Romans 6:16-19 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

In this study of mind control, we will see many things, but most will fall under one of five categories:

The passage of Romans 6:16-19 clearly brings out the truth of the first and fourth bullet point. Generally speaking, our minds will be controlled by: sin to (spiritual) death or obedience to righteousness. This passage is not a reference to our initial salvation. By its structure and context, it is speaking to those who have already placed their trust in Christ as personal Savior.

The Holy Spirit through Paul tells Believers that we will be controlled by sin or obedience. In verse 17, these at Rome obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine they already had. Then in the last part of verse 19, we are to present our members as slaves to righteousness for holiness. We know from this and other passages that the process of presenting of our members involves extreme discipline.

There are four major sources of mind control:

Each of these areas have their own philosophy or teaching which instructs a person how to surrender the mind to their control. Obviously, Believers who are sincerely desirous to live the life of holiness choose the last influence in the list. However, when a Believer sets out on this road of surrendering their mind to the control of the Holy Spirit, they find this road of surrender to God is difficult!

Among many, one thing I like about the Bible is the honesty of its declarations concerning the Christian life. Far too often, preachers give an invitation to come to Christ using an advertising method that is as false as any other lie on TV or the printed news. Some preachers say something like, "Come to Jesus with all your cares and God will solve every problem." Orthey may say something like, "Are you hard pressed? Come to Jesus, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and Christ will give you rest." Those statements have a measure of truth in them and one is a quote from Christ, but they are not the full picture of the truth. They must be put in the context of the rest of Scripture. Therefore standing by themselves, they are an untruth. Far too often, our appeal to people to come to Christ is not to have their sin problem solved, but to have their physical discomfort removed. That is a totally false premise as to why Christ came through the incarnation. Yes, Christ did say…

Matthew 11:28-29 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Please note the last phrase of both verse 28 and 29. Both have to do with this promised rest. In verse 28 Christ said "I will give you rest". Then in verse 29 Christ tells us how we get that rest. Christ says that we will find our rest by doing two things

These facts should be a complete study in themselves, but for this lesson, it is needful to see that this rest is not a blank check, simply because we come to Christ for salvation. I’ve dabbled in farming for a good part of my life, and never did I find that putting on a yoke was the same as taking a nap. No! When the yoke is put on, it is for the purpose of doing something and usually that something is hard work. It is not until the yoke is taken off that it’s time for a nap. Obviously, Christ is not talking about physical rest in this passage. Instead, His remarks are directed to a spiritual rest. Look at what Christ said about a similar subject, and it should help us understand what is involved in obtaining this rest.

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The major problem with our understanding of these biblical promises is that we equate all spiritual promises as physical, and that is a reflection of the fact that many Christians are truly conformed to this world, its pleasures and comforts. We often think of worldliness or being conformed to the world as doing naughty things. Doing such things would also be part of being conformed to the world. However, more that participating in the sinful practices of the world, being conformed to the world has to do with being conformed to the philosophy of the world. Too often our thinking is locked in the wisdom of the world. God does not say that all worldly wisdom is bad. As a matter of fact, you should use worldly wisdom to solve worldly problems. If you need to have software to accomplish a certain task, then please, by all means use that kind of worldly wisdom, but if you want to know about God’s peace and God’s rest, then don’t you dare try to solve that problem by worldly wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1:18-21 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

When you use the wisdom of the world to understand who God is and what God can and will do, you will know less about God after using worldly wisdom than before you started (v. 21). With that biblical truth in mind, let’s look back at John 14:27 and see if we can understand something about God’s peace. For starters, God’s peace has nothing to do with peace as equated by the wisdom or logic of the worldly system, which is secession from stress and conflict. Ffar too many fine worldly wise Christians cannot lay aside their worldly learning and look by faith at what the Word of God says. Instead, some, with great sincerity, through human wisdom can not and do not know God or His plan, as seen in 1 Corinthians 1:21.

I’m sure you know that every biblical verse and phrase has a context that is important, if we are to know what the verse says. So let’s look at a little of the context of John 14:27.

John 14:23-25 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. 25 These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.

