The Doctrine of the Mental Attitude, Part 6.
Scripture References, Word & Phrase descriptions: the “Logos Reftagger” scripture links are hover pop-up active, meaning the scripture reference will just pop-up if you hover your cursor over it (don’t click on the link, just hover your cursor over it), when finished reading, hover your cursor off the scripture reference link. If the Reftagger pop-up doesn’t show all the verses, left click on the “More” button in the Reftagger pop-up window and it will take you to the online bible. If RefTagger pop-ups don’t work on your computer, that’s OK, try right clicking the link then open in new tab or window; or if that doesn’t work, you can always use your Bible to look up the verses. Word or Phrase definition links may not have a website that opens.
Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!
Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).
1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]; we call this REBOUND, read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. REBOUND
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.
John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]
Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
Study to show yourself approved to God!
Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
STUDY TITLE:
The Doctrine of Mental Attitude. Part 6
Point 5 in the doctrine of mental attitude: Thought, Speech, and Action are a Reflection of Your Mental Attitude and Motivation in Life.
We have noted how mental attitude relates to your personality and character why your mental attitude is so important. A part of that is your vocabulary for it takes words with which to think. The more limited your vocabulary the less developed your personality. You must think to have character and personality. Any spiritual system which demands technical thought improves your mind, personality, character, and if you are humble, it eventuates in honor, integrity, and occupation with Christ. Doctrine is so important because words are stored up in the right lobe of the soul.
Isa 50:4, “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens {Me} morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.”
Vocabulary is a reflection of your mental attitude and is divided into two categories generally.
Non-technical which you need to get along in life and technical which is required to participate in the profession areas of life.
To acquire a technical vocabulary in any field requires studying. Studying is one of the most important functions in life, not just Bible study or the function of perception and metabolization of doctrine. People who go to college take many, many technical courses and they acquire nothing more or less than a technical vocabulary. When you mention different technical things in different areas, those who have taken the course and have learned the terms know that there is a technical vocabulary.
The point is that there is a technical vocabulary in Theology, in the study of God and the Bible, and once you are born again, you cannot get along with non-technical vocabulary.
For example, at first, we may not know words like the Hypostatic union, dispensations, A fortiori, Angelic conflict, anthropopathisms, anthropomorphisms, Cosmic one, Cosmic two, dichotomous, trichotomous, FLOT, Heart, Kenosis, Lapsarianism, PPOG [predesigned plan of God], rebound, Volition. After studying doctrine for a period of time these words become a common part of your vocabulary storage in your right lobe. We know these words and can use them as a part of our technical vocabulary as follows: “During the dispensation of the Hypostatic union, the angelic conflict took its greatest blow when The Lord Jesus Christ operated in kenosis so that we could live in the Pre-Designed Plan of God, rebound, and stay out of Cosmic one and Cosmic two, by using the Problem Solving Devices on Forward Line of Troops of our soul. This was all a part of the correct order of lapsarianism when God ordained mankind to go from a dichotomous being to a trichotomous being and to glorify God from the volition of his soul by loving God with all their heart. Therefore, God uses anthropopathisms and anthropomorphisms to reveal His love toward us.
The point is that we are to continue to develop words because we have to develop technical words for things that exist. How important is your mental attitude or your system of thinking?
Psa 138:2 “I myself will worship toward the temple of Your holiness [heaven], and I will be motivated to praise Your person because of your grace and your doctrine, because you have magnified Your doctrinal teaching over Your reputation.”
Simply put, doctrinal teaching should be the highest priority in your life. Remember what God is after, John 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
The book of Proverbs constitutes the philosophic writings of our Bible. We must make a distinction when we speak of philosophy in general, and the philosophy of the Bible.
Prov 8:1-36 answers the very question which Pilate asked Jesus: John 18:38 “Pilate said to Him, What is truth?”
Hebrew philosophy did not begin with a question.
