Christian Soldier, Part 24. We Are Hindered Continually By These Three Enemies, World, Flesh, & Devil. Find Your Right Pastor Teacher. Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin.

Grace Bible Church

December 1, 2021

Christian Soldier, Part 24. We Are Hindered Continually By These Three Enemies, World, Flesh, & Devil. Find Your Right Pastor Teacher. Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin.

Bible doctrine, you believe the Word of God!

1PE 1:8  and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believing, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

"full of glory" is a reference to the spiritually sustained believer who reflects the glory of God with his soul structure.

This love then comes from believing the Word of God and then falling in love with TLJC.

Love Toward God is the most important love that a believer develops.

Loving God the Father, God the Son and fellowship with the Holy Spirit be set aside for a lot of nonsense such as the most popular one like "Christian fellowship" or social life with Christians?

Too many believers assume this erroneous concept because there is no organization of their life, their thinking, or their motivation.

Learn to distinguish between fellowship with God and so-called Christian fellowship, which is nothing more than having social life with Christians.

You never put fellowship with visible people above your relationship or fellowship with invisible God.

You cannot fulfill the #1 priority of fellowship with God simply by resolving to make God #1; it comes through the daily perception of Bible doctrine.

The most important person that you should consider in the selection of a church is your right pastor-teacher (RPT).

I do not mean a pastor-teacher, I mean your right pastor-teacher (RPT).

Does your right pastor-teacher (RPT) do the Job God has called him to do?

It is because your right pastor-teacher prepares the believer to be a doctrinal believer, to hear the Gospel, to prepare both the believer or the unbeliever how to be a good husband, wife, and friend.

Your right pastor-teacher (RPT) will give you the information that you need in all areas of life, if you desire to know them.

Do you want to know how to be saved, find your right pastor-teacher?

Do you want to know how to be a good husband,  find your right pastor-teacher (RPT)?

Do you want to know how to be a good friend, find your right pastor-teacher? (RPT).

Do you want to know how to be content no matter what state you are in, whether adversity or prosperity, find your right pastor-teacher?

Spiritual growth and the execution of the PPOG and subsequent glorification of God only occurs through perception of doctrine, not through Christian fellowship.

Assembling together for Bible study and other forms of worship must never be confused with Christian fellowship.

The problem here is the phrase "one another" is not found in the original language.

HEB 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but gather together for the purpose of encouragement as you see the day drawing near.

The Word for encouragement is the present active participle of the Greek verb parakaleo which means to be encouraged, to be exhorted, to be comforted, and even to challenge.

This is a participle used as a noun in the Greek, and so it should be translated "encouragement."

We are to assemble for the purpose of encouragement.

Encouragement comes from perception of Bible doctrine, not Christian fellowship.

Bible doctrine must have #1 priority in your life.

The manifestation of invisible God is Bible doctrine.

JOH 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

JOH 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Encouragement comes from Bible doctrine, not from Christian fellowship.

The real issue and your real motivation must be "I love TLJC and I need to learn His Word.

What keeps you coming to Bible class is your own motivation from your own understanding and perception of doctrine, and making it the #1 priority in your life.

Assembling with other believers in a local church or its equivalent is for the purpose of encouragement through the perception of Bible doctrine.

In other Words, Heb 10:25 is talking about learning Bible doctrine in the company of other believers.

Your Christian fellowship with other believers is inconsequential because it is your fellowship with God that counts.

The purpose of assembly worship is the function of PMA of Bible doctrine and through the momentum from metabolized doctrine, to execute and fulfill the PPOG for your life.

Heb 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the habit of some, but for the purpose of encouragement."

HEB 10:26  For if we go on sinning willfully……

By forsaking the assembling of ourselves together after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

Some believers even try to make sacrifice for missing services or doctrinal teaching but that doesn't hold any weight with God.

Some believers cannot assemble for Bible doctrine

and encouragement from the Word of God.

They are isolated because of geographics, handicaps, illness, lack of transportation or many other reasons.

Bible doctrine is the purpose of assembly, and they can learn Bible doctrine alone if they have some form of communication from their right pastor-teacher. (RPT)

While some believers are isolated from Christian fellowship, they are not isolated from the communication of Bible doctrine.

God always supplies a right pastor-teacher with doctrine for positive believers.

By the way, a right pastor teacher also demands accountability from their flock.

They are not to operate in plagiarism which is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as your own.

A lot of individuals do that, they take the easy way out, copy others, and then do not credit where they got their information.

They normally come across as sweet individuals but because they want money and attention from their approbation lust, they do not hold others accountable.

