Abide Above

There was some tricky stuff in here, I don't know if you noticed. True or false, the title of the chapter is Keep Looking Down. You ever heard that before? You want chapter 3 or 4? Okay, true or false, it is the finished work of the cross for the new nature and the abundant life of the Lord Jesus for the old nature. False. False? Why? They should be switched. They're switched? Yeah.

The cross is... The Holy Spirit ministers the cross to the old man. It's... for lack of a better way to say it, The application of the cross to the old man is what keeps him inoperative. It puts him out of business. It doesn't wipe him out, it just keeps him inoperative.

And then the abundant life of the Lord Jesus is for the new nature. So, mostly through this chapter, that's kind of what we're going to be spending our time talking about is old and new, and mostly new. The babe in Christ has started to live for the Savior and to serve Him with all his heart.

The motive is right, but the motivation is wrong. True or false? True. So the motive is right. What's wrong with the motivation? He doesn't know enough yet. He doesn't know enough yet. Yeah? What doesn't he know? His position. He doesn't know his position. What else? His identification. He doesn't know his identification. What has he got to learn? He's seeking to live and serve the Lord, right?

And his motive is right. Why would the motivation be wrong? There's two big reasons. Yeah, it's self-motivation and it's based on what truths? Law. No. It's based on the birth truths. Yeah, the birth truths. He's trying to live for the Lord based on the birth truths.

He's thankful that God saved him. He's very excited. He may even know as much as his total acceptance in Christ. He may even understand that the eternal security of the believer. He may even understand the term about being in Christ, even though he doesn't know how he got there. But those are all birth truths, they're not growth truths.

And there's another reason why his motivation is wrong. Another reason is that he's trying to do this based on his own strength and his own ability. And I think that's the big issue. I think that's the huge issue. Because most believers, I think, young believers, classified that way, and I dare say a lot of the older ones, really try to live the Christian life based on their own strength and their own ability. They can read, they can comprehend, they can understand. And especially if they're in an environment where there's a little bit of law put on them, the law is an appeal to the old man.

That is such a paradox to what the normal Christian viewpoint is, that it takes a believer, I think some time, to come to that understanding that I really am trying to do this out of my own strength. The kind of life that God has called me to live is way beyond my capacity to live it, yet He expects me to do it. This Christianity turns out to be tougher than I thought. In contrast to the popular exhortation to keep looking up, from ourselves to Christ, we are to keep looking down from our position in Him upon our circumstances here on the earth.

True or false? Why from there? Why there? That's where we are. The Spirit has placed us in Christ, and Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Now this is another one of those truths that as you read the Word of God, you initially, I mean, you say, boy, that's really a cool thing, that I'm placed in Christ, but it can't really be true. I've never seen things from that perspective before, right? But that's, the reality of it is, From your position, that's exactly where we are. And as the Holy Spirit implements the cross to the old man and the life of the Lord Jesus, it's from there that everything happens.

And I dare say the view is a lot better from there, especially with the circumstances. I love flying around in small airplanes because the view is wonderful. Not to put you on the spot, but do you ever have a heavenly perspective about some circumstance in your life?

Do you? Yeah, and that's the norm. That's the normal way that a believer is to live, positionally. So you do keep looking down. Okay, the well-meaning believer is seeking to save his life. True or false? He is. Is there a problem with that? What life is he trying to save? His life. The old?

You know, it's interesting, the verse that's quoted is Luke 9, 23 and 24. Imagine the disciples sitting there listening to the Lord Jesus say to them, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me, for whosoever shall save his life will lose it." You think they said, oh yeah, we understand that perfectly. Yeah, no problem, we apprehend that really well.

Even then, the Lord Jesus is trying to teach them the beginnings of the identification principles that there is coming, that the death to self and actually losing the life you know yourself to be, and being resurrected in Christ. He's already talking that way. On Thursday night, we're studying John's Gospel, and we're starting to see it show up there, too.

Although the apprehension of just the basic spiritual truths by the Jews and the disciples of Solomon, they had no idea what he was talking about. They're constantly... We just finished last Thursday talking about the resurrection of Lazarus. And it's amazing how the Lord Jesus would say something to one of them, and then he would say, Do you believe me? and their answer would be like, they're talking over here, they're answering a question he didn't even ask, because they don't have any comprehension of what he's saying.

