EDIFICATION COMPLEX of the SOUL #30, Postsalvation Epistemological Rehabilitation (2-1-26) скачать в хорошем качестве

EDIFICATION COMPLEX of the SOUL #30, Postsalvation Epistemological Rehabilitation (2-1-26)

-----Complete notes can be downloaded from our website - www.countrybiblechurch.us -----You may contact us at cbcbrenham@gmail.com In sharing the thinking of God, the believer shares God’s attitude of happiness. No trial or tragedy, no source of pain or anguish, can defeat this incomparable contentment that sustains and stabilizes the soul (Neh. 8:10b; 2 Cor. 12:10). 2 Corinthians 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The happiness of God was fully demonstrated by the humanity of Christ during His time on earth. Our Lord’s attitude of happiness never wavered, even under the most extreme testing of cruelty, torture, injustice, and ignominious death. His joy of life was stabilized by divine truth; He understood how all things fit into God’s overall viewpoint of time and eternity. His relaxed state of mind allowed Him to equate adversity with prosperity, living with dying (Phil. 1:21). Near the end of His earthly ministry, Christ spoke to the disciple (Paul) and declared His attitude to the ultimate objective of the Christian life: “I have taught you these things [mandates of Bible doctrine], in order that My happiness +H, might be in you, and that your happiness might be completed [pleroo, fulfilled]” (John 15:11, corrected translation). Attaining the mature state of happiness is a process - the strength of +H increases with every stage of spiritual growth, becoming more and more complete in the believer who perseveres to maturity (John 17:13; 1 John 1:4). John 17:13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. A. POSTSALVATION EPISTEMOLOGICAL REHABILITATION Most people don’t know what these three words mean, but they are very important for believers to understand. The development of a new way of thinking, a viewpoint based on God’s Word, for life after salvation. “Epistemology” is the study of knowledge itself, addressing the question of how man knows what he knows. “Rehabilitation” is the process of renewing, of bringing something into a condition of new life and usefulness. In the spiritual realm, epistemological rehabilitation describes the process of renewing the mind with the knowledge of God and His absolute truth. Epistemological rehabilitation is how we as believers obey the command to “not be conformed t this world, but be transformed by the renovation your thinking” (Rom. 12:2a, corrected translation). At salvation, we instantly become a new spiritual species with an entirely new basis for knowledge and a whole new method of thinking. There is a new language, a new vocabulary, and a new system of cognition to learn. God’s declaration, “My thoughts are not your thoughts,” means there is no place for human viewpoint in His plan (Isa. 55:8-9) Nothing of our presalvation thinking- no human philosophy or intellectual understanding - will aid us in living the postsalvation spiritual life. By replacing human viewpoint with diving viewpoint, we renovate our thinking. We adopt God’s thinking and goals as our own and “prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2b, corrected translation). To learn God’s viewpoint, we must learn Bible doctrine. With the Bible in hand, the very textbook of the “mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16), we must concentrate on learning how the many principles of His truth work together to become our thinking, motivation, application, and action. We must learn these doctrines in detail, study and restudy them, so that our “inner man [the soul] is … renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16) If a Christian is ignorant of God’s revelation of Himself, of the standard of thinking God has designed for His children (Rom. 12:3), then no matter how intelligent, accomplished, famous, or respected that believer may be, he will lose out on the most important aspect of his life on earth. Keep in mind, however, that no believer can understand the entire realm of doctrine, learn his place in the plan of God, and attain spiritual maturity simply by reading the Bible for himself. God designed His Word and the spiritual life of this age to be learned under authority, and that authority is vested in the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher. The prepared pastor is guided by the Holy Spirit to communicate to his congregation the doctrinal details that produce a renovated mind. The believer’s consistent positive volition interacts with that communicated truth, and the grace ministry of the Holy Spirit makes the information understandable (1Cor. 2:4-16). By utilizing this grace process, the believer replaces ignorance with cognizance and moves forward to spiritual maturity.