ROM 16:18  For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

You are told to submit to the authority of the pastor-teacher and to be accountable to him.

You are also told to honor God’s word face to face or non face to-face as a pastor does his best to cause individuals who call him pastor to submit to his authority and be accountable to his ministry.

The lazy way out for those who do not want to be accountable to anyone but themselves.

Positive volition will not be denied by God.

For some positive believers, doctrine is provided through face-to-face teaching in a local church.

Doctrine is communicated through the internet, audio, video, books, radio, etc.

God always supplies a right pastor-teacher with doctrine for the positive believer.

(1)  Through the local church under face-to-face teaching.

(2)  In an isolated situation where no assembly with orthodox teaching is possible.

Isolation can be caused by illness, handicap, or lack of accurate teaching in a geographical location.

While the isolated Christian cannot assemble himself with other believers, he still fulfills the concept of Heb 10:25 through his daily perception of doctrine on tapes, video, audio, etc.

Under the principle of supply and demand, the demand of positive volition is for accurate Bible teaching regardless of the geographical location.

Accurate Bible teaching can only come through someone who is prepared and who is teaching line upon line, precept upon precept, especially the mystery doctrine for the Church-age.

Therefore, the fulfillment of Heb 10:25 occurs through some other form of technology where, though not assembled with other believers, Bible doctrine is still taken in on a consistent basis.

Christian fellowship or social life with other believers at best is a result of taking in doctrine, whether you assemble with other believers or get it on your own in isolation.

Christian fellowship is not possible for isolated believers due to their geographical location, military service, illness, handicaps, or a job that conflicts with Bible class time.

Being deprived of Christian fellowship may be just the blessing they need to get a good start in doctrine before they come into contact with other believers.

Often positive believers will not assemble in a local church because of false doctrine or wrong emphasis.

Positive believers in isolation can receive Bible doctrine through tapes, books, radios, video, and other modern conveniences.

Positive believers can have Bible doctrine, but often they cannot have Christian fellowship.

Christian fellowship is nice to have if there is no legalism involved, but Christian fellowship cannot advance the believer in God's plan, purpose, or will for his life.

Christian fellowship is nice to have if there is no legalism involved, but Christian fellowship cannot advance the believer in God's plan, purpose, or will for his life.

If you have to ever make a choice between fellowship or doctrine, you better choose doctrine or you will be a loser; PRO 8:17  "I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.

Notice the Word diligently because it takes "effort" to search for doctrine!

"diligently seek" is the piel participle of shachar and the piel stem is the intensive stem and therefore this is an intensive search for Bible doctrine.

The participle denotes that there is a purpose in searching for Bible doctrine which is the ultimate purpose in life, knowing and loving God.

Shachar is an intensive search, an extreme search, a fervent search, a passionate search, a very strong search.

Personal Love Toward God the Father and occupation with Jesus Christ is confined to perception and metabolization of doctrine, and thereafter.

Thinking doctrine; not emotion, human affection, or visual attraction, but a combination of perception of doctrine and spiritual growth is the key to glorifying God.

Some of you truly love God because you have enough doctrine in your soul to love Him.

In order to love God, you have to be able to capture His thinking.

His thinking is the invisible Word of God whereas people are visible.

It's difficult with people to capture their thinking, for when they say "I love you" it may be wrapped up in hypocrisy and false motivation and wrong capacity.

Once you learn Bible doctrine, you cannot be deceived by God's plan, purpose, and policy for your life.

Without doctrine, the flaws take over and destroy friendship, romance and marriage.

With doctrine, you have problem solving devices that lead to great capacity for love, life, and happiness.

It is impossible to love invisible God until one has accumulated a certain amount of metabolized doctrine and is well on his way to Spiritual Self-esteem.

Loving God means that God is more important to you than people.

1JO 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe His commands or doctrines.

1JO 5:3  For this is the Love Toward God  [or the proof of your love toward God ], that we keep His commands; and His commands are not burdensome.

The Bible teaches that we have three basic enemies Satan will use against us and that we are hindered continually by these three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The world attacks us through people and pre­sents to us temptations on every side to try and discourage us from following the plan of God and frustrate our pursuit of seeking the things above and setting our mind on those things, COL 3:1.

COL 3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

The flesh also strives and fights against us for gratification and in GAL 5:17  The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

If we overcome the world and the flesh, we will get personal attention from Satan and the kingdom of darkness which will try and destroy our fellowship with God, EPH 6:12.

No one can really tell what his "devices" are and the subtle attacks that he puts forth in order to try and destroy us.

