rise or fall because of
Truth (Zec 8:3-8) Jesus Christ controls
history in reverence for the Truth in the souls of believers. (Eccles 9:15) As we grow in knowledge of Truth,
we become personally familiar with the Lord Jesus Christ. Perception and
Thinking with Truth establish the central gate of the Spiritual life. God’s
Word generates Spiritual momentum in the Christian’s life.
COMMANDS
TO LEARN AND THINK WITH TRUTH
The Scriptures repeatedly Commands the
intake and use of Truth, as expressed by John in relation to several young
people in his congregation in Ephesus. Several of her children had developed
genuine humility and were positive toward Truth. They had moved from Laodicea
to Ephesus in order to learn Truth from John face to face, while their mother
continued to hear his written sermons, or Epistles, which were read to the
congregation in her home.
I was very pleased because I discovered
that some of your children continued their momentum by means of Truth, even as
we have received Commandment from the Father. (2Jn
1:4)
John explains that this Divine Command for
“continued, momentum by means of Truth” is obeyed only in fellowship
with God.
Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were
writing to you a new Commandment, but the one which we have had from the
beginning, that we [Impersonal] love one another. And this is love, that we
walk according to His Commandments. [Thoughts] This is the Commandment, just as
you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. [Residence and
function in fellowship — the bottom circle — the Spiritual life] (2Jn 1:5-6)
The Divine Command to learn and Think with
Truth is implied in Paul’s dissertation on the pastor’s professional
objectives.
And He gave some as
apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors
and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the
building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the
Truth, the Thinking of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the
stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
(Eph 4:11-13)
Spiritual maturity comes through knowledge and Thinking with the
Mind of Christ, which results in emulating the integrity and capacity for life
that He acquired in the original Spiritual life. “Full knowledge” or epignosis in the Greek, [Pronounced:
eppy-no-sis] is Truth that
the Christian understands and believes, If he does not understand and believe
it is removed. (Mat 13:19; Luk 8:12)
Paul continues with the pastor’s job description. The
pastor must study and teach Truth in the power of the Holy Spirit. (1Co 4:20)
As a result, we are no longer to be
children, tossed here and there by waves [Our sin nature's thoughts] and
carried about by every wind of [False] doctrine, [Satan's thinking] by the
trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; (Joh 2:24-25) but
speaking the Truth in love, [In fellowship] we are to grow up [Reach maturity]
in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. (Eph 4:14-15)
Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul reiterates
the Divine Command, but this time the Command is related to the congregation. Those who listen to the pastor must be in fellowship in
order to benefit from the Spiritual Truth they hear.
But we request you, brethren, [Members
of the royal family] that you appreciate those [Pastors] who diligently labor
among you and have charge over you in the Lord [Enforced humility] and give you
instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in the sphere of love because
of their work. (1Th 5:12-13)
A pastor should be respected for his sound
knowledge and conscientiousness in teaching. His “diligent labor”
consists of long hours every day in disciplined, concentrated study; He is an
authority on Truth. Members of the congregation demonstrate their appreciation
for the pastor by submitting to his authority and concentrating. Believers
appreciate their pastor by allowing his work to produce its intended result in
their lives. (1Th 2:13) The pastor
considers himself a voice, a spokesman who communicates God’s Word. (Mat 3:3) He does not promote himself. He is impressed with God’s Thoughts, not his own! He
is most gratified by those who receive the teaching as from the Lord, (Heb 4:12) and use that teaching in their own
lives as they advance to Spiritual maturity.
TRUTH
AND LOVE AS A WAY OF LIFE
All Virtue, love, and genuine humility,
for the believer, are found only inside the Spiritual life. Now the unbeliever
can comprehend the Thoughts of Divine establishment, but the believer alone has
access to the Doctrines of the Word of God. In
gate four he advances beyond any strength, integrity, humility, wisdom, or
happiness that the unbeliever can achieve!
