Reckoning that Counts
Mike Doyle · Jan 23, 2005
Reckoning That Counts, No. 04
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826231925354

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, we did, which was probably a big pill to swallow, we did two chapters this last week, and at some other point in this 12 weeks, we're probably going to have to double up again to get them all in. But I thought these were two fairly good chapters to double up on.

Okay, true or false? In order for faith to function, There must be spirit-given knowledge of the Word of God. What do you think? There must be spirit-given knowledge of the Word of God. I would say that's false. Why? Because the word is there, and you read it, and you make it understandable for yourself, and then it's not really spirit-given. What do you think? I don't think it's really anything to do with providing the word.

Without the Spirit, the Word of God is foolish. Let me, if I can find it quickly. There's a principle in 1 Corinthians that says this, that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, he cannot know them, they're foolishness to him. and because it gives the reason, because they are spiritually discerned. So, if you go at reading the Word of God with just your natural mind, how much ability do you have to pick up spiritual understanding based on that verse?

You don't have any. Another verse I'm looking for, if I can find it quickly, is in John chapter, I think it's 14, maybe 15. 14, 15, and 16, the Lord Jesus makes reference in all three chapters to the Holy Spirit and what He was going to do. John 16, verse 7. The Lord Jesus says, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. So, here's the deal. If Jesus doesn't leave, the Holy Spirit doesn't come.

You know why? Why is that one contingent upon the other? What do you think? When the Lord Jesus leaves and goes to glory, what's his makeup in glory? He's a man, but he's a glorified man. See that? The Holy Spirit will come from him, the glorified man.

Okay? That's enough for right now. Verse 8, And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and judgment of sin, etc. Well, that's not the one I was after. Let's see. Okay 1426 but the comforter who is this Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name He yeah, that's the one I'm looking for He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatever I have said unto you Okay, now here's the scenario The Lord Jesus as a man goes to glory he's glorified by the Father as a man From that position, the Holy Spirit comes to reveal to believers Him where He is.

He's the connection. There is no apprehension of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory without the Holy Spirit. There's no connection at all. So you can read the Word of God and you can gather concepts But you, without the Holy Spirit, you would never be able to behold the glory of Christ, ever. And that's really what these words are doing. See that?

So, you can be a theologian and not know Christ. I still think that when we all get to glory, there's going to be guys that are saved who are, you know, Ph.D.'s and L.L. whatever they are, with all their degrees, walking around heaven with books under their arms, and they'll come up to Christ and say, excuse me, and walk right around him. Because they'll have a lot of knowledge, but they won't know Him. So, it's possible to read the Word of God without the Holy Spirit and to understand things, right? But I don't think you gather spiritual understanding without the Holy Spirit. Are you okay with that?

So the point of the question is, and really the example is, are all of Paul's epistles the way in which they're set up? The first half of them give you information. They tell you the things that are of God and the things that he has done. The second part of them tell you what to do about them. And usually telling you what to do about them is to reckon on the fact that what you've read is true. Paul's epistles are all like that. Information first, and then you're to believe what's been revealed to you through the Word. Miles says, truth reckoned upon fosters the only healthy and abiding spiritual experience.

And one of the things you notice in chapter 3, there's a lot of discussion between focus on the Word of God as opposed to experience. He starts out talking about head knowledge and heart knowledge. Head knowledge, which comes first? Heart knowledge, to use that term, is appropriate, but if you can't verify some experience by the Word of God, then the experience isn't valid.

One's knowledge of truth is seldom in advance of his growth in that truth. That's a hard one. One's knowledge of truth is seldom in advance of his growth in the truth. True or false? False. Because your knowledge is always way out in front of your growth.

Don't you think? Well, you know, I mean, we all know things spiritually. that may or may not be part of the way you live your life. If you come to Holly Hills, it isn't long before you learn that you've been crucified with Christ, buried and resurrected, and you're a new creature in Christ. But if you start doing an inventory of your life, you're thinking, now wait a minute, I know that's true, but I don't see it happening.

So your knowledge is always way out in front. The cool thing about your knowledge, though, and your faith in it, is that if you know it and you believe it, hold on, because the Holy Spirit is going to work it into your life. It's going to be part of what you are. That's the cool part. That's the really cool part. And you can expect Him to do that.

