Grace and Truth
Bible Ministries

The Faith Rest Life vs The Frantic Search for Happiness


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 started to look at the Lord's command not to fear first.

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.

Last time we were discussing God's promise to provide water, and we saw his promises kept as he provided water from the rock to the Israelites in the wilderness.

The grace provision of water teaches us that God provides all the logistics that we need, free of charge and they are available to any who will receive them.

This principle was taught to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well by our Lord in
John 4:9; - The Samaritan woman therefore said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
v 10 - Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him and he would have given you living water."

This shows that God's provision is not only for Israel, but was also for the gentiles.

The grace provisions of God flow from the endless resource of divine integrity.

Psa 105:40; -They asked and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
v 41- He opened the rock and water flowed out. It ran in the dry places like a river.

One of the characteristics of divine provision is that it is freely given to any who will receive.
Isa 55:1; -Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come buy and. eat.

Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

A passage that describes God's care and provision of His people is found in
Matthew 6:25; "I say to you, do not be anxious for your life as to what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor for your body as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food and the body than clothing?"

v 31 "Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?'
v 32 - "For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
v 33 -"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.

We have seen this passage before and the word translated "added" is the future passive indicative of the Greek word "prostithemi" that means "to set in front of" or "set before", or "set toward". so the verse could be translated as:

"Seek you first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these things that you need shall be set before you"

Included in God's provision that is described is our clothing that includes not only what we wear but also our shoes.

When the Israelites were in the Desert there was no source of shoes or clothing available through normal means, so while they were wandering, God miraculously provided both as indicated by Moses in Deut 29:5; -"I have led you forty years in the Desert. Your clothes have not worn out on you and your sandal has not worn out on your foot."

Those of us who are privileged to live in times of prosperity are often unable to understand the situation of those who have lived in periods of collective or personal adversity and need.

When believers are in a period of need or apparent insufficient provision they must never react in arrogance but orient and adjust to the grace of God by recalling his promises through the application of the Faith Rest Drill.

Psalm 9:18; - The needy will not always be forgotten nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.

Psalm 37:25; - I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.

Psalm 72:12; - He will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also, and him who has no helper.

Psalm 102:17; - He has regarded the prayer of the destitute and has not despised their prayer.

Isaiah 41:17; - "The afflicted and needy are seeking water but there is none. Their tongue is parched with thirst. I the Lord, will answer them Myself as the God of Israel I will not forsake them."

When faced with a restricted flow of logistical resources believers must keep their eyes on the mission. In order to do so, attention must be turned away from the temporal insufficiency and onto the blessings of grace.

1 Peter 5:6; -Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God in order that He might exalt you at the proper time, v 7 -casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

Philippians 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
v 7 And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall garrison your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Those who live in the plan of God often find that an aspect of their prosperity is long life.

Psalm 90:10; As for the days of your life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years.

Proverbs 3:1; -My son, do not forget my teaching but let your heart keep my commandments;
Proverbs 3:2; - For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

Proverbs 3:13; -How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding,
v 14 -for its profit is better than the profit of silver and its gain than find gold.
v 15 -She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire compares with her.
v 16 -Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
v 17 -Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are prosperous.

Here we see that there are five promises granted to the person who finds wisdom; Happiness: verse 13; spiritual prosperity, verses 14-15; long life, verse 16a; honor, verse 16b; and pleasant character traits, verse 17.

The Fifth Commandment is the only one among the Ten that carries with it a promise for those who obey it. Exodus: 20:12 - "Honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you."

There is one event which pursues every one of us all the way to our death and that is the process of aging. As this aging process takes on visible manifestations in one's body, there often emerges a fear of death.

Those who fail to execute the Faith Rest Drill and receive the contentment that accrues from it will find that the frantic search for happiness and security in a world designed to kill, can only lead to frustration and a fear of the inevitable appointment with the Death-Shadowed Valley.

Life hangs by a very thin thread. There are no accidents in the divine decree and for the believer; God determines the time, the manner, and the place of their death.

When the believer recalls the promises of God they can face their death with confidence and courage. Psa 23:4;

In order to acquire some principles on the challenges that life presents to those of all ages we can turn to the wisdom of Solomon and the book of Ecclesiastes.

Solomon identifies himself in the first verse of the book of Ecclesiastes not by his proper name but by a title. In the Hebrew it is the noun "qoheleth". It's Greek equivalent is the word "kerusso" which means "to proclaim, to publish, or to preach" and refers to the preaching of the Word. (2Tim 4:2;)

His words refer to the one who delivers a message to those assembled for the purpose of instruction. Solomon presents himself as "a man with a message."

His message is not a pretty one initially because he presents it after experiencing a long period of reversionism in the kosmic system outside of the PPOG and the divine provision of the Faith Rest Life.

He starts with a summary of that period of his life,
Eccles 1:2; - "Emptiness of emptinesses," says the man with the message, "Emptiness of emptinesses! All is emptiness."