Virtue love cannot exist without Truth. Truth makes Virtue love possible,
because genuine love is rational, never absurd, always dependent on Thought,
never strictly emotional. As the pattern, Divine love is rational because it is
always linked with God’s absolutely consistent Integrity. Consistency of
Thought is rationality, and by reason of His immutability, omniscience,
and veracity, God is perfectly rational, totally logical. God IS Truth, and God IS Virtue love; these two attributes
are inseparable. (Joh 4:23-24; 1Jn 4:8)
Nor can Truth
and Virtue love be separated in the believer. The Christian’s capacity
for Impersonal and Personal love is increased by his consistent function in
gate four. Understanding of Truth creates capacity for Virtue love. At gate four the believer fulfills the ultimate purpose of
the Spiritual life: God’s objective for us is
that we understand and Think with His Word! God
reveals Himself in the Scriptures, and a believer’s daily intake is the
indicator of his Virtue love for God. Learning requires academic
discipline, but God’s Word surpasses any subject that he might be taught in a
school or college classroom. Truth is supernatural
information. (1Co 2:12-16) God’s
revelation extends beyond the range of human intellect or concentration and
beyond man’s empirical powers to observe his environment. More than mastering
and reciting an academic subject, learning and applying Truth constitute a way
of life, the Christian way of life in fellowship with God.
But He [Christ] answered and said, “It
is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, [Human needs] but on every Word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” [Spiritual needs] (Mat 4:4)
The Christian life depends on learning
God’s Word and this is not an isolated activity; it is part of the complete,
interlocking system. The first three gates of the Divine game plan operate in
concert to motivate faithfulness to Truth, which in turn strengthens all the
gates.
THE
INTERLOCK OF THE FIRST THREE GATES POWER AND OBJECTIVITY
Spiritual momentum from gate four of the
Spiritual life depends on the first three gates. Gates one, two, and three
furnish the power, objectivity, teach-ability and motivation needed to transfer
Truth from the written pages of Scripture into the believer’s soul and then out
again as application to life. We possess no capacity to assimilate, recall, or
apply Truth apart from the unseen power of the Holy Spirit. (Joh 16:12-15; Joh 14:26)
We are able to understand Spiritual Truth
only when filled with the Spirit. As Truth accumulates in our souls, the Holy
Spirit uses that Truth to increase our capacity to understand more Truth. The
more you learn, the more you can learn. Truth builds on Truth. (Eccles 7:27)
You must be objective to avoid misinterpreting or misapplying
Truth. This objectivity derives primarily from gate two. In gate two reliance
on Divine Promises, and the exercise of Impersonal love secure freedom from
mental attitude sins, eliminating the subjectivity of arrogance, jealousy,
self-pity, bitterness, or a guilt complex. By exercising basic Impersonal
love, and rebounding when necessary, you maintain your orientation to the
essentials of life, even when people or
circumstances challenge you to lose your perspective (Get out fellowship) and turn your eyes on
self. The two primary techniques are
implementing basic Impersonal love. And using the faith-rest drill by claiming
Promises, establishes the relaxed mental attitude needed to rationally Think
with Truth, and switch from Personal love
or dislike, to Impersonal love and maintain
objectivity. Gate three of the system also
contributes to objectivity. Humility is obedience to authority, and
authority-orientation is orientation to Reality. Reality is objective, not
emotional. The genuinely humble believer
understands his significance in the overall scheme of God’s plan and human
history; he recognizes that he is dependent on Truth for his integrity and that
the source of his happiness is being in fellowship with God. The humble believer possesses a Personal sense of destiny
as he witnesses the glorification of Jesus Christ in his life. Objectivity in gate three makes him receptive and teachable;
he is motivated to learn the Truth rather than prove how much he knows or how
superior he is. The more Truth he learns in gate four, the stronger becomes his
objectivity in gates two and three, which, barring the intrusion of arrogance
motivates him to learn and apply still more Truth.