Otherwise, one, He wouldn't have shown you, and two, you wouldn't have gone for it. You wouldn't have believed it. Shouldn't it be said that one's knowledge of truth itself is in the words of one's growth in that truth? A thought. No, I mean, the ones, shouldn't it be then for his also ones, in a second, when it refers to the ones? One's knowledge of one's growth? Is that what you mean? Yes. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's okay. I need somebody to help me with my diagramming. I'm even going to Greek class and learning how to diagram. How can I screw this up? How long is it going to take you to grow into the truth that you know? It will take you all of your lifetime. So don't be nervous.

In the final analysis, we are to decide about spiritual matters by observation of other believers, especially leaders. What do you think about that one? You think, boy, quick to say false, right? Someone who really knows. You know, we laugh about this question, but I must tell you that lots and lots of believers, and I'm guilty of it too, observe other believers to see if it works in their life, and if I can see in their life that they're a holy person, or they're kind of getting it, then it sort of verifies for me, well maybe this stuff is for real.

The point made in this question is that isn't where the focus should be. Where should the focus be? On the Word. That's exactly right. The conformity to the image of Christ is by beholding Christ, not beholding some elder someplace, or idolizing somebody like Miles Stanford. That's a mistake. that need to have a certain amount of trust in good teachers? I think so. Then we have to believe that they're good teachers. Well, it's interesting.

Here comes a teacher in your life, someone who sounds really good, and you listen for a while and you like what they're saying, and you observe them and they seem to, you know, be kind of a cool person and, you know, don't sin too much, always show up with a shower, you know, kind of thing.

But at some point they say something that doesn't fit with your theology. So how do you verify it? How do you find out? You go to the Word and you check them out, right? And any teacher should be more than happy to be in that position. You go to the Word and you check out what I'm saying, and if it isn't there, you know.

So the thing is, is that every believer, the body of Christ is to grow from within, by each member contributing to the edification of each other, each other member, okay? But the whole purpose is for everyone to focus in on Christ. So when you and I get together and we sit down and talk about the Lord, we are talking about the same person. And we really recognize Christ in each other. The doctrine goes along with that.

It's like some of the contemporary Christian literature that's out. When you sit down and begin to read it, it isn't long before you cannot line up with what they're saying with the Word of God. You can't do it. Or they've gone somewhere else in the Word of God, back under the Mosaic Law system, to use Scripture to verify what they're teaching, and it goes out of the realm of grace. And you recognize it. You see it, not only because you know the Word, but you know what grace is. You know who grace is, maybe.

So I would say that it's incumbent upon every believer to check out every one of their teachers, every single one of them, and make sure, because teachers don't know everything. I mean, they're learners too. And so to be challenged is really a good thing, not a bad thing. I mean, I love it when people challenge me. It's terrific, because then I'm learning, and I'm having to rethink what I've said. Is this okay? So, yeah.

Even if you're teaching correctly, putting the faith and trust in the teacher rather than the Word is where it will fail. And the student goes down with the teacher. Even though the teaching is fine, the human can fail. The old nature will. fail. A lot of people fail as teachers because they put all their faith and trust in the teacher. If you're not teaching correctly, a man will fail. Adam, if you're putting your trust in anyone other than Christ and His Word, they'll be failures. I think that's such a critical biblical point. So critical that in the sequence of the epistles, you have Romans, what's the next one? 1 Corinthians? What's the big problem in 1 Corinthians?

The first thing he hits on. Putting teachers up on a pedestal. That's the very first thing he nails. Because we have such a tendency to do that, we're like that. We like having heroes. Football heroes, presidents, teachers, whatever. We just sort of gravitate to that kind of thing.

But Paul makes a real big issue out of it. and says, wait a minute, this isn't appropriate for the way the body of Christ functions. The other thing you find out is that no matter what the Lord has you doing involved in the body of Christ, we'll talk more about that next week, you don't do it all. You only do one little part of it. And all of the people around you do other parts. and they edify you in a jillion ways.

I've had people come up to me and say, well, I can't figure out what my spiritual gift is. And I'll say to them, well, I know what it is. You're just a person that exhibits Christ and encourages me or whatever. And they don't think it's a big deal. Well, it's a huge deal with somebody like me.

Because if you're like me, you hang around teachers all the time, all they do is one-up each other. I'm not good. And the reason for that is because they are always elevated. They always talk to large groups of people. And in the eyes of the children, they are better than anybody else. They think, ah, I'm good. And that spoils their character and their attitude.

It's a funny saying, but this is a... That's a good one, though. I think it's appropriate. In this country we can just call them pastor's kids. And it means all of that. So, is it appropriate to expect to have experience, spiritual experience in your life? Yes. I hope so. Where does it fit? Well, we're spiritual beings. Yes, we are. So we should have spirituality. Yes, we should. It comes after the knowledge. It comes after the knowledge and the settling down part. Here's the problem that you see.