Solomon's summary of his life in reversionism concluded that a life of carnality, even with a maximum of human wisdom, provision, and accomplishments, amounted to emptiness without a relationship with the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 1:3; "What advantage does a man have from all his work that he does under the sun?" Net note 10

In Eccles 1:4-10; Solomon goes on to compare human life without a relationship with the Lord to going around in circles. Verse 4: generations come and generations go. Verse 5: the sun rises and sets day after day. Verse 6: the winds blow to the south and circulate back to the north and then do it all over again. Verse 7: rivers flow into the sea, their water evaporates and becomes clouds which rain on the land and flows back into the rivers.

Those who seek happiness and pleasure from human life are caught up in a cycle that simply repeats itself throughout history and none is remembered:

Ecclesiastes 1:11; - There is no remembrance of the earlier cycles and also of the later cycles which will occur. There will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still.

Solomon is described as a man of great wisdom, and that is confirmed by his writings in the Proverbs, but during his time of reversionism his human wisdom was unable to enable him to discern the emptiness that would result from his every attempt to create happiness from human resources.

As a result, Solomon pursued a frantic search for happiness in his many efforts to obtain happiness from Satan's kosmic system.

Solomon had the resources to pursue any avenue of success, any source of pleasure, any prospect for gratification, or any kind of luxury.

If Solomon couldn't buy happiness with money no one can.

He describes some of his pursuits for us, His first pursuit was Education. Solomon aggressively pursued human knowledge:

Ecclesiastes 1:13; - I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things:

Col 1:16; By means of Christ all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things have been created through His agency and for Him.

Since Christ preexisted creation then He is preeminent over all that He has created.
The word for "creation" in verse 16 is the aorist passive indicative of the Greek verb
"ktizo" that means- "were created"

The aorist tense is constantive which refers to action in a point of time. It views the completed action and gathers it into a single whole. The creative act occurred at a point in time and was completed in its entirety.

The constantive aorist in this passage disproves the theology of evolution. Christ is revealed as the Member of the Trinity Who served as the Agent of creation.

"All things" refer to the energy and matter brought into existence at the moment of the creation. Energy and matter did not create themselves. The passive voice says the creation received the action of being created at a moment of time.

The existence of the universe is the effect of the creative act of Christ. The indicative mood indicates that this is a statement of biblical, theological, and historical fact.

The next verse has all this information in view when it asserts that the entire creation is dependent upon Jesus Christ for its sustenance and its endurance.

Col 1:17; Christ is before all things and by means of Him all things are held together.

Matter and energy will continue to maintain its current status until TLJC chooses to destroy them as described in 2Pet 3:10-12;

In the meantime, the deity of TLJC possesses complete knowledge of all that is knowable, a part of which are the laws which hold this universe together.

These divine laws explain all the phenomena that mankind refers to as "scientific laws."

Imagine the task that mankind has when he endeavors to acquire maximum knowledge of the world and universe around him. He cannot acquire it all and as a result, the more he learns the more frustrated and discouraged he becomes

This is the condition in which Solomon found himself.

Ecclesiastes 1:13; to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

Thus Solomon learned from his quest for knowledge that it only led to more emptiness.

Ecclesiastes 1:14 - I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun and behold, all is emptiness and chasing after the wind.

After advanced education left him void of happiness, Solomon decided to pursue happiness through Pleasure & Possessions.

Ecclesiastes 2:1; - I said to myself, "Come now, l will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was emptiness.

Once he determined that pursuit of pleasure didn't provide happiness, he decided to take up some building projects to occupy his time. He was a genius in architecture and engineering so he took up a number of building projects.

In Ecclesiastes 2:4-10; we see a long list of projects that Solomon accomplished.
Some included the construction of houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, orchards, and irrigation systems.

In addition he acquired slaves, flocks and herds. He acquired money and treasures.
He hired the best singers to come to Jerusalem to entertain him and concubines for his sexual gratification.

Ecclesiastes 2:10; - All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor.

But these activities did not bring him contentment.
Ecclesiastes 2:11 - Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted. Behold, all was emptiness and chasing after wind and there was no happiness under the sun.

The result all the energy and effort Solomon expended toward creating his own happiness and contentment led to the bitterness that he expresses in
Ecclesiastes 2:17 - I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me. Everything is emptiness and chasing after wind.

He then turned his attention to his family and his children and the prospect of preparing his first-born son for the throne.

This proved even more frustrating. Few men are qualified to rule justly as kings and the idea that there can be a successive line of good leaders from the same gene pool under a system of primogeniture is ridiculous.

The heir apparent to Solomon's throne was Rehoboam. Solomon was not a fool and therefore had the wisdom to discern that his first-born son was not up to the task.

He hated the fact that all the work he had performed had not brought about happiness. He then hated the idea that he had to leave all of these things behind when he died.

Worse, he had to leave not only his estate but also his kingdom to Rehoboam whom Solomon considered to be a fool.
Ecclesiastes 2:18; - I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
v 19 - Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is emptiness.

Solomon's suspicions were right. Rehoboam was such a poor leader that his kingdom suffered a civil war that split the nation in two.

The Southern Kingdom based in Jerusalem was known as Judah and consisted of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi while the Northern Kingdom based its capital in Samaria and called itself Israel. It was made up of the other ten tribes.

So Rehoboam did not provide Solomon with the happiness he sought through his family.

 

© Copyright 2007, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.  This document was created on 7/23/2008