His schemes are innu­merable and nothing but omniscience can guard us against them and nothing but omnipotence can enable us to have victory over him.

Not only do we overcome him because of the doctrine applied by means of our testimony but we also overcome all of our enemies; REV 12:7-12.

Application of doctrine is the only way to handle people.

When believers have too much garbage in the soul and when believers have maximum scar tissue of the soul, there is nothing you can do to satisfy them.

From the emotional complex of sins, such a believer may become irrational and confused.

From the arrogance complex of sins, such a believer becomes bitter,  implacable, jealous, vindictive, and self-righteous.

Implacable believers must still be treated in grace.

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. This is where three factors in your life must synchronize.

1. 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.

2. You must have the proficiency of understanding the mechanics of God's will, plan, and purpose for your life as well as the problem solving devices and you must use them.

3. You must have the spiritual strength to use the shield of faith (the faith-rest drill) in the environment of confusion and disaster.

Implacable believers can only be treated by you in grace; for only God can deal with implacable believers.

LUK 23:34  But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."

Now, when it comes to overcoming these problems because of the doctrine applied by means of your testimony, you have to remember the principle that a thought can make or break you.

If there is confusion in some area of life, (the home, romance, friendship), then there is stress in that area.

Confusion demands concentration--bringing reality from doctrine into the consciousness of the soul.

A thought can make or break you as PRO 23:7 says "as a person thinks in his heart, so he is."

GAL 6:3  "If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

EPH 4:23, "Then become refreshed [renewed] by means of the Spirit by means of your thinking."

ROM 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

ROM 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, [the renewing of your mind refers to the renovation of your thinking]

that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [namely the divine good production].

ROM 12:3  For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; [stop thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance]

but to think so as to have sound judgment [being rational without illusion], as God has allotted to each a measure of faith [a standard of thinking from doctrine]."

1CO 10:12 "Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall."

PHI 2:5  "Keep on having this mental attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus."

PHI 3:15 "Therefore, as many as are mature believers, let us continue objective thinking.  Furthermore, if you have a different mental attitude in something God will reveal that to you."

Concentration on Bible doctrine in time of stress and confusion is mandated; COL 3:2.

COL 3:2, "keep thinking objectively about things above [divine viewpoint] and not about things on the earth [human viewpoint]."

Nothing is more important than knowing what God thinks, understanding how God operates, and understanding the basis for all of these things through His integrity.

If you do overcame these distractions and problems because of the doctrine applied by means of your testimony, it will be revealed by the results of doctrine alive in your soul.

1. The results of doctrine alive in your soul produces confidence in time, JOB 5:17‑27; 2CO 5:6‑8; HEB 10:35.

2CO 5:6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord‑‑

2CO 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight‑‑

HEB 10:35  Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

2. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it produces divine viewpoint of life and establishes right priorities in the soul, ISA 55:6‑11; 2CO 10:5.

3. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it orients the believer to the plan of God, ISA 26:3‑4; ROM 8:28.

ISA 26:3-4, "The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because He trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting rock."

4. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it produces stability of mind, JAM 1:8 being a double‑minded man, unstable in all his ways.

5. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is the basis for divine guidance and the execution of the will of God, ROM 12:2‑3.

6. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it leads us to occupation with Christ, your social life with Christ, and the capacity and ability to love God and appreciate Him as the source of blessing when it comes, PHI 3:10; EPH 3:19; HEB 12:1‑2.

PHI 3:10  that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

EPH 3:19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.

7. The results of doctrine alive in your soul is that it attains and holds the believer to spiritual maturity, PHI 3:12‑14.

PHI 3:12  not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

PHI 3:13-14, "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

1. Toward God includes worship, personal love for God, and occupation with Christ.

1. Toward people means impersonal love for all mankind.

1. Toward self refers to spiritual self-esteem.

1. Toward dying means the application of the doctrine of dying grace.

All believers must learn to choose identification with the Lord over prosperity in the world, HEB 11:25.

Rejecting pseudo prosperity in the cosmic system for suffering with the people of God.

HEB 11:25  Choosing rather to endure ill‑treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin;

1CO 2:2  for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

As believers we need to make daily choices for life and death or blessing and cursing.

DEU 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,

JOS 24:15 And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve:

PSA 25:12   Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.

PRO 1:29 Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.

PSA 103:2  Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;

Prosperity has come to some of you because over a period of years you have been faithful to the Word of God.

For many believers, as soon as the prosperity comes and they find a few people that will flatter them, the next thing you know they are in the dungeon of the cosmic system.

