Reckoning that Counts
Mike Doyle · Mar 13, 2005
Reckoning That Counts, No. 11
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826232224311

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

OK, today we're going to do an hour. Were there any sheets left over from last week? Because we're going to do Chapter 12, which is the reckoning that counts. Colossians three. Chapter 12 in the reckoning that counts, which is Colossians three, one through about and probably now. Now, I want to set this up a little bit. I want to set this up a little bit by saying this.

You know, you've noticed that as we've gone through this book, a chapter a week, which is pretty fast, actually, that we have, starting in chapter 6, we talk about Romans 6 and Romans 7 and Romans 8, the self-life, And last week, or two weeks ago, we did Galatians 2.20, and last week, Philippians 3.10. Now, what's interesting about that is that, and I don't know if you've noticed this road that we're going down, but where we're headed to is the resurrection side of the cross, and that's really what Philippians 3 is about. So I think if you if you spent some time in the homework, I think you'll discover that that Miles said some kind of weird things that if you're not if if you haven't been tracking with him, they kind of shock you. At least I have people say to me, what do you mean I don't beg God for stuff? Or ask him, you know? So keeping that in mind, I think it's probably one of the best chapters in any of the stuff he's ever written, is this chapter.

Okay? Okay, let's do the true or false first. The first one is the reason so many believers are not living from their heavenly position in the Liberator is that they are not yet established in the truth of their freedom from the influence of the world. True or false? True. Okay. Miles states it exactly that way. Why are you free from the influences of the world, assuming that you are? Why are you free? You're in Christ. What else? Yeah, how did you get in Christ? What's that? But what were the mechanics?

Yeah, you died with him. You were identified with his death. And so the freedom or the separation that every believer owns by position is because of his inclusion on the cross. Now, I want you to notice something really critical that Myles talks about here, and this is the part that a lot of people miss. He says, the reason so many Christians are not living in their heavenly position, in the liberator. The key is the liberator. The doctrine is really important, but the liberator is the one who sets you free. The doctrine just tells you how. You see that? Okay? So, we've talked a lot about being crucified. The old man has been crucified. in Romans 6 and Galatians 20. We know that we're free from the law according to Romans 6. We know that we're free from our friend Satan.

And now the world. Really? How come I'm paying so close attention to the 9 o'clock news? Okay, two. We do not go to the Lord for help. but we rest in him as the all-sufficient one." True or false? True. Is that, no, not to pick on you. Is that really true in your life?

Is that really what's going on? My friend Carol King, Gary's mom, tells me over and over again that she has begged God for stuff for years and then he comes around, finally figures it out and comes around. She prayed and prayed and prayed for your brother-in-law's salvation. He got saved. You know, for years.

What do you think about that? I mean, it's the tendency of we as believers to think that repetition is going to get God's attention. But doesn't he say we should bang at the door? You know, so that we try to break in? Let's talk about that. Also, pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. So that means you're going to nag him to death? I hear people asking God for more faith. Right. He did that. He had it. Yeah.

It's interesting that every human being has faith, right? When you got in your Plymouth this morning to come down here, you had faith you were going to make it. Every human being lives by faith, don't they? It just depends on what the object of your faith is.

What you find, which is the very first sentence in this chapter, is this, that the first valid faith we exercised toward God was by means of reckoning. We counted upon the Lord Jesus as our Savior. The principle of reckoning is to have faith in a finished work. That's the key, the finished work.

So if God has already done everything, why would you beg Him? Why would you do that? Well, you wouldn't if you were persuaded that God has done everything. That in this case, if you understand that he's the all-sufficient one, well, what don't I have?

Yes, he did. And he said, you know, in Philippians, make all your requests known unto God, right? With prayer and supplication. And then I'll give you everything you ask, right? Isn't that what he said? Not yet. What did he say? What did he say he would give you if you made all your requests known?

He'll give you the peace that passes understanding. And you think that the Mercedes you asked for will give you that peace, right? And you didn't get it. Yet, if you do go to him and ask him, he gives you the peace that passes understanding. Where does that come from? Alignment? Interesting word. The peace that passes understanding comes from, I think, intimacy with him, and the fact that you are dealing with the All-Sufficient One.

See, he described if if if Courtney was Bill Gates and I needed 50 bucks, so I go see Bill and Bill says, you know, he doesn't say he's going to give me the 50 bucks, but he says, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it. I have absolute confidence that he has the resources to cover the 50.

