We are continuing in our study of the Doctrine of "No fear" per the mandate for the believer not to fear that is found in Matt 10:28,31; Rev 2:10; Isa 41:10; LXX.
The word translated "fear" in these passages is the Greek word "phobeo" in the imperative mood.
In the Matthew passage, Matthew records that TLJC presents fear in two ways, in a positive way as in fear, respect, awe, or reverence toward God and in a negative way as the emotional sin of fear that is a mental attitude sin.
Both are commands to the believer since they are both in the imperative mood of command in the original language. We are presently examining the the Faith Rest Drill as the system whereby the believer demonstrates respect and awe for the Lord by their trust in his word
Fear and the divinely provided spiritual mechanics of the PPOG cannot coexist in the believer's soul because function in the PPOG and function in the kosmic system are mutually exclusive.
We saw that the Faith Rest Drill is God's solution to fear, which when matured per 1Cor 13:13 ultimately completely drives out fear 1John 4:18;
Faith-rest as a problem-solving device is broken down into four stages:
(1) Claiming promises,
(2) concentration on doctrinal rationales,
(3) arriving at doctrinal conclusions of how the seven remaining problem-solving devices should be applied to the situation, and
(4) the committing of injustices to the supreme court of heaven under the Royal Family Honor Code.
In stage one, Faith reaches out and claims promises. This presumes that the believer knows some promises through their Perception of Bible Doctrine in Bible class.
God has made promises to the three categories of mankind, Israel, the Gentiles and the Church and we are looking at some of the promises that God has made to each category.
The ultimate application of Faith Rest is in Dying, Psa 23:4; but life offers many other smaller challenges which also require the application of the Faith Rest Drill.
We are presently looking at Solomon’s description of his attempt to find fulfillment in his life through his frantic search for happiness apart from Bible Doctrine and the application of Faith Rest that is recorded in Ecclesiastes.
Last time we looked at his pursuit of happiness through knowledge and education, pleasure, building projects, and his family all of which failed to provide him with a fulfilled life.
The next area that he pursued in his frantic search for happiness was philosophy.
When human viewpoint exhausts all logical efforts to explain reality it then has no alternative but to choose the for the land of make believe, otherwise known as philosophy.
Philosophers attempt to offer some creditable explanation for the complex issues of human life but they limit themselves to human viewpoint by rejecting the divine revelation found in the word of God.
Currently philosophers choose, without justification, to stigmatize Christian theology as a politically incorrect body of information.
As a result they eliminate from their discussion the truths that would actually reveal to them the true meaning and purpose of life.
Believing themselves to be wise they make themselves fools. Psa 53:1a;
Solomon's human wisdom enabled him to make a number of valid observations about the world around him that are stated in one of the more well-known passages from this book.
Ecclesiastes 3:1; There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven
v 2 A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
v 3 A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up.
v 4 A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.
v 5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
v 6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away.
v 7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; a time to be silent and a time to speak.
v 8 A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.
His human wisdom was capable of perceiving order in nature, order in business, order in emotions, order in politics, order in life, order in society, and order in foreign policy.
But even though a person can be extremely organized in the various ways Solomon describes, it does not infer that the one so organized has order in their soul.
Unless the soul is organized by means of epignosis or spirit taught Bible Doctrine in the stream of consciousness then there is no true order and that person cannot be happy.
Philosophy also leads Solomon to entertain one of the hypotheses proposed by evolution which is that man and animals are the same and thus have the same fate.
Ecclesiastes 3:19; - The fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is emptiness.
Those who subscribe to the idea of common origin of the species must eventually accept several false ideas.
Materialism, The opinion that noting exists except matter and that the phenomena of self-consciousness and free will are wholly due to the operation of material agencies.
Universalism, The doctrine of universal salvation or redemption.
Hylozoism, The theory that matter is the source of life.
Ecclesiastes 3:20; -All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.
These agnostic philosophies are the result of Solomon having accepted the self-centered notions of humanitarianism.
Ecclesiastes 3:12; - I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime.
The "doing good" described here is not the production of divine good but is the "human good" of the philosophy of humanitarianism.
A philosophy that centers on human interests or values, especially those that reject the supernatural and stresses an individual's dignity, worth, and capacity for self-realization through reason.