Jesus stated to His disciples in verse 25, "I’m telling you this while I am with you". All through this chapter, as a matter of fact all through the upper-room discourse, Christ kept telling them that He was leaving. Hearing that Christ was leaving brought confusion and fear in the hearts of the disciples. Christ, along with telling them about His departure, gave them assurance of their care and provision by the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Christ says, "I’m leaving…

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."

At this point in the discourse, Christ is leading up to the statement about His giving His peace to the disciples and by extension to all Christians.

Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Remember back in the passage of Matthew 11:28-29, Christ said that He would give rest to those who came to Him. Christ provided the rest, but there were condition for them to experience this rest. They would need to take His yoke and learn from Him, then they would find rest for their souls. We will find that this promise of Christ’s peace, in John 14:27, also has conditions that must be met, if we are to experience that peace. There were no conditions attached to Christ’s giving the peace, except for His death and resurrection. However, for the disciples (and for us) to experience that peace, it was needful to do and obey certain things.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
troubled = (Greek) To stir or agitate such as boiling or rolling water
afraid = (Greek) To be timid because of faithlessness

Notice verse 27. There is a little word let which is used twice. This is a word of action. The disciples were not to allow something to happen. They must prevent this from taking place by resistance. The understood inference is that if they allowed themselves to be troubled or timid they would not experience this peace, even though they had it. What is this peace? The context tells us, but it will take a little to dig it out. Folks, it is imperative to see this. I don’t usually do this type of mining into the deep things of God in a Sunday morning lesson, because many are still not awake from their night of sleep, and many of those who are awake are ready for their mid morning nap. I don’t blame you. I often have the same feelings. Usually, I leave this deep stuff for Tuesday night classes, but to properly deal with the false doctrine, it is needful to do so. If you need to stand up and shake yourself or pour water over you head, I don’t mind. Just don’t miss this. Let’s look first at the last thing we are not to do. Ok? We are not to be afraid, if we want to experience this peace.

2 Timothy 1:6-8 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

I can’t take the time to point out the many references to suffering, stress, hardship, discipline, etc. in these passages we are looking at in this lesson, and we are not exhausting the passages on this subject. The point to be seen from such references is that no where does Christ, or the Holy Spirit through the Apostles ever say that the Christian life is a life of tranquility, absent of stress and discipline. Anyone teaching that the Christian life is a life of tranquility, absent of stress and discipline is teaching a biblically false doctrine.

Romans 8:14-18 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs -- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Notice in verse 15, the important word again. When we received the Holy Spirit, we did not receive again the spirit of fear. This indicates the we had once received that spirit of fear. The spirit of fear is part of the human nature received at conception.

Please note that there are two spirits...

1 John 4:17-19 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Please note that this love, referred to here, is a love from God, but it is a process for that love to come to full bloom in our lives. We see that fact by the phrase "love has been perfected". We obviously received God’s love at that the time of salvation, but it takes time for that love to be perfected in our lives. One of the major benefits of this process of perfecting love in our lives, is the removal of fear and especially the fear of the day of judgment. Just a side light. This phrase is in contradiction to the theory that we, as a Christian, will not be judged in eternity for our actions here on earth. If there were no judgment for the Christian’s actions, why would we need God’s love perfected in our lives in order to have boldness in the day of that judgment? The Holy Spirit is consistent in His presentation of truth, a quality sadly missing in some who claim to be teachers of the Word of God.

This judgment does not decide whether we are saved or not, 
but rather what rewards we will receive or lose.

Real or perfect love has two qualities:

Please look back to Romans 8:14-15. We by nature have the spirit of fear. But perfect love both has no fear in itself and casts out what fear we have resident in our lives, because of the spirit of fear.

Let’s take a quick peek at the word troubled.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Please remember! This action of not being troubled and not being afraid is an action performed by Believers, through the power of God. We are not to allow or let our hearts be troubled or afraid. That is a process involving obedience, faith and teaching of the Word by the Holy Spirit, etc.

troubled = (Greek) to stir or agitate such as boiling or rolling water

This Greek word is used three time in the Epistles. Paul uses it twice in Galatians and Peter uses it once.

