Sermon Tone Analysis

Epilogue

 

/CHANGES IN POSITIVE VOLITION/

/     /God the Holy Spirit’s communication ministry is powerful but deliberately invisible.

The teaching is spotlighted, not the Teacher!

He operates in silent support of the normal, human learning process.

(Rom 12:2; (2Ti 2:15) As far as conscious experience is concerned, the believer listens to Bible teaching, Thinks about it, mulls it over, accepts what he believes is true, and lives by that Truth.

He recognizes the importance the Bible gives to remaining filled with God the Holy Spirit, (Gal 5:16-26; Eph 4:30; Eph 5:18;/ /1Th 5:19) so he obeys this Commands by faith.

The Holy Spirit’s indispensable aid operates below the surface.

The Spirit glorifies Christ rather than Himself.

(John 16:13-14) He illuminates the /“Mind of Christ.”/

(1Co 2:10-16) The Church Age believer /“knows” /God the Holy Spirit but /“beholds”/ Christ, in contrast to the world which neither beholds nor knows God the Holy Spirit.

(John 14:16-19) Intellectually aware that this invisible power animates the Christian way of life, the believer can all the more appreciate the facets of positive volition which /are /perceptible.

As he grows, his positive volition itself changes.

Beyond simply opting to hear, accept, or Think with the Word of Truth, positive volition becomes an expression of his own Spiritual autonomy.

Firmly grounded in Truth, his Doctrinal Thinking becomes his outlook on life.*

He acquires a scale of values in which his relationship with God has first priority!*

Confidence in God enables him to squarely and honestly face his own questions as an essential part of being receptive to Truth.

Doctrine fills all the compartments of his soul, including his subconscious, so that he develops the instincts of grace, of gratitude, of true worship.

/“Because of practice”/ in learning and Thinking with Divine Thoughts, he has his /“Senses //[Thoughts] trained to discern good and evil.”

/(Heb 5:14) He stretches forward, extending his stride like a runner with the goal in sight.

(Php 3:14) He loves and desires Truth.

In other words, positive volition becomes an asset in itself, a secondary asset in the believer’s now enlarged portfolio, an asset that becomes the driving force in his life.

The increasing desire to know and worship God propels the potential winner toward his Spiritual destiny.

He is still free; he still has his old sin nature; he can still turn aside into error or indifference.

But after his positive volition strengthens into a functioning secondary asset, his frame of reference and his conscience operate in favor of Truth.

He has forward momentum.

*Negative volition would go against his own grain!*

 

/VOLITION REMAINS FREE/

/     /Positive volition is never automatic, however.

Any believer can become /“dull of hearing.”/

(Heb 5:11) Emphasizing the Christian’s responsibility to be diligent.

(Heb 6:1-6) warns against departing from Truth, after having built a foundation of elementary knowledge.

This passage is especially pertinent because here advancing believers lose their own momentum by ignoring dispensational distinctions.

Their initial, accurate frame of reference, or /“foundation,”/ is depicted in this context as a list of basic Doctrines that begins with /“repentance from dead works”/ and continues through the Doctrine of /“eternal judgment.”/

(Heb 6:1-2)

     At some point the Christians to whom this epistle was addressed began to neglect the basics they had learned.

They found themselves attracted to the traditional Jewish forms of worship that anticipated Christ.

Old Testament ritual was legitimate in previous dispensations but was made obsolete by the Cross.

(Heb 10:1) It has no place in Church Age worship.

These Christians /“again crucified to themselves the Son of God”/ by offering animal sacrifices.

Their participation in these ceremonies obscured New Covenant Truth and halted their Spiritual growth.

As long as they practiced this ritual, subscribing to the outdated Doctrines involved, it was /“impossible to renew them again to repentance.”/ (Heb 6:6) This does not mean they could never recover.

/“Repentance”/ is the first word from the list of basic Doctrines in verse 1.

Here, in ancient writing style that conserved valuable space, this initial word represents the entire list.

It is impossible to return to basic Doctrine and regain Spiritual momentum while trusting in dead religious works, self, or anything else; (Isa 58:13-14) other than God and His Word.

Continuing in the wrong direction hardens negative volition, just as consistency in the right direction strengthens positive volition.

/THE ROLE OF ENCOURAGEMENT /

/ /

/     /Yet another factor plays a discernible role in transforming the believer’s positive volition.