MOTIVATION
OBEDIENCE
AND MOTIVATIONAL VIRTUE
Motivation is a major
issue in the Christian life. When we study Virtue, we will discover that motivational
Virtues exist inside the Spiritual life. A motivational Virtue is the invisible
counterpart for each visible, functional Virtue. For example, the Virtue of
confidence toward God motivates the functional Virtue of courage toward man and
circumstances. All functional Virtues stem from motivational Virtues, and all
motivational Virtues originate from your freewill decisions to obey God’s
Commands. God’s power system is perfect in that it not only leads to Spiritual
maturity but also motivates its own momentum. (Php
2:13) Motivation for the perception and application is created by
obedience to the Commands related to gates one, two, and three. But even in
God’s complete, self-energized system, human
volition remains the key! You can choose to remain in fellowship
or reject God’s plan and live in one of Satan’s counterfeit systems.
No one can
reach into another person’s soul and switch on motivation like a light in the
dark. Nor can God force you to have the correct motivation toward His plan. He will never coerce, (Force) your free will. Although God’s game plan is designed for your maximum
benefit and His eternal glory, you are free to
ignore His Word. If you assume that your own plans and thoughts are better than
God’s Thoughts and Design, you oppose yourself and Him, create your own misery,
and incur Divine discipline. (Jer 18:12)
But fear of punishment is not the proper motive for adhering to Divine policy. If you are objective, you obey initially out of respect for
God, and then eventually from Personal love
for God. As you come to know and appreciate
Him through His Word. This motivation — this positive volition — must emanate from your own soul, not from any external
source.
ESTABLISHING
PRIORITIES, ORGANIZING A ROUTINE
Among believers and or unbelievers; the
most admirable and successful people are self-motivated. In the conscience of
the soul, where the norms and standards and scale of values reside, these
individuals have established true priorities, and they make decisions
consistent with those priorities. The self-motivated
believer has identified his primary objective in life: Spiritual
maturity, which glorifies Christ! This
objective becomes the standard for interpreting any situation that may arise. Every decision and every
course of action supports this chosen objective; Truth takes first priority. This lucid
self-motivation places him in a position of strength. He understands what is
most valuable, and he will not be deceived or cajoled into opposing himself.
Good decisions can be made only from a position of strength — in
fellowship. Only bad decisions can be
made from a position of weakness — carnality. (Out of fellowship) (Rom 8:6-8) A
self-motivated believer operating from a position of strength builds his life
on the Principle of The Spirit First! The Truth First! He establishes a routine: for each day he decides what he
wishes to accomplish that day. He sets aside time. (Eccles 11:6) Routine
must be built on priorities, ranked according to importance. Routine organizes
a person’s life each day so that he accomplishes his objectives, fulfills his
own Principles. A routine is not a negative concept for dull, humorless people.
Only through a routine can anyone harness his own time and energy and achieve anything
in life either Spiritually or temporally. Organization is good routine.
Routine should be broken only by unusual events, like disasters or
celebrations, not by illegitimate distractions. (Eccles 8:8; Jer 48:10;
2Ti 2:4) (This
is a war!) Routine and organization are
professionalism in every area of life. A disorganized person is a loser.
Someone may positively influence you to learn God’s Word, but that external
push will not carry you. There is no substitute for self-motivation. You must
give God's Will and Word first priority, (Mat
6:33) make your own decisions, establish
and maintain your own integrity. We all face distractions, opposition, and
influences that would prevent us from consistently learning and applying Truth.
We must be motivated from within if we hope to fulfill
God’s game plan over the course of our lives. Self-motivation is a synonym for
one’s own positive volition. Even the best influence, the wisest advice, the
most positive encouragement cannot keep you in fellowship and sustain your
Spiritual momentum.
We must have an
ordinary, organized, routine life; with self-command self-limitation and
self-restraint; with no nonsense, no silliness and no absurdity!