When I go to my father about any sort of circumstance in my life, what I've learned, and I learned by going to him, is that he has more than ample resources to cover whatever my request is. And what I discover by going to him is that really what I'm after is him. And my intimacy with him, I think, lessens the The fact that whatever I asked him for was critical from my viewpoint. Do you see that? From the standpoint that whatever the circumstance is, I recognize that he's going to turn it to good, that he works all things together for my good to approve me.

You can ask for anything. I think the problem is in understanding the answer. You can ask for anything. That's the intimacy we have. It's our understanding of the answer. When it's no, it's no. knowing that he's in control of it, and of all circumstances. We may ask stupid things, you know, or, you know, tell my son, you know, just pray for him and, you know, and, but it may be God's will right now for him to have it. So, but we have peace in the understanding that he's in control of it. Okay. Now, for the answer, I mean, we can ask. But it may be weeks, it may be days, it may be today. Or maybe never. Or maybe never. But that's, it's peace in the understanding of the answer. And that he's in control of that. Okay. Now, I've kind of set you up with this, going down this track. That's why I sit on this side. Yeah, that's right. And here's the deal.

We assume, in the conversation so far, that we can, and we can, we can go to God with all of our requests. But if you've spent some time studying this chapter, when he says, since you be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, there's a difference in the things of value from above and the things that we think are valuable from here below. Right? I mean, we naturally assume if there's sickness or problems in our life, that that's really what's really important. It may or may not be from our position of seeking those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God.

You see that? From there, things are different. You know? Yeah, but that's understanding the answer. I mean, he may want something to go through. That's why I don't think everybody ever gives you prayer requests. I know, they're cowards. You know, getting out of a circumstance or something like that. I think it's fine to have. It's just you have to have the understanding of the answer.

And that's that he's in control. And I think, in terms of John 17, I thought he prayed for us as believers. And he's praying for us here. So we can ask for things here. Actually, John 17 lines up with Philippians 3, really good, because they're not of the world. I've sent them into the world. I've given them the same... I pray that they would have the same intimacy with you that I have. They're yours. I had them, now I give them back to you, that they might be one.

Well, from that perspective, I'm not from around here anymore. existence and history are now heavenly. And I think that that's the point of Colossians 3, since you'll be risen with Christ. Since that's true, and that it's a matter of perspective. If I don't view myself as being risen and seated, then the cares and woes of the world are really important to me because that's who I see myself to be. I may see myself crucified, but if I don't see myself risen with Him, or I don't believe Him about that, or it's nice but I'm not there yet, is the way to put it, I think there's a perspective gained by faith in the resurrection, my personal resurrection with Christ, that colors and influences the cares and woes of the world.

Well, yeah, but I mean, why did we pray for Helmut's son? Oh, sure. Did we only pray for heavenly things? No, no. You pray, but I think you pray down rather than up is maybe a way to put it. I mean, let's take Helmut, we're picking on your son today. I hope he's a good fiddler. From a heavenly perspective, Helmut's son is a believer and a son of God, right? There's nothing that can be added to his position in Christ. Now here's an earthly circumstance where he, to some degree, threatens his physical well-being, right? From God's perspective, is that a threat? Is it a tragedy?

Is it a circumstance that we need to beg him about? No. At the same time, there's an understanding that because he is a son, that whatever this thing is, He's going to use it, God will use it, the documos word, to approve his son and to cause him to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord, maybe just a little bit. Now, do we pray that he gets well? Sure we would. Yeah, we're going to pray really hard that he gets sicker. It's really confusing or very fine line. It is. You know, that's I say, you know, that's why I said I turned around, you know, yes, we shouldn't be. I mean. I don't know how to put this. You're praying down over it. Like I said, I just pray that you have more peace in the understanding of the answer. God's in control of all things. Whatever happens, He knows about it. He's not going to say, oops. And that's the key, or the looking down part. He's in control.

We can pray for comfort through this. May or may not take better circumstances. And I just, it's just, it's a real fine line. Well, I also think this. I think the heavenly man probably prays more than the earthly man. It's just that the way in which he does it is different. You know, it's like, I called you on the phone a couple of weeks ago to talk about the floodplain situation. And we're going back and forth and we're talking, well, from my position of being in Christ, and this relationship I have with my father, I can sit with him and sort of do this about circumstances and listen to him through the word as to what his viewpoint is, and I do get his viewpoint. Oh yeah, and that's what I say.

