TEEN TREE 
OF LIFE
The Doctrine of Arrogance
Part 5
January 27, 2019
Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”
As we end with our study of the Doctrine of Arrogance, we are going to look at arrogance and how it relates to unhappiness. Involvement in the cosmic system guarantees unhappiness because it promotes untrue ideas about what happiness really is. Those involved in the cosmic system think that people or pleasant circumstances or prosperity can make them happy. We studied The Doctrine of Prosperity (Nov 11, 2018 to Dec. 9, 2018) for five weeks so you should have a good grasp on what prosperity really is. Being rich and having a lot of expensive stuff is a form of prosperity but you won’t find happiness in those things.
Arrogance destroys the potential for happiness because it destroys the capacity for contentment. The apostle Paul said it all about prosperity: Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. (PHIL 4:11) Now ask yourself how did Paul learn this? If you said, “Through God’s Word,” you win the prize! The influence of the cosmic system over the believer won’t go away through prayer. The road to recovery, of being involved in the cosmic system, begins with learning and applying Bible doctrine!
You have to come to the understanding that life is a series of challenges to overcome by learning and then applying Bible doctrine. Arrogant believers are unhappy people involved in the cosmic system. They are miserable because they never learned and then applied God’s Word to the challenges of life. They persist with their ridiculous views of what happiness is – like a nice car or a good job or a cute person to date. These things may stimulate you, but they won’t make you happy.
One of the GREATEST things God has given to us, as believers, are the Ten Problem-Solving Devices (tools). The sixth one is having a Personal Sense of Destiny. Basically this means that you’re at a point in your Christian walk at which you know enough Bible doctrine to feel confident in life. Having a Personal Sense of Destiny gives you Spiritual Self-Esteem. Having a Personal Sense of Destiny is the beginning of the effective function of all Ten Problem-Solving Devices in God’s Pre-Designed Plan for Church-Age believers. In His Plan, the believer’s confidence is based on Bible doctrine and his or her self-respect is linked to Grace Orientation (Problem-Solving Device #4). Look at EPH 3:12 (The Message Bible): All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. Spiritual Self-Esteem is what emboldens you! It’s the foundation for stability in the Christian life. And it’s the first stage of Spiritual Adulthood.
Happiness comes out of what’s in your soul – not from what you’ve attained or obtained in life. That’s why Bible doctrine resident in your soul is so important! Personal happiness will not be yours until you have Spiritual Self-Esteem. And what STOPS a believer from obtaining it? Arrogance! Look at what Paul wrote: I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. (ROM 12:3 The Message Bible)
Another Problem-Solving Device we should look at is number four: The Faith-Rest Drill. In spiritual childhood and adolescence, the believer claims the Promises of God. As an example, we learn early on that God has promised us Eternal Life. It’s one of His Attributes. So, in spiritual childhood, when we are faced with a problem, we claim that promise. There’s nothing to worry about ultimately because as believers, we will live with God in Heaven forever!! In spiritual adulthood, the believer applies Bible doctrine to difficult situations or times of adversity. Faith-Rest allows the believer to make decisions based on God’s Word to gain control in times of adversity. With the Faith-Rest Drill, you apply a doctrinal rationale to support God’s promises and then rest in The Lord by leaving the problem in the Supreme Court of Heaven.
The Supreme Court of Heaven is an amazing subject! It’s where God’s Justice deals with the choices which mankind and angels make throughout human history. It’s open twenty-four-seven! Fallen angels appear before this court to accuse mankind: One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan, who was the Designated Accuser, came along with them. God singled out Satan and said, “What have you been up to?” Satan answered God, “Going here and there, checking things out on earth.” (JOB 1:6-7 The Message Bible) In addition to matters of satanic accusation, everything that demands action by God’s Justice is dealt with in this Court.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the Supreme Court Judge: For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son… (JOH 5:22) The qualification to be the Supreme Court Judge is based on two principles. The first is that Jesus Christ is God. He is co-equal with God, Superior to mankind, and Perfect humanity in One Person forever. Jesus Christ is the Perfect Judge. The second principle is that He is qualified to be our judge because He was judged for the sins of the entire world! So when you’re REALLY faced with a tough time, use the Faith-Rest Drill and turn over the problem to the Supreme Court of Heave!! Your ability to apply the Faith-Rest Drill increases as you progress spiritually.
God has assigned to each one of us, a standard of thinking from doctrine. That standard of thinking enables your capacity for happiness. That standard of thinking is metabolized doctrine in your soul! Perfect happiness is not doing something, but having Divine Viewpoint – the Mind of Christ! Once a believer accepts the Finished Work of Christ on The Cross, he has to change his thinking by learning Bible doctrine: So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you [the cosmic system], always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (ROM 12:1-2 The Message Bible) Our goal as Christians is to acquire the Mind of Christ through our daily intake of Bible doctrine: For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1CO 2:16)
Arrogance and unhappiness can be classified as pre-occupation with self. And if you’re preoccupied with yourself, you will never be happy and you won’t be able to fulfill God’s Pre-Designed Plan for your life. Satan continues on spreading a myth as the ruler of this world. The myth is that people and pleasant circumstances and moments of stimulation can make you happy. Satan is an expert at distracting people by making them think that stimulation is happiness. This is why probably less than ten-percent of born-again believers become winner-believers. Don’t associate stimulation with happiness. Most people, whether they are aware of it or not, build their lives around pleasure goals. They go from one pleasure goal to another, over and over again and in between each pleasure goal is constant anticipation for the next pleasure goal. It gets to a point at which their happiness comes from the anticipation of the next moment of pleasure.
Arrogance is a very deep subject. There are so many different types of arrogance – the first sin ever committed in the universe. Think about that, especially throughout your day as you use Problem-Solving Device number one – Rebound. Some days, almost every sin you cite to God, in His Son’s Name, in order to be filled with The Holy Spirit – will be a sin of Arrogance.