IMMATURE
AND MATURE MOTIVES
Self-motivation, like teachability, is an
offshoot of humility. A humble person is receptive to Truth and motivated to
learn. Self-motivation can be developed by believer or unbeliever under the
Laws of Divine establishment. When a young person becomes an adult, he assumes
responsibility for his own motivation, his own thoughts, decisions, and
actions. From genuine humility he begins to make his own decisions rather than
depend on his parents, although humility does not exclude seeking good advice when
necessary. Unlike the youth who eventually leaves behind parental authority, a
believer never outgrows his need for Bible teaching, as in the home, the
believer’s motivation does change as he grows up Spiritually. A new believer is
not motivated by love for God. He may have a new lease on life, knowing that
his sins are forgiven; he may be grateful for the Cross; he may inordinately
fear Divine retribution; he may be caught up in emotional zeal; he may be
seeking Divine favor or striving to please the person who presented the Gospel
to him. Some of his motives may be legitimate, others not, but even the best
Salvation motivation will not carry him far. The realization that he is
forgiven, and going to heaven, is a feeble flame. The
Divine Commands connected with gate four of God s power system demand that he
take up the challenge of the Christian life, to grow in the full knowledge of
God. (2Pe 1:2; 2Pe 3:18) Initially
you must execute God’s game plan from enforced humility. God Commands
perception of Truth; you simply obey! As
you learn Truth, you realize that God has a purpose for your life. You discover
that you possess God’s righteousness, that He supports you with logistical
grace, that rebound is instantly available, that God has adopted you as Spiritual
royalty forever. You learn that you already
possess tremendous blessings for which to be grateful, with greater blessings
yet to come, and you begin to appreciate the source. You begin to love the Lord
Jesus Christ. Within your soul your motivation changes from enforced humility
(Commanded to obey) to genuine humility, (You want to obey) Personal love for
God, to Occupation with Christ. (And His Thinking) Truth becomes supremely
important to you. Although you are never impervious to distractions, you are
not as vulnerable as when a new believer. You have learned to maintain your own
priorities. You have learned to say no to
people and decline “opportunities” when necessary. You have learned to center your life on the treasure of
highest value, the Word of God!
Most believers never take their initial
motivation into the daily self-motivation that can carry them through many
years to Spiritual maturity. They lack the humility to accept a pastor’s
authority, or they lack the will and discipline to master Doctrines that are
difficult or seemingly irrelevant. They never make a habit of learning Truth.
Instead of seeking the Truth, they search for a pastor who will flatter and
fawn over them. They do not desire Truth or a mature relationship with God;
they want the approbation of a scintillating personality who will visit them,
counsel them, entertain their questions, and stimulate their emotions —
everything but teach orthodox Bible Truth. Believers who gravitate to such a
pastor appease their own arrogance and accommodate themselves in weakness. A
believer consolidates a position of strength only through his Personal drive in
submitting to gate four.
THE
TWO
MOST DIFFICULT TRANSITIONS IN LIFE
The two most difficult transitions in life
overlap at gate four of the Spiritual life. At physical birth we begin life
under parental authority and protection; we must become worthy of adult
freedom. We make this transition through teachability under the Virtue of
genuine humility. At Spiritual birth we begin Spiritual life ignorant of God
and His plan and must become cognizant of His purpose for our lives. Again, we
make this transition through enforced and genuine humility. Consistent intake and application over an extended period
of time accomplishes this second difficult transition, the necessary momentum
being sustained by self-motivation. The believer’s
self-motivation manifests itself as academic discipline under his pastor’s
Bible teaching.
Therefore, humble yourselves [“Humble”:
achieve genuine humility; “yourselves”: from self-motivation] under the mighty
hand of God that He may promote you [With super-grace blessings] at the proper
time. [After you reach Spiritual maturity] (1Pe
5:6)
CONCENTRATION
All true love
requires concentration. In Impersonal love the
subject concentrates on his own Divine Thinking in his soul; he declines to besmirch
his integrity by succumbing to hatred, envy, bitterness, competitiveness,
self-righteousness, lust or disillusionment toward the object.
