HOW TO FOCUS YOUR MIND ON GOD

LIVING UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Philippians 2:14-17. Paul, in verse 14, has been calling upon believers to have an attitude which is free of
resentments, of bitterness, and of mental doubts toward God as they live their lives. The things that come
upon us in life should not be things that cause us to have bitterness; or resentments; or even to doubt
that God is sympathetic toward us; that He is concerned; or, that our Father is interested in our welfare.

This is an easy thing for a Christian to be tempted to fall into. If you do that, you're in a lot of trouble
because the root of bitterness is the seed and is the source of constant grief and constant turmoil in a
person's life.

Verse 14, "Do all things without murmurings (which means bitterness or resentments), and without
disputing’s (which means mental doubts against God as to what He brings into your life)." Philippians 2:16
then tells us to be free of justifiable censure as God's children. We are to be genuine, to be without slyness;
and to be free of any moral blemish. These things are to characterize Christians in spite of the fact that
we live in Satan's world where people are morally corrupt. We are not to pick up the patterns and the
habits of the society which surrounds us.

The purpose of this kind of moral conduct is so that the Christian will be a light in Satan's world. That is
our calling. That is our purpose. We are not to contribute to the darkness. We are to seek to dispel the
darkness. So divine viewpoint comes to our society through believers who have been illuminated by the
Word of God. I want you to notice that because Paul is going to amplify that point now in verse 16. Our
society gets this thinking straight through Christians who have been illuminated, and have thus
received, through Bible doctrine, God's Divine Viewpoint.

Philippians 2:16 gives the means for fulfilling the role of being a light in the world. Our procedure is to
take the Word of God, and to establish the authority upon that which God the Holy Spirit wrote. In case
some of you have not yet become alerted to the fact, God the Holy Spirit did not write the New Testament
in English. He wrote it in the Greek language.

We're trying to overcome what is a widespread defect in the ministry today. And that is that authority for
the Word of God lies within a pulpit personality rather than within the Word of God. You cannot establish
authority in the Word of God unless you go back to the language of the Word of God in which God the
Holy Spirit spoke. The book of Philippians was written in Greek. Therefore, we will seek to explain what
this passage says from the Greek so that when you go home, you will not be quoting me. You can go home
and say, "Here's what God has said. Here's what I know that God has said, and not that guy up there who
is talking, because I have it from the words that the Holy Spirit used."

Philippians 2:16 begins with, "Holding forth the Word of Life. The word "holding forth" in the Greek
language is "epecho which has three translations, and we will look at all three of those because we have

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to decide which one God the Holy Spirit meant here. When you have a variety of meanings, it will be
dependent as per the context. The first meaning, and a primary meaning, is "HOLDING OUT THE MIND
TO," or "FOCUSING YOUR ATTENTION UPON." PUTTING YOUR MIND TO SOMETHING IS THE IDEA OF
"epecho."

We have this in a variety of places in the Bible. We will look at a few of those. For example, in Luke 14:7,
this same word is used, and it gives us an example of what we're talking about: "And He put forth the
parable to those who were bidden when he marked (and there's the Greek word 'epecho') how they chose
out the chief places, saying onto them." What "He marked" means is that He noticed. That is, Jesus Christ
centered His mind upon how these people were acting. He noticed how they were elbowing one another
for places of prominence?

We have an example of this in Acts 3:5: "And he gave heed to them (there is the Greek word "epecho"–
heed), expecting to receive something from them." Here is the man who was born with ankle's that
wouldn't walk, and he is seated there at the gate Beautiful. Peter and John come along, and "he gave
heed" means "HE FIXED HIS ATTENTION ON." That's the meaning that we're dealing with here in the word
"epecho," to get your mind onto something or to concentrate on something. So this man fixed his
attention on Peter and John, expecting that they were going to give him some money. As you know, they
instead healed him.

1 Timothy 4:16 gives us another example: "TAKE HEED UNTO THYSELF AND TO THE DOCTRINE." There
you have it again–"epecho"–take heed. Here it means "to take pains" or "to look to." Take pains or to look
to yourself and to the doctrine. Focus upon it and concentrate upon it. Continue in them. "For in doing
this, you shall both save yourself and them that hear you."

So, the word, first of all, that we're dealing with here means to focus your attention on something; to
concentrate on it; and, to pay attention to it in a very detailed substantial way.

A second meaning is "TO HOLD FAST." We have this in Luke 4:42: "When it was day, He departed and
went into a desert place and the people saw Him and came unto Him (speaking about Jesus) and would
have restrained Him that He should not depart from them. Here, "would have restrained Him" meant that
they physically wanted to grab Jesus Christ and to keep him from departing from them. It connotes
retaining possession of something.

Then there was a third meaning, and that is "holding out to," in the sense of "to offer." "Epecho" was a
word that the classical Greeks used, and they would use it, for example, to describe offering wine to a
guest at a dinner table. To offer the wine, a person would say, "I 'epecho' this goblet of wine to you. I am
offering it. So it also had that meaning of "holding something out to people."

By this context, where Paul is telling us how we can be lights in the world to illuminate the darkness that
Satan has brought down upon the world, the best meaning is number one. That is the meaning that God
the Holy Spirit, apparently, indicated that he intended to use of this word (this is the main way that the
word is used) to focus the attention upon; to concentrate upon; or, to pay attention.

Of course, we could not eliminate really holding fast to the Word of God, because that's what we're talking
about. We do that. Nor do we eliminate holding out the Word of God, offering it to people. We also do
that. But in the overall context here, the main point is progress toward spiritual maturity, the development

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of the individual believer from a spiritual zero into something, a spiritual substance. This word
grammatically is in the present tense, which means that this is to be the way of life for the Christian.

A Christian is to focus his attention on something. This is to be my life. My life is to be constantly,

morning, noon, and night, focusing my attention upon something that he's going to identify as very
important Active means that I must take the trouble to do it. And participle means that a spiritual principle
is stated.

Your life and your mind will not focus upon this thing without your active participation, and actively
organizing your life to do so. What is it that we are to focus upon? What we focus upon He calls the Word
of Life–focusing your attention upon the Word of Life. The Word of Life is made up, first of all, of the word
"logos" in the Greek, and it means the expression of a thought. It's a symbol which conveys to us a thought
that someone has. Here, it is applying to the mind of God expressed in the symbols of the words that
make up the Bible. Therefore, the word "logos" here means the words that constitute the Bible.

Then life is "zoe," and "zoe" is the word for life which means life as a principle. This is what God has in His
Holiness. We refer to this as the quality of eternal life. This eternal life is what the Bible tells us that we,
as sinners, have been alienated from in God. Ephesians 4:18 says, "Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness." You
know that that word is the Greek word "hardness" there. It is because of the hardness of their hearts, or
because of the calluses upon their minds. There is an alienation from God's eternal life on the part of
those who are hard toward God's viewpoint expressed in the Word of God.

Sinners become part of this eternal life of God through faith in Jesus Christ. So we read in John 3:15,
"That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Sinners, when they believe in
Christ as Savior, become part of that life. The Lord Jesus Christ, we're told, is the author of this eternal life
which is delivered to us as sinners. In Acts 3:15, we read, "And killed the Prince of Life, whom God has
raised from the dead, of whom we are witnesses." Jesus Christ is the prince, and the word there should
be translated "author." He is the author to us of eternal Life.

