Eph 1283-87 9/20/90
A. Introduction.
1. FLOT is a military acronym for the forward line of troops.
2. The Church Age believer must know when to use offensive action and when to use defensive action in the Christian way of life. Against Satan and all fallen angels, the divine commands usually call for defensive action.
3. Offensive action related to the angelic conflict is also related to the execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church, because all angelic creatures, including demons or fallen angels, are watching every Church Age believer putting on the full armor from God. Offensive action is related to several categories of the spiritual life.
a. The evangelism of mankind.
b. The function of the problem solving devices.
c. Understanding and using your very own portfolio of invisible assets.
d. The execution of the protocol plan of God.
e. The effective function of Christian service in the production of divine good rather than dead works.
4. The mandates for defensive action against Satan.
a. Jas 4:5-7, “Or do you presume that the Scripture speaks in vain against jealousy. The Spirit who dwells in us, He gives greater grace. Therefore, it says [Prov 3:34], `God makes war against the arrogant [believer] but He gives grace to the humble [believer].’ Therefore, submit to God. Stand your ground against the devil and he will flee from you.”
(1) Submitting to God is part of your offensive action.
(2) Standing your ground is your defensive action. This is a command for you to be on the FLOT line.
b. 1 Pet 5:5-9, “You younger believers, likewise, be subordinate to the authority of your [pastor] elders; clothe yourselves with humility toward each other because `God makes war against the arrogant [believer] but He gives grace to the humble [believer].’ Therefore, humble yourselves under the powerful hand of God, in order that He may promote you in the proper time, casting all of your anxiety [cares, worry, fear] on Him because He cares for you. Attain spiritual self-esteem, be alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand your ground against him, strong in doctrine, because you know that your fellow-believers throughout the world are experiencing the same category of suffering.”
c. Eph 6:13, “Therefore, pick up and put on the full armor from God, that you may be able to stand your ground in the evil day, even after you have done everything to hold your ground.”
(1) The evil day is any time of demonic or satanic pressure on the believer from the strategies of the devil.
(2) The evil day is Satan attacking both the grace of God and the judicial decisions of God.
(3) The evil day is any time the believer’s defenses are weakened because of negative volition toward doctrine.
(4) The evil day is the breakdown of the defensive system provided by God through the rejection of Bible doctrine.
(5) The evil day is the temptations from the arrogance complex of sins which duplicate the original sin a Satan in the prehistoric angelic conflict.
(6) The evil day is the believer being overrun by the cosmic system and Christian degeneracy.
5. Direct offensive action against the devil means defeat for the believer; for it is not mandated in the Scripture. All offensive action against Satan and fallen angels must occur as a result of defensive action mandated by God.
6. Defensive action is based on the attainment of the three spiritual skills of the Christian way of life: the filling of the Holy Spirit, the cognition of Bible doctrine, and the execution of the protocol plan of God. Only metabolized doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness of the right lobe of the soul is the basis for defensive action. Since the believer’s soul is the battleground, a perimeter defense is formed through the residence of Bible doctrine.
7. Defensive action in the Christian life can be related to the United States Army system of defensive sectors. There are three defensive sectors.
a. The covering force area. This includes all of the security area in front of the defensive position, the area of your listening posts and observation posts, and your security patrols. This is analogous to the first part of FLOT for the believer which is understanding the doctrine of eternal security.
b. The forward defense area. This is where you have your FLOT line. The forward defense area contains the main defensive force. This is analogous to all of the metabolized doctrine circulating through the seven compartments of the right lobe of the soul through the ministry of the filling of the Spirit.
c. The reserve area. This is where the reserve force launches offensive action from a defensive position. Hence, the reserve area provides flexibility for innovation from a defensive position.