According to my earnest expectation, [Concentration] and hope, [Confident
expectation] that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, [And Openness] Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my
body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ (Mat 16:24) and to die is gain. [A Promotion] (Php 1:20-21)
In human
personal love the subject concentrates on the object, on that person’s
attractiveness, character, thoughts, and feelings. Concentration is
essential to genuine sensitivity toward others. Without concentration there can
be no capacity for life, no success in any endeavor, and most detrimental,
without concentration no one can learn or use Truth in the Spiritual life. In
addition to Divine power, objectivity, and teachability that accompanies
self-motivation; and the ability to concentrate is another prerequisite for the
function of gate four. This requirement is also fulfilled by the first three
gates of the Spiritual life.
At gate one God the Holy Spirit enhances the believer’s concentration. This is the teaching ministry of the Parakletos, the Energizer or Helper, who enables man’s finite mind to comprehend the infinite wisdom of God. (1Co 2:10)
At gate one God the Holy Spirit enhances the believer’s concentration. This is the teaching ministry of the Parakletos, the Energizer or Helper, who enables man’s finite mind to comprehend the infinite wisdom of God. (1Co 2:10)
At gate two, Divine Promises and basic
Impersonal love set aside distractions that would disturb concentration.
Concentration is the opposite of distraction; it is focusing your attention on
a single object to the exclusion of all others. If you cannot sustain mental
focus, you are unstable. You lack the attention span required to pursue any
Thought to its conclusion. You vacillate from one subject to another. The
relaxed mental attitude of gate two enables you to operate from your own mental
integrity rather than swerve indiscriminately from topic to topic.
In gate three, teachability makes you a
good listener. As you learn under enforced humility, you simultaneously develop
your ability to concentrate. When you first start listening to Bible teaching,
you may be able to concentrate for only five minutes before you become bored
and restless. Just keep trying to be obedient under enforced humility, (Heb 10:25) your span of attention will
gradually increase until you can easily follow the entire message, even when
the topic is technical or unappealing to your usual interests. As a by-product
of gate four, this increased ability to sustain your concentration will carry
over into everything you do. Life becomes richer.
PERCEPTION
AND APPLICATION RELATED TO TWO ROYAL OFFICES
PRIESTS
AND AMBASSADORS
At the moment of Salvation, when we first
enter the Spiritual life as believers, we receive two commissions from God
related to the perception and application of Truth. I call these commissions
“warrants,” since God has given them to us in the content of His Word.
A warrant is a written document that
conveys certain powers and authorizes the performance of certain duties and
responsibilities. A warrant officer in the army, for example, has received a
document from the President entrusting him with the authority to carry out his
assigned duties. Even a warrant for arrest illustrates the Principle, since
such a legal warrant is a document issued by a judge authorizing a police
officer to carry out the duty of taking someone into custody.
As members of the royal family of God, we
have received two warrants from God, which authorize us to carry out certain
Spiritual responsibilities. We have been appointed royal
priests and royal ambassadors. These
two appointments define our function in the Spiritual life and explain the
invisible and visible aspects of the Christian life.
And He has made
us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father--to Him be the glory and the
dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Rev 1:6)
But you [Members of the royal family]
are A CHOSEN RACE, , [Chosen for privilege, regardless of human ancestry] A
royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, [The Spiritual pivot of God’s client nation] A
PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, [Purchased at the Cross and dependent on
God’s power system, we are not our own] that you may proclaim [Through the
production of Virtue] the Virtues of Him [Jesus Christ in the prototype] who
has called you [Selected you for the privileges of royalty because you believed
in Christ ] out of darkness [Satanic influence] into His marvelous light. [The
Spiritual life] (1Pe 2:9)
Therefore, we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we beg you on behalf
of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2Co 5:20)
A Divine warrant is never to be treated
frivolously. These warrants from God appoint
us to the two highest offices anyone can hold in this life.