It began rather with an affirmation. It affirmed God, and as a result of that affirmation, it further assumed that all wisdom is to be found in Him. From these positions it drew a deduction, namely, that for man, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Prov 8:1 “Does not wisdom call, And understanding lift up her voice?”
Without the teaching of the word of God, there can be no real wisdom. Without perception, metabolization and application of doctrine there can be no real wisdom.
Throughout our lifetime, there will be certain periods of time when wisdom is calling out to us.
Receiving knowledge or understanding doctrine gives you a voice, it gives you a vocabulary and gives you an impact.
In this passage wisdom is being personified, it does not refer to The Lord Jesus Christ but to that which He thinks, although in reality the two are inseparable. However, the Holy Spirit has chosen in this chapter to make a distinction between the two.
Prov 8:2-3 On top of the heights beside the way, Where the paths meet, she takes her [wisdom] stand; Beside the gates, at the opening to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she [wisdom] cries out:
In Prov 8:22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old.”
In Prov 8:24-36 “When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no springs abounding with water.”
Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills I was brought forth; While He [TLJC] had not yet made the earth and the fields, Nor the first dust of the world.
When He established the heavens, I was there, When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep, When He made firm the skies above, When the springs of the deep became fixed, When He set for the sea its boundary, So that the water should not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was beside Him, {as} a master workman; And I was daily {His} delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And {having} my delight in the sons of men. Now therefore, {O} sons, listen to me, For blessed are they who keep my ways.
Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts. For he who finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death.”
In all of these verses, wisdom is a noun “chokmah” referring to Bible doctrine which has been metabolized in an individual’s life. This is wisdom which calls on us to change our Thoughts, Speech, and Actions which are a Reflection of our Mental Attitude and Motivation in Life.
No matter what type of attack is made against it, wisdom will keep on proclaiming truth and calling the sons of men.
Only a change in your mental attitude from Bible doctrine resident in your soul will ever give you the experience of true freedom and liberty. But we have to know that doctrine or that wisdom. “know” the truth and the truth will set you free.”
However, truth doesn’t set every believer free because although truth is calling out, very few believers “know it.”
Prov 8:1-36 brings out the importance of mental attitude as it relates to thought, speech, and action.
The first 11 verses show the principle of the importance of the communication of the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom. The longsuffering and the compassion of God will see to it that every member of the human race has the opportunity to have faith alone in Christ alone as well as the opportunity to have the mind of Christ or the wisdom of God,
Only the believer with the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom resident in the soul will ever have the ability to discern a situation properly.
Believers don’t need counseling, they need the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom or doctrine resident in their soul. Where is doctrine taught? Where is it available?
Back in Prov 8:2 “On top of the heights beside the way, where the paths meet, she [wisdom, the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom] takes her stand;”
The divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom is in easy to find places, accessible places. Look at how easy technology has made truth to be accessible. It is not found in the ministry of one man or one denomination or one style of teaching, it is found all over the world.
The availability of divine wisdom isn’t hidden.
Wisdom or doctrine always causes us to take a doctrinal stand, though many believers refuse to do so.
Our divine viewpoint mental attitude will station itself and post itself over you for guidance and protection.
Prov 8:3 Beside the gates, at the opening to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she [wisdom] cries out:
Now, always in the gateway in the ancient world there was an auditorium that served as the media, or as a newsroom to let people know what was going on. Our divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom will let you know what is really going on in your life. You will not be confused.
You will have questions from time to time concerning why certain things are happening in your life, but ultimately if you are faithful with your intake of doctrine, those questions will be answered. 1Co 14:33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
The conception here in Prov 8:3 is that wisdom is available even though the majority rejects it.
Prov 8:4-5 “To you, O men, I [the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom] call, And my voice is to the sons of men or, all members of the human race. O naive ones or ignorant ones discern prudence learn wisdom; And, O fools, discern wisdom.