But he's staying on the course. Once the awakened one is brought to see self for the enemy that it is, he finds himself somewhat disappointed in the old man. True or false? You're just mildly disappointed? What do you think? True or false? It's false. Where's the trick in the question? Still abiding in old nature. Somewhat disappointed. That's the trick. Once the awakened one is brought to see itself for the enemy that it is, he finds himself hating the old nature. He's not disappointed.

He that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto the life eternal, John 12, 25. Now, all the psychiatrists in the world would think you're nuts if you laid this on them. Wouldn't they? Wouldn't they? I mean, really? And so would any self-promoter. Rush Limbaugh wouldn't buy this for a minute. He wouldn't. Neither would Dennis Prager. So the growing believer begins to appreciate, as he learns to hate himself, The application that the cross brings. I think there comes a time in a 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. You're not fixing me up. You're really replacing me with the life of Christ. And that is really the right thing to do. You know, you had it all figured out long before I did. And, you know, that's a doorway into abiding above. Okay?

God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. That's true, you can't make a living. Alright, six. As we abide above, in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit increasingly produces Christian fruit in the believer. Now this is a very tricky one. I thought I was pretty crafty on this one.

True or false? True. Okay. True? False. You know, it's one thing to know the answer and formulate a question, but it's something else to formulate a question and really trying to come up with a certain answer. You know, I've been a professor for ten years, and it's amazing the questions you formulate, how the students, and you have a whole spectrum of students, I mean you have good ones, you have pretty bad ones, how they interpret your questions, it's just amazing, it opens your eyes at times. I'm hoping that's what it does. It isn't that he produces Christian fruit, and maybe that wasn't a good choice of words, but he produces his fruit. Do you understand the difference? It isn't just Christian behavior. It's the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That's what I was after. Well, I hope you had to think of a... I hope you had to think of a... Well, you could say they are, but... Would that then be true? Or would it not? Yeah.

And you know, as we abide in the Lord Jesus, looking upon His glory in the word and fellowshipping with Him, the Holy Spirit increasingly produces, capital H, His fruit, the life of the Lord Jesus in and through us. How did you phrase it before? Christian fruit in the believer. Meaning what? Not just Christian behavior. Yeah, not just Christian behavior, but the person of Christ. That's the difference. That's good, I got them to think, didn't I? Now we're going to have to have an attorney interpret it. No, I'm up to here with attorneys now.

He quoted Galatians 5.23, amplified, which is kind of interesting, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the work which his presence within accomplishes is love, joy, gladness, peace, patience, etc. What's interesting is that the life that is produced in us, and we'll probably get to this towards the end, is his life, and it is consistently, has the same characteristics all the time.

It is these things. He doesn't have them, He is these things. And we have Him, and coming with Him is His life. And it produces fruit that's appropriate to who He is. See that? That's why James, and James could say, when he's challenged by someone who says, well, I have faith, and he says, you know, you say you have faith, I'll show you my faith by my works. What's he talking about?

That you can look at the fruit and you can tell who it is, either Adam or Christ. So yeah, that was very slippery, huh? Sometimes they're so easy though, you just... Okay, fill in. And by the way, there's some more trickies coming up that I didn't do on purpose. Okay, seven.

But our what? Life source. Our what? Our home. Our position is the Lord Jesus at the Father's right hand. Yeah, what a great sentence that is. That your life source, your home, and your position is in the Lord Jesus at the Father's right hand. That's where you are.

I don't know if you're like me, but to comprehend a God that would do something like this is just overwhelming. The fact that He would deign to include His creatures there, that that's where He put us. And He put us in His Son. So the acceptability of Christ to the Father is exactly the same as what yours is. You know, exactly the same.

Okay. Eight, it isn't a matter of whether or not... I think I screwed this sentence up. I did. I made a typo there. It's not a matter of what, whether these things are wrong or not, and some of them are, but whether or not they are at his level. Now, and we could discuss this now, I asked the question in number 18, I said, what does it mean when we say teaching should be on the Lord Jesus' level? This is a good time to discuss that. What does it mean? Do you understand what I'm after when I'm talking about that? What do I mean by level? His level. Position. Okay. Do you perceive yourself at the same level as with him?