As a matter of fact, in Colossians 3:4, we find that Jesus Christ himself is this eternal life, where Paul says,
"When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory? Our life is Jesus
Christ. Therefore, if you're here and you do not have a personal relationship to Jesus Christ, then you do
not have the life that Jesus Christ is the author of: which is the life of God; which is eternal life; and, which
means to be in the presence of God for all eternity. If you do not have this life, you will experience eternal
death, which is to be separated from God for all eternity in the lake of fire.

There are many people who are religious and they are active participating church people. But they do not
have a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. And I'm not talking about the nonsense of inviting Christ
into your heart and that sort of thing, or into your life. I'm talking about what the Bible is talking about–
that you simply believe what the Bible says Jesus Christ came to do–to die for your sins, and you are
willing to accept that; to go into the presence of God on that basis; and, to stand before Him and claim
the death of Christ in your behalf.

Or it may be because you're living in a status of carnality. You have unconfessed sins, so you've been
building calluses upon your soul. So, your spiritual vision has become distorted, and you focus yourself
upon one of these false objects. Or it's because of distractions from Satan: moral distractions; human

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distractions; chemical distractions in the form of drugs; some material distraction that has led you away
into one of these false areas of attention; or, maybe lack of self-discipline.

Some of us don't seem to be able to organize our lives so that we have time for the Word of God: "I don't
have time to sit down and read or listen to a lesson; to get something out of it; to learn something new;
or, to refresh my insights and my reservoir of doctrine." Or you may have a rebellious attitude toward the
Bible and toward what it teaches. This is often reflected in a rebellious attitude toward the pastor-teacher.

Or it may be that you're in poor health and you don't have the capacity to be able to use your mind in the
right way. One of the best ways to get your mind out of proper functioning is to over-think that you are
sick.

Back to epecho. "Epecho" means "focus the attention upon." And focus the attention upon what? He says
upon doctrine. Doctrine is the "didaskalia," "Didaskalia" means "teaching." This is where we get the
expression "Bible doctrine" or "Bible teaching" or "Bible principles of living" or "Bible propositions of
truth." You can call it a variety of things.

The whole point here is the same thing that Paul has said elsewhere. Paul says this in 1 Timothy 4:16. It's
the same as he said in Philippians 2:16. "Focus your attention. Concentrate your life upon Bible doctrine."
This case is present–our constant way of life. It is active, by your choice. Organize your life so that you
can focus on doctrine. And it is imperative. It is God's command.

So, if you neglect focusing your life on Bible doctrine, you're out of line of the will of God. Therefore,
Satan will enable you to focus on many other things. Paul tells Timothy that this kind of attention is the
thing which brings spiritual blessing and prospering to himself and to others. Philippians 2:16:
"Concentrating your attention (or focusing your mind) that."

The word "that" is the Greek word "eis." Here it means "with the result that." It's a little word to introduce
the result. Why does Paul want us as believers to focus upon the Word? He says, "That I may rejoice."
Now this looks like a verb in English, but it's just a noun. It's the Greek noun ""Kauchema" which means
a ground for glorying. So, we may translate this: "That I may have a ground for glorying." The apostle Paul
wants to have a basis for rejoicing.

Paul had enabled the Philippian Christians to set their minds upon doctrine, then there was a basis for him
to expect to rejoice as a communicator of doctrine. If he has done this and people have responded, he's
got a ground for rejoicing. For a pastor-teacher, remember that there is nothing in life that he may take
satisfaction in and rejoice in except this thing–that those whom he teaches in the Word respond positively
to the Word.

It doesn't matter what success a pastor-teacher may achieve; what fame he gains; what prestige he
carries; what material prosperity he enjoys; what influences he bears; or what awe he produces with his
speaking. If he does not deliver the Word of Life in usable form to people, he has no ground for glorying;
no ground for blessing; and, no ground for happiness.

A large number of preachers are merely donkeys dressed up in peacock feathers, strutting around like
they were something when they are nothing. That is because they are not functioning in the gift of the
pastor-teacher. There is nothing that is such a shock, and will be such a shock in eternity, to discover
that the peacocks were donkeys underneath.

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Teaching. This is the reason for the biblical requirement of a pastor-teacher elder bishop. He must possess
the spiritual gift of teaching. I want to clear up something for you, because sooner or later, I know you're
going to hear this. 1 Timothy 3 gives us the requirements for a pastor-teacher elder bishop. All are the
same thing: an elder; a bishop; and a pastor-teacher. It just looks at it from various angles of his work.

This is the key to the church age: a teacher communicator in the Word. You will notice that in 1 Timothy
3:2, one of the things that is required of a pastor-teacher is that he is to be apt to teach. This is the Greek
word "didaktikos."

Let's study this Greek by looking at some lexicons. A Greek lexicon is a Greek dictionary that tells us the
meaning of the Greek language. Remember that God the Holy Spirit used the Greek language because,
in the process of leading Alexander the Great in his conquest to bring together the various Greek tribes,
the Greek language was crystallized and frozen, so that we know today exactly what they knew
concerning the meaning of words. We don't know that about all languages, but we do know this about
Greek.

Two the most outstanding authorities on the meaning of Greek words are lexicons by Arndt and Gingrich,
and by Kittel. Arndt and Gingrich say that "didaktikos" means "skillful in teaching." Kittel says "able to
teach." You may look this up for yourself. This is all that you will find. I have a point to make. This is listed
as a requirement for a pastor-teacher officer heading up a local church. Please notice that this is not a
quality of the pastor-teacher's life. It is not the quality of a spiritually mature man. It is a God-given
ability to do a spiritual work in a congregation. A pastor-teacher could not do his job if he did not have the
ability to teach. He has to be "didaktikos" in order to do it.

Now, not every believer in the local congregation is able to teach in this gifted sense. Though some
believers may be very mature spiritually, they still do not have the gift of teaching, though they may be
good witnesses, and can talk about the Bible. But they do not have this specialized gift of teaching. There
is a seminary professor in the Christian Education Department who is a devotee of the new body life fad
of Christians gathering together; hearing a little bit of the word taught; and, then sharing experiences. He
has written a book describing what constitutes a mature Christian man. He has taken as that study, this
passage in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. He rejects this passage as applying to a pastor-teacher as an executive head
of the local church. He seems to think that it applies to any number of people who are in the congregation.
As a matter of fact, he makes this a list of general maturity–that everybody can come to general
maturity by following this list.

The problem with this is that Christian maturity is equally the province of our women as well as of our
men. If you read through this list, you will see that this is obviously designed for the male believer, not for
the female believer. So, this could not be a general list concerning spiritual maturity, or what a mature
man or mature woman should be. Furthermore, you have the problem that "apt to teach" is not a
quality. Spiritual maturity is a quality. It's a series of characteristics. But this is not a quality. But would
you believe that this Christian Education professor from this seminary claims that what this passage is
describing is a quality of life, and thus he says that this should be translated as "teachable,"–not "apt to
teach," or "able to teach," but it should be translated as "teachable?" Yet if you look in the lexicons, you'll
never find that translation given.

But I found something interesting in the lexicons because there is another Greek word "didaktos." You
will notice that it is has only two letters that are different from "didaktikos"–the "i" and the "k." And what

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do we have? We have a word indeed in the Greek language, frozen to our day, and whose meaning we
know, and which is used in the New Testament, and Arndt and Gingrich say it means "instructed" such as
in John 6:45.

It means "imparted" or "taught" in 1 Corinthians 2:13. Kittel gives the ultimate and the final definition. It
is "taught" or "learned" as in John 6:45 and 1 Corinthians 2:13. And there's the zinger–"teachable." This
word "didaktos" means "teachable," and it is used as such in the Word of God. It is a quality, but it is not
the word which is used here in 1 Corinthians 3 to describe what a passive teacher should be.