Galatians 1:6-8 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
Galatians 5:7-10 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
1 Peter 3:12-15 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. 13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

Please note v. 14. If we suffer for righteousness’ sake, we are blessed. So, if we as some would say, should not have any stress in Christian living, then we are being cheated out of a blessing. This trouble has to do with three things:

Back to our passage in…

John 14:23-27 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. 25 These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Please note in v. 26, the Lord states that He will send the Holy Spirit, Who will teach and bring back to their memory what Christ has taught. This is very important, if we are to understand Christ’s gift of peace and our ability to receive it. Look for that theme in the next part of the passage…

John 14:28-31 "You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

Sandwiched between Christ telling His disciples that He is going away and that the Holy Spirit will come to teach and refresh their memories in verses 25-26 and verse 28 and following in which Christ once again says that He is going away, we find… 27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

This peace has it roots in the fact that Christ 
is going away and the Holy Sprit is coming.

We need to see another very important fact found in verse 28. In the first part of verse 28, Christ says that He is leaving. To the natural mind that fact would bring sorrow, trouble, and fear. Yet, these are conditions that Christ said, in verse 27, we should not allow. Don’t miss the attitude Christ said the disciples should have concerning this matter. Look again at the first part of verse 28. Christ said—I’m going away—and something we didn’t point out—I am coming back! Evidently, the disciples missed that phrase, also. We can see that the disciples didn’t really see this truth, because Christ adds, "If you loved Me, you would rejoice" because of this fact. Folks, this is so great that I can hardly stand still. Possibly you haven’t seen the greatness, yet. That stems from the fact that we don’t have the time to dig and then compare —dig and then compare-- dig and then compare and do so over and over again. In the short time we have, I will try to accelerate this process and I hope you can see just a little of this great truth. Then over time, as you read and compare other Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will bring out this truth more clearly by that comparison. You will be reading along and that truth will jump off the page, you’ll say (or shout), "There it is! Now I see it!"

There are two things we must see here:

Let’s take them one at a time. Christ said that if you loved me, you will not fear or be afraid, but you will do the opposite of being afraid—you’ll rejoice. Isn’t that what Christ said in verse 27? "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. This peace was conditioned on them not being afraid and in the context, they were afraid because Christ was going away. Christ said you must get a handle on this truth, you can’t have this fearfulness and at the same time have complete love for me. Remember what John said in…

1 John 4:18-19 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Our love for Christ is demonstrated by keeping what He has commanded and our love for Christ grows as we keep his Word. Those two go hand in hand. As we keep his Word we demonstrate our love, as we keep His Word our love grows. Therefore, we will have even a greater demonstration, and our love will continue to grow and so on and on. Living the Christian life is a process!

John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

I wish we had time to chase this wonderful truth further, but that clock on the wall is our foe. Please note that here we have another one of the many circles of the Christian experience that make it possible to live the life of Christ, as we continually move through the circle. Most of you are familiar with the Eternal Circle we present in the Walk-Through, and here’s another. If we love Christ, we will be loved by the God the Father and Christ will love us and manifest Himself to us, therefore we will love Christ even more and the Father will love us and Christ will love us even again and we will learn to love Christ more, etc.

It is an ever widening circle and it casts out fear, 
therefore we will enjoy the peace that Christ gives.
John 14:28-30 "You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. 29 "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 31 "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

There are two things we must see here:

Having the love of God perfected in out lives is one of the needed components to enjoy this peace given by Christ. Also, needed to enjoy this peace is a knowledge of and a firm belief in the eternal program of God. In the immediate context of verse 27, Christ shows that having an understanding of the fact that He is going away and coming back again is part of the process of enjoying this divine peace. In the first part of chapter 14 of John, Christ brings out this same fact. Take a quick peek back to the first of this chapter.