THE
ROYAL PRIESTHOOD
During the previous dispensation, a
specialized priesthood existed in Israel. The priests were members
of the tribe of Levi; they carried out the detailed responsibilities connected
with animal sacrifices and holy days, which taught Truth by means of ritual
training aids. The Levitical priests proclaimed the
written Word and represented the people before God. Now that the Old Covenant has been fulfilled, a new
universal priesthood exists. Jesus Christ is our High Priest. (Heb 6:17-20) Since every member of the royal
family is in union with Him, we all share His priesthood. Unlike the Levitical
priesthood, the office of the royal priesthood is not hereditary, but
perpetual; not based on physical birth, but regeneration. You are a priest; I
am a priest. Whether young, old, male, female, (Gal
3:28) mature, immature, in God's system, or in Satan’s system, all
believers are permanent members of our Lord’s royal priesthood. (Heb 7:1-3) That does not mean, however, that we
are equal. A few priests are pastors; whereas the priests in the congregation
grow only under the pastor’s authoritative teaching. Spiritual growth is always
a function of the priesthood; the privacy of the priesthood is designed for
maximum perception of Truth. Likewise, Spiritual blessings from God are always
given to us under our priesthood. Whether in the pulpit or in the pew the
priesthood is our invisible, Personal relationship with God. As
believer-priests we represent ourselves before God. We do not need to confess
our sins to a member of the clergy; we confess them immediately, silently, privately,
directly to God (1Jn 1:9) Nor do we
need anyone to pray on our behalf. We are Commanded to come boldly before the
throne of grace. (Heb 4:16) And we do
not require a special category of priests to perform rituals for us. The rituals of the Levitical priesthood were fulfilled by
Christ and have been superseded as teaching aids by the completion of the canon
of Scripture. The Church Age is the age of
reading, not ritual. (Most were illiterate) The only ritual mandated for the royal family is
the Eucharist or Communion table, in which every believer is Commanded to
participate. (1Co 11:23-26) The Divine
warrant that appoints us priests to God authorizes us to represent ourselves
before Him. Our responsibility as priests is to grow Spiritually. Our priesthood
is the invisible side of the Christian life.
THE
ROYAL AMBASSADORSHIP
Christ was a priest during the First
Advent, but He was also an ambassador. In hypostatic union — undiminished deity
and true humanity united in one Person forever — Christ represented God to man
in the devil’s world. (Heb 1:2) In
union with Christ, every member of the royal family shares His ambassadorship.
Christ has been absent from the earth
since His ascension, and we now represent Him, the King of Kings glorified at
the right hand of the Father. (Heb 1:13;
Rev 19:16) Our ambassadorial
instructions are in written form, the completed canon of Scripture, which is
the Mind of Christ. (1Co 2:16) By Word and by Spiritual life, we represent His Thoughts,
and not our own! We are citizens of
heaven, not of Satan’s kingdom, and as God’s emissaries we are supported and
protected by Him in the enemy kingdom of the devil.
Every believer is in full-time Christian
service. We may mix with foreign nobility, but we are ambassadors nonetheless.
Whatever we do, wherever we are, we are Christ’s representatives. (Col 3:17) In contrast
to our priesthood, our ambassadorship is our overt, visible relationship with
people and circumstances. As royal
ambassadors we proclaim Christ by His Nature being completed in us.
But you are A
CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN
POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies (Nature and Thought) of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light. (1Pe 2:9)
For by these He
has granted to us His precious and magnificent Promises, so that by them you
may become partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world by lust. (2Pe 1:4)
We are responsible to present the Gospel
to unbelievers, (2Co 5:20; Eph 6:20) but our ambassadorship goes
farther than that. Witnessing, giving testimonies, serving, working in
evangelistic meetings, in foreign missions, or in Christian service
organizations — all this, if properly motivated, can be part of the Spiritual
ambassador’s function. The believer’s royal ambassadorship encompasses all the
visible Virtues produced by the application of Truth. Hence, our
ambassadorship, like our priesthood, is related to gate four of the Spiritual
life. Gate four is
the key to the Christian life. All the gates that precede gate four are support
gates, and all those that follow are result gates. All Spiritual advance and
momentum come from the perception of Truth, and is the primary responsibility
of the royal priest; the application of Truth is the primary
responsibility of the royal ambassador.