Now, can you believe that kind of distortion; that kind of twisting; and, that kind of an attempt to get
away from the fact that there is an authority within the local church in the form of a pastor-teacher, and
to seek to give the impression that sharing our experiences with one another, because we are all equal in
the local body, is the way to focus our attention and to seek to advance in our spiritual lives? That is not
true. Notice the difference. "Didaktikos" means "able to teach," and that's what a pastor-teacher has to
have. "Didaktos" means "teachable," and that's what all of us are supposed to be.

Women Pastors. Furthermore, this passage in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 could not apply to women because this has
to do with people who are communicators of the Word, and women are not communicators of the Word.
Let's settle that. Anytime you hear a woman preacher, that woman preacher is not serving God but is
serving Satan's cause. That woman preacher is not in the will of God, but that woman preacher is in the
will of Satan.

Let's get it straight. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 says, "Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is
not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also says the law.
If they learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for a woman to speak in the
church." That's a good translation, and there's not much that needs to be said about it. It makes it very
clear that no woman is authorized to get up and teach the Word of God in a local congregation.

1 Timothy 2:11-12 finish it off, in case there is any doubt: "Let the women learn in silence with all
subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."
This passage in 1 Timothy 3 gives guidelines not for a woman preacher, obviously, because she could not
be in that category. She could not be a pastor-teacher. It is a specialized guideline to that which is the key
to the focus of the believer upon the Word of God.

That's why he has to be there, and has to have the ability to teach. That is the teaching authority that God
has placed within the local church. On that the people of God can advance fantastically–absolutely with
no limit. You will build a cup of spiritual maturity in your soul, and the grace of God will pour into it. Then
your cup will overflow. That's where it's all at for you and me as believers.

RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPUTED TO US
Gen 15:6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him as righteousness. Gal 3:14 in order that
in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Rom 4:3, For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was
credited to him as righteousness.”

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Rom.4:5 “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is
reckoned (credited/imputed) as righteousness (+R).” 2Cor 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Phil 3:9 and may be found in
Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ,
the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

There are six principles of application.

o Application without truth is deceptiveness
o Application without fact is foolishness
o Application from emotion is irrationality
o Application without the Holy Spirit control and guidance is a falsehood
o Application from arrogance is distorted thinking with a mishmash (jumble) of emotion
o Application without doctrine is spiritual decline into the status of loser believer.
o Application without virtue is love without motivation, capacity, verification, validity, or reality,
therefore, failure of the tandem function of the first two advanced problem-solving devices in the
first stage of spiritual adulthood.

There are three ways in which believers reject Bible doctrine.

o Refusing to hear the teaching of the Word of God on a consistent basis from their right Pastor
Teacher.
o Hearing the teaching of Bible doctrine but refusing to metabolize it; hence, the failure to convert
GNOSIS into EPIGNOSIS.
o Metabolizing doctrine so that it exists in the heart of your soul’s stream of consciousness, yet the
doctrine becomes unusable, blocked out or over run with Cosmic viewpoint, or there is a lack of
faith rest on the application side.

When the believer, under one or more of these three conditions, has rejected Bible doctrine, two things
happen.
• There is the accumulation of scar tissue formed in the six compartments of heart. This means that
soon the things you have learned are forgotten or set aside, so that when stress and adversity
occur you fall flat on your face.
• Dissociation occurs resulting in the accumulation of garbage in the subconscious resulting in
Cosmic viewpoint. This means you remove yourself from the application of Bible doctrine and the
spiritual life.

When a believer has too much garbage in the subconscious and maximum scar tissue of the soul, that
believer is extremely vulnerable to the functions of his sin nature, and he enters into a state of confusion.
This state of confusion overflows from Cosmos Diabolicus, so that the thinking of the believer involved
cannot be distinguished from the thinking of the human viewpoint of the unbeliever. Such believers add
the emotional complex of sins plus the arrogance complex of sins to their state of confusion.

Confusion demands concentration. If you have not been concentrating under the filling of the Spirit in
Bible class, do not expect to be able to concentrate when faced with the confusion created by Satan’s
Cosmic Systems. A thought can make or break you. What you really are is what you think, Prov 23:7.

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Application of B.D. is Necessary to Overcome the Confusion of Satan’s Cosmic System. Confusion is a
feeling that you do not understand something or cannot decide what to do. It is a situation in which things
are messy, badly organized, or not clear.

IT IS MISTAKING ONE THING FOR ANOTHER

1. The environment of confusion causes stress. If there is confusion in some area of life (the home,
romance, friendship), then there is stress in that area. A thought can make or break you; Gal 6:3.
2. Confusion demands concentration; bringing reality from Bible doctrine into the stream of
consciousness.
3. Your soul is a spiritual battlefield. What you think determines whether you are winning or losing;
Eph 4:23.
4. You must learn Bible doctrine before you can think Bible doctrine. You cannot think what you do
not know. Phil 2:5, “Keep on having this mental attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
5. Thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance is confusion of mind, which matches the confusion of
life without Bible doctrine. 1 Cor 10:12, “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest
he fall.”
6. Therefore, we have the Divine mandate of Rom 12:2-3. “Stop being conformed to this world but
be transformed by the renovation of your thinking, that you may prove what the will of god is,
namely the divine good production, the well pleasing to God, the mature status quo. For I say
through the grace which has been given to me to everyone who is among you, stop thinking of
yourself in terms of arrogance beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity for
the purpose of being rational without illusion as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of
thinking from doctrine.” Stop being conformed to this world means to stop being in a state of
confusion. The world thinks human viewpoint which causes confusion. Phil 3:15-16, “Therefore,
as many as are mature believers, continue objective thinking. Furthermore, if you have a different
mental attitude in something God will reveal that to you. 16However, let us keep living by that
same standard to which we have attained.”
7. Concentration on Bible doctrine in time of stress and confusion is mandated. Col 3:2, “Keep
thinking objectively about things above (Divine viewpoint) and not about things on the earth
(human viewpoint).”

Application of B.D. is Necessary to Overcome when dealing with Cosmic Believers.

1. When believers have too much garbage in the subconscious and when believers have maximum
scar tissue of the soul, there is nothing you can do to satisfy them.
2. From the emotional complex of sins, such a believer may become irrational and confused.
3. From the arrogance complex of sins, such a believer becomes bitter and implacable, jealous and
vindictive, and self-righteous. There is nothing you can do to please them.
4. Implacable believers must be treated in grace. You cannot argue with an irrational person.
5. Beware that you do not lose your own integrity or spiritual strength in interacting with such
persons. Do not let people with mental attitude and verbal sins drag you down with them.
6. This is where three factors in your life must synchronize.
o You must have the foundation of humility. When you are criticized, there is always
something you can learn from it, but you must have humility.
o You must have the professionalism of understanding the mechanics of God’s will, plan,
and purpose for your life, as well as the 10 Problem Solving Devices.
o You must have the spiritual strength to use the shield of faith, Eph 6, (the faith-rest drill)
in the environment of confusion and disaster. This is your integrity and it comes from
inculcation of Bible doctrine.

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 7. Implacable believers can only be treated by you in grace; for only God can deal with implacable
believers. Therefore, the importance of leaving them in the Lord’s hands. Compare 2 Cor 1:12;
Heb 13:18; 1 Thess. 2:10-12; 2 Tim 3:1-16 with Rom 12:9-21.