Such an approach is acceptable to the world but it stresses personal love for mankind while ignoring and rejecting personal love for God.
Personal love for God must precede unconditional love for mankind for integrity love for mankind to be virtuous.
Personal love for our fellowman has no virtue. It can only be maintained as long as one's expectations are met by the one who is the object of one's personal love.
Unconditional love for mankind without the virtue of personal love for God is weak, unstable, emotional, sentimental and ultimately irrational.
Personal love for mankind is without virtue and is motivated by the three arrogant skills with its emphasis on self.
It is eliminated from divine viewpoint in:
1John 2:15; Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him
v 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
v 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
We know from the Royal Law of Love that personal love for God is what enables and provides capacity for unconditional integrity love for all mankind.
We are therefore able to see the misapplication of nonvirtuous personal love found in humanitarianism when we compare it with the virtuous unconditional love found in the Royal Law:
1John 4:19; We love unconditionally, because He first loved us unconditionally.
v 20 If someone says, "I love God (personally)," and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother (unconditionally) whom he has seen, cannot love God (personally) Whom he has not seen.
This verse can be altered for the sake of making a point by an exchange of objects.
If read this way, verse 20 would read as:
"If someone says, "I virtuously love my fellowman," and hates God, he is a liar, for the one who does not personally love God Whom he has not seen, cannot virtuously love his fellowman whom he has seen.
This is amplified by the next verse:
1John 4:21; And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God personally should also love his brother unconditionally.
From this we are able to conclude that personal love for one's fellowman is not only without virtue, when practiced by the humanitarian it is evil and self-centered.
Such cannot be the case when personal love for God and unconditional love for mankind work in tandem.
1Peter 1:8; Though you have not seen Jesus Christ you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with happiness inexpressible and full of glory.
1Pet 1:22; Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for an unconditional love for the brethren, fervently love one another from the stream of consciousness.
1Peter 3:8; To sum up, let us be harmonious, sympathetic, motivated by unconditional love for the brethren, kindhearted, and humble.
Another avenue that Solomon pursued in his frantic search for happiness was money and possessions. Money and possessions are details of life and are not designed to provide happiness. They only add to happiness when one has capacity for them from their function in Faith Rest inside the PPOG.
Ecclesiastes 5:11; When good things increase those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look at?
When you have a lot of investments, especially today, the only way you know you have anything is by numbers on a piece of paper. You don't really have any money; you just have more numbers than you did the last time you checked.
So the challenge is to accumulate larger numbers that you can look at.
Now you can take some of those numbers and transfer them to someone else's ledger for them to look at and in return acquire a possession.
But what do you do with most of your possessions? You look at them.
And as you look at them you begin to wonder about all the numbers and possessions that you have and this leads to worry that you will loose some of them.
This leads to loss of sleep, as was the case for Solomon, which he describes in,
Ecclesiastes 5:12; The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.
v 13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt.
v 14 When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him.
Solomon obviously does not find security in his own wealth because he fears that he too might loose all his money and possessions.
This worry, anxiety, and even dread results in his loss of health.
Ecclesiastes 6:1; - There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men-
v 2 - A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, but God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is emptiness and severe affliction.
Solomon is rich, is a king, and lives in a palace with the best provisions available. His meals were the best foods prepared by the very best chefs.
But because of his worry and fear, Solomon lost his health and was forced to watch his many guests eat his food, at his table, but he was unable to eat because of his poor health.
Happiness is a condition of soul, which is not dependent upon outside circumstances whether they are good or bad. Happiness is not enabled by possession of money or resources.
Solomon also used sex in his frantic search for happiness. Sex is considered by many who are engaged in the frantic search for happiness to be a guaranteed source of happiness.
1 Kings 11:1; - Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite (Lot), Ammonite (Lot), Edomite (Esau), Sidonian (Canaan), and Hittite (Cannaan) women.
v 2b - Solomon held fast to these in love.
v 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines and his wives turned his heart away.
v 4 For it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods and his heart was not totally devoted to the Lord his God and the heart of David his father had been.
The physical stimulation he received from over 1000 women was unable to provide Solomon with happiness.
There is only one way true happiness can be found in sex and that is in the marriage contract. This contract is a mutual relationship based on virtue love between one man and one woman who have been united in marriage.