PSD #3: The Faith-Rest Drill = which entails claiming a promise made by God in the Scriptures and then relying (resting upon) God to fulfill His promise, HEB 4:1-2, 4:10-11; Rom 4:1-7.
- They said that virtue meant devotion and loyalty to your family.
- To the Romans, virtue also meant reverence and devotion to the authorities over the Romans at that time.
- The third meaning of virtue meant justice or faith which is something that the Romans really respected.
- The fourth meaning of virtue meant virtue through absolute self-control.
- The fifth meaning of virtue to the Romans was consistency or perseverance.
Now, in order to root out those who didn't have virtue and discipline, they had the strictest basic training of any military organization up until the present time in our history.
In fact, once you passed basic training, you got to be “branded with the marks” that you passed it.
Paul was saying “Leave me alone, from now on let no one cause trouble for me because I bear no my body the brandmarks of TLJC!”
And his brankmarks were both in the physical realm when he was stoned for his beliefs and the spiritual marks which came from living the spiritual life like undeserved suffering.
And I read to you some of the brandmarks that Paul was talking about in 2CO 11:23-2CO 12;5.
2CO 12:5 On behalf of such a man will I boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to {my} weaknesses.
It's the most amazing thing, the more a person grows spiritually, the more enemies he makes.
JOH 15:20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My doctrine, they will keep yours also."
To the Roman soldier discipline was the first thing and discipline included the concept of learning.
The Roman soldiers were not taught blind obedience, they were taught to think and that thought preceded their obedience and action.
Discipline was first and it was linked to the word discern in the Latin and it means to learn with discernment.
The point is that the Roman military man studied in order to conquer!
2TI 2:15 "Study to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth."
EPH 4:3 Study [spoudazo] to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
HEB 4:11 Let us therefore [spoudazo] study to enter rest.
2PE 1:10 Therefore, brethren, [spoudazo] study all the more to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
2PE 3:14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, [spoudazo] study to be found by Him in prosperity, spotless and blameless [no shame at the Judgment Seat of Christ],
The word entreating is the pres-act-part of parakaleo which is parakalon which means to appeal, to request, to seek, to implore.
When a man is in authority who can think and who is calm under pressure and who has wisdom, he also has respect for any authority wherever he sees it.
In Mat 8:10, the original language says that the Lord had great admiration for this man.
The verb for marvel is thaumazo which means to admire, to marvel, to wonder, be amazed, be astonished.
Every centurion mentioned in the New Testament is mentioned with honor.
There was the centurion who recognized Jesus on the Cross as the Son of God, Mat 27:54.
There was Cornelius, the first Gentile convert to the Christian Church; ACT 10:22 And they said, "Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God‑fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews.
There was the centurion who suddenly discovered that Paul was a Roman citizen, and who rescued him from the fury of the rioting mob; Act 23:17.
This centurion who was informed that the Jews had planned to murder Paul between Jerusalem and Caesarea, took steps to frustrate their plans.
There was the centurion whom Felix ordered to look after Paul; ACT 24:23.
There was the centurion accompanying Paul on his last journey to Rome, who treated him with every courtesy, .and accepted him as leader when the storm struck the ship in ACT 27:43.
However, unless you love God, you cannot claim the promise of Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for good” because all things do not work together for good unless you “love God.”
ROM 8:31‑32, “If God be for us, who should be against us? He who spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?”
The “all things” is the provision of the predesigned plan of God and the privileges of the Mystery Doctrine of the Church-age.
PSD #4: Grace Orientation which is extended to the unbeliever through the saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross and is extended to the believer through the predesigned plan of God.
There is grace orientation as a problem-solving device related to both understanding God’s policy of grace and relating it to the Christian life and acting in grace towards others.
Moreover, the reluctance by members of the Church to give others the benefit of the doubt shows a lack of grace orientation.
Category one saving grace is defined as all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of the saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
(1) God the Father is the author of the plan for man’s salvation. John 3:16, “God loved the world so much that He gave His uniquely‑born Son.’’
God the Father is also the Judge; He judged our sins after He imputed them to Jesus Christ on the Cross.