APPLICATION OF B.D. MEANS AWARENESS

o Awareness denotes the status of being mentally alert from heightened perception of doctrine,
resulting in the motivation to learn and to use the ten problem solving devices of the protocol
plan of God for the Church. In eternity past, God has provided the perfect solution to every
problem in life. We have a choice between God’s solutions or man’s solutions. Man’s solutions
end up in disaster.
o Awareness is both motivations to learn followed by persistent perception of doctrine. This
includes motivation to learn the Problem-Solving Devices (PSD), including the perceptive power
to utilize these PSDs as circumstances dictate.
o Awareness connotes a wide knowledge, accurate interpretive ability, and vigilant application. This
interpretive ability belongs to you as a believer as you accumulate metabolized doctrine in your
own heart (stream of consciousness).
o Awareness is part of the thinking skills of the spiritual life.
o Awareness avoids all of the arrogance traps, such as pseudo-compassion.
o Awareness is the motivator for the fulfillment of the four dimensions found in Eph 3:18
o Awareness is having knowledge in the stream of consciousness, being informed, alert, and
knowledgeable about others, situations, and circumstances.

THINKING SKILLS INCLUDE:

1. Comprehension: the capacity of the human mind to function under spiritual I.Q. to enter
perception, cognition, and metabolization of Bible doctrine in your stream of consciousness.
Human I.Q. is not a factor in the cognition of doctrine. The filling of the Holy Spirit makes us all
equal in the ability to comprehend doctrine. The rate of learning must exceed the rate of
forgetting.
2. Memory: the mental capacity to retain in the stream of consciousness and recall metabolized
doctrine for a specific circumstance of life. As the number of doctrinal memories increase, the
number of divine viewpoint thoughts also increase, resulting in the formation of doctrinal
rationales to be applied to experience through the function of the faith-rest drill.
3. Problem solving: the utilization of the ten problem solving devices in the soul. All problem-solving
devices are manufactured out of EPIGNOSIS doctrine in the stream of consciousness. The
problem-solving devices are the only accurate and legitimate system of application of
metabolized doctrine to post salvation experience, including establishment values. The problem-
solving devices are a grace gift from God which replace human viewpoint solutions, psychology,
and defense mechanisms.
4. Decision making: the power and ability to understand the issues of life, to classify the solution or
course of action, and to make the right decision to do the will of God as revealed in the Word of
God. Continuous negative decisions can go beyond the point of no return. We must understand
the facts related to Bible doctrine before we can exercise our volition to make good decisions
from a position of strength.
5. Creativity: the function of divine viewpoint from independent thinking and accurate originality of
thought related to spiritual values. Creative thinking always includes spiritual values found in the
Word of God. Creative thinking is recovery of truth and brings full awareness. Creative thinkers
arouse the jealousy of pseudo-thinkers. Creativity is the means of Pastors rediscovering Biblical
truths such as dispensations, spiritual skills, precedence for the spiritual life from the humanity of

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 Christ during His first advent, the origin of human life at birth, etc. We have equality in the
recovery of these doctrines and the powerful presentation of such truth in spite of all opposition.
6. Awareness: extensive knowledge of doctrine and interpretive ability from the Launch Pad of the
heart of your soul (wisdom in the stream of consciousness), resulting in accurate application to
every circumstance in life. Sensitivity involves arrogance, while awareness is the application of
metabolized doctrine through the Problem-Solving Devices deployed on the FLOT line of the soul.

OUT OF THE SIX THINKING SKILLS COMES WISDOM. There is no wisdom in life without the thinking skill
of awareness developed through the Problem-Solving Devices. Awareness wades through all the
pressures and opposition to Bible doctrine with a concentration, a self-motivation, and accurate spiritual
values to continue advancing toward the objective of spiritual maturity and the glorification of God.

Eph 3:18, “That you may utilize the power to grasp the idea with all the saints what is the width and length
and height and depth.” John 16:4b, “These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with
you.” Principles:
1. Jesus did not teach them these doctrines at the beginning or early on because they were not yet
spiritually equipped to handle them. They did not have the capacity at that time.
2. Not only did they not yet have the Holy Spirit, but they did not have the foundational doctrines in
their souls.
3. As spiritual babies we cannot understand the more advance doctrines of the spiritual life because
we do not yet have the capacity for them.
4. The more advanced doctrines can only be sustained by having the foundational doctrines in the
heart of your soul, 1 Cor 3:10 with Heb 6:1-2… Heb 6:1, “Therefore leaving the elementary
teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance
from dead works and of faith toward God, 2of instruction about washings and laying on of hands,
and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.”
5. Once you have the foundational doctrines in your soul you now have capacity to build upon them
with more advanced doctrines. That is, once you build the basis for your Edification Complex of
the Soul, you can then lay upon it the more advanced doctrines of the spiritual life, including the
doctrine of Suffering for Blessing, (persecutions), whereby you construct a full Edification Complex
of your Soul.
6. We first have capacity to learn the foundational doctrines because of our regenerated human
spirit and the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, which are two of the 40 things we received at the
moment of Salvation.
7. Having learned the foundational doctrines within our soul, we then have capacity to learn
advanced doctrines.
8. With advanced doctrines in your soul you have constructed the ECS, and now you have capacity
to fully execute the unique spiritual life of the Church Age, which means glorification of Jesus
Christ.

Salvation builds capacity for learning foundational doctrines. Foundational doctrines build capacity for
learning advanced doctrines. Advanced doctrines build capacity for executing the Unique Spiritual life of
the Church Age. Executing the Unique Spiritual Life of the Church Age builds capacity for glorifying the
Lord Jesus Christ. Glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ is the goal for every believer.

Rom 15:4, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through
perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5Now may the God who
gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to

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Christ Jesus, 6so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ.”

Our corrected translation of John 16:4b is, “and these things (categorical doctrines related to Suffering for
Blessing), I did not say (teach) to you all at the beginning, because I was with you all.”

THE COMMAND TO SPIRITUALITY

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” (Eph 5:18) Why does the
Bible forbid drunkenness? Drunkenness is alcohol controlling the inner life and changing the character of
the person. He becomes something he wouldn’t ordinarily be. This sets up an analogy between the
physical and the Spiritual.

As wine changes the thought pattern, behavior, etc., so the filling of the Spirit changes the Thought
pattern and nature. Spiritually. the first for the worst, the latter for the better. On the negative side, wine
in excess on the inside becomes a controlling factor in the life, removing inhibitions and becoming a basis
for licentiousness and escapism. On the positive side, the filling of the Spirit becomes the basis for
producing the nature of Christ on the inside. (2Co 4:11)

“Be filled with the Spirit” is a Command to “be habitually, constantly and repeatedly filled with the Spirit;”
and since it is a Command from God, it is not to a chosen few or to some super-duper class of Christian. It
is for every believer, without exception. Spirituality is an experience: it is the experience of having the
light turned on inside. The days we are living in are evil, nighttime and the light is either going to be on or
off. Every time the light inside is on, God the Holy Spirit controls the life.

Any Christian can be animated; any Christian can honor Christ. The secret of the Christian life is POWER
and MORE POWER! The plug must be in the outlet, the power must be flowing through the line. Whether,
humanly speaking, you are a Mr. Nobody or a Mr. Somebody, when the power flows through, there is a
tremendous impact which enables you to be an effective representative of Jesus Christ here on this earth.

Before Christ left the earth to go back to the Father, He promised that He would send the Comforter, God
the Holy Spirit Who would indwell all believers and Who would glorify Christ. “You will receive power…”
(Acts 1:8) and that power is God the Holy Spirit filling and controlling the believer. Now, here is the
difficulty. This passage says nothing of HOW to be filled with the Spirit. What is necessary to be filled with
the Spirit? The filling of the Spirit is as available to the believer today as Salvation is to the unbeliever, and
it is appropriated by the same means. Therefore, it is most important to know how we can fulfill this
Command to be filled with the Spirit, HOW?