Very few believers ever survive their first prosperity test because  they usually lose their concentration on Bible doctrine.

The challenge during times of prosperity is simply to stick with the perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.

Very few believers ever prepare for coming disaster because in times of prosperity they think its going to last forever.

There are too many other things that they consider more important, this is called grieving the Holy Spirit.

The believer who grieves the Holy Spirit isn't against doctrine, he's not against it at all, he just doesn’t have the time for God.

When you get over to cosmic two, you have antagonism toward doctrine, you have the quenching the Spirit, and you lack knowledge of the angelic conflict.

There are two parts to the angelic conflict as it extends into human history, there is the strategic side of the angelic conflict and there is the tactical side of the angelic conflict.

The chief witness of the angelic conflict in all of human history is the humanity of Jesus Christ in hypostatic union.

Our Lord is what we would classify then as the strategic witness.

By strategic I mean that He came up with strategy to defeat Satan and executed that plan magnificently and He defeated Satan.

The other witnesses are the invisible heroes, those believers who execute the PPOG in the Church-age and understand the angelic conflict.

Mature believers are classified as tactical witnesses.

Tactical means we do the same thing but in lesser form.

Tactical means relating to combat tactics as involving actions or means of less magnitude or at a shorter distance from a base of operations that those of strategy.

Our Lord accomplished the strategic victory of the angelic conflict through His salvation ministry on the cross plus his physical death, burial, resurrection and ascension.

The believer accomplishes the tactical victory of the angelic conflict through his advance to spiritual maturity in the PPOG, at this point he becomes an invisible hero.

When our Lord was on the cross, He won the strategic victory, when our Lord returns, there will be the second‑advent and the tactical victory.

Anyone who believes in Christ is a winner strategically in the angelic conflict, so that in effect, all Christians today, are strategical victors, but it is the tactical victory that is in view with Bible doctrine.

It is the believer in time, phase two of God's plan.

And your daily attitude toward Bible doctrine, in both perception and application becomes the tactical victory.

So, you can be a strategic winner and a tactical loser.

In eternity he doesn't have anything to show for the time that he spent on earth.

The importance of application of doctrine to the different momentum tests that every believer must pass before he becomes a winner in the angelic conflict.

In most generations, like ours, and probably the Tribulational generation, and the Millennium reign, the majority of believers are not winners especially in the realm of the information regarding the angelic conflict.

The tactical winners are the ones who are going to be decorated with the order of the morning star, and the privileges that accompany the various crowns because they master the information concerning the angelic conflict.

They're going to be the ones who will have the uniform of glory.

They are the ones who are going to be on the honors list, so that while the tribulation is occurring on earth, they will be presented in the court of heaven.

Not all believers will be presented in the court of heaven, only those on the honors list, and then at the second‑advent, those who are tactical winners are going to rule a nation in this world.

The point is that there are going to be billions of Christians in heaven, but there may be less than a million who are winners and are going to have all of these tremendous, eternal advantages.

There are two kinds of winners that are among believers, the strategic winner and the tactical winner.

The strategical winner, our Lord Jesus Christ has eternal life and a resurrection body in heaven forever and forever.  The tactical winner is going to have much more.

JOH 14:12  "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.

The winner believer is the one who is going to be in the gazebo in the garden.

He's the one whose going to have the special privileges forever and ever, privileges that go with being a winner.

The concept is, RHIP, rank has its privileges, and there is no equality in heaven.

Equality ends with the strategic victory, all believers have the strategic victory by virtue of having accepted Christ as savior, it is the tactical winners who are going to have higher rank and greater privileges forever, and ever, and ever.

Heaven is a perfect place, and a perfect place is based upon self‑determination.

You get into heaven by non‑meritorious self‑determination, i.e.; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved.

That's your strategic victory, but after that, tactically, you have to make a lot of decisions, and the decisions you make on earth determine your status quo in eternity.

And you see, …..

No one can do it for you, and if you're bullied into making these decisions, if you're bullied into coming to Bible class, if you're bullied into this thing, then you're not going to last.

You understand that a pastor is not suppose to be a bully, it may read that way from time to time, but he's not.

You must be self‑motivated, for self‑determination for a tactical victory.

Then you can fasten your seat belt for the great disaster that's coming to this country and ride it out, and see it through and watch it with fascination.

For you have no information on which to make a decision from a position of strength.

The person who in self‑determination is positive toward doctrine and a tactical winner is not going to lose outbut he is going to enjoy being a winner believer.

One thing more than anything else, which is mentioned at the end of this verse, you can tell when you become, or start to become a winner, because you are not afraid of death.