You believe a truth and a lot of people get saved and it's a very emotional experience. It was a huge emotional experience for me and I was surprised when I met other Christians who, like my son John, He can't remember when he became a Christian. He thinks he's always been one. So there's never been an experience of salvation for him. You know what I'm saying? So I'm thinking, well, he needs to have that experience. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't.

The focus on the Word of God and settling down on what it says and faith in it, the experience will follow. It doesn't precede it. It comes after. Beholding the glory of the Lord is an experience? You better believe it is. It would have to be. Face to face with the glory of Christ, would it be an experience?

Absolutely it is. But the doctrine is in place first. Because the doctrine reveals Him. So you don't go around saying, well I felt that so it must be right. No. It is right because it says so in the Word of God. There may be a feeling that comes along at some point, but that doesn't verify it. And the Holy Spirit's job is to verify it.

You know, if you study, and we've studied Hebrews, Hebrews 11.1 says, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence or the proof or the reality of things unseen. And then the next verse says, by it, The fathers or the something received witness. The point is that even in the Old Testament times, when those men believed and women believed, the Holy Spirit confirmed in them their belief was so. There's a confirmation, which is, is it an experience? Yeah, I think so. It's not a hats and horns and lights and firecracker kind of thing, but there's a settling down that the Holy Spirit does on truth. All spiritual growth entails a lifelong process. What do you think? True or false? True. Why?

Why does it take that long? It takes our earthly suit to die before Yeah, it's interesting. Well, if it's going to take the Lord all eternity to reveal His glory to us, then when we kick the bucket at 75, we're still in it. You should live that long. Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

And what's interesting about spiritual growth, early on, I think, in the growth process, From your perspective, it's all about your growth. It's all about you. But as you grow, it stops being about you and starts becoming about Christ. So that as you grow, it is not I but Christ. He becomes the focus of what you're about. And as that process happens, you become qualified to minister to others. Because if it's only about you, You're not qualified to minister to others. You understand what I'm saying? So, you become interested in the Lord Jesus Christ. What's He interested in? Because if you love Him and you're interested in Him, then you're going to be interested in what He's focused on. What's He focused on?

The Father. And what are they engaged in doing? They're edifying the Church. That's what they're doing. So guess where you're going to be involved in doing? It gives me an analogy though, which when you say that the baby in Christ, what's a baby? All it wants is... That's right. And then the growth period, becoming who you are. Right. And that's the exact analogy of a baby in Christ. What is it? He's given us the analogy, and we follow it.

It's how long that growth period is before we become who we are. It's lifelong. Yeah, it is lifelong. At one year old you're not teaching, but at five years old, the teaching and administering to others is lifelong as you grow. It's not in 20 years, 50, 60, 80 years. Well, you'll find, I think, that the teaching, the sphere of your teaching starts close to home. It starts with your kids, spouse, somebody in your family, and grows from there. I'm ever amazed at watching my son John grow and how the Lord so carefully is so careful with him that he gets in a mode where he's totally self-centered and he's debating with us from a totally self-centered viewpoint. And he cannot see, nor does he want to see, the other side of the discussion.

Right? So you go through a time with him where you, we had one of these times with him yesterday. But over the rest of the day, the Holy Spirit carefully showed him some things that was like, oh yeah, you know, not that mom and dad are right, but that, oh yeah, I see what they're saying, you know, which affects a change in him. You know, tomorrow he'll be back doing whatever, The point is, is that, you know, he's 13 years old and the growth that he's gone through in 13 years is just monumental. But it did take 13 years. And he's not even halfway there yet.

You see? The other thing, too, is when you have multiple children growing up, individuals, you know, Caroline Davis. Sure. Four different individuals in crisis, all totally different. The growth pattern and the growth is all different. But the individual growth, looking at Caroline versus Nick versus Liv, in all four of ours, And then I apply growth in individuals myself. Completely different than Avery. And back to my little spirit, body concept. I may be the pinky. She's the elbow. And there's growth patterns for each one of us. So it's all individual growth that individually deals with.

I asked Miles one time when I was younger, because I think if you've been a Christian about 16 or 17 years, that's just about right. You think you know everything, right? Which means you don't know anything. But I said to him one time, I said, you know, how do you learn to minister to other believers or to people? He said, you learn it by the Lord ministering to you. Because you know, as you look back, how careful he was, how patient he was, how thorough he was, and never in a hurry. And that teaches you to be careful and thorough and patient with those that you minister to. Because you've learned what the process is, and you're okay with it.

