23. Counseling: The Conclusion

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Okay, we're continuing in our study of biblical counseling, and tonight is the conclusion.

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So I have titled the series, Conclusion. I just thought it might be easier that way.

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So just a couple of things to review, because it's been a while since I've been here.

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Okay, if you remember going back, we started by pointing out why we were gonna even do a series on counseling, because there is a crisis in counseling.

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It has, in fact, been hijacked by the humanists, and most psychotherapy, most counseling and therapists are all using very, very secular models, and that just won't do for the believer, because it violates so many principles of scripture.

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So we went through, we showed the crisis in counseling, showed the role of the

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Holy Spirit in counseling, which, of course, comes as no surprise. Then we spent a whole session just talking about defining euthetic counseling.

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Remember, euthetic counseling means to admonish or to confront. So it is confrontational, but not in a negative way, in a positive way.

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Then we looked at the difference between directive and non -directive. The vast majority of secular counseling is non -directive counseling, in other words, not probing, not confronting, but just more of a feelings -oriented.

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Then we looked at confession in counseling and the importance of confession. Solving problems, we went a whole session on just how do we solve, how does it work out?

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How do you approach problems from an euthetic perspective? Then we looked at principles to help guide us, communication, and communication, remember, is a two -way street in counseling.

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It's both listening and giving direction. Then we looked at who are the persons involved in counseling, and if you remember, of course, it was the person who was in trouble, the

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Holy Spirit and the counselor. That's basically those three. Then we looked at presuppositions and principles from scripture, looked at the language of counseling, how do we speak, and not talking about whether it's

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English or Latin, but the actual language of counseling.

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Then we looked at love in counseling, and then if I could sum up what is the essence, what is the purpose, if there's one word you could use to describe what biblical counseling is, it's change.

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That's why this whole last session that we're going to do tonight is going to be subject of all floating around change, and we'll explain why that is in a moment.

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Change is necessitated because of the condition of sinful mankind.

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Now, I know this is very basic, but I think it just needs to be said for review. Because of the fall of Adam, all men are enemies of God and under condemnation.

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Again, this is nothing new. This is the essence of the gospel. We all understand the doctrine of total depravity.

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The gospel message is that the person and work of Jesus Christ changes the standing of repentant men from enemies of God to children of God.

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That's, again, now that's a crucial understanding if you're going to understand how to counsel somebody, and even how to counsel yourself.

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Remember, the first obligation we have to counsel is to counsel ourselves, all right?

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And we ought to hold ourselves accountable to the word of God, and then we can help other people.

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All right? So when man is saved, he is called to become like Christ.

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And again, I'm not going to pause and give you all the Bible verses, because I'm looking out, that would really be preaching to the choir.

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You guys know the verses as well as I do. I will be pointing some of them out, however.

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This is called the doctrine of progressive sanctification. All right? And this call to be conformed to the image of Christ is not an easy road.

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Everybody agree with that? It's not easy, is it? And along this road of sanctification,

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Christians often stumble into sin. And so he may need biblical counseling to help get him back on track.

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That's why at the heart of biblical counseling are the tools to help the Christian change.

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You're going to see that word change throughout the whole session tonight, because that is so crucial.

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If there's no change, then that leaves the person in the same situation that they were when they got into trouble in the first place.

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And we all know the definition of insanity, right? Is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.

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So if you're having a problem, you have to change. Something has to change, or you're just, you're fated to fall into the same sin over and over again.

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Also, we need to understand that change is commanded by God. The message of scripture as a whole is, stop sinning and live righteously.

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That's, again, this is a conclusion, so I'm not expounding upon these.

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This is really summing up what we've seen in other sessions. In other words, change.

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God expects Christians to change. We see that right in Romans 8, 29.

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For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son.

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If you're gonna become conformed to the image of Christ, that means what? Change.

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Change is mandated. And change is possible through the power of God.

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And the first, the Christian's heart has changed that conversion. So there's the first big change that is necessary.

