Eph 738ff 2/7/88, 745-746 2/14/88
A. Introduction.
1. For the believer in Jesus Christ, there is a fantastic life beyond gnosis which is thought or epignosis doctrine in the right lobe of the soul.
a. Epignosis doctrine is converted into motivation, decision, and action. It is the basis for the manufacture of invisible heroes.
b. Those who move beyond the barrier of gnosis into epignosis eventually become winners. Believers who do not move beyond the barrier of gnosis are losers. They lose their escrow blessings for time and eternity.
2. The life beyond gnosis is epignosis, the dynamics of metabolization, the application of Bible doctrine through consistent function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation. 3. The life beyond gnosis is attained, therefore, through perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine through consistent function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.
4. Life beyond gnosis is the life of spiritual adulthood related to the perception of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
a. The fantastic life beyond gnosis starts with cognitive self- confidence in spiritual self-esteem.
b. The life beyond gnosis moves to cognitive independence in spiritual autonomy.
c. It becomes the life of the invisible hero in the status of spiritual maturity
5. The life beyond gnosis is the function of that great problem solving device: occupation with Christ, Eph 3:19, “And to come to know the love for Christ which goes beyond gnosis that you may be filled up to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
6. This means that life beyond gnosis is both cognition and the utilization of the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God.
7. The result of using the problem solving devices is two-fold.
a. You equate adversity with prosperity. You have the same happiness in one or the other. There is no change in your life based upon your circumstances. Whether you are in adversity or prosperity makes no difference once you begin to function on the problem solving devices.
b. You equate living with dying. Whether you are living or dying makes no difference, for you have exactly the same wonderful mental attitudes, happiness, and blessings. This is the ultimate function of the invisible hero in the Christian life.
8. The context of Ephesians 3:19-21 describes three characteristics of life beyond gnosis.
a. In verse 19, it is described as being “filled up to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
b. In verse 20, beneficiaries are described as receiving “all they could ever ask or imagine.” This describes the spiritual adult on his way to becoming an invisible hero.
b. Verse 21 teaches the glorification of God in the Church Age.
9. So in answer to the question, “What is beyond gnosis?", this passage has three answers.
a. In verse 19, there is great blessing beyond gnosis.
b. In verse 20, there is great power beyond gnosis.
c. In verse 21, there is great glory beyond gnosis.
B. See the Doctrine of Problem Solving Devices.
C. Illustration of Life Beyond Gnosis: Matthew 8.
1. Our Lord Jesus Christ has performed a series of miracles in context. He has gathered a large crowd, and then He gave them the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5,6,7. The Sermon on the Mount is an amplification of the Mosaic Law as it will be observed during the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. In the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, our Lord knew He would be rejected as the Messiah. Therefore, He began to anticipate His Second Advent.
2. Mt 8:18, “Now when Jesus saw the crowd [mob] around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side [of the lake].”
a. This crowd had originally been gathered by our Lord’s first thrust in the field of miracles. But they had stayed to hear the Sermon on the Mount. They were impressed up to this point.
b. Like most crowds, however, they came to be entertained. They were entertained by the miracles, and they heard something different in the Sermon on the Mount.
c. But that message did not change them. This was basically a gnosis crowd. They were fickle, emotional, and irrational.
d. Furthermore, large crowds are a distraction to the teaching, training, and inculcation of the true disciples of our Lord during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
e. The true disciples, with several exceptions, were true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, they were positive believers. And there has to be a separation of those who are positive from the rest of the crowd who mostly wanted to be entertained. In that crowd were a large number of believers who would never go beyond gnosis. To them, it was all simply academic.
f. So it’s not surprising that Jesus was not impressed with a large crowd. Our Lord was looking for quality, not quantity.
g. It is always the few who go beyond gnosis into epignosis, who advance to spiritual maturity, who form the pivot that delivers the client nation.
h. When a crowd becomes a mob, it has rejected authority. And authority is necessary for our Lord’s teaching ministry during His last three years in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
i. There were three factors which He had to teach.
(1) His presentation as Messiah.
(2) His prophecy regarding the Church Age.
(3) What will happen to Israel in the Tribulation and Millennium.
j. The application to us is obvious. The local church in this dispensation takes the believer out of the mob or crowd, and places him in the environment for learning the protocol plan of God and executing the same through post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.