8. As a result of the execution of the protocol plan of God for the Church and becoming an invisible hero, the believer can take certain offensive actions from the FLOT line. This is related to Eph 6:17, “Draw the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” The sword is used for both offensive and defensive action. From the FLOT line, three offensive actions can be launched.
a. A probe is a small scale attack, designed to test the strength of the enemy. This is analogous to the function of the believer in spiritual self-esteem.
b. A sortie is a sudden attack from a defensive position, designed to harass and break up an enemy attack. This is analogous to the function of the believer in spiritual autonomy.
c. A pre-emptive or spoiling attack is an attack against the enemy while he is maneuvering his troops for an attack. Your attack spoils his attack. This is analogous to the function of the believer in spiritual maturity.
9. The believer does not take offensive action by becoming involved in demon confrontation, exorcism, or activities related to demonism. Christian activism is an offensive action against the devil and is contradictory to the protocol plan of God for the Church. Christian activism is the quintessence of legalistic arrogance, causing the believer to become a loser as far as the execution of God’s plan is concerned.
a. The believer has no human power comparable to demonic power; therefore, the believer must utilize divine power, including the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
b. It is the power of the Word of God, the dynamics of Bible doctrine, which have the power and become the FLOT line for both offensive and defensive action in the Christian life.
c. Only through cognition and inculcation of Bible doctrine can a FLOT line be established in your life.
d. Once you have established a FLOT line, it is the basis for defensive action against the devil and demons, and it is the basis for offensive action against the people and circumstances of your life.
e. From the defensive position mandated by God, three attacks can be launched for offensive action.
(1) The probe—the function of spiritual self- esteem related to adversity, to people, and to circumstances.
(2) The sortie—the function of spiritual autonomy related to total dependence on divine power provided in grace rather than human power developed from legalism.
(3) The pre-emptive attack related to the function of spiritual maturity and the modus operandi of the invisible hero.
B. Illustration: David on the FLOT line, 1 Sam 17:1-50.
1. A crisis developed when the Philistines invaded the land of Israel, and intensified when no one would go forward to fight Goliath. The Jews panicked and became extremely afraid; they were not prepared for the crisis. The army of Israel was immobilized for forty days by fear even though they were not cowards by nature.
a. The more you surrender to fear, the more things you fear.
b. The more things you fear, the more you increase the power of fear in your life.
c. The more things that acquire the power of fear in your life, the greater your capacity for irrationality.
d. The greater your capacity for fear and irrationality, the more garbage you accumulate in the subconscious.
e. The more garbage you accumulate in the subconscious, the more you have blackout of Bible doctrine in the soul.
f. Fear is an emotional sin; therefore, fear has no utilization or application of metabolized doctrine in the right lobe of the soul.
g. Fear has no ability to think or reason; therefore, no ability to utilize Bible doctrine which has been metabolized.
h. Fear is zero life, while courage is the ability to think doctrine and to concentrate under pressure.
2. David was God’s man for the crisis with spiritual self- esteem.
a. David was twenty-four years old now and had been faithful in the little things. David was the only prepared person for this crisis because he was prepared in his soul. When God promotes a man, He usually uses a crisis to do it.
b. David had spiritual self-esteem, and spiritual self-esteem is never threatened by the slander and maligning of others. Therefore, David was not threatened by the slander and maligning of his brother Eliab, 1 Sam 17:28. Eliab transferred his own arrogance and evil heart to David.
c. The triumph of spiritual self-esteem came when David answered his brother, “Is it not a doctrinal matter?”
(1) If David had tried to defend himself or had lost his temper, he would never have defeated the giant. Victories in the soul must be won off the battlefield before victories can be won on the battlefield.
(2) How you handle pressure and adversity today determines your spiritual victories of tomorrow. God never tests us beyond our capabilities to pass the test. Giant killing in the spiritual life demands we have spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity on the FLOT line.
(3) No one recognizes a doctrinal issue unless he has Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit. No matter what your talent and capabilities, they are useless unless you are able to consistently keep plugging along. Your plugging is your consistency in continuing to learn doctrine daily. People who learn to plug along in life become great.