No instant breakfast, none of that. Believers want a minimum of truth and study with a maximum of results. This is really, really true of lots and lots of believers who wake up And they really do want to grow, grow, grow, grow, but they don't. The minimum of truth and study.

And there's a penalty for that. Do you remember reading what Miles said the penalty was? The penalty for the wrong emphasis. If the focus is on the maximum of results, what's the penalty? Self-centeredness instead of Christ-centeredness. Not that he won't work you out of that, but that's the problem.

The path of the cross is the path of growth. Do you understand what he means by the path of the cross? What does he mean by that? The way of the cross. What is it? Death first, then life. So here we go down the road of crucifixion. Probably the most difficult part of spiritual growth is the path of the cross, because what it does is that the Holy Spirit applies the death of the cross to your life. Do you understand that? One, if you don't know that that's what the path is, then you're going to squirm when it starts to happen, think all kinds of weird things are going on in your life when in fact what's really going on is the application of the death of the cross to you conditionally in your experience. There comes a time in every growing believer's life when he says to the Lord, you know what?

You did the right thing with me. You crucified me. That was the right thing to do. Up until that time there's always this viewpoint that, boy, I am saved. Something added on to me. I'm doing really well. And it never dawns on you that this really well viewpoint you have is going to get crucified. That it is going to be, not you, but Christ. That's a tough pill to swallow. And so as the Holy Spirit shows you who you really are in Adam, and the power of that sin nature, you come to recognize that the only thing that will deal with that is the cross of Christ.

The only thing. God didn't fix us up. He replaced us. He did away with us, in a sense, and recreated us in Christ. Because there's nothing of the old man that's salvageable. Nothing. Well, how long is it going to take to learn that? A long time. Because we're all too cool. We think we've got it wired.

And so, as you grow spiritually and you see other brothers and sisters coming down that path, You can slide in next to him and say, you know what? This is okay. This is the work of the Lord, showing you who you are, so that you can reckon on the facts. Reckon yourself indeed dead unto sin, but alive unto God. Critical part, I think. The path of the cross is the path that we're all on.

Any discussion about that? You OK with that? I mean, that's the that's the bad news. You're not going to prove that. It's beautiful. It's wonderful. I wouldn't trade it. But still, it's painful. Yeah, it is. Well, it's painful. I mean, dying isn't fun. No. No. It's not fun.

But as you come to recognize that it's necessary... And the other thing that I think it's really a help in... Growing believers sometimes, especially those that are under the law, get despondent. because the law condemns them, and they don't measure up, and they know they don't, and they really try hard, and they fail. Well, if you come from a legalistic background, what's the remedy? Try harder. Try harder. The Word of God says, and you're afraid to admit, I'm out of gas, I can't try anymore.

But if you understand the path of the cross, you recognize that it's all designed to get you to stop trying and start reckoning. Stop trying to improve yourself and reckon yourself to be what God says is true of you. You've been crucified. You've been separated from that old man and you know what? That isn't who you are anymore. Think about this.

Do you view yourself, see how honest you are, do you view yourself As being in Adam, still a sinner, but forgiven, and God is working to make you better. Or do you see yourself in Christ only? When confronted with any circumstance, do you see yourself, oh, I gotta go beg God to help me out? Or do you see yourself in Christ, I don't need to beg for anything, this is of the Lord.

I'm a son. That's who I am. Or, am I trying to get better? Or am I already perfect, and the circumstances come in my way are designed by God to conform me to the image of his son? I am a son. Do you see yourself in Christ only? Well, if you don't, it's okay. But guess what? We're on our way. We're on the way. That's where we're going. It's a cool thing when you see yourself only in Christ, that you don't view yourself in Adam anymore.

Is there such a thing as a forgiven sinner in the body of Christ? What do you think? The answer is no. It's an oxymoron. Because you're positioned in Christ, are you a sinner? By position? No, you're not. Well, if you tell a young believer who's first starting to grow, you lay that information on them, they think you're nuts. You may be, but they don't need to know it. You are not, you know.

Miles actually kind of tried to read this twice. The palace is always like a redeemed center. And I think Miles, if he was sitting here, we could ask him about that and he would make an issue of it. Not, he would say... Well, when I was on, you know, we were both names in each one's new career creation, and all that, but it was like, you know, I kind of recalled it as a redeemed center. I remember sitting in his class one time and the Schofield Study Bible talks about Christians being saved sinners. He said, get out your pencils and scratch that out.