3. The first disciple we now meet represents a large number of people in that group. He is the gnosis disciple, found in Mt 8:19-20. Mt 8:19, “Now a certain scribe approached Him and said, `Teacher, I will follow you anywhere, if you go.’”
a. The vocative of the Greek noun DIDASKOLOS means teacher. The translation “master” has no meaning to us today.
b. EAN + the subjunctive mood sets up the protasis of a third class condition, and is translated “if you go (anywhere),” i.e., maybe you will, maybe you won’t.
c. A scribe is a one-subject person, a student of the Mosaic Law only and of nothing else, having no overall view of the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union nor of the Church Age. All he was interested in was the Mosaic Law. Therefore, like all scribes he was very legalistic and very smart.
d. This scribe had a high I.Q. and had been impressed with our Lord’s dissertation of the Law as interpreted by the Sermon on the Mount. It was new and different to him, for it went beyond the overt act to motivation. Therefore, he was following to learn more. And why not? The Sermon on the Mount will be the modus operandi during the Millennium. However, the Jew was not ready for the Sermon on the Mount at the moment.
e. All scribes were intellectuals. They were the most brilliant people in the land. They were way ahead of the Pharisees and Sadducees who were politically minded. But the scribes were oriented to the Mosaic Law.
f. The scribe will never go beyond gnosis; he is intellectual. The scribe represents a large segment of Christianity at the time in which we live, when we have the philosophical approach to Scripture, trying to reconcile the Word of God with philosophical concepts, not realizing that the “Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit and of the joints and the marrow, and is a critic of the thoughts and intents [motivations] of the heart.”
g. Furthermore, the scribe is very arrogant and self-righteous, guilty of crusader arrogance. He ascribes to Jesus, in his arrogance, his own motivation. After all, the scribe would never leave such a large crowd.
h. That’s why he uses the protasis of a third class condition, by which he impugns our Lord’s motivation. He really doubts that He would ever leave such a crowd. He doubts His departure, for that would be leaving behind a large audience. The scribe thinks of success in terms of having a large following. Therefore, he would never think of leaving the place of popularity and approbation.
i. The scribe recognizes Jesus as being intellectually on a par with himself. He assumes that He has exactly the same arrogant motivation. The scribe will not ever leave a large crowd; that is important to him.
j. Therefore, he thinks he is safe in saying “I will follow you anywhere - if you go.” For he assumes our Lord was not going.
k. Actually, the scribe will follow Jesus all the way to the ship, maybe 100 yards away. When he discovers there are no hotel reservations on the other side of the sea, he will remain behind.
l. As a student of the Mosaic Law, he has no interest in departing into the unknown. He may have been sincere in his offer to follow Jesus, but he has no intention of being inconvenienced. He is definitely not prepared to go beyond gnosis.
m. Therefore, the scribe possesses what can be classified as spurious enthusiasm; i.e., enthusiasm without Bible doctrine, enthusiasm based upon the excitement and irrationality of a large mob. But he has no enthusiasm for doctrine or for problem solving devices. Therefore, his spurious enthusiasm is artificial, emotional, and useless.
n. The scribe has been enthusiastic about the Sermon on the Mount. But our Lord changed the subject, and he is no longer interested.
4. Mt 8:20, “Then Jesus replied to him, `The foxes have dens, and the birds of the air have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.’”
a. This simply says that there are no hotel reservations on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It’s a very rugged land and there are no hotels.
b. Where there is a conflict between human comfort and security on the one hand and the plan of God on the other hand, legalism has no staying power and no problem solving devices.
c. Today, there are believers who will not go beyond gnosis. They have no staying power. Their priorities are just as mixed up as they have always been. They are social animals, people emphasizing people, and therefore they have never learned about God.
d. The greatest insecurity results from being security-conscious. Even the animals have a better deal with their dens and nests. Jesus doesn’t even have that. So that’s the end of the line for the scribe. Little does he realize that he has just established for himself a life of insecurity by being security-conscious. He doesn’t understand the principle of Rom 8:31, “If God be for us, who shall be against us?”
e. The only real security in life is contained in the mystery doctrine of the Church Age and the problem solving devices which we are in the process of studying.
f. The person who clings to convention and conventional accouterments of security is never prepared for historical crisis and disaster. This is what happens when the believer does not enter the life beyond gnosis.
g. The believer minus doctrine is defeated by uncertainty in normal times, and therefore cannot cope with disaster in abnormal times.
h. The scribe represents the believer who is only interested in one subject. When that subject is dropped, he loses interest. Ask yourself: are you interested in only subject? Many people are only interested in romance and marriage.