I think we have a fear of bringing up any prayer requests. I know. Because I pray that you don't get well and you're not going to. Are we asking or are we begging? This brought it up in this chapter. I think we do have that amnesty. I agree. That we can say, I don't understand this.

What is going on? You know, I don't understand. I just fully rest in your understanding. You know what's going on. Yeah, I know. That's right. You know, so I think we do have an intimacy to bring anything in. I agree. So with the equivalent of what you're saying to bring either up or down, would the equivalent of that be praying from your position in rather than your position out? I think so. I think that's what I mean. Yeah.

From your position in Christ, it really is a downward focus from who I am in Christ, which changes. The begging goes away and there's a thankfulness and a realization of God's perspective about the circumstances. Gary. Oh, just because mom's going to be listening to this tape, then you've got to bring the whole circle back.

I mean, so related back to that, because certainly, you know, for non-believers that we love. Yeah. And we believe, you know, we pray for their salvation. Right. Which is a little bigger than just a circumstance, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Much bigger. Yeah. I mean, what's our attitude in that? Yeah.

Actually, you know, I've prayed for a lot of people's salvation, but from the standpoint that if it's my father's will, you know, I don't have any illusions about or delusions about, you know, who and what salvation is all about and who's the procuring cause.

Now, I have prayed, though, that if God would use me in that respect for that person, you know, that'd be cool, or anybody, it doesn't matter to me. You know, I've been picking on the guy in the White House for 20 years. I don't know. I do know this, that there's lots of people in my sphere of influence that I really love, and I've prayed for some of them for my whole Christian life, and God hasn't saved them. It doesn't mean, and I know that I'm not sneaking up to the Lord and whispering in His ear and begging Him. He already knows my intent. And I try to rely on what Romans 8 teaches about We don't know how to pray as we ought.

And let the Spirit teach me what to do and what to say kind of thing. I do know this, that coming out of Catholicism, Catholics have this viewpoint, I love this, that the reason they held Mary in such high esteem is the Jewish mom always had the son's ear. If you could get mom to pick on him, you could get him to respond. But then but then but then you read in John chapter three, you didn't respond to other than I mean, yeah, I turned the water into wine, but he's you know, he wasn't real nice to her. Anyway, we got to we got to move on. But this same point will, I think, stay with us. Three. Please. Right there.

Last two or three months, I've been reading the sixth volume of Lewis Perry Schaefer, who started Dallas Seminary. Systematic theology is about the Holy Spirit, the whole volume, 300 pages, whatever. And quietly and systematically, the way his mind works, he specifically is saying that without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, no one gets saved. That's right. Period.

So if you're praying humanly, like we do, into wanting someone to get saved, whatever, if it isn't the will of the Father, that person won't get saved, then you could be praying earnestly, but not correctly in that sense. There's no guilt on your part, because the Holy Spirit is the only one in the human race that causes anything. Yeah, I agree with that. So the thing is, you know, I don't know how to pray wordly, like you're saying. I said, I don't know how to pray, so you know, you pray in me, help yourself. But the specific thing, I was kind of really startled when I read it, is that our Heavenly Father seems to have chosen within the human race those who are going to be his sons. Right. And the Holy Spirit comes and gets you. Right.

I hang out in prisons and everything and I tell them, well you're special. They say they're born again and they're sitting there and their lives are destroyed. And you tell them they're special. Yeah. He said, you know, that you're already glorified in your spirit. They go, David Lane is an old guy who fell off the cart. Yeah. But it is very specific in that sixth volume, I don't want to recycle this, but is that the spirit alone causes people to be illuminated in their carnal mind. Yeah. Because you can't come born again without illumination. I agree. Christ died for you. I agree. The only way that can be observed or understood is if the Holy Spirit opens up your mind that Christ died for you. And if he does, he'll draw you into Christ in his own time and frame with us. And other than that, nothing's going on except religion.

You know, I'm going to this Greek class, Craig's Greek class on Saturday night, and I had that same thought last night, having done some preparation for today. Myles specifically says that the believer's progress is based on the Spirit-taught Word of God.