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For any counseling, if you're ever in that position where you're gonna counsel and the person is a nonbeliever, the very first place you gotta go is to salvation.

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Because without the power of God, the change that the person can make is superficial at best.

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And that's not what we're looking for. Then secondly, of course, the Holy Spirit dwells in the

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Christian and enables him to live a holy life. Okay? And we see that right here in 2

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Timothy 1, 14. Guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. There it is right there.

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The Holy Spirit who dwells in us. The treasure which has been entrusted to you. So notice how the scripture talks about this.

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That is the Holy Spirit is guarding the treasure which has been entrusted to us.

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That is Christ in us. So then, title this one,

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The Biblical Model for Change. How does one change? And the answer lies in the text of scripture that we've so often quoted, especially in this whole series on biblical counseling.

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2 Timothy 3, 16 to 17. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work.

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Now we're gonna come back to that in a minute. The word of God is that which equips mankind with the ability to change sinful behavior into godly character.

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Notice what I didn't say. I didn't say to change sinful behavior into godly behavior because that would be too superficial.

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That will be an outcome, but the change that must take place is an actual change in character.

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It's a change in personality. When you're born again, you have a change in personality. You are not the same person that you were.

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And that's an important concept as we look at biblical change. In this text, that's 2

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Timothy 3, 16, 17, the apostle Paul gives us four biblical steps that will bring about change in the person's life.

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So I want you to look again at 2 Timothy 3, 16, and 17. Notice how it starts.

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All scripture, all right? We know what that is. We're talking about all of the Bible. Genesis to Revelation is inspired by God.

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And we know that the Greek word there is theonoustos, which means God breathed. God breathed out the scripture, all right?

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And it's profitable or useful. So that sets up, how do we know that this four -step model that follows is suitable for change or makes change possible?

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Because it's based upon the word of God and the promise of God.

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And he tells us that it is profitable and useful for the purposes at hand, all right?

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And what are the four things? Teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

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And then what is the result of that? If you use the word of God in this fashion, that the man of God may be equipped for every good work.

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And the word adequate there has a, in the English it has a connotation, it's okay.

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But really in the Greek there, it's perfectly equipped for every good work, okay?

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So the first step to change, to biblical change is doctrine or teaching.

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And we know that doctrine is important because the doctrine a person believes determines how he thinks.

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What you believe will determine how you reason and how your thought processes work.

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And what a person thinks reveals who he is. The fool has said in his heart, there is no

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God. So what, and then even taking it one step further, what comes out of the mouth reveals what is in the heart, which is telling you what the person is.

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A person will respond or act in daily life based upon how he thinks.

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Your decisions will be based upon how you perceive the situations that you face in life.

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And of course the doctrine that you believe, what you believe to be true is going to affect that.

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So the doctrine that is taught determines what change in the person will be, okay?

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For example, if you're struggling emotionally and you go to a

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Freudian psychologist, he's going to tell you, throw all the fetters off. The problem that you have is that you have been restricted too much by what your parents have taught you, what the church has taught you.

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So disregard all of that. Basically it's lawlessness, antinomianism, which is quite different than when you come for a biblical counseling who says, you need to submit to the word of God, okay?

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So you can see how that is absolutely true. Therefore the doctrine taught must be the whole counsel of God.

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And this is, I can't emphasize how important that this is, that it's the whole counsel of God, not just selective.

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Because there are no abstract doctrines in scripture. All of scripture is practical.

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We see that in 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. It's all useful. So all scripture is profitable or useful for equipping the saints.

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And of course the Bible is the only true standard of doctrine and if you read the

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Bible through carefully and interpret it carefully, it presents a balanced approach to life.

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People that go off on tangents are either misreading the scripture or misinterpreting it and then misapplying it to their lives.

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Therefore the content of the Bible must be presented with careful interpretation. And we even caution to handle the word with accuracy.