i. The scribe represents the arrogance of the ignorant believer. He is impressed with the large crowds. He is impressed with our Lord’s popularity and he wants to take advantage of it. For he wants to become popular in identification with Christ, not as in the baptism of the Spirit, but by being associated with the Lord while He is popular.
j. So the scribe represents the arrogance of the believer who never goes beyond gnosis. He is impressed with large crowds and popularity. Therefore, the importance of Bible doctrine being converted into epignosis has totally eluded him.
k. The superficialities of life crowd out Bible doctrine. They cause the loser to establish the wrong priorities in life.
l. Transient emotion and temporary impulse distract from post- salvation epistemological rehabilitation, so that the objectives of the protocol plan of God become abstruse and evanescent. This describes the believer who never goes beyond gnosis. This is why you forget the doctrine, because it’s not epignosis in the right lobe of your soul. It’s not in your frame of reference or memory center and therefore cannot be recalled.
m. Enthusiasm without doctrine destroys momentum in the protocol plan of God.
n. Sincerity has no carrying power, and is no substitute for the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God.
o. Emotion has no reasoning power, no perception or application of doctrine, no function in the problem solving devices, no replacement of divine viewpoint thought in the right lobe of the soul.
p. Marcus Aurelius said, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
q. Prov 23:7, “As a man thinks in his right lobe, so he is.”
r. The scribe failed in his thinking, because he was overcome with lust for approbation.
s. But the next disciple fears disapprobation. He too does not move beyond gnosis. In Mt 8:21-22 we see the case of the conventional disciple. He uses a different vocative which is better than that of the scribe, knowing a little more doctrine. He uses KURIOS; he has entered into the “Lordship of Christ” commitment. But he is a failure because it’s all gnosis. 5. Mt 8:21, “And another of the disciples said to him, `Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.’”
a. The Greek adverb of time PROTON means he has a set of priorities, but they are strictly conventional priorities, i.e., based on human viewpoint.
b. Remember the mechanics of the priority solution to problems in life: your #1 priority determines your concentration, around which you organize your life and your thinking, and so it becomes the basis for your concentration and motivation in life.
c. This man’s request is certainly a legitimate function. There is no sin or evil connected with attending a funeral. However, whether his father was a believer or unbeliever, he cannot help his father in any way. He can grieve for his father right where he is, and by getting into the boat with our Lord.
d. But this believer has a serious priority problem which is not being solved because he has never gone beyond gnosis.
e. This believer has given #1 priority to the conventional function of society rather than to the function of God’s plan.
f. This is analogous today to a believer who gives #1 priority to the conventional function of society rather than to God’s protocol plan.
g. This believer thinks more of approbation from people than approbation God; hence, he has people emphasis over God emphasis.
h. As long as there is no conflict, which up to this moment there has not been, it was convenient to follow the Lord. He is conventional in following the Lord up to this moment. But now there is a conflict that shows that he has not gone beyond gnosis. He has no problem solving device to handle the situation.
i. The father has died; the funeral is pending. Actually, the son can do nothing
more for him. It would be desirable to go to the funeral. But the Lord has established a mandate: to get into the boat and cross the sea, analogous to going beyond gnosis in our study.
j. No matter how much the son loves the father and grieves for him, there is nothing he can do for him now. He has a right to grieve and sorrow, but our Lord has given a mandate which conflicts with him attending a funeral.
k. There is a good possibility that this father has departed to be with the Lord. The only thing the son can do by attending his father’s funeral is to satisfy the protocol of society and express his own love.
l. But there comes a time when you have to express your love for God over your love for people with whom you are intimate. In this passage, our Lord’s challenge is to give #1 priority to the Lord Himself. By analogy we should give #1 priority to Bible doctrine related to God’s protocol plan.
m. Public opinion and the approbation of society is often much more important to believers, as to this believer, than the execution of God’s plan, will, and purpose. n. This believer’s priority problem will frustrate his ever going beyond gnosis. It can only be solved by the utilization of problem solving devices as they existed then.