Precisely. And why would someone want to learn the Greek language? I have no idea. It's some kind of pen. But you know what's cool? The way that Craig is teaching it is kind of cool because what we're moving towards is being able to take a piece of scripture and diagram it, fill in all of the Greek words and the endings and what modifies what. What's cool about that is that you can get an understanding, and I'm convinced that the Spirit uses those tools also, but you don't need them. I mean, you and I can understand what the Spirit of God is teaching just by hearing it. You understand what I'm saying?

I mean, you could say, we were working on Ephesians 1.1 last night.

You could verbalize Ephesians 1.1 to me and the Holy Spirit could show me what he means there and I would understand it. But maybe another guy sitting next to me doesn't get that same understanding until he's down the road and he's in Craig's class and he's, oh yeah, I see that. I am of a mind. That the Spirit is way more proactive in our lives than we give Him credit for.

I use the Amplified Bible because it takes the Greek up into English. And I use it in prison all the time. And I had a fellow use their first name in the Bible. And it's just amazing the way that flows, you know, in an Amplified Bible. When you use your first name in the Bible, you haven't read it yet. Sin has taken up its home in my body, and that's possession of my soul. You took a guy in prison and showed him that. Sin is in you, but it's not you. That amplifies it. Okay, three.

Through our spirit-taught study of God's Word, we are given both the revelation of the truth and the practical reality in our lives. Yea or nay? I think yes. And I think our attitude, as believers, as we read the Word of God, is that the Spirit wrote this through men, and He's the only one, I think, that can reveal to you what He meant. But He's of a mind to do that every time.

You know, we've talked a lot in this class that when you study the Word of God, if you understand why it's there, it's not there to cram your head full of biblical facts so that we've got too many theologians already. You know, we don't need any more.

What it's designed to do is to reveal the person of Christ to you, right? And so when you read in John 14, 15, 16, the Lord Jesus says exactly that. You know, I'm going to go and when I go I'm going to send the Spirit and He's going to remind you of everything that I taught you. He's going to reveal me to you. If you know that and believe it, then your viewpoint from the study of the scripture changes. If you come at the scriptures that it's the manual to live the Christian life, then you learn a bunch of refrigerator list laws, and what do you get? You get nowhere. Tricky ones, fill in the blank.

Reckoning ourselves alive unto God in the Lord Jesus amounts to what? Taking our position in Him. See that? When we learn to fix our minds on the Lord Jesus and rest in Him in the heavenlies, we will not be oppressed by what three things? Situations here on the earth. Now, there's an example that came up and my wife and I were talking about this person that we know. And my wife has spent a lot of time with this person and showing her possessions in Christ and the position she has. Yet, this is where their discussion always goes.

From their viewpoint, the self, circumstances, and situations in that person's life supersede what God says. And so therefore, the consequences are that this person lives in fear and struggles, never has any rest, even though in her mind she's been shown that she has been crucified, buried, resurrected, is now seated in the heavenlies, and that she has been positionally separated from self, from the circumstances and situation.

You know what the bottom line is? She doesn't believe it. She won't believe it. She sees it, but the circumstances are, in her mind, in their mind, are greater than God's Word. And so therefore, the struggle continues. Maybe she can see it. Maybe. You know what I'm saying? Illumination. That's right. If you have a religion around that, illumination, in a sense. So, what's interesting is that the result of One, not knowing. We assume now that they know. But when they know the Word of God, you have to assume that the Spirit's going to show them.

He's not going to hold back. He's not going to say, if you just believe me for another 15 minutes, I'll show you. He doesn't work that way. He works in the Word of God, but the criteria is, graciously, is you have to believe Him. You have to believe it. If you don't believe it, or your attitude is, You've got to show me, and then I'll buy it. You know, now you're working on your deal, rather than God's deal. Do you see the difference? So there comes this, I think there's an attitude that develops in a believer who's growing, that doth sayeth the Lord. If he says it, okay, I buy it.

I don't even have to understand it, thank you. If you say that I'm seated with you in the heavenlies, I don't really know what you mean, but you said it, I believe you. And that's a principle that Miles has made through all of his books, and a principle that I find myself in discussions about a lot. If I don't believe it, then he won't work it into my life. If I do believe it, he will.

Then your discussion, we've had this discussion, you and I several times, well, if the Spirit doesn't show it to you, then you can't believe it, and so that kind of goes back on the Spirit. Well, I'm of a mind that if you read the Word of God, or are exposed to the Word of God in any manner, the Holy Spirit's showing you things. You're seeing them. Could I say something right there, please?