Notice to whom this is addressed, those who are naive and fools. A fool is someone who thinks that they know so much and they know so little.
Prov 8:6 “Listen, for I shall speak noble things; And the opening of my lips {will produce} right things.
Note that it is divine wisdom which speaks noble things or virtuous things. Wisdom will speak “noble things.”
When Wisdom speaks to a man, she always tells him the truth about himself.
The voice of wisdom invades the realm of human nature, and interprets the actual facts.
In Prov 8:7 “For my mouth will utter truth; And wickedness or evil is an abomination to my lips.
Wickedness is the Hebrew noun resha, and it doesn’t mean sin, but it means anything that is opposite of the character and nature of God.
Wickedness can be legalism, self-righteousness, moral or immoral degeneracy.
Wisdom is the voice of God to the soul of man, declaring the facts.
Wisdom introduces herself in verse 7. “For my mouth is the personification of wisdom or the divine viewpoint mental attitude will utter truth; And wickedness or evil is an abomination to my lips.
Abomination is the noun tow`ebah meaning detestable, disgusting, loathsome, horrible.
Prov 8:8 “All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.
Bible doctrine is right to the point. It pulls no punches.
Many times, verses are taken out of context to back up false doctrine, but Bible doctrine taught categorically protects from crookedness and perversion.
Prov 8:9 “They [the utterances of my mouth] are all straightforward to him who understands, the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom gets right to the point. And right to those who find knowledge.
The divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom is very understandable to those who have spent enough time learning it. The principle is that wisdom is built upon wisdom, knowledge is built upon knowledge.
Now, notice that the next part of this address of Wisdom is that in which she puts herself into comparison with things that men hold valuable, and declares that there is nothing that has any value at all by comparison with Wisdom.
The things named are silver, gold, rubies, all things held to be valuable by men.
Concerning these, she, wisdom, says Prov 8:10 “Take my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choicest gold.
The word take is the Qal imperative of laqach which means to seize with power and enthusiasm, or with interest and strong motivation. It means that doctrine is the number one priority in your life. It means that nothing is more important to you than learning God’s word and that the reality of your life is found there. It means that you are willing to lose your life for the cause of Christ rather than constantly coming up with excuses as to why you will not do it.
Prov 8:11 “For wisdom technical understanding of doctrine or metabolized doctrine is better than jewels; And all desirable things cannot compare with her.
Whatever things of this world are pleasing to your eyes cannot compare to the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom. The divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom is more important to the soul than any form of materialism.
Money, success, prosperity, pleasure, friends, loved ones, social life, sex, status symbols etc.
The first eleven verses (Prov 8:1-11), we have the principle of the communication of the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom, that’s the first paragraph.
In the second paragraph, verses Prov 8:12-21, we have the production of the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom in your life. What will the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom produce in your life?
Prov 8:12 “I, wisdom, that is divine viewpoint dwell with prudence, or I have a lifestyle of caution, sensibility.
The word for prudence is the Hebrew noun armah which means that you have your priorities right.
The divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom will do two things in your life. It will give you a purpose in life, such as a personal sense of destiny. It will serve as a red-alert system to protect you from the influence of evil.
Prov 8:13 “The fear or respect for the Lord is to hate evil;
And by evil remember that it could mean moral degeneracy or immoral degeneracy.
The greatest sin among believers and the worst sin in the universe is pride and arrogance. Pride and arrogance turns self-righteous prissy Christians into evil people.
The perverted mouth here is perverted speech. Perverted speech always puts people down. Trying to be a little smarter and slyer than others is perverted speech.
The perverted mouth is the Hebrew word tahpukah which means a perverted mind, which means that you listen to perverted things. It also means a perverted heart which means that you believe perverted things.
Prov 8:14 “Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; counsel is simply God’s answers to man’s problems.
Notice also that the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom gives you power.
Prov 8:15-17 “By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice.
Rom 8:16 “By me princes’ rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly. I [the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom] love those who love me;
And doctrine will always respond and love you back.