6. Mt 8:22, “But Jesus said to him, `Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.’”
a. This doesn’t mean you cannot attend funerals; that isn’t even the issue. But for those who can only think in terms of gnosis, that’s all they can extrapolate from this message.
b. In fact, Christ is teaching about people emphasis taking precedence over God emphasis. He is saying that people are more influenced by what society thinks than by what God thinks. You can never understand what God thinks until you move into epignosis.
c. This man’s priority problem can only be solved by the utilization of the problem solving devices, which include a personal sense of destiny and occupation with the person of Christ.
d. “Let the dead” refers to society. Once you go beyond gnosis, society is dead. Society is located under culture and spiritual death. Even the best of cultures do not bring you into contact with God; it takes the Gospel to do that.
e. This man is involved in a culture that places tremendous emphasis on that funeral. Because he has his eyes on people and on self, he has lost his focus on the person of Jesus Christ.
f. The funeral represents the legitimate function of society, the protocol and conventionality of society. There’s nothing wrong with attending funerals.
g. The funeral represents normal functions in life that are placed beyond or above the intake of Bible doctrine. When you must choose between something pleasant and Bible class, which do you choose? It’s not a matter of wrong versus right. It’s a matter of which right has priority in your life? Things are very simple when it’s wrong versus right. But that’s not the issue here; the issue is priority.
h. Our Lord is about to provide suffering for blessing testing. We will study failure in the disciples in the ship. But we must remember that those who are on the ship in the storm have gone beyond gnosis. Even though they fail and are losers at that moment, they will recover. They use the first problem solving device, rebound. Failure doesn’t make a loser. And even if it does, the loser is still alive and has the chance of rebound.
i. But this subject deals with those who did not go beyond gnosis, who did not
get into the ship and the storm, who did not have the opportunity of reward from suffering.
j. Society says that this believer has a duty to attend his father’s funeral. But our Lord has given a command which supersedes the protocol and conventionality of society.
k. So here is a conflict between two legitimate functions in life. This conflict can only be resolved by the priority solution of occupation with Christ and the experience of a personal sense of destiny.
l. Note that there are two kinds of death in this verse. The first “dead” are people who are spiritually dead. Though physically alive, they have no relationship with God. The second “dead” is the physical death of this believer’s father.
m. The spiritually dead unbeliever can fulfill the conventions of society, but they have no meaning as far as the spiritual life is concerned. Only the believer in Jesus Christ can execute God’s plan, will, and purpose for his life.
n. Do not allow the entanglements of the protocol of society to hinder you from executing the protocol plan of God!
o. This is a priority problem; it demands a priority solution. Because this disciple has the wrong priorities, he has been eliminated from one of the greatest opportunities in life. He has been eliminated from suffering for blessing testing, which is primarily designed for the believer who has gone beyond gnosis.
p. Only in spiritual adulthood does the believer have enough command of the problem solving devices to pass the test.
7. Mt 8:23, “Nevertheless, when He boarded the ship, His disciples followed Him.”
a. Before the believer can advance to spiritual maturity and execute the protocol
plan of God, he has to face three categories of suffering for blessing.
(1) In spiritual self-esteem he faces providential preventative suffering. Passing its four categories moves him on to spiritual autonomy.
(2) In spiritual autonomy he faces momentum testing, the passing of which carries him into spiritual maturity.
(3) In spiritual maturity at gate #8, he becomes an invisible hero. Passing evidence testing glorifies God to the maximum in this phase of the angelic conflict.
b. By utilizing the problem solving devices in suffering for blessing, the believer executes God’s plan.
c. These disciples who followed our Lord into the ship were at the point where they needed suffering for blessing and testing.
d. Suffering for blessing is designed for the utilization of the problem solving devices. This is the way we advance in the spiritual life, and the way we glorify God.
e. This does not imply that the disciples who boarded the ship were all prepared in spiritual adulthood. In fact, since they all flunked the test, such a conclusion would not be valid at all.
f. But these disciples followed the Lord into the ship, not knowing where they were going. The ship represents post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, the inculcation of Bible doctrine.
g. Only in the ship with Jesus Christ can the believer face the storms of life, both personal and historical disaster.
h. So the disciples of verse 23 represent believers who have given #1 priority to Bible doctrine. In the priority solution mechanics, making Bible doctrine your priority #1 results in concentrating on priority #1. That results in organizing your life around priority #1, which results in organizing your thinking around priority #1, which results in concentrating on the Lord Jesus Christ for your motivation, which results in occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. This is the tenth problem solving device.
i. Being in the ship with the Lord sets up an analogy to the tenth problem solving device. You start concentrating on Bible doctrine, the written Word, and you end up with personal love for the Lord Jesus Christ, the living Word. This is the ultimate in spiritual experience.
j. Before these believers face the storms of life, they must get into the ship with our Lord Jesus Christ. This is an illustration of occupation with Christ.
k. There is no such thing as reward testing or suffering for blessing until the believer comes aboard.
l. The ship is analogous to the operational-type divine dynasphere provided for every Church Age believer as a part of his portfolio of invisible assets.