(2) God the Son is the Savior and so is the object of faith for salvation. He provided eternal salvation through being judged for our sins, an act termed substitutionary spiritual death.
(3) God the Holy Spirit reveals the work of salvation. This is called the convicting work of the Spirit and is found in John 16:7-11.
The only sin God the Holy Spirit uses in his ministry of conviction at salvation is the sin of unbelief – “concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.”
The way of eternal salvation is faith alone in Jesus Christ alone totally apart from human works, talent, ability, self‑righteousness, commitment, making Christ Lord of all, etc.
Grace orientation all that God is free to do for the Church-age believer on the basis of the PPOG.
Grace orientation is living a life that is totally divorced from any system of human works, human merit, human ability, human behavior, human talent, human emotion, or any form of human power.
God’s plan is totally and solely based on grace orientation meaning we cannot get an oar into the water anywhere.
Yet, throughout the Church Age, no organized Church has correctly taught or answered the question, “after salvation, what?”
Unbelievers can be moral and anything that the unbeliever can do is not a part of the Christian way of life.
Moral people live under the laws of divine establishment which are for believer and unbeliever alike.
Grace orientation is the function of the attributes of God alive in man on behalf of each Church-age believer as a member of the Royal Family of God.
Under the divine policy of grace orientation everything depends on who and what God is, never on who and what the believer is.
Under the divine policy of grace orientation everything depends on the ability of God; nothing depends on the ability of the believer.
Under the divine policy of grace orientation, God has found a way to bless the worst of believers as
well as the best without any compromise of His attributes.
Grace Orientation was also revealed when Solomon wrote in ECC 8:14 There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked.
On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.
The plan of God always seems to treat some good men as though they were wicked, and some wicked men as though they were good.
Why is it that missionaries are martyred and murderers set free?
Why is it that a loving Christian family traveling down a highway is hit head on by an irresponsible drunk driver who walks away without a scratch and they're killed?
Why is it that criminals get rich on threats and porno shops and evil drug abuse and prostitution and fix gambling and you can barely makes ends meet as you try to walk with God?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
The misfortunes of good people are not only a problem to the people who suffer and their families but many times a problem to everyone who wants to believe in a just and fair and livable world.
The question we need to ask is this: Does God ever ask more of us than what we can endure?
I've seen some people made noble and strong through suffering but I've seen many more people grow cynical and bitter.
Who hasn't said at some point that age old question; "If there's a God why does He allow these things to happen?"
Believe it or not but the answer lies in God being oriented to man by means of grace…..thus grace orientation.
And of course you can answer a lot of it through the angelic conflict but you really don't know all the details and the why's or the how comes?
Under Grace Orientation, the divine policy of grace, only the ability and power of God can meetthe needs of the helpless believer and, therefore, provide answers and solutions to the problems of life.
Grace Orientation is further defined as the genius of God directed towards mankind.
If you desire to glorify the Lord as your ultimate goal in life then your positive, non‑meritorious response to Grace Orientation will be the glorification of His genius.
Grace Orientation is revealed when the believe lives in the principle that invisible God plus invisible assets plus invisible power equals invisible heroes.
Before an invisible hero is formed, it all adds up to the gracious work of God.
So, Grace Orientation the policy of God in blessing mankind totally apart from any creature merit.
Grace Orientation is not an excuse to do whatever we want in life.
- Grace Orientation is not a life to sin but a life to serve.
- Grace Orientation is the policy of God to sustain and regulate our lives under His predesigned plan.
- Grace Orientation means that every believer has equal privilege and equal opportunity for the execution of the PPOG.
- Grace Orientation does not mean that God gives us what we want; grace orientation gives us something far greater – what God wants, something far better than anything we could think of or imagine.
- Grace Orientation is dependence on God’s wisdom rather than on our own desires and lack of wisdom.
- In other words, grace orientation is the only policy in life that is worth living for.
- Therefore, grace orientation becomes a problem-solving device.
PSD # 4 Grace Orientation = extended to the unbeliever through the saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross and extended to the believer through the predesigned plan of God for the dispensation of the Church Age.
God’s plan is based on God’s policy and God’s policy is always grace orientation as the system for the administration of God’s plan for the Church.