This factor is encouragement.

(Php 2:1-2) The invisible resources that God provides for the Church Age believer surpass the imagination.

As the Christian establishes a trend of making right decisions, these unseen, primary assets produce their powerful results.

He grows up Spiritually.

Pressures only accelerate his advance.

He achieves Spiritual self-esteem, Spiritual autonomy, and Spiritual maturity.

(Matt 13:8)

 

 

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     */The results of executing the protocol plan of God encourages us.

Our confidence in God continues to grow.

This confidence from our accumulative experience of God’s grace strengthens our determination/**/ /**/—/**/ /**/our positive volition/**/ /**/—/**/ /**/to keep on fulfilling God’s purpose./**/

/*(Php 3:12-14) 

 

PRODUCTION ASSETS

 

     The next category of secondary assets concerns Christian service.

As a result of Spiritual progress, the believer is motivated to do something for the Lord.

This desire begins in Spiritual childhood and takes definite shape as the believer grows.

Genuine Christian service is a privilege, an asset acquired as a */result/* of faithfully adhering to the protocol plan of God! Service is not the first priority for the new believer; Truth is.

And not everything called Christian service actually /is /effective Christian service.

Discernment in this matter comes from Truth.

Furthermore, even legitimate fields of service can be neutralized by false motivation or the intrusion of human dynamics, by doing things out of fellowship.

The plan of God operates on Divine power, (Rom 8:4-7) not human power.

(Rom 8:8) The believer is completely helpless to make his earthly endeavors count for God.

Therefore, God has made His own strength available to each Church Age believer.

(2Pe 1:4) This power is accessible through the believer’s use of his primary assets, which include logistical grace and the Spiritual life.

In eternity past omniscient God knew which believers would utilize their primary assets.

He therefore provided effective Christian service in their portfolios as a secondary asset.

(Eph 2:10; Php 2:13-16; Tit 2:14) True production comes from Spiritual growth.

/For we are His creation [The new Spiritual species created by the baptism of God the Holy Spirit] having been created in Christ Jesus [Union with Christ] for good achievements [Agathos in the Greek, good of intrinsic value] which God [The Father] has prepared in advance [Before creation He designed His protocol plan] that we should walk by means of them./

/[The application of God's Thoughts to our Thoughts and actions] /(Eph 2:10)

 

     This passage mentions (1) union with Christ, (2) intrinsically good achievements, and (3) walking, (Thinking and living) by means of those good achievements.

As previously noted, union with Christ enables the Church Age believer to utilize God’s power in the Spiritual life.

The power of God executes the plan of God so that He Himself is responsible for the Spiritual /“achievements”/ in the Christian’s life.

In eternity past God /“prepared in advance”/ His protocol plan; and the Spiritual life as the means of executing the plan.

The believer makes good decisions, but God gets all the credit for the supernatural results!

The believer’s consistent positive volition in obeying the Commands of the Spiritual life becomes Spiritual momentum.

Momentum includes understanding and using invisible assets, gaining a grace perspective, attaining successive stages of Spiritual adulthood.

All of these are /“intrinsically good achievements,”/ first, because God ordained them as integral parts of His protocol plan for the individual believer and, second, because Divine power achieves them.

Christian service is one expression of this Spiritual momentum.

Christian service itself cannot be called /“intrinsically good,”/ because believers can perform acts of Christian service in or out fellowship.

 

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Service can come from genuine love for God, and through legalism or coercion.

It can even come from arrogance and self-promotion.

This passage emphasizes that true service does not occur in a vacuum.

It is not evaluated solely as overt, visible activity but is part of “walking,” or living the Christian way of life in fellowship with God.

The believer lives the Christian life /“in”/ or, more precisely, /“by means of”/ the stages of Spiritual growth that God’s power achieves.

Gaining Spiritual momentum, which becomes a steady, vigorous Christian walk, implies a sequence that will not work in reverse order.

A believer who attempts to advance himself Spiritually through the works he performs is wasting his time and squandering his life!

He is ignorant of God’s protocol, and ignorance breeds arrogance.

His motivation is misdirected.

He may sincerely want Divine approbation, but Jesus is the only human being who ever deserves God’s complete approval!

Man’s only entrance to God is through Christ, according to the protocol God has set forth.