8. Mt 8:24, “And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea so that the ship was covered with waves. But He [Lord Jesus Christ] kept on sleeping.”
a. The Sea of Galilee is very shallow. High winds cause great waves. The waves were so high that they were breaking over the ship.
b. But our Lord continued sleeping through all the tremendous noise of the wind and waves and the great instability of the ship. His sleeping is analogous to entering into faith-rest by mixing faith with the promises of God.
c. Heb 4:1-3 teaches the basic doctrine of the faith-rest drill, the third problem solving device. “Therefore, let us fear, while a promise remains, of not entering into His rest, that any of you should come short of it. For indeed, we had the Gospel preached to us, just as they [Jews of the Exodus] had the Gospel preached to them. They did not profit afterwards because they did not mix it with their faith. For we who have believed [the promises of God] do enter into rest.” In order to relax under adverse circumstances, you must claim the promises of God.
d. These disciples were not claiming the promises of God and not utilizing doctrinal rationales.
e. The power of this storm was designed to teach the futility of human resources in facing the problems of life.
f. So great was the storm that it placed the disciples beyond their human resources. There was no human problem solving device that would handle the fury of the storm. g. Jesus Christ, the God-man, was aboard and He was sleeping. In the storm, believers learn who and what Jesus Christ is: undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever. Therefore, the storms of life teach the importance of occupation with Christ as the ultimate problem solving device.
h. The sleeping of our Lord taught that since He was sleeping, there was no problem. Therefore, they could have enjoyed the storm.
i. The failure of the disciples meant they did not have the ninth problem solving device, a personal sense of destiny.
j. The sea is like the circumstances of life; it is variable. The sea can be calm, representing prosperity. The sea can be stormy, representing adversity.
k. The ship represents the divine dynasphere, the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in Hypostatic Union, the principle of potential for occupation with Christ and therefore for having great blessing.
l. Circumstances are never the basis for happiness. Sharing the happiness of God is a problem solving device for spiritual adulthood.
m. Like the great storm, adverse circumstances provide uncertainty. They teach the inadequacy of human resources, the fragile nature of human security, and the total need for Bible doctrine and the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God.
n. Just as the ship was the only place of safety in the storm, so perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine is the only place of blessing, security, and help in this life, especially in time of disaster.
o. Many believers never follow our Lord into the ship because they’re losers living in the cosmic system and functioning under the eight stages of reversionism. Hence, the believers in the ship in the storm at least represent those who are positive toward Bible doctrine.
p. No matter how intense the storm, no matter how great the disaster, the ship of the divine dynasphere is always stabilized and safe. The use of the problem solving devices equates living with dying and adversity with prosperity.
q. The storm is a real storm. Before there is suffering for blessing, there must be disaster and adversity applied to the believer so that he is using divine resources and not his own.
r. The storm became progressively worse, as noted by the fact that waves began to go over the ship, no matter what its height. Seventy to eighty foot waves would not be unusual in the Sea of Galilee with a force twelve storm.
(1) The fact that the storm became worse sets up the principle that God does not deliver in the crisis by canceling the disaster.
(2) For the blessing comes from riding out the storm in the utilization of the problem solving devices; that’s what the storms are for. First you master the problem solving devices, then you use them in both prosperity and adversity.
(3) The believer in spiritual adulthood is delivered in and through the storm, not from the storm. It’s silly to pray to God to cancel the adversity, because we are strengthened by going through the adversity and using the problem solving devices.
s. When the disciples embarked with our Lord, the sea was calm and gave no indication of a storm to come. The principle is that it is always calm before the storm.
(1) If you are now enjoying a calm before the storm, it’s to give you the opportunity to learn, master, and understand the problem solving devices of the Christian way of life.
(2) The calm before the storm is God’s grace provision to be prepared by learning the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, to learn the problem solving devices. Then the storm will come suddenly without warning.
t. The prepared believer needs no warning, because during the calm he has prepared himself through the perception and metabolization of Bible doctrine.
(1) While the storm raged on the Sea of Galilee, our Lord Jesus Christ continued to sleep. As eternal God, He never sleeps. So only His humanity was sleeping. But why didn’t the humanity of Christ awaken and give assurance to the disciples? It teaches the whole point of adversity. If you have to seek counseling on the outside, it’s because you don’t have doctrine inside your soul and you have failed.