Prov 8:17 I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me.
Notice the word diligently. It takes effort to search for truth once you find it. Bible doctrine is not going to force itself upon you, it requires some aggression on your part [In other words; Tinkerbell will not be there to give you your daily shot of mental attitude wisdom from God, you’ll need to intake bible doctrine daily yourself].
Prov 8:18 “Riches and honor are with me,
Notice that it says riches and honor are “with me” not in other places. Riches speaks of materialistic success; honor speaks of fame and prominence through achievement.
This means that you have the capacity for it first.
Success doesn’t ruin you. Having capacity you can handle it.
Prov 8:18-19 “Riches and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness.” My fruit or my production, what I produce is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield or my profit than choicest silver.
The profit of the escrow blessings stagger the imagination.
Prov 8:20 “I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,”
However, the word walk is the Hebrew word halak and it is a walk against intensive opposition.
What is the opposition of the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom?
1. Legalism
2. Works
3. Details of life
4. Hardness of the heart
5. Passivity
6. Laziness.
Rom 8:20-21 “I [wisdom, the divine viewpoint mental attitude] walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice, To endow those who love me with wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.”
Endow is the Hebrew verb nachal which means to get or take as a possession.
In other words, the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom causes escrow blessings to be released in time little by little.
It is through knowledge of doctrine that the believer receives his inheritance.
Then in the third and final paragraph in Rom 8:22-36, we have the dynamics of metabolize doctrine.
Beginning with a reference to Bible doctrine possessed by the Lord in eternity past.
Prov 8:22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.”
Notice that a distinction is made between “way” and “works.”
Prov 8:23 From everlasting or from eternity past I wisdom was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. As we think of these things, our minds travel from Genesis 1:1 to John 1:1.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
In each of these passages we have the phrase “In the beginning.” In John the declaration is made that “The word was God.” Proverbs says that Wisdom was with God.
And of course this is a reference to (TLJC=The Lord Jesus Christ) who created the Heavens and the Earth in Col 1:16.
Prov 8:23-24 From everlasting or from eternity past I wisdom was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth. When there were no depths or no oceans I wisdom was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.
Long before the creation of the universe, this divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom was in existence.
It preexisted every form of creation. It was around before the creation of the angels.
Prov 8:25 “Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills I wisdom was brought forth;”
When you look out and see the magnificence of the mountains, just remember before those hills were settled in place, the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom existed.
Prov 8:26-27 While He [TLJC=The Lord Jesus Christ] had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world.”
Prov 8:27 “When He (TLJC) established the heavens, I wisdom was there, when He Jesus Christ inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,”
TLJC is the one who created all things, and in this passage, wisdom is saying When He established the heavens I wisdom was there!
Prov 8:28-30 When He made firm the skies above, when the springs of the deep became fixed, When He set for the sea its boundary, so that the water should not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth;
Then I wisdom was beside Him, {as} a master workman;
Prov 8:31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth, and {having} my delight in the sons of men.
Prov 8:32 “Now therefore, {O} sons, listen to me,
Prov 8:33 “heed or listen to my instruction and be wise, and do not neglect {it.}
Instruction is musar which means correction and discipline which results from and to education. It speaks of oral correction.
Prov 8:34 Blessed or blessings to the man who listens to me, doctrine watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts.
Prov 8:35 For he who finds me doctrine finds life, or capacity for life and obtains favor or grace from the Lord.
Prov 8:36 But he who sins against me or misses me, that’s the loser….injures himself; and that’s the law of volitional responsibility.
That’s the story of people in life, they injure themselves by rejection of the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom.
“All those who hate me [NVTD=negative volition towards doctrine] Love death.”
Death here means no life and enjoyment in time and then ultimately, the sin unto death.
Now that should bring out to you the importance of the divine viewpoint mental attitude of wisdom.
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
No comments:
Post a Comment