The answer is in three parts — two negative and one positive answer. First, the two negatives: “Quench
not the Spirit; (1Th 5:19) and “Grieve not the Spirit.” (Eph 4:30) Now, immediately, these two negative
conditions tell us we can do something NOT to be Spiritual. But we will see in a minute that we can do
nothing, actually to BE Spiritual! What an amazing thing! We can do something so as not to be Spiritual:
we can grieve and quench the Spirit of God. The context of these two passages indicates that grieving and
quenching the Spirit describe the activity of the old sin nature. “Grieving the Spirit” refers to sinning which
stems from the area of weakness of the old sin nature.

“Quenching the Spirit” is the production of reversionism and or human old sin nature good from its area
of strength. From the negative standpoint, we know that we are not Spiritual when we are sinning. As a

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matter of fact, any sin in the life immediately destroys Spirituality and causes us to revert to the other
absolute in the Christian life, which is carnality. It goes back to the important fact that at any particular
point in our life, we are either Spiritual or carnal. We are either filled with the Spirit or we are grieving or
quenching the Spirit. There is no in between! It isn’t a little grieving or a little quenching the Spirit. He is
either quenched or grieved, or He fills and controls the life. It isn’t five or ten or fifteen per cent filled or
quenched; it is either one hundred per cent filled or one hundred per cent carnal. Now we are getting to
the heart of this matter. How can you fulfill the Commands, “Be filled with the Spirit” and “Walk by means
of the Spirit”? This is the most critical point in your experience. The answer is so simple; yet it needs
amplification. First, the two negative answers: “Quench not and grieve not” the Spirit. Now, the positive
answer: rebound or restoration to fellowship. become Spiritual morons, utterly useless for the Lord.
Hence, we must comprehend rebound, or (1Jn 1:9). It is the only way to get back into fellowship with the
Lord. There is no other way.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. This verse is called “rebound,” because it is the means of “picking up the ball” and
moving again in the Christian life. In a state of carnality, the Holy Spirit does not control the life;
consequently. He cannot work through us, and any production is only human old sin nature good.
Rebound gets the sin out of the way; and until we sin again, we are filled with the Spirit and produce
Divine good. Human old sin nature good was not judged at the cross; in fact, it was rejected. That means
that the judgment of human good is held in suspension until another time: for the unbeliever, at the last
judgment; (Rev 20:11-13) for the believer, at the Judgment Seat of Christ. (2Co 5:10) Only that which was
judged at the cross is involved in rebound — and that is sin!

(1Jn 1:9) is addressed to believers only, and the condition is CONFESS! The marvelous thing about
confession is that there are no works attached to it. Now, here is a subtle danger. Even though you have
confessed your sin, you may still feel bad; you may have a guilty conscience. You begin to think that
perhaps your sin is not forgiven. Here is the key: you must believe what the Word of God says! It is not
how you feel. No matter how great the guilt complex or guilt reaction, no matter what pressure is upon
you because of the wrong you have done, you must believe what the Word says. This is an amazing factor.
Here is a promise for the Christian, the operation of which depends only upon believing it, regardless of
how we feel! Humanly speaking, we want to do something to make up for it, to get things straightened
out our own way. We feel we ought to work up a genuine sorrow, and then we feel purified and cleansed.

But, (1Jn 1:9) does not say, “If we work up a big sorrow”; it does say, “If we confess it! And admit it to
God! Confess it to Him that we are out of fellowship. Now looking again at, (Eph 5:14) “Awake, sleeper,
and arise from the dead,” “Rising from the dead” is REBOUND! As we have said, “death” here is temporal
death — getting out of temporal fellowship through sin. The only way to get back in fellowship is by
rebound — by confessing our carnality; by standing on the Word of God, that when you confess your sins
to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. “Arise from the
dead!” When you confess your sins, you are immediately cleansed and restored to a position of fellowship
with the Lord. If you are to be filled with the Spirit, you must get back in fellowship with God when you
have sinned!

It should be emphasized that confession was not given to keep you from sinning. That comes as you grow
Spiritually through the daily intake of Truth and its application, or by discipline, if necessary. Confession
was given that you might have a means of being restored to a proper relationship with God when you
have sinned. And this is based on grace alone, not on works! Let us look briefly at the context of, (1Jn 1:9)
so that we thoroughly understand the vital importance of confession.

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TEMPORAL FELLOWSHIP
“First John” is called a general epistle; that is, it was not sent to just one person or one church. Rather, it
was circulated through many churches which had the same problems in common. The first problem is
introduced in verses 1- 3 of Chapter 1 when John states his desire that believers should have fellowship
with one another and with the Father and with the Son. The fact that we have a relationship with God
was established in eternity past, and John writes this book to give us an understanding of our eternal
relationship with Jesus Christ, as well as to help us maintain a temporal relationship with Him.

As John recalls the time when he was with the Lord during His incarnation, all of the impressions that he
had of the life of our Lord came back to him. He declares emphatically that this Life was manifested, not
only by what he saw the Lord do, but by what he heard Him say. Therefore, he desires to pass along to all
believers this vital message that has as its basis the means of fellowship between believers and between
a believer and God. We can only share in that fellowship through the Word of Truth.

What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and
indeed, our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our
joy may be made complete. (Spiritual maturity) (1Jn 1:3-4)

“Fellowship” means “love” — to love through Truth. It is the exhale of Truth from soul to soul. (Matt
18:20) Believers have a deficiency in the soul: “that your joy MAY BE FULL.” Although we have One who
loves us with a perfect love, we can respond to that love only through Truth in the soul! The deficiency,
then, is lack of Truth, lack of ability to love God, and that means lack of happiness! The more Truth we
have and Think with, the more happiness we will have because we can exhale toward God and respond
to His Virtue love, as well as exhale Virtue love toward others! The first response toward God is faith- rest,
which is then over time converted into Virtue love.

No member of the human race has anything in himself whereby he can love God. (Rom 5:5) We all start
out with Spiritual death, which makes loving God absolutely impossible! Therefore, God had to make some
provisions: first, Salvation; then from that point on He provides Truth and the means of taking it in — the
filling of the Holy Spirit. (John 16:13) The constant inhale of Truth in the filling of the Spirit and exhale
response toward God means that you may have a fulfillment of the happiness for which Virtue love is
designed.

There are certain things, however, which slow this down. You are going to have some misunderstandings
with God. These come from the old sin nature, which doesn’t have “lungs” or apertures. It resents the fact
that it isn’t in the picture, so it comes up into the soul and intrudes with mental attitude sins and functions
on the right bank of the soul, which cause you to look like any unbeliever. Immediately you are cut off
from any response to God and the “breathing” stops. “Artificial respiration” is necessary to get the
breathing going again — the “rebound technique,” whereby God the Holy Spirit can control the life.