(2) The whole point is that the Lord did not wake up and give them assurance because He had been providing that through His teaching! Even from what He taught in the Sermon on the Mount, they could have extrapolated the pertinent doctrines and applied them. It’s too late to learn once you’re in disaster and panicking; you’ve flunked that test.
u. So the answer is obvious. They also had metabolized doctrine. They had our Lord’s teaching in the right lobe of their souls. They had problem solving devices. They did not need personal attention in the storm. The whole purpose of your royal priesthood is to utilize the divine resources that you’ve learned in the storm; that’s the whole purpose of the storm.
(1) The believer in disaster or suffering for blessing does not need personal attention or encouragement. He does not need counseling. He is prepared for it all by occupation with the person of Christ.
(2) Your status quo in the storm of adversity depends on Bible doctrine in your soul, the Bible doctrine you have learned during the calm period, not Bible doctrine on written page of the Word of God.
v. Your status quo doesn’t depend on whether Jesus Christ is asleep or awake. These disciples are already walking on crutches, and they will wake our Lord up.
(1) The point is that He should have been left undisturbed, for they have already learned from Him the things they need for the storm. Our Lord would not have permitted the storm to occur at all had it not been for the fact that they had learned the necessary doctrines, and now they had a chance to apply and use them.
(2) Therefore, our Lord is sleeping. “School is out!” It’s time to apply; it’s time for practical experience in the storm.
(3) The disciples in the ship are believers. They understand the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union. Therefore, they should have realized that the deity of Christ was in complete control of the storm.
(4) After all, Jesus Christ not only controls history, but Jesus Christ controls nature as well.
(a) In Col 1:16-17, He is said to be the Creator and the One who holds the universe together. “For by Him [Jesus Christ], all things are created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible or invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created by him and for him, and without him nothing is made that is made.”
(b) Heb 1:3 says Jesus Christ is “the flashing forth of His glory, the exact representation of His nature [essence of God]. Furthermore, He holds all things together by the Word of His power.”
(5) All the disciples should have understood this since they recognized Christ as Messiah. Messiah has a number of titles, one of which is Emmanuel, meaning God with us. They understood that Jesus Christ is not only true humanity, the Son of David, but that He is also undiminished deity and the Son of God.
(6) Metabolized doctrine results in spiritual adulthood. That means that you have cognitive self-confidence in the storm in spiritual self-esteem, cognitive independence in spiritual autonomy, and cognitive invincibility in spiritual maturity.
w. No matter how strong the wind or how high the waves, and no matter how the ship pitches, rolls, and corkscrews; with our Lord Jesus Christ aboard, it is impossible for the ship to go down.
(1) No storm in life is greater than the power of God!
(2) By sleeping during the storm, our Lord teaches the importance of having the inner resources of Bible doctrine, the importance of having the problem solving devices.
(3) Therefore, our Lord was doing them a favor by remaining asleep. The disciples should have been enjoying the storm. They’re all fishermen and wouldn’t get seasick. So they should have exhilarated in the storm. Many of those aboard had been in storms before, but none like this one. It is obvious that this storm was something unusual.
(4) A panic occurs when believers get their eyes on the storm rather than on the Lord. They had a choice of being occupied with Christ, keeping their eyes on the Lord who was sleeping, or getting their eyes on the storm which was threatening.
9. Verse 25 tells us of their panic under pressure and their fear in disaster. Mt 8:25, “Consequently, they approached and woke Him up screaming, `Lord, deliver us! We are perishing!”
a. They had to scream just to be heard in the storm.
b. Fear and panic assumes the Lord was not paying attention to the situation.
(1) Obviously, the solution is not screaming for help. In fact, the solution is not going to anyone else for help including the Lord. Once you get into suffering for blessing, you don’t even make it a matter of prayer You make it a matter of using the problem solving devices.
(2) The solution is not waking the Lord up, as you do when you pray “O God help!” When you make that prayer, you have failed, for you do not know that God has provided for you in His portfolio of invisible assets these fantastic problem solving devices. Use them!
(3) The fact that you are a believer-priest means that you should be spiritually self-sustaining. When you are in disaster and when everything is collapsing around you, use the problem solving devices. That’s why they’re so important.
(4) You cannot harbor fear in your soul and receive the reward of suffering for blessing.
(5) Neglect or rejection of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age results in problems like fear. Fear is lack of thinking under pressure.
(6) For the believer, fear is failure to apply Bible doctrine to the problems of life, or failure to use the problem solving devices.
c. There are actually two categories of help.
(1) Application of metabolized doctrine.
