Spir Dynamics 115 1/3/93

DOCTRINE OF THE ISSUE OF POSTSALVATION EXPERIENCE

A. The issue of salvation begins at the moment human life begins.

1. The Bible teaches that life begins at the moment of birth. The fetus emerges from the womb as an empty house—biological life. We have the sin nature in every cell of this biological life.

2. Jesus said to a religious leader, “You must be born again.” Mortal man in copulation cannot create immortality and the human soul is an immortal soul. It is immortal because it is created by God.

3. So at the moment of physical birth God the Father creates soul life and imputes it to biological life and simultaneously Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically formed old sin nature. At this point we are born physically alive and spiritually dead. Being born spiritually dead means we do not have any contact with God. We are totally separated from God in total depravity and in total helplessness to do anything about it. The first birth gave you physical life and spiritual death, Rom 5:12ff; 1 Cor 15:22.

4. Because of spiritual death, no matter how smart or brilliant you are you cannot understand the gospel. Therefore, when the gospel is accurately presented it goes to spiritual brain death; it cannot be understood. But God the Holy Spirit makes it understandable. Now, as spiritually dead people, we understand that the issue is the choice to believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, or not to believe.

a. Jn 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

b. Jn 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

5. We believe by faith alone in Christ alone as spiritually dead persons and God honors that faith in every case. God the Holy Spirit makes your faith effective for salvation.

6. At the moment of faith in Christ one of the many things done by God the Holy Spirit is the creation of a human spirit. Then God the Father imputes eternal life to that human spirit. This is called regeneration or being born again. This is the basis for all spiritual options in postsalvation experience.

7. Spiritual death at birth makes salvation an issue. Hence, the issue in presalvation decision is replaced by postsalvation decisions.

B. The Issue of Postsalvation Decisions.

1. The spiritual birth of faith in Jesus Christ requires numerous spiritual assets which have been provided by the grace of God in our very own portfolio of invisible assets.

a. God has provided the filling of the Holy Spirit and the metabolization of doctrine as the two power options to execute His protocol plan for the Church.

b. There is no coordination in the spiritual life apart from the problem solving devices. The filling of the Spirit, the metabolization of doctrine, and the faith-rest drill are the most important. 2 Cor 5:17, “We walk by faith and not by sight.” 2 Cor 4:18, “We look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

2. Metabolized doctrine has to be applied to handle the storms of life, and it is only applied through the use of the problem solving devices. Bible doctrine is infinitely more powerful than any storm in life. God causes all things to work together for good when we use the faith-rest drill or grace orientation or a personal sense of destiny or rebound or sharing the happiness of God or occupation with Christ to apply doctrine to experience.

3. When we fail to rebound and keep moving, we learn from our failures. You can be stronger as a believer by learning from your failures. God has a plan for your life. You are indwelt by the Trinity, filled with the Holy Spirit. There will be storms in your life, but you have enough doctrine to make decisions that are good choices. The power in the storm is the doctrine you have circulating in your stream of consciousness. However, you must bring that doctrine out and apply it. You do so by using the problem solving devices.

4. The issue in postsalvation experience is the use of your volition to use the problem solving devices to apply doctrine to your experience, so that you can handle the problems, the stress, the storms of life. No one else can live your spiritual life for you. Without the function of the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of your soul, there is no accurate or effective way to apply Bible doctrine to postsalvation experience.

5. You cannot apply doctrine through your own strength. It has to be done through the problem solving devices on the FLOT line of the soul. In Matt 8:24-27, the disciples started with enough doctrine and enough faith- rest drill on the FLOT line of their souls to face the storm on the lake. When the storm suddenly hit and the faith-rest test had arrived, they panicked and failed the test. But they learned from their failure. When we have learned enough doctrine, God intends for us to solo in the storm. Problem solving devices are the God given means of application of doctrine to experience.

R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries 5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 (713) 621-3740

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