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2 Timothy 2, 15, study the word. Study to show yourself approved unto

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God, a workman that need not be ashamed. But even more so in Paul's instructions in 1

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Timothy 4, chapter four, verse 15. Look at how Paul instructs

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Timothy, he was a young pastor. Take pains with these things. Be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all.

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I mean, that's strong language, take pains.

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And then he continues, pay close attention to yourself and to your teacher, teaching.

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Preserve, persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

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And the salvation there is, again, is primarily talking about your sanctification. Which leads us to the second.

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So we have doctrine, that's the first step. You have to know what is right, what is wrong, and what does the

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Bible say? Second is reproof. And notice I put in parentheses there conviction.

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The Greek word used can be either translated, either way, reproof or conviction, depending on the context.

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It's really two sides of the same coin, the translations. But the

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Greek word is just more broad or expansive than our English words.

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So for example, we see this Greek word used in Revelation 3 .19. Those whom

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I love, this, of course, is one of the letters of Christ. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, be zealous therefore and repent.

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There is the idea of rebuking and warning and admonishing. But the present context in 2

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Timothy 3 is closer to how Jesus uses it in John 16 .8,

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where he's telling of the coming of the Holy Spirit. And he says, and he, when he comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

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It's the same word, but just there's a bigger emphasis in the conviction, translating it as conviction.

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So what is conviction then? Well, according to Kittel's Dictionary of the New Testament, it means to show someone his sin and to summon him to repentance, which you can see how that fits right in with our context.

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Conviction is proving that the charges against someone are true. We even use this term in our legal system.

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If someone is convicted, that means they have been, the charges that they have been leveled against them have been proven and the person now is under the judgment.

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So, and that's the same basic word that's used in 2 Timothy 3. Conviction then is the convincing of sin and makes it therefore necessary to bring forth change.

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Think about it. If you're not convinced that what you're doing is wrong, what's your motivation to change? It's not going to happen.

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So you have to be convicted first. And then once you're convicted, then you can bring forth the motivation for change.

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So without conviction, there can be no repentance. Teaching or doctrine is not enough to bring about this change.

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Again, how many times have you read something or pointed something out to somebody in scripture who's not a believer and they say, oh, well, that's fun, that's nice.

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But what does that mean to me? Because they're not convicted. Conviction naturally follows teaching and is part and parcel of it.

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When the Holy Spirit is working on the person's heart and you minister the word, then the doctrine that's being taught will affect the person and lead towards conviction.

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So genuine conviction of sin flows from the teaching of sound doctrine.

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So now here's a good question. Who does the convicting? That's the first answer, the

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Holy Spirit, John 16. Again, that's the section where Jesus is telling that the

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Holy Spirit is going to come and what his ministry will be. Who else? It's not just the

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Holy Spirit. What else? Yeah.

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Yeah. The word of God. James 2 .9 tells us that. The word of God. I mean, we know that the word of God is sharper than a two -edged sword, sharp enough to divide if it could marrow and bone.

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It's one more. No, well, no, that would be the work of the spirit.

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Yeah, the counselor or the minister of the word who's ever, and when we say minister of the word, it doesn't have to be a preacher.

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Whoever is ministering the word, that can be a counselor or it can be your next -door neighbor. All right?

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And there's two passages of scripture that show that. But here's an important thing.

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The three work together, not independent from one another. Okay? In other words, as the minister or the counselor ministers the word, the

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Holy Spirit brings conviction to the heart. So it's all three. It's not one or the other.

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And we have a couple of examples of how conviction works in scripture. David, when he was approached by Nathan.

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We all know the story of David with Bathsheba. And when Nathan comes, he tells him the story of the rich man who doesn't want to kill his own sheep.

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So he goes and he takes the prize lamb from the poor man and kills him. And what does David say?

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David says, I want that man brought to me. He deserves punishment. All right? And what does

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Nathan say? You the man. You the man.

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And when he's confronted by that, what does

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David say? I have sinned against the Lord. That's conviction.