(2) Use of the mechanical problem solving devices. These are learned through doctrine, and are designed for you to use in the privacy of your priesthood to handle the storms of life to the glory of God.
d. The more things you surrender to fear, the more things you fear. The extent to which you surrender to fear, you increase the power of fear in your life. Fear is failure to use the problem solving devices. The more things that acquire the power of fear in your life, the greater your capacity for arrogance and becoming a loser.
(1) Arrogance, fear, worry, and anxiety are emotional sins. Emotionalism means irrationality, a contradiction to the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. That’s why 2 Tim 1:7 tells us, “God has not given us the lifestyle of fear, but of power and of virtue-love and of sound [rational] thinking.”
(2) Fear neutralized the problem solving devices these disciples had learned.
e. Remember that only the humanity of Christ is sleeping; the deity of Christ is holding the universe together and protecting them from the storms of life.
f. This is no time for fear; this is time for courage which is thinking under pressure. This is the time for the utilization of the problem solving devices.
g. Note the inconsistency of fear. The first thing they screamed was the vocative KURIOS, which means Lord, used in the same sense of ADONAI in the Hebrew for deity or God. (1) They know Jesus Christ is God and true humanity; they know He is Emmanuel, meaning “God with us.” So it is the God-man sleeping on that deck. Only the humanity sleeps.
(2) By screaming KURIOS they recognize Jesus as God, yet they’re afraid of the storm! The contradiction is that God is there with them, yet they’re afraid!
(3) However, there are no contradictions in God’s will, plan, and purpose for your life. When contradictions occur, it means you are a loser, it means that you have failed to execute God’s plan.
(4) Their courage could have come from the doctrine they learned, from applying the doctrine of the Hypostatic Union. Or their courage could have come from using the problem solving devices, many of which were operational in the previous dispensation.
(5) The disciples observed the humanity of Christ sleeping, but they called Him Lord or God, the title of His deity. They called upon Him as God.
(6) With God aboard the ship, it is impossible for the ship to sink. It may pitch and toss and corkscrew, but it will not capsize or roll over and go down.
h. Doctrine must be more real to the believer than the storm. That was their problem. At this point, doctrine was not more real to them than the storm. They’ve had too much calm and no reward suffering; i.e., suffering for blessing. Blessing in the storm comes from concentration, application, utilization of Bible doctrine.
i. Irrationality is manifest in the fact that they were begging for deliverance. That’s a contradiction. It’s impossible for them to go down; God is aboard, as it were. Of course, God is imminent and transcendent. But in Hypostatic Union He was there. So it was irrational for them to beg for deliverance when they were already delivered by the very presence of Jesus Christ, the God-man.
j. There is great blessing to be derived from disaster. The disciples should have been enjoying the storm, reveling in the power of the storm, the size of the waves, exhilarating in the roll of the ship! Today, people pay money for thrills like this! So why shouldn’t the disciples enjoy one of the most exciting rides in all of history?
(1) The fact that Jesus was asleep was an invitation to the disciples to relax and enjoy an experience that no one had ever had in their day and few have had since.
(2) The incorrect procedure is to awaken the Lord and ask for help. You can always tell when you’re losing in adversity, because you start praying and asking for help; it’s the only thing you know to do. The very fact that you’re able to pray means you’re still alive. However, you are not alive to go running and crying; you are alive to utilize the Word of God which is alive and powerful.
k. This is analogous to trying to solve the problems and disasters of life through prayer. Prayer has many wonderful uses, but one is not as a problem solving device in disaster, especially in suffering for blessing. Of course, the prayer of rebound is appropriate for disasters that involve divine discipline.
l. The disciples had all the help they needed. They had metabolized doctrine in the soul, problem solving devices, and doctrinal rationales such as the Hypostatic Union.
m. The storm was not designed to put their corpses in Davy Jones’ locker, but to provide blessing and momentum in their spiritual lives.
n. The disciples woke up the Lord at the wrong time, for they should have awakened Him after the storm simply to thank Him for the wonderful ride.
10. Our Lord is now awake in verse 26, and He issues a double reprimand. First He reprimands the disciples, then He reprimands the storm. Mt 8:26, “He said to them, `Why are you cowards, you short-time trusters?’ Then He got up and He reprimanded the winds and the sea. And instantly they became perfectly calm.”
a. They were “short-time trusters” because they trusted when everything was calm, when there was no storm. But they have no faith in the storm. They trust the Lord in the calm of prosperity; they fail to trust Him in the storm of adversity. They are “fair-weather” believers.
b. A loser is not a believer who fails, but is a believer who does nothing about his failure. Therefore, this shows the importance of the problem solving device #1 of rebound and keep moving.
c. For the believer to be spiritually self-sustaining in the storm, he must do two things while he’s alive.