That's not who you are. But it's hard because you think, boy, you know, I'm kind of, you know, this is a little bit too extreme to view myself as not a sinner anymore because I know me pretty well. So identity is different than your behavior sometimes. And it's inconsistent with a believer.

It's not ordinary and normal for a believer to sin. See that? It's normal for Adam to sin. That's all he does. It's inconsistent with Adam to be anything other than a sinner. But if you're positioned in Christ, sinning is insanity, spiritual insanity. You see that? It isn't, gee, I'm doing bad things. No, it's not. When I sin, if I understand the way of the cross, that really isn't consistent with who God says I am.

And it doesn't diminish the severity of sin, it enhances your position, I think. To think that God would look at you as being in His Son only, totally separated from the sin nature, that's incredible. But that's the truth. But even if you understand that, even if you understand that you're dead to sin, that is not who you are, you're going to continue doing it.

And are you not supposed to work to not sin? Are you supposed to just say, listen, that's not who I am, God forgives me, and will the Spirit just somehow work it out? I don't understand how it works. I mean, sure, I can say I'm saved, God doesn't see me as my physician, I'm clean, I'm a new person, but that doesn't change the fact that I sin and that puts me in a poor relationship with God.

I shouldn't have that shame, I shouldn't have, it shouldn't put me in a different relationship with God because I'm positioned to be not different. It does. Yeah, I mean that's just a terrific point. What do you think? Somebody else want to challenge that or answer it?

No, he's absolutely right because it's a It is one of those issues that you face as you grow because you cannot diminish the severity of your sin. You know that it's not of God and it's condemnatory. You can't pass over sin. You can't just sweep it under the carpet. You think about how serious sin is. One guy takes one bite out of one piece of fruit and the whole creation falls? What's the big deal? Right? I mean, he didn't murder anybody. One bite, come on, give me a break. See what I'm saying?

Yet here you go as a believer and you're growing and you begin to see that sinning is a really awful thing. Especially when you do it, it cuts off the fellowship you have. And you miss that, and you have this added player in the mix, our pal Satan, who, as soon as, you know, he's condemning you. Boy, you are a bad guy, and God could, and here comes all the condemnation from him, right?

So, what is a believer's viewpoint and attitude about his sinning? What does he learn as he grows spiritually? Well, he's like, forget not all my benefits, but give us all my negligences, all my diseases. That's right, the path of the cross. The believer, the growing believer doesn't need forgiveness, right? He's already got it. The sin that you guys are all going to commit this afternoon, has it been paid for?

Are you forgiven? So what's the big deal? The big deal is that when you do it, The fellowship with the Father is cut off. So what's the privilege you have for restoration to fellowship? You get to confess. What is confession? You agree with God. And what does God say? Wait a minute, God says, oh, you're a dirty rotten dog, you shouldn't be doing those things? And you've got to really be sorry? And if you're not sorry, I'm not going to forgive you? Is that what He says? What does He say? I mean, what are the mechanics? His whole purpose is to restore us to fellowship, and how does he do it? If we confess our sins, in other words, if we agree with God about our sins, which is positional truth about who we are in Christ, yeah, I have done those things, but I agree with you, God, that isn't who I am, I'm restored to fellowship. cleanse from all unrighteousness.

Notice 1 John 1.9 does not say to ask for forgiveness, does it? Why not? Because you're already forgiven. But it does say to confess.

So there isn't any sweeping. There isn't any, oh, it's not a big deal. It's a huge deal. So the path of the cross in terms of confession and sinning is designed specifically to deliver the believer from the power of sin. He knows he's forgiven. He doesn't have any problem with the fact that he has eternal security and that he doesn't excuse his sin, but he knows that even his sinning isn't going to condemn him. And that's not a free ticket. It isn't a, oh, gee, I can just do whatever I want, you know, Romans 6, one shall we sin, that grace may abound.

Well, the answer is, no way. And the no way answer is because, well, that doesn't fit with who we are and what God is and what He's done. It isn't, oh, no, I've got to stop doing it. It just doesn't fit in the equation. It isn't part of what God has done. It doesn't work. It doesn't fit.