Or do you always perceive yourself as the student down here and God up there teaching you? Second one, yeah. But I think that the reality of the situation is that And I think it's critical for believers as they grow, the discernment that they get about what they hear and what they read really lies right here. Is it heavenly or is it earthly? Is it on his level or not?

I wouldn't have any trouble with things like the purpose-driven church if they were heavenly. That's the problem with all of that. The promise keepers, the prayer of Jabez, all these things that come down the Christian pike, they're not heavenly. That's the problem I have with them.

So they're not on the level, and so they come from the viewpoint of man on earth, trying to figure out how he's supposed to live this Christian life down here, with no discussion about his position. or the level that he has been elevated to so that he has the capacity and the ability and the privilege to apprehend God at his level. And that's an amazing thing because that also demonstrates the difference between the body of Christ, the Church, and Judaism. The Jews are God's blessed people on the earth, but they're on the earth. They're not in heaven. And so, you and I, being new creatures in Christ, the level is different.

God can... How do I say this? If you study the Gospels, what you find is that the second person of the Trinity, come from heaven, is trying to teach those Jews, his disciples, what the heavenly kingdom is like. and the heavenly kingdom is going to come to earth and be implemented here. But once he dies, and we are included in the death, burial and resurrection and ascension, instead of him being up here and creatures being down here, those in Christ do this. And not only that, by being recreated and having his nature, you have the capacity to interact with God on God's level now that you never had before. No human being ever had that before. And I used to describe it like this.

Why can't I go home, fall in love with my German Shepherd and marry him? Or her? Why not? Why not? Because you have puppies. Now think about it. Why can't I engage in a relationship with a dog other than the dog is my pet? Yeah, I'm on a higher level of creation than he is or she is, right? And so the dog can't be elevated to where I am.

Well, it's the same thing before the cross with humanity in Christ and God. But because we have been placed in Christ, once the cross takes place and the resurrection happens and we're in him and we're seated in the heavenlies, here we are. And there's no barrier now. And not only that, I think God from the very beginning in creating, created in such a manner that He created all of us persons so that we could interact with Him as persons. We could love Him, we could be loved by Him, we could interact mentally with Him and spiritually, right? Well, sin screwed all of that up. Now, by sending Christ and putting us in Him, not only can we interact with Him, but we get to do it on His level. When you speak a level, I think I have in the mind of Christ. That's good. Yeah, I could have saved all that rhetoric and just said that. Yeah, that's right.

But like being in a vessel, it's his vessel. And like a computer, everything, all the buttons being pushed and everything, but it's a natural way because it all flows down from the throne. And it's identifying with that, seeing that a position that sometimes you think it's you But it is you. Yeah, it's difficult for us in our finite minds because we think dualistically.

What I mean by that is that if I look at Gary or Gary and I are talking on the phone, Gary's an entity, a person, and I am. We're two separate. But in John 17, the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father. He said, Father, that they may be one as we are one, that they may be one in us. Well, the father and the son are separate people, separate persons, but they're one in life and nature. It's kind of like mental telepathy. That's what a psychologist would call it. So imagine being brought into that frame of reference where we share the oneness of life even though we're separate persons. This answers one of those troubling verses in the Bible It troubled me for a long time until we discussed this. And you would disagree in that it wasn't sin that screwed us up. We were never on the same level. It was the Creator and the creature. And we were the Creator.

Because the troubling verse was, how can Adam walk in the cool of the garden, walk with him, fellowship with him, and he say it's not good for him to be alone. And create, you know, eat. How can you have intimate fellowship, walk in the garden... With the God of the universe and it's not enough. I think the creation wasn't complete yet. And why wasn't it? Everything was there. All creation is there. Beautiful garden and all that. He's intimate fellowship. Walking in the cool of the morning. And he said it's not good to be alone. And that's because it was...