John 14:1-3 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Unless we have, at least, a surface understanding and belief of God’s coming events, we will never have this love perfected in our lives. Therefore, we can’t know Christ’s perfect peace, because we have a distorted view or a totally false view of God’s complete program of redemption. We may surround ourselves with a self-induced tranquility but that is not God’s peace. In the beginning of this lesson, I said, "One thing about the Bible that I like, among many others, is the honesty of it's declarations concerning the Christian life". I have attempted, in this short time, to honestly present what the Scriptures say about how we are to experience Christ’s peace.

Some false doctrines and the world’s philosophies say that peace is a state in which there is no stress or conflict. The Bible is clear that Christ offers us His peace, but that peace is not one of euphoric tranquility, without stress and responsibility. God’s peace is one in which we can face the greatest of stresses without fear but instead enjoyment. Not because we enjoy the stress, but because we can enjoy the process of walking through the stress with Christ. God’s peace is one in which we can face the valley of death without fear but instead with enjoyment. Not because we enjoy the reality of death, but because we can enjoy the process of walking through the valley hand in hand with God.

Oh, how much is missed because we try to shroud ourselves with a false protection from the stresses of real Christian living!

Mark 8:34-35 And when He had called the people to Him, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.
Matthew 10:38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
John 16:33 "These things I (Christ) have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Over and over and over again --- the Bible tells us that we can have Christ’s peace, but that peace is not a false peace. It is one generated by the Holy Spirit through obedience to the Word of God, and it is a peace that thrives in the midst of turmoil! There is a peace that is offered by incomplete and false teaching. That teaching tries to removes the burden and responsibility for our wrong actions and the need for a disciplined life in holiness. However, some argue that those who practice this false doctrine have such a great sense of relief and I don’t doubt it, at all. However, such peace is not born of biblical truth and does not produce spiritual results and eternal rewards.

But some would say, "It works, so what’s wrong with it?"

For starters it ignores and goes contrary to the teaching of the Word of God. That fact should not only be the starter it should be the finisher, no questions ask. If it is not actions born from obedience to the Word of God, it is carnal at best and certainly not spiritual. Therefore, according to the Word of God there will be punishment for such action and loss of eternal rewards.

But it gets results! 
May I ask three questions and will you answer honestly?

Yes, such programs as Alcoholics Anonymous have many successes on a physical and physiological plane, but such programs have no biblical, spiritual or eternal benefits. As a matter of fact, many who have been helped by such programs are turned away from biblical things, which is also true of false biblical teachings. If all that is wanted is to have a physical or physiological improvement then there are a number methods available including many false biblical teachings. You must remember that such improvements have no eternal or biblical rewards. If you present them as biblical truth, you stand in judgment by God as a false teacher of biblical truth.

James 3:1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

When we instruct others, as the teacher of Biblical truth, we had better be sure that what we are teaching is biblical truth, not some perverted teaching sprinkled with humanism and doctrines of demons. Those who teach or hold to such teachings can stick their heads in the worldly sand and claim that what we do now has little consequence for eternity. But such self-hypnosis will not cut it when they stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. In closing, let’s look again at a passage we’ve referred to throughout this series.

Matthew 7:15-19 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

You will know by inspecting the fruit of the teacher. Is that teaching from the source of the totality of the Word of God, therefore good fruit or is the teaching from segments of scripture blended with human philosophy, therefore bad fruit?

Matthew 7:21-24 Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' 24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

No! We don’t want to have anything to do with false teachers, but what kind of false teacher was Christ talking about, in this passage? Well, let’s go back just a few verses into the context, and I think we will see what the teachers were teaching, and it just might surprise you.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Even at the same time that Christ was on earth teaching, there were false teacher, as there are today, teaching that the spiritual life should be easy, without stress. Sound familiar? Maybe we should heed Christ’s words and beware of those who teaches such things.

Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.
Philippians 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
2 Thessalonians 3:14 And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Galatians 1:8-9 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
2 John 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.
I didn’t write them. I just read them. We will be judged by them!

Isn’t it amazing how much the Word of God has to say on these matters, and yet we so quickly turn to what someone has experienced, instead of the clear teaching of the Word of God. Yes, you can and should pray and God will lead you, but God will never lead you contrary to the clear teaching of His Word.

© Clyde White, Austin TX, 2006