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And if you want to really see the heart of conviction, go to Psalm 51. That's David's psalm after he was confronted by Nathan.

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Now, I finished the rest of this verse. You know, it's not particularly germane to our counseling session here, but I just,

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I had to put it in. And Nathan said to David, the Lord has also taken away your sin.

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You shall not die. Grace. There's always grace. David had committed great sin.

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And yet God was still, upon his repentance, was still able to extend grace to him.

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Isn't that just like our God? We also see this conviction as the principle behind Matthew 18, 15 to 20.

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All right? What does it say? If somebody, you have an offense against someone, go to them. All right?

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And what does it say? If he listens to you, maybe you've won your brother.

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The whole idea is by confronting biblically with the truth, that you will bring conviction.

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Conviction is necessary, or there will be no motive to change. Which leads to the third step, correction.

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What is correction? Well, the Greek word that's used, and I didn't include the Greek words.

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I have them in my notes if you want to see them. The Greek word means to stand something up, or make something to stand.

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In the Greek, it's used as correcting papers, like a teacher correcting papers.

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What that means is the Bible is not just concerned with exposing sin, but in making it right.

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Jay Adams has a great quotation. He says, correction is the pivotal point of change in which the transfer of thought and life from non -biblical to biblical ways begin.

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Correction is necessary. Just merely being convicted doesn't go far enough if you don't change the sinful behavior.

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So how does correction take place? Well, firstly, repentance is a necessary step in correction.

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We've already looked at that. Repentance is absolutely essential. And repentance is to rethink or change one's mind.

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The Greek word is metanoia, change of mind. Repentance is more than regret, sorrow, or remorse.

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Judas was sorry. He was sorry for what he did. Actually, he even returned the gold, or silver,

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I'm sorry. Returned the silver. But he wasn't repentant. How do we know he wasn't repentant?

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Yeah. He hanged himself. All right. And I'm going to put a verse up here in a moment which will demonstrate clearly why you can say that he wasn't repentant.

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Because true repentance is a godly sorrow that leads to change in attitude and behavior.

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And look at this verse. I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance.

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For you were made sorrowful according to the will of God in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.

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For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret. Notice, if it's a godly sorrow, it produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation.

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But the sorrow of the world produces death. Judas had sorrow, but it was the sorrow of the world.

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How do we know that? Because he went out and hanged himself. So repentance begins with confession.

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We must confess sin. Confession comes from a heart that has been convicted by the Holy Spirit.

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And confession means to agree with or to acknowledge. Confession is the acknowledgement that the conviction of the

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Holy Spirit is true regarding the specific sin of the individual. That's like when you have been, if you've ever committed a sin, well,

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I know you've committed sins, but when you have committed sins in the past, all right, and you're confronted with them, and your sin finds you out, and you confess it, what you're really saying is, yes,

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Lord, I agree, I'm a sinner. I need to confess,

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I need to repent. So it's an agreement with the conviction of the

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Holy Spirit. This too is a necessary step for change.

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Repentance begins with confession, but it goes further because repentance not only means confession of it, but the forsaking of sin.

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There's that change, the change in direction. Forsaking means to let go of.

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It's a willingness to deny selfish desires. It's breaking with past practices.

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It's making it difficult to sin. Romans 13, 14, make no provision for the flesh nor the lust thereof, but put on the

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Lord Jesus Christ. To summarize so far what must happen for biblical change to take place, wrong thinking must be acknowledged as sin, you must ask for forgiveness, you must turn from those thoughts, and then you must take steps to prevent this thinking in the future.

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And that's a crucial step, and it leads to the fourth step, which picks up right where that leaves off.

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A lot of times I've heard people say, what is the necessity of the fourth step? I mean, you've taught, you've reproved, you've convicted, and now the corrected behavior.

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What's the difference? Why this discipline, training, and righteousness? Well, after putting off the old habits and lifestyle, the void must be filled.

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Ephesians 4, stop lying, but start telling the truth.