I think that it's hard. When I first was introduced to these truths, I felt very strong, I must stop sinning. And the thing with that is that the more I said I'm not going to hate, it seemed like it would eat down everywhere. But it's hard to grasp the grace part of all of what you've just said. Grace is infinite because Christ is. So then at the end, you do get stuck in the doing and thinking, well, I have to do more than just say, okay, I agree with you. It just doesn't feel right. I mean, I'm a new believer. It didn't feel right. I mean, because, boy, didn't he know I really sucked.

You're the only one. No. What I hope you're discovering in the way that Miles puts things together is that he does give you 1, 2, 3, 4, right? And what's interesting about it is that principles, remember when we first started talking about the principles of spiritual growth, God functions based on principles. And they work the same way and effectively every time. So, let's jump ahead a little bit. Question 8, I said, state the four foundational truths on which we are to reckon and stand.

Okay? Now, these are sequential, and they're important in the sequence they're in, and you may know them to be able to recite them, but this is the sequence in which the Holy Spirit works them into your life. Okay? Now, one, born anew in Christ. That's the first foundational truth. Emphasis on the word foundation. This is not growth, this is foundation. Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Okay? That's number one.

The next one is accepted in Christ. Our Father is able to accept us fully in His Son, based on scriptures like, to the praise and glory of His grace wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved. We already are acceptable. The third one is that we are eternally secured in Christ. Your life is hid with Christ in God. Security is there. You got it. And the last one is We are positioned in Christ, has quickened us or enlifed us together with Christ and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Foundational. Now listen to this next statement.

It is futile to seek to grow by means of these truths. You cannot grow on these truths. Why? Because they're not for growth. They're birth truths. They're foundational. They are not the information that you grow on. Do you need to know them and be settled down on them? Absolutely. You've got to have the foundation in place before you can build the superstructure. I have people say to me, you guys are always focusing on the positional truths. Why don't you ever talk about the getting to the doing part?

As you observe and spend time with believers, there are some that aren't settled down here. They're not secure. They don't even know that they have a position in Christ that's unchangeable. And then some will look at these truths and say, oh, these must be the growth truths. No, they're not. No, they're not. And they try to grow based on this.

Now, he talks about the three pillars of knowledge by which you grow. The first one is the knowledge of birth, acceptance, security, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the first pillar. The second one is the knowledge of His cross as our cross. is the central pillar. The cross of Calvary is not only the central fact of the universe, but it's also of the life of the believer.

As we see our identification with Christ in his death unto sin, we know his cross to be our cross. We know self to have been crucified there. We know ourselves to have been cut off from Adam and freed from the power of sin. Only from this pillar of knowledge can we reckon ourselves dead unto sin in our daily walk.

That's the information you're going to grow on. It isn't the four foundational facts, it's the identification truths that you grow on. You see that? Because what is spiritual growth? What is it? It's growing into what you already are. Well, what are the mechanics of how you got to be what you are positionally?

It's the cross. Romans 6 are all mechanics. Romans 5 says, well, there's this one man, Adam, and there's this other man, Christ. And the deal is, is that God is going to take you out of Adam, and he's going to put you in Christ. And Romans 6 says, here's how he did it. This is how he did it.

Your faith in those facts is what growth is all about. And the third pillar is the knowledge that we are alive and complete in the risen Lord places us securely upon the third pillar. Now our reckoning can be fully established as we count ourselves to be alive under God in Christ. Now his life can be manifested in us by the growing fruit of the Spirit, that is, practical fulfillment of every purpose of God for us that we are conformed to his image. Why were you crucified? To free you from all that is ungodly. But he didn't leave you in the grave. We were resurrected to newness of life. Growth is in the new life. Being dead unto sin frees you. Being alive unto God is where your focus is.

Those are the growth truths. Those two issues are the elements of growth. If you're not settled down on the fundamentals, you're going to be really weak on the growth. Agree with that? If the foundation is a little shaky, the superstructure is going to be a lot shaky.

So, as we grow, and as we minister to others, the sequence of these truths is really important. And if you sit down to council with a believer, and you just kind of start down this path, you can see pretty quickly where they are, and where you need to focus. Because there are a lot of believers that don't think they're secure. There are a lot of believers who don't see themselves positioned in Christ, who don't know they have a standing before God that can't be touched, let alone the fact that they're crucified. Does that make sense? The principles are sequential, and they're important, not only for your growth to understand, you know, here are the steps, but also in your ministering to others. I always think I don't have enough material. Let's close.

Our dear Father, how we thank you for what you've done and how you are patiently and carefully showing us the steps and the principles by which we are to be conformed to the image of your Son. We thank you so much for that and we pray in his precious name. Amen.