Therefore, the important message John has for us is simply this: it is impossible for a believer to have
temporal fellowship with God as long as he has un-confessed sin in his life. This is the message (Truth)
which we have heard from Him, (This is the Word of God) and announce to you, that God is Light, and in
Him there is no darkness at all. (1Jn 1:5)

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John develops this idea by going back to the nature of God with Whom believers have a relationship and
fellowship. “God (The God-head) is light.” “God” and “light” are not interchangeable terms; rather, it
means that God has a nature or character or essence that partakes of light. The idea of light brings to
mind the glory of God. (Rom 3:23) A more perfect word could not be found to describe the sum total of
His Divine essence, His absolute holiness —

INTEGRITY! The meaning is crystal clear in the Greek. You will notice that the passage does not say, “God
is THE light.” The definite article “the” is not there. Now, there is a rule of Greek syntax that states when
the definite article is absent before a word, the quality or character of that word is emphasized. Therefore,
this means that God has a nature that partakes of light. (Divine Reality) Notice, too, John goes on to say
that no darkness whatsoever dwells in God. John uses the term “darkness” many times in his Gospel as a
state of evil or sinfulness. (John 3:19-21) Therefore, just as light and darkness are incompatible, so also
are God’s Holiness —Integrity and sin.

(1Jn 1:6-10) each begin with the word “if,” which introduces a third-class condition in the Greek — maybe
we will and maybe we won’t. This indicates that temporal fellowship is optional: a believer, on the basis
of his own volition, makes a decision whether to rebound or not. There is certain terminology used
throughout the New Testament to describe the believer in and out of temporal fellowship: (
IN FELLOWSHIP:
o “filled with God the Holy Spirit’’; (Eph 5:18)
o “walking in the Spirit”; (Gal 5:16) “cleansed.” (1Jn 1:9)
OUT OF FELLOWSHIP:
o “carnal” (Rom 7:14; (1Co 3:1-3)
o “grieving the Spirit”; (Eph 4:30)
o “quenching the Spirit”; (1Th 5:19)
o “dead” (Rom 8:6; Rom 8:13; Eph 5:14; (1Ti 5:6; Jas 1:15; Rev 3:1)
o “walking in darkness.” (1Jn 1:6) (1Jn 1:6-10) are conditional assertions, solved by “if we walk in
the light,” and “if we confess” actually two sides of the same coin.

“WALKING” INDICATES THE ACTUAL FUNCTION OF PHASE TWO.

o You have to do your own walking,
o God has provided the means of doing so: the provision of Truth, the techniques, and, in this
passage, the filling of God the Holy Spirit. That’s why we are Commanded to “walk in (By means
of) the Spirit,” (Gal 5:16) to “walk in Truth,” (3Jn 1:3) etc.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice [Think
with] the Truth. (1Jn 1:6) Believers who think they are Spiritual when they are merely practicing
asceticism, legalism, or some form of human old sin nature good or morality, are living a lie. They and
interpreting it as Spirituality. This is described here as “walking in darkness.’ There are two areas of
darkness: being under the control of the old sin nature and rejection of Truth.

(God’s Thinking) If you are not taking in the Word of Truth, you develop scar tissue on the left bank of the
soul; mental attitude sins produce scar tissue on the right bank of the soul, and “mataiotes” (A vacuum)
opens up and lets in darkness. (Eph 4:17-18) The old sin nature has a lust pattern that shoves darkness
into the right lobe, and both sin and human old sin nature good are evacuated through the sin nature.

Divine good is exhaled out the right bank of the soul; but if your soul is clogged up with scar tissue,
(Hardness of heart — negitive to Truth) the only thing you can do is to live through the old sin nature.

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Rebound does not remove scar tissue, but it does prevent it. Where you have scar tissue, rebound
produces the filling of the Spirit so that you can start the removal of it through the inhale of Truth. So (1Jn
1:6) is referring to a carnal believer with scar tissue on the soul!

But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1Jn 1:7) In contrast to the carnal believer, the Spiritual
believer walks in the light, “as He [God] is in the light.” “Walking in the light” is responding to God’s love
by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit. So long as the believer does not step into the state of darkness
through sin, he is walking in the state of light and has the joy of wonderful fellowship with other believers
and with God Himself. God found away, even though we still have an old sin nature, for us to have
fellowship with Him and with each other: “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit
which is given unto us.” (Rom 5:5) This fellowship is based on the “blood” of Jesus Christ. Yet this word is
one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible. The “blood of Christ” is always associated with
Salvation or the cross. It portrays four Doctrines of Soteriology: redemption; (Eph 1:7; (1Pe 1:18-19)
justification; (Rom 5:9) sanctification; (Heb 13:12) expiation. (Rev 1:5)

The Analogy of the Blood. In the Old Testament, the blood of the animal sacrifice portrays the cross and
anticipates it. Every passage in Scripture is literal unless there is something in the passage to indicate that
it is figurative and or Spiritual. However, literal things are often used to indicate Spiritual factors. The
analogies and parables are obvious, so these present no problem. The greatest misconception about the
blood is that while it is literal blood, yet the “blood of Christ” in the New Testament refers to one or
sometimes all of the Doctrines of Salvation. (Depending on the context) He had literal blood, just as you
and I; but wherever His blood is mentioned in connection with the cross, it is referring to Salvation. There
was very little bleeding, actually. Whatever bleeding there was from His hands and feet coagulated
immediately. Therefore, He did not bleed to death on the cross! This is easily substantiated, for a Roman
soldier plunged a spear into His side and out came blood and water. Had He bled to death, there would
have been no blood left to pour out. When He died physically, He did so by dismissing His spirit, (Luk
23:46) not by bleeding to death!

The physical death of Christ does not explain any passage which says that Christ died for our sins. There
was a death which preceded His physical death, a substitutionary death. (Rom 5:8) A physical death cannot
be a substitutionary death. Adam died Spiritually first, and this was the death which separated him from
God. Therefore, the wages of sin is Spiritual death. (Rom 6:23; Rom 5:12) “The blood of Christ” also refers
to the Spiritual death of Christ on the cross. (Isa 53:10-12) The “blood” is a representative analogy
between the physical death of animals in the Old Testament (The animal was symbolically judged for the
sins; but literally bled to death) and the Spiritual death of Christ on the cross. (Jesus Christ in his human
nature was literally judged for our sins but did not bleed to death) The work of the blood of Christ is
twofold: (1) cleansing at the moment of Salvation; (Eph 1:7) and (2) cleansing of the carnal believer after
Salvation. (1Jn 1:7-9)

When the sins of the world were put on Christ and judged. He died Spiritually in His human nature. The
moment we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our sins, past, present and future, are all forgiven
judicially, for Christ has already been judged for them. God is no longer an enemy to us, but a loving
heavenly Father! For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death (Spiritual
death) of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Resurrection life)
(Rom 5:10)

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Were it not for the fact that the blood or Spiritual death of Jesus keeps on cleansing us from all sin, it
would be possible for us to commit some sin which had not been paid for by the Spiritual death of Christ.
This would bring the righteous judgment of God down upon us, and we would go to the Lake of Fire. But
by God’s matchless grace, this can never happen. The phrase, “…the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us
from all sin,” (1Jn 1:7) anticipates, (1Jn 1:9). The word “cleanse” is in the present tense in the Greek, which
means that when we confess our sins, they are always cleansed, and therefore our forgiveness is certain.