I've been around where my brother and other persons that have been pastors, some PhDs in theology over the decades, etc. And I think probably, I'm just making these questions, is that there are two ways of knowing. One is gnosis and the other one is epinosis. And if you read the Bible, like I did for years before I was born again, and for other people I know who have degrees and so forth, when they were reading the Bible, and I didn't understand this until now more, is that they were reading the Bible from Gnosis. In other words, if I can write this in my own language, therefore I am. But I think that unless the Holy Spirit gives you His He illumines your mind, hypnosis, spirituality. You can read this and get two PhDs in theology.

And I won't cut it. Well, there's a lot of those guys around. All my life. They've cost me decades. But the Spirit who has called us to be his children, He, in a tiny frame that is just along his omnipresence, right? He opens up your mind, and then you know. No argument, there's no this and that. You know. And that's the hypnosis of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to us. He teaches.

I would say this, and you know how you go all your Christian life, and you're learning stuff, and you go and then you read something that you read ten years ago, and you go, oh, I didn't see that then. You know, we were talking a few weeks ago about the foundational truths and the growth truths. I've read that a dozen times, but for the first time it made sense to me. Miles says that there are the four things that are the foundational truths, and those four things must be in place before there's going to be spiritual growth and the growth truths. Born again, see if I get them right, born again, by the Spirit of God, knowing my acceptance in the Beloved, I'm accepted in Christ.

What was the third one? Anybody remember? You guys are supposed to remember. I'm older than you are. I'll find them quickly. What grabbed me about that is the one thing that Miles did that made tons of sense to me, is that he was able to glean out of the Word of God the principles, how God does things. And I think he's accurate about that. Anybody find them? They're right before the pillars. Here we go. Here are the four things. Born anew in Christ.

And he uses 1 Peter 1.23. The second one is accepted in Christ. Our Father is able to accept us fully in His Son. Three is eternally secure in Christ. So you have born-again acceptance and security. And the fourth one is positioned in Christ. So you have some sort of an understanding about position.

Now, what Myles says about that, which I really agree with and sort of like all of us minister to different people who come to us with a problem or problems or whatever. Maybe our children, maybe friends, maybe whatever. And so we try to minister to them based on our experience and what we know. What this said to me was that God has a systematic way in which he ministers. And he does it by principles and he doesn't vary from those.

And so there are things that we could describe as the birth truths that we need to be settled down on as believers before we can grow. And Miles also said you cannot grow on the birth truths. It's not the right information. But you need the foundation in order to grow. Well, what I've discovered is that I got to reassessing in my mind people that I'm talking to and ministering to, and with a sincere heart to help them, that I better make sure that the foundation is there before I launch into Romans 6.

I mean, I love talking about identification, position, and all that's terrific, but if they don't have the foundation, I'm talking Greek to them, week 16 when they haven't gone to class one. Do you see that? We're into prepositions and they don't know what nouns are. See that?

I think that that's a principle that we as believers, not only for ourselves, but also for ministering to others, really need to understand. That there's a foundational birth things that are really important for every believer. And they need to be, you know, the concrete needs to be set up And then identification can be brought along for spiritual growth. I think that the end of the line, I don't know if I'd say it like that, farther down the line of spiritual growth is what we're talking about today, since you'd be risen with Christ. That's the risen side.

People say to me, well, when I come to church, I want to hear what I'm supposed to do. And I think that's one of the least understood principles of the Word of God, that not only is there the Word itself, but through the Word, because of your acquaintance with the Lord Jesus, you begin to discover how He does things. And the how-to's are not as important as the positional truth, but the how-to's are really important in terms of your ability to rest in Him as He does things in your life. where you're comfortable with the process. And to know that our God doesn't have a 12-gauge, he's not just spraying around, that he's systematic and he's logical, infinitely logical. And growth is principle upon principle, verse upon verse, line upon line.

And even Paul's epistles are set up that way. If you look at them, and how they're there, they're positioned perfectly for spiritual growth. The prison epistles are at the end. Romans is the first one. Romans is Christianity 101. All the basic stuff is there. Corinthians talks about the problems of self and flesh and religion and all these other things, and Galatians hits legalism. but it's moving towards position in the heavenlies where we really are.

And it's based on a finished work, finished work, finished work, not an acquiring of anything, finished, finished, finished. And so those principles get worked into us by the Holy Spirit along with the understanding of the word and the beholding of the Lord Jesus at the same time. So you're not surprised when things are going the way they're going. You know that this is the way he does things. Is there time involved? Eternity? Time, time, time.