Royal Priest
Represent himself before God
Directed toward God
Invisible
Relationship with God
Produce motivational Virtues
Worship
Confidence
Personal love
Perception of Truth
Powered by the Spiritual life
Blessings from God
Spiritual advance
|
Royal Ambassador
Represent Christ before man
Directed toward man
Visible
Relationships with man
Produce functional Virtues
Virtue-Morality
Courage towards man and
circumstances
Impersonal love
Application of Truth
Powered by the Spiritual life
Blessings to man
Spiritual service
|
As priests we represent
ourselves before God; as ambassadors we represent God's Thoughts and Divine
Nature before man. Our priesthood is directed toward God; our ambassadorship,
toward man. Furthermore, our warrants explain the invisible and visible parts
of the Christian life. Our priesthood is our invisible private relationship
with God in which we produce the motivational Virtues; our ambassadorship is
our visible public relationship with people and circumstances.
The ambassadorship
depends on the priesthood; the visible depends on the invisible. And the power
in both the perception and application of Truth, toward both God and man, is
the power of the Spiritual life. No matter what we may do or how Spiritual we
may appear to others, we have no Christian impact without the united execution
of our priesthood and our ambassadorship in all of the pertinent gates of
God’s game plan. As priest and ambassador, each member of the royal family of
God lives his own life before the Lord and makes his own decisions based on the
Truth resident in his soul. (Rom 14:8-13)
FAITH-PERCEPTION
Never do we earn or
deserve any credit in the Spiritual life. God’s game plan for the royal family
is animated by grace, not human achievement. In gate four, as in every gate,
God does all the work and we reap the benefits. We
reap what God has sown, we receive what Christ deserved, and Christ received
what we deserved! Amazing Grace! Man possesses four basic
means of perception: (Believers five) rationalism, mysticism, empiricism, and
faith. In rationalism man engages his intellect,
deducing a logical system to explain human reality. In mysticism
information is transferred to the soul from demons through the old sin nature.
In empiricism man hones his powers of observation for discovering answers in
the world and the universe around him. Man has explored and exploited many
combinations of rationalism, mysticism and empiricism throughout history, but
in every philosophical or scientific system, man’s abilities and efforts
receive the credit. If God’s plan relied at any
point on our merits, that would become the weak link that would destroy the
chain. Imperfect man can have no meritorious role in God’s perfect plan.
Man’s fourth system of perception is non-meritorious.
In faith the credit does not belong to the subject but to the object, not to
the one who believes but to what is believed. And
for Salvation and the Word of God we need God the Holy Spirit to make Spiritual
Thoughts understandable to us; this is called Spiritual faith and the
ONLY way of Salvation and or to reach Spiritual maturity. (Unless we are
brain damaged, or die before reaching the age to be capable to make a free will
decision for faith in Christ) (2Sa 12:23)
When sinful man believes in Christ, the subject has no merit. The object, Jesus Christ, has all the merit. Only Christ
satisfies the absolute standards of God’s integrity. In this manner
fallen man enters the plan of God without compromising God’s character or
corrupting His plan. After Salvation the believer is Commanded to reside and
function in fellowship, but God does not suddenly reverse His policy. We are
saved by grace; we must live by grace. Grace continues to exclude all human
merit. Faith remains the only means of perceiving and applying Truth
I believe in
Christ
Subject
Accomplishes
no work for Salvation
No
merit
Receives
the blessings
|
Object
Accomplished
all the work for Salvation
All
the merit
Receives
all the credit
|
FOR BELIEVERS
|
THE
WORD
|
OPERATION
Z
God has supplied us with everything for learning His Word: the canon of
Scripture, a pastor-teacher, books, the MP3 player, the DVD player and now the
computer, the filling of God the Holy Spirit, rebound, (1Jn 1:9) the human soul, the human spirit,
physical life, Spiritual life and protection in the devil’s world. (Isa 41:10-13) These grace provisions are part of
the grace apparatus for perception, which is “Operation Z” To summarize, the believer filled with God the Holy
Spirit, (1Co 4:20) and
concentrates on the pastor’s message, resulting in gnosis, “Knowledge,”
in the mentality of the soul. The mentality has two
parts: the human spirit or right lobe, God's Knowledge. And the kardia, “heart,” or left lobe, human
knowledge. (Jer 17:9) And is the home of gnosis; the right lobe is the repository of epignosis, “Full
Knowledge.” (Eph 3:19) Gnosis
in the left lobe is receptive comprehension: “academic knowledge” which is not usable for application in the Spiritual life.