False Conclusions. Now, there is a danger that a Christian might jump to two incorrect conclusions based
on the fact that he has constant cleansing from sin. These are stated in verses 8 and 10. if we say that we
have no sin, [Sin nature] we are deceiving ourselves and the Truth [God’s Thinking] is not in us. (1Jn 1:8)
Incorrect conclusion No. 1: “Well, if all my sins were washed away and paid for at the cross, then I no
longer possess a sin nature because that must have been eradicated, too.” However, John warns us that
if we believe this, we are only deceiving ourselves because God’s Word clearly states that, although our
sins have been judicially paid for, we still retain our sin nature, which can tempt us to go contrary to God’s
Word and thereby destroy our fellowship with Him in time. (Rom 7:17-18) That’s why we have verse 9.
Before we go to verse 9, let’s see incorrect conclusion No. 2: “Well, if all my sins are washed away at the
cross, then I no longer commit any personal acts of sin,” But . .. If we say that we have not sinned, (When
we do sin) we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. (1Jn 1:10)

My little children, I am writing these things, (Spiritual Thoughts) to you so that you may not sin. (Learn to
stay in fellowship) And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
(1Jn 2:1) To conclude that you have never sinned after Salvation is to call God a liar because He has stated
in His Word that we can still sin as believers and thereby become carnal Christians. (1Co 3:1-3; Heb 12:1-
2; (1Jn 2:1) Since we still possess a sin nature and commit personal acts of sin, there must be some way
for these sins to be forgiven if we are ever to be restored to fellowship with God. The recovery must be
on a grace principle; and that brings us to, (1Jn 1:9). If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Restoration to Fellowship. Just as God deals with man in grace in the matter of Salvation, where man does
nothing and God does everything, so He also treats us in grace in the matter of restoration to fellowship.
All He asks of us when we sin to want to be back in fellowship with Him, to admit to Him that we have
sinned. There is no room for human works in an arrangement like this. Whether or not the believer
rebounds depend on his own volition acting in a non-meritorious way. The believer-priest has free will.
The Greek word for confess (“Homologeo”) means to cite a case as a judicial witness, to admit, to name,
or to confess, in the sense that you simply tell God the Father you are out of fellowship. “Citing” means
that you know your sins have already been judged. It is a legal term used where a case is cited.

So “homologeo” means to simply to admit what God already knows; that we are out of fellowship. It does
not mean to feel sorry for sin or to promise better behavior. This way, God gets the credit and the glory
for the believer’s forgiveness. This is going to be a big shock to some of you because you always thought
you had to help God! You have tried to work up a big sorrow for your sins, to make vows and promises
that you would never do it again. Some of you cling to the feeling that unless you feel badly about your
sins or truly feel sorry or do some kind of penance, you are not really forgiven. That’s just as legalistic and
out of phase with grace as anything can be! How you feel about your sins when you name them is
inconsequential. It matters how God feels about them and what God does and has done about them that
counts!

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God says, “I don’t look at how you feel when you confess your sins; I look at the courtroom where they
were judged, and I don’t forgive on the basis of feeling. I forgive on the basis of justice!” So don’t stand
around and wait until you can work up a “sorrow” about your sin or until you can make some stupid
promise. Some of you will be out of fellowship for a long time! God has found a way to forgive you apart
from your works. Feeling sorry for your sins is works; renouncing your sins is works; going through some
system of penance is works; and there is no place for works in rebound, just as there is no place for works
in Salvation. Citing or naming your sin is compatible with grace.

In rebound, God does the work: God the Father did the judging of our sins; (Isa 53:6) God the Son received
the judgment; (1Pe 2:24) God the Holy Spirit discloses and fills. (John 16:13-15) When you rebound, the
Holy Spirit fills and controls your Spiritual life. You can rebound because Christ went to the cross and bore
OUR sins. When we rebound, the Father can forgive US because He was satisfied with the work of Christ
on the cross! There are two places where people stumble over grace: unbelievers stumble over simple
faith for Salvation; believers stumble over confession as the only means for forgiveness after Salvation.
But grace always finds away, and is always compatible with God’s essence!

God the Father does the forgiving. “He, (God the Father) is faithful…” He always does the same thing;
there is never a variation. No matter what the sin may be, when confessed, God always forgives. It is
impossible for God not to forgive! The source of His faithfulness is Divine immutability plus Divine love. In
both Salvation and restoration to fellowship, everything depends on the essence of God, not on the merit
of man. Everything hinges on WHO AND WHAT GOD IS, never on who and what we are! The believer does
not earn or deserve forgiveness; it is strictly a matter of grace!

“He is faithful and righteous” — God is fair and righteous in forgiving the believer when the believer simply
names his known sins. How can a righteous God forgive unrighteousness? He can do it and still be
righteous because the penalty of that sin was paid for at the cross. This is the link between, (1Jn 1:7) and
(1Jn 1:9). When the sins of the world were poured out on Christ, God the Father judged those sins, past,
present and future. The “blood of Christ’ is also the name of the court trial. You are naming a sin which
has already been judged. Under the Law of double jeopardy, you can’t be judged twice for the same sin.
So, because of the work of Christ, God is absolutely right and fair in forgiving sins. In other words, God has
found a way to forgive us our sins and still be compatible with His own essence. His perfect righteousness
is not violated because it was satisfied when our sins were borne on the cross.

Sins Committed in ignorance. Now, you may be wondering, “But what about the sins I commit in ignorance
because I have not reached that point in Christian maturity where I realize they are sins?” This question
is answered in the last half of verse 9: “and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “Cleanse” is a technical
word here, which refers to the rebound offering of, (Lev 4:2-3) for unknown sins. The Greek word for
“unrighteousness” has the meaning of deceitfulness.

These sins deceive us because they are unknown to us. (Eph 4:22) But when we confess being out of
fellowship, God in His grace also cleanses us from ALL the sins we may have done in ignorance. The slate
is wiped clean, and we are restored to fellowship with Him. CONFESSION IS THE ONLY MEANS THAT IS
AVAILABLE TO RESTORE US TO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD! Confession does not pay the penalty of sin; that
was done at the cross. Rather, it is the means that God has provided for us to handle sin in our lives. The
penalty of sin is not the issue here, but whether or not we want to be restored to fellowship with God on
His terms.

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To refuse to confess a sin is to say to God that we don’t see anything wrong with going contrary to His will
in committing it. And let’s not kid ourselves, we sin willfully with a full knowledge that we are going
contrary to His Word.

Divine Discipline. Someone may say, “Well, if confession restores me to fellowship, why can’t I go out and
live any way I want, just so I confess my sins?” To answer this question, we must go to, (Heb 12:6-13).
Divine discipline comes into the picture at this point: “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE
DISCIPLINES.” (Heb 12:6) But this is not the discipline of a righteous judge which condemns us to hell; it is
the discipline of a loving Father who wants to impress upon us the seriousness of sin and to bring us to
the place of rebound. Confession turns the suffering caused by discipline into blessing. When God does
not remove the discipline after rebound, the cursing becomes blessing. It is far better to ride out the
discipline in fellowship; where we can see it from God’s way of Thinking and accept it. Otherwise we will
begin to feel sorry for ourselves, or we will become bitter and get into chain sinning. (Heb 12:15) But back
in fellowship and filled with the Spirit, we can claim His promises (e.g., Rom 8:28; (1Pe 5:7), which produce
peace while we are under suffering. This draws the attention of the unbelieving world and brings glory to
God and blessing to us!

ASSURANCE OF SPIRITUALITY
One final question may yet be asked: ‘’I believe that confession of sin restores me to fellowship with God,
but how do I know that I am also filled with the Holy Spirit?” Let me answer this question by asking you
one: Is it possible to have fellowship with God and NOT be controlled by the Spirit? The Word of God
clearly teaches that we are either controlled by the flesh, (i.e., the sin nature) or by the Holy Spirit; (Gal
5:16-18) we are either Spiritual Christians or carnal; (1Co 3:1-3) that nothing the flesh can do is good in
itself; (Rom 7:18) that we are not to live by the power of the flesh, but by the power of the Holy Spirit;
(Rom 8:4-7) that one thinking and living in carnality cannot please God!