3. When David was brought to Saul’s headquarters, he demonstrated spiritual autonomy.
a. David did not feel threatened in the presence of the king of Israel, 1 Sam 17:32.
b. When Saul said David was a youth, he was not saying that David was a mere boy, but that he had no experience in battle, 1 Sam 17:33. David was twenty-four years old at this time and would be king in six years; he was no youth. David further explains that he did have combat experience against a lion and a bear and killing Goliath will be no different.
c. David recognized that Goliath was maligning David’s God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who delivered him in the past and would deliver him in the future.
d. Saul’s pious phrase (“God bless you, brother”) does not add to David’s victory. David’s victory is metabolized doctrine in the soul. Legalistic epigrams do not win victories. 1 Sam 17:36-37.
(1) Spiritual autonomy does not rationalize pressure or function under any form of lust. David is not motivated by approbation lust.
(2) Spiritual autonomy finds Bible doctrine more real than the danger.
(3) Spiritual autonomy is armed in the soul with Bible doctrine rather than dependence on weapons, as in the case of Saul’s weapons. Spiritual autonomy does not quit in the midst of testing.
e. It was not superior armor and weapons that would kill Goliath but the power and the grace of God. The weapons David needed were related to the doctrine and mental attitude of David’s soul. David will see to it that God gets all the credit.
(1) There is no substitute for the power of God.
(2) A worldly means will not accomplish a divine objective.
(3) No weapon forged by man will ever replace the power of God.
(4) Grace orientation in spiritual autonomy excludes human ability, human help, and human viewpoint.
(5) Cognition of Bible doctrine and attainment of spiritual autonomy had trained David to be independent of Satan’s system.
(6) David rejected the worldly solution in facing the crisis. The armor of Saul had done Saul no good; Saul did not accept the challenge of Goliath.
(7) It is not the armor on the body or the weapons you carry but the doctrine in the soul that wins battles.
f. There were a series of dynamic decisions by David.
(1) David turned away from his brother Eliab without defending himself.
(2) David made a decision to rescue one lamb from a lion in the first test and a second lamb from a bear in the second test.
(3) David volunteered to fight Goliath.
(4) David refused to use the armor and weapons of Saul.
4. David on the FLOT line in spiritual maturity: Operation Goliath.
a. David took five stones because there were five giants in the Philistine army, 1 Sam 17:4; 2 Sam 21:16, 18, 19, 20-22.
b. Goliath maligned and blasphemed God in order to try and get David angry, but it did not work, 1 Sam 17:43. Then Goliath tries to intimidate David and make him afraid, 1 Sam 17:44.
c. David answers all of this with divine viewpoint; he is occupied with Christ. This is spiritual maturity in action. The “God of the armies of Israel” is the Lord Jesus Christ. David corrects Goliath that the Lord Jesus Christ, not Saul, commands the army of Israel. Jesus Christ is the role model and best friend of the mature believer.
d. David makes sure that everyone understands that the fight is between the Lord Jesus Christ and Goliath and not between David and Goliath, 1 Sam 17:46. The Lord will provide the victory and David gives all the credit to the Lord. Believers in carnality, arrogance, the cosmic systems, and Christian degeneracy are completing with the power of God.
e. David had something far greater than military experience; he had maximum doctrine in his stream of consciousness. He was the only man in Israel with enough doctrine circulating in the right lobe of his soul. The thinking of the mature believer on the FLOT line is, “the battle is the Lord’s.” The same phrase was used over 200 years later by Jahaziel, another mature believer, 2 Chr 20:14-15. You cannot meet a crisis of this magnitude without the problem solving devices. David both understood the crisis and the solution to the crisis.
f. David charges Goliath in order to carry out his decision. Bible doctrine in the stream of consciousness has no hang-ups, no fears, and no subjectivity. David makes a pre- emptive attack and ignores all potential danger to himself. David concentrated and moved in a fast, coordinated fashion; he was well trained.
g. David won the spiritual battle before he won the physical battle. The influence of the mature believer on the FLOT line motivated the rest of the army to fight as well, 1 Sam 17:52.
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R. B. Thieme, Jr. Bible Ministries 5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 (713) 621-3740
© 1997, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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