A believer may be able to quote many verses or talk at length about many
Biblical subjects, but if his knowledge is only gnosis, it is not
edifying. Academic arrogance can exist in theology as easily as in any other
field of learning. (1Co 1:19-21; 1Co 2:14; 1Co 3:19-20;
1Co 8:1) If Truth is not
believed, or not understood and or not Thought with, it is removed! (Mat 13:19-23;
Luk 8:11-15) The
application of gnosis Doctrine is misapplication, and the Word
misapplied generates legalism, inflexibility, insensitivity, and intolerance,
pride and arrogance. (Heb 3:12; Heb 4:2) The believer
clearly perceives a point of Doctrine and now faces the issue of faith: does he, or does he not believe what he has learned? (Pro 3:5-6; Mat 7:7-11) If he believes: that Truth is transferred to the right lobe
and becomes Spiritual Thoughts and Spiritual Words! (1Co 2:13) By means of
faith, it becomes genuine understanding of Divine Truth. (1Co 4:20) Only God's Thinking can be applied as Spiritual
Wisdom and Spiritual common sense. (2Co 10:5)
Epignosis is
also the building material for the edification complex, (Temple) of the soul. (1Co 3:10-14)
The process of transferring the Truth from the
heart to the spirit is faith-perception. Truth always has the merit; we who believe do not!
According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise
master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man
must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can
lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
[Salvation] Now if
any man builds on the foundation [Growth to
Spiritual maturity] with gold, silver, precious stones, [God's Thoughts] wood, hay,
straw, [Satanic and human thoughts] each man's work will become evident; for the day
will show it because it is to be revealed with
fire, (Mar 9:49) and the fire
itself will test the quality of each man's work. If
any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
(1Co 3:10-14)
REBOUND,
RECEPTION, RETENTION, RECALL, RESIST SIN, REPEAT!
The six R's
According to his ability to concentrate, a believer may hear or receive
half of the message communicated by his pastor. By faith-perception, he may
retain only twenty percent of the half he heard, the objective is
inculcation with the Truth, but usable Truth accumulates gradually in
increments. The believer develops a frame of reference for receiving and
retaining further Doctrine. Truth builds upon Truth.
He must persist in learning “For He says,
Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a
little there.” (Isa 28:10) This
explains why the believer must be faithful in listening to Bible teaching as a
daily routine, (Psa 1:2-3) and emphasizes the value of repetition by the pastor.
Truth cannot be absorbed on a spurt of inspiration.
Spiritual maturity belongs to the pluggers, to those who perpetuate
momentum in fellowship undeterred over the years. Your Personal intake and Thinking with the Word of God
constitute its own reward, as you benefit from living in the Truth. But
learning and using God’s Word also represent an extended lifelong display of
your positive volition. Non-meritorious positive volition resolves the angelic
conflict: the angels watch mankind and observe man’s positive volition, which
glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. (Luk 15:10;
1Co 4:9; Eph
3:10-11; 1Ti 3:16; 1Ti 5:21; 1Pe 1:12)
As in perception, so also in application, human merit is excluded from God’s
perfect plan. Both retaining and recalling the Bible Thoughts that you receive
are accomplished by faith. In faith-application the believer draws upon his
inner resources of Truth to maintain his own integrity, cope with his own
problems, and take control of his own life. He becomes Spiritually
self-sustaining. He is mentally well-organized so that he can face life with
courage. By faith he employs both of the two basic techniques for applying
Truth: Impersonal love and the faith-rest
drill.
EMPHASIZING IMPERSONAL LOVE
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