You said Colossians emphasizes what? Colossians is really a man, how do I say this? Ephesians is the epistle that's written from a heavenly perspective, right? The whole thing is blessed with all blessings in Christ Jesus in the heavenlies. It's a picture of a man in his position in Christ in the heavenlies. When you get to Colossians, the position in the heavenlies is already there, but now the viewpoint is, well, that's where your position is, but you're still living down here in the body, and because you are, Here's how this man functions, risen, positionally risen, seeking those things which are above, right?

And then there's the instruction, put on Christ, put off the old man, kind of thing, all based on something that's already true, okay? Well, we're running out of time, so I better speed it up. Let's go to 9. The necessary continuity of reckoning is, and I left a part out of there you probably noticed, We know and reckon upon the truth of having died out of the Adamic creation, which results in we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. We are alive unto God in Him, and our life is hid with Christ in God. We've been established positionally. These are not things that you're acquiring. These are things that are already true. We seek to learn from where? Our risen position. But where does the revelation come through? Through the Word of God.

Now, why don't we go to Him, we've kind of already discussed this, why don't we go to Him for help and try to bring Him down to our level? Why don't you do that? Or do you do it? What do you think? Let's discuss that a little more. Why don't we go to Him for help and try to bring Him down to our level and to our circumstances? I've got five minutes. Isn't it subtle though, the difference? We talked about prayer before.

We're always trying to get God to come into our circumstances. Miles says that the Holy Spirit ministers life exclusively from the true heavenly source. The ministry of life is from there. So, he, how do I say this, from a conditional standpoint, the Holy Spirit is working for our condition to line up with our position, so he's constantly revealing to us who we are, where we are, and what we have. You see that? And so he encourages us or exhorts us in Colossians 3 to set our affections, our mind, our thoughts on things above and not on things of the earth.

And then he gives you a very succinct statement, for you're dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. Is that statement true? I'm serious. Is it true? Are you dead and is your life hid with Christ and God? If it's true, then how come you're so worried about earthly circumstances? If that's true, that's what I mean. That's a statement where you have to look at God and say, Are you kidding about this? What do you mean I'm dead and my life is hid with Christ and God? What do you mean? That can't be true, from my experience. See that?

So, what you find is, as the Holy Spirit ministers from the source, He ministers those things from our spiritual position, and that's why praying down becomes the viewpoint that you have as you grow, because you recognize that I'm seated with him in the heavenlies up there and there's no reason to plead with him about anything, right? But I can go to him for help based on my position.

Does that make sense? Does it make sense to you? How do I say this? If you recognize where you are and what you have, and that the one that you have to do with is the All-Sufficient One, then, and He, as the All-Sufficient One, has said to us, make all your requests known unto Me.

Okay? The thing is, is that from that position, the viewpoint is that level, not the circumstantial level. Do you see that? So the circumstances become of less importance than him. And you recognize that because he's sovereign, and because he's God, that he absolutely works every single one of those circumstances to approve you. Right? I think that's right. And it may not appear that way at first, But that's what he's doing. And the only way you know that is because he told you. You and another guy figure out that maybe this is what God is doing. No, he told you specifically that's what I'm doing.

How does the unenlightened one try to handle the problem of sin directly? I love this. On the negative side, what do we try to do? We seek to suppress self and we seek to crucify the old nature, right? On the positive side, we plead with God to change us for the better and we try to be more Christ-like.

Now you guys have been working really hard. What's the inevitable result? Total defeat. You lose. So what's the solution? Miles uses a very interesting term here. He says you meet sin indirectly. What do you mean by that? What do you mean by meeting sin indirectly? Through Christ? Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

I have to stop talking when the second buzzer goes off. Yesterday in the prison I was coming, just up toward the end of this one figure, you know, and I just inadvertently said, you know, on the earth there's only one great thing. The guys, you know, they said to me, I've never heard this before, there's only one Christ. I said, there is only one Christ and He's indwelling in me. So stop acting like a Christian. Let's close.

Dear Father, how we thank you for this time and your word and how wonderful it is to know not only what you're up to, but how you're doing it. We rest and trust you with our lives as your spirit works in us, the person of the Lord Jesus. How wonderful it is to know that on an increasing basis, we are able to behold his glory. We thank you, Father. We pray in his precious name. Amen.