(Rom 8:8) From these passages and many others, we see that there is no middle ground. We are either
carnal Christians controlled by our sin natures, or we are Spiritual Christians controlled by God the Holy
Spirit. when we have no unconfessed sin in our lives, the Holy Spirit is no longer quenched or grieved;
thus, we are once again restored to fellowship with God and also controlled by the Holy Spirit.

THIS IS TRUE SPIRITUALITY, and confession of sin is the only means of attaining it. You may feel ill
physically, you may have pressures all day long, but faith moves right through and says, if you have fulfilled
the Commands, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1Th 5:19) and “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit…” (Eph 4:30) By
using, (1Jn 1:9) then YOU ARE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. You know that God the Holy Spirit is controlling
your life; you know that you are Spiritual because you have met God’s conditions. When there is no
unconfessed sin in your life, you are in fellowship with the Lord and you know that you are filled with the
Spirit! (Gal 5:22-23)

THE PURPOSE OF THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

There never was a day when we needed Christians living the New Covenant Spiritual life as we do today.
We are certainly moving toward the end of the Age, if we are not already there! The apostasy is
tremendous! The Christian way of life is the simplest thing in the world, but we are trying to make
something hard out of it. We are trying to get some super-duper experience — an experience that no one
else has had which puts us on a little higher level. Yet it is the filling of the Spirit that makes the difference.

Just as God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, so He wants to control every believer; and when the
Holy Spirit controls a believer, He animates that life. The Holy Spirit produces something in that life, and

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that production is the great test of the filling of the Spirit. To get the complete picture, we need to
understand the purpose of the indwelling of the Spirit.

TO TEACH TRUTH. In John 16, Jesus had been discussing the time of His departure. In, (John 16:12) He
stops and says to His disciples, “I have many more things, (Doctrines) to say to you…” In fact, He hadn’t
even begun to cover the ground. “But,” Jesus continued, “but you cannot bear them now.” Literally, “you
cannot take them in now.” These disciples, who later on were able to grasp so much Truth, were not able
to take it in at this time. What little He was able to teach them regarding their future in the Church Age is
found in, John Chapters 14 through 17. But the many other things Jesus wanted to say to them, which
were so extremely important, are found in the ENTIRE New Testament.

If you have in your possession a Red-Letter New Testament, my suggestion is to discard it. The red letters
are supposed to be the words of Jesus and therefore more important than anything else in the Bible. The
continuation of what Jesus had to say was equally important, but impossible to say while He was on earth.
If we are to have a red-letter Bible with the words of Jesus in red letters, we must red-letter every word
of the Epistles as well. In fact, the entire Scripture is the “Mind of Christ.” (1Co 2:16) But at that time the
disciples were not yet able to take it in. The question is — why?

(John 16:13): “But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the Truth…” The Holy
Spirit would be the One Who would teach them and Who would reveal the Spiritual Thoughts that Jesus
could not give the disciples. (cf. John 16:14) In their ignorance, they were not ready for these Doctrines.
When the Holy Spirit came to indwell them on the Day of Pentecost, then they would be able to take in
the Spiritual Thinking of the Word of God. (1Co 2:12-13) Then men like Peter could declare the great
message that he gave that same day, as well as subsequent messages.

TO TEACH PROPHECY. “…But whatever He hears, He will speak: and He will disclose to you what is to
come.” (John 16:13)

TO GLORIFY CHRIST. “For He, (God the Holy Spirit) will not speak on His own initiative…” Here is a very
important point: The Holy Spirit does not indwell to teach about Himself. Now, skip down to, (John 16:14):
“He will glorify Me. (Christ) It is the work of God the Holy Spirit to glorify the Person of Jesus Christ. In
order to get the whole picture, look at, (John 7:38-39). Why had the Holy Spirit not yet come to
permanently indwell Christ’s disciples? “Because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Why was it that the Holy
Spirit did not permanently indwell every believer in the Old Testament and could be removed from those
He did empower? “Because Jesus was not yet glorified.” But after Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit comes
to make His permanent residence in every believer.

TO FORM A SANCTUARY, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you,
whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1Co 6:19) You often hear the church building
or the church auditorium referred to as the “sanctuary.” But the Bible says that the “sanctuary” is the
person who sits in the auditorium, or in the house, or in the building. The sanctuary is the body of the
believer! Do you know what that means? It means that this body is something that God has animated. (A
individual Theocracy that God wants to rule in. Luke 10:9; Luke 17:21) It means this body is the very basis
of worship. It means that something has happened to this body that makes it possible for it to be a Temple
and place of worship.

Once we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we no longer live for ourselves. (2Co 5:15) We no longer
belong to ourself. Our purpose in life has completely and radically changed. We are now the Lord’s; we

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belong to Him. We are His ambassadors. (2Co 5:20) Since He is in us and in heaven; and we are here on
this earth, we are to represent Him on this earth. Now, how can I represent Him effectively? By means of
God the Holy Spirit, who dwells within. I am a walking Temple, and so are you. Every believer is a Temple.
(John 2:19; (1Co 6:19)

This tells us something else. You remember that God the Holy Spirit has a purpose — to glorify Christ. He
is going to do it from inside the believer. Whatever in your life glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ is the direct
result of God the Holy Spirit and Truth controlling your life! (John 4:23-24) We do not have the power in
ourself to glorify God. (2Co 3:5) But there is Someone inside every believer who has the power, and that
Someone is God the Holy Spirit!

His purpose is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and HE DOES IT in and through you and me! “For you have
been bought with a price…” (Here is Salvation through the work of Christ; and when we accepted Christ
as Savior, the Holy Spirit came to dwell within) …Therefore glorify God in your body. (1Co 6:20) Why does
this passage say “in your body?” Because in your body and in my body dwells God the Holy Spirit. Think
of it! God the Third Person of the Trinity dwells inside you and inside me. Therefore, glorify God! His
purpose for indwelling is to glorify the Person of Jesus Christ.

TO FILL THE BELIEVER. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the
Spirit.” (Eph 5:18) Be filled constantly, habitually, repeatedly and continuously! This is the secret; this is
the animation that turns on the light. Do you remember (Eph 5:14)? “…Awake, sleeper, and arise from the
dead, And Christ will shine on you.” A believer out of fellowship, a believer who is not filled with the Spirit
is temporally dead. He must wake up!

REBOUND AND BECOME HOT; Rev 3:15-22) He is asleep! He is apathetic! He is indifferent! He is not
representing Jesus Christ as he should! He cannot glorify the Person of Christ! “Awake!” How do I wake
up? By being filled with the Spirit. “Turn on the light!” How is the light turned on? The minute that God
the Holy Spirit controls the life, the light is turned on. The most beautiful home, or the most beautiful
structure in the world is a drab sight without light! The ugliest life in the world, the worst or the meanest
life, takes on beauty and animation when God the Holy Spirit controls the inside. (Luke 14:26-33)

TO DECLARE CHRIST. “Being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with
ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2Co 3:3)
The Christian way of life is not in keeping the Mosaic Law; the Christian way of life is executed by God the
Holy Spirit filling and controlling the life. When the believer is filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit “writes”
a letter to humanity from God, which declares, in effect, to the unbeliever, “come to Christ; receive Him
as Lord and Savior!” And to the believer, to grow to Spiritual maturity!

TO KEEP OUT DEMONS. The indwelling Holy Spirit makes it impossible for the believer to be demon
possessed. He can be influenced by demons, but never indwelt by them, even during the time he may be
grieving or quenching the Spirit. The only way the devil can get at believers is through their negative
volition toward Truth, which opens up the vacuum in the soul through which false Satanic thinking can
enter. (False twisted Biblical Truth of demons — 1 Tim. 4:1)

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