Creator and a creation and this is you know finally answered that once we are new creatures in Christ we now have that level and that be you know I was wondering how could you you know have intimate fellowship with the Lord and He said it's not good and still need Eve and still need eat. Yeah, why did why didn't God satisfy everything but the Creator and the crew in the creature and And there was, I mean you could have fellowship, but it's kind of like talking to your dog. I mean you have great fellowship with him, but it's not on the same level. And that finally cleared up that verse. How he could say it's not good to be alone. How could you walk with God and say to be alone?

And this finally answered it. It's like new creatures, now we are up. You know, and we can have that same, maybe you put it with John 17, it finally answered that question. Well, and it fits with all, like Paul's rhetoric about the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, all of that information fits. Because in order for us to be the bride, we have to be on the same level of creature that the groom is. Right? So, you alright with that? I see some furrowed brows around here, we can't have that, no. Okay, nine.

The Holy Spirit not only what? He reveals scriptural truth concerning Christ and the cross to our faith, but what else does he do? Transmits the reality. Yeah, he transmits the reality to you. What is that transmitting of reality? It's one thing, you know, we're truth seekers and we study and we try to apprehend all that God has for us, but does transmit the reality to us something different than just the information? What is that? It makes us see that it is true. Say that again? It makes us see that it is true. makes us see that it is true? And I probably would have said it another way, who is the reality of this truth?

It's the Lord Jesus himself. So, what you find after a while as you study the Word of God, your viewpoint becomes, oh yeah, that's the Christ I know. That's exactly what he's like. That's the one I know. So, in John 14, 15, and 16, with the Lord talking about the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, his job is to reveal Christ to the believer.

Well, he does it vis-à-vis the truths concerning Christ and the cross, but he also transmits and persuades you about the reality of what he's showing you. that Hebrews 11.1 is the great faith verse, that faith is a substance of things hoped for, the reality or the evidence of things not seen.

I like the next verse, it says, by it the fathers were given, better look out before I quote it, make sure I do it right, it's going to be on the tape. For by it the elders received witness." What's interesting about that is that they apprehended and saw the things of God and the evidence that those things were true, and they believed them. But because of that, they received a witness that what they believed was in fact true. I think that that's what this transmission of the reality is.

The Holy Spirit confirms in the heart of the believer the reality of what he believes. Like when we were back studying the principles of spiritual growth, Miles said, look, the Holy Spirit shows you a truth, like your identification with Christ. You believe Him, and then the Spirit takes it upon Himself to work that truth into you, so that it is no longer just something you understand and know, but it's part of you. The reality of it is who you are. That's something the Spirit does. Your job is to believe, his job is to implement, or work the reality of it in your life.

Okay with that? When the Christian begins to what? Take God's side against who? Those Republicans, right? Take God's side against himself, he's ready to do what? contemplate the Lord Jesus from God's standpoint and not from others. Isn't that cool? Think about this. The Christian begins to take God's side regards his own self. And God's side about yourself is what? How does God look at your good old self?

He's got a lot of work to do, right? No good thing. No good thing. That God did the right thing in crucifying self. that he was not fixable. Christianity is not the fix-up business. So the believer is brought by the Holy Spirit to take God's side about himself. And when he does that, what's the great transition that happens? He begins to contemplate the Lord Jesus Christ rather than himself. And so he sees Christ from God's viewpoint and not his own. It frees him up. Totally frees him up.

I think the secret to spiritual maturity is exactly this. That Christ ever so slowly, but increasingly, becomes the object of the believer's life. That he becomes that pearl of inestimable value. that just Him takes up your focus and your life. And it doesn't seem possible early on in your Christian life that God is up to something like that, but I'm convinced He is.

And what's interesting about it is that the self looks at that, and its viewpoint is, well, self is everything, And self needs to be in such control that it needs to be able to orchestrate all of the elements of one's life. And if I abandon myself to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus, nothing's going to get done.

But I remember Miles saying, if I would have just waited another day, you know, well, them days turn into years. Yeah, they do. And there's contemplation there. But I'm still learning about that. Some of the things that are said are so eternal. It's not the seen things, the unseen things. That's right. That's right.

And it does take time. Some of us have been walking with the Lord a long time. It never ends. It's going to take, like he said, it's going to take the rest of this life to see the depths of the evilness of self. That's why it is life. But it's going to take the rest of eternity to apprehend the depths of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the amazing thing about it. a million eons