(1) Consistently function in post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, the life beyond gnosis, the daily perception of doctrine.
(2) Consistently use the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God.
d. Notice our Lord was still lying down when He chewed out the disciples. His power comes in any position He chooses. He does not even get up to chew them out! But He does get up to talk to the storm.
e. Our Lord’s calming of the wind and sea was worth a ride in itself. Here was a force twelve storm (winds over 75 mph), which, combined with the shallow Sea of Galilee, produced giant waves. When He spoke, the storm went instantly from force twelve or more to zero! When Jesus spoke, everything became calm.
f. Note the voice of the Lord was heard, and there was instant obedience, and the power of the sea subsided. With one command there was instant calm. The sea recognized the authority of the Lord, even though it had been kicking up a fuss. Yet the disciples did not recognize His authority.
g. Authority is always a very important principle. Until you recognize the authority of the Lord through His Word, you’re a loser. Authority is in the Word of God. Authority is in the function of the problem solving devices; therefore, there is the need for enforced and genuine humility.
h. Where the voice of the Lord is heard, there is instant obedience. The voice of the Lord is heard through the teaching of Bible doctrine. Do you recognize the authority of the Word of God? Do you accept the authority of your right pastor-teacher? Are you a winner or loser?
i. What appeared to be a miracle was merely the Lord controlling His own creation. 11. The reason why the disciples failed is now given in a very interesting way in verse 27. Mt 8:27, “Now the men were amazed and they kept saying, `What kind of a person is this that even the winds and the sea obey?’”
a. The disciples were amazed and surprised at this! That’s why they were losers. They couldn’t get over it; they kept talking about it.
b. They knew “what kind of a person” this was before they started in that boat, but the storm shook them up and shook doctrine right out of their soul. Now they have to start over.
c. The disciples failed because they were impressed with the wrong thing. They were impressed with our Lord’s power in performing a miracle rather than the power of Bible doctrine which He had taught them.
d. No believer can be impressed with the Lord until he is impressed with the Word of God, which is the thinking or mind of Christ, (1 Cor 2:16).
e. It is easy for the Lord to perform a miracle. He merely uses His own power and sovereignty, and only His own essence is involved. But to cause believers to grow is much more difficult because it involves their volition as well. Two categories of volition are involved in growing in grace: the volition or sovereignty of God and your volition.
f. The winds of the sea have no soul. They respond to the omnipotence and sovereignty of God. The believer has a soul which includes volition, which can accept or reject Bible doctrine. Doctrine must become a reality in the soul before there can be occupation with Christ and the other problem solving devices.
g. The disciples were impressed with the reality of the storm’s power, but they were not impressed with the reality of Jesus sleeping during the storm. They were impressed with the wrong thing, the storm. Just so, you will fail when you are impressed with the wrong thing. The wrong thing is being impressed with the suffering for blessing, or with the disaster, rather than being impressed with the Lord. However, occupation with Christ will clear that up.
(1) To know Jesus Christ from epignosis doctrine is to love Him. To be occupied with Him in the storm, epignosis doctrine must function instead of fear. Doctrine must be more real than the storms of life.
(2) The disciples are confused because they are more impressed with a miracle than with doctrine in the right lobe.
(3) Losers are always emphasizing the wrong thing. The disciples were impressed with miracles rather than with doctrinal teaching.
(4) A miracle cannot cause spiritual growth. A miracle cannot execute the protocol plan of God.
(5) The easiest thing our Lord does is to perform a miracle, since it only involves His own volition.
(6) The most difficult thing God does for us as believers is to promote us and to give us escrow blessings, since it involves our consistent positive volition toward doctrine.
(7) The emotional reaction to the storm blotted out the doctrine in their right lobes.
(8) Our life on earth is what we think. Prov 23:7, “As a person thinks in his right lobe, so he is.” As Marcus Aurelius also said, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
(9) The disciples did not think. Courage is thinking under disastrous situations.
(10) Doctrine provides us with divine viewpoint, with thoughts of doctrine; while a miracle only stimulates emotion.
(11) You cannot execute the Christian way of life through emotion. The protocol plan of God can only be executed through perception and metabolization of Bible doctrine, and the utilization of the problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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