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Stop stealing, get a job. That's the whole message of scripture, is not just to stop sinning, but to replace it with positive godliness.

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And that's this fourth point. It's the fourth step that produces lasting change in the life of the believer.

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It's what prevents you from lapsing back into your previous sin. And so the goal for the

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Christian is to live a righteous and holy life, not just to experience temporary relief.

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You'll hear, that's one of the fallacies of the self -esteem movement, and where they say that you need to grant forgiveness because you need it.

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If that's all you're doing, that feeling is gonna go. We actually grant forgiveness because the person who sinned needs forgiveness, and they need to be confronted in their sin.

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And remember, Paul is talking about righteousness here. He's not talking about your positional righteousness that you have as a believer in your union with Christ.

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It's not what he's addressing here. He's addressing the righteousness of sanctification.

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And this righteousness is the conformity to God's biblical standard in the

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Christian's daily life. It's the holiness that Peter addresses in 1

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Peter 1, 15. But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.

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So now the question is, is this type of righteousness really an attainable goal?

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And the answer is yes, not in perfection, but in practice.

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It is, in fact, a continuing struggle. Romans 7, the Apostle Paul tells us about his own struggles.

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We are called to become in practice what we are positionally in Christ. That's the whole purpose of this fourth step.

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The practice of righteousness is not only possible, but it's expected of the

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Christian. God expects this. It is imperative that the

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Christian knows and understands that this is, in fact, true. And that's one of the main purposes of the fourth step.

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What I mean by that is the Christian must learn to think biblically. If you don't think that it's possible, again, what's your motivation for striving for godliness?

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This is an unfamiliar portion of scripture, 1 John 5, four to five. No comments?

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We've only been preaching it for six weeks now. 1

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John 5, four to five teaches that we have victory over sin.

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What is the source of our victory over sin? Our faith, all right?

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That's what we've been studying for the last several weeks. The Bible is a message of hope, and a person won't change if they don't believe it's possible to change.

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So biblical training is a message of hope. It's not merely academically oriented. It's not merely theological in nature.

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Biblical training is focused on molding Christian character. Biblical training consists of learning the biblical alternatives to the acts, attitudes, and lifestyle that need to be replaced.

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The Bible has answers to all of this. And biblical change comes as the word is ministered in the power of the

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Holy Spirit. Righteousness should become so habitual for the

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Christian that it happens almost automatically. In other words, when the

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Christian is faced with temptation, he should be so trained and practiced in godliness that he should make the right choice almost without thinking.

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That's the whole idea of being sanctified. Any questions?

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Hope you can see why I chose to end with this as a conclusion, because this is really the crux of what the whole series on biblical counseling is about.

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Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say, when we were talking about Judas, would another good proof text be in Matthew 26 at the

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Lord's Supper when he dips his hand in, you know, the Lord says better, that man that he had never been born?

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Oh yeah, oh, there's several others as well. Plus that I have lost none except the one.

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And there's a place reserved just for Judas. Any other questions on biblical counseling?

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All right, you've been admonished. You've been taught.

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You've been reproved. Hopefully you've made some corrections. Now go and do it.

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You have been listening to the Reformed Rookie Podcast, where we aim to teach Reformed theology to beginners or rookies.

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Be sure to look us up on the web at www .reformedrookie .com, where you will find many more learning tools and aids to help you grow in your understanding of all things

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Reformed. And remember, semper reformanda. Dr.

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Luther, are you prepared to retract these writings? In Psalm, I discuss faith and good works.

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If I were to retract these, I should be denying accepted Christian truths. Martin Luther, you have not yet answered the question.

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Will you recant or will you not? Here it is.

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I am bound to my beliefs by the texts of the Bible. My conscience is captive to the word of God.

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I cannot and I will not recant.

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Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.

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Amen. I am bound to my beliefs by the texts of the

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Bible. My conscience is captive to the word of God.

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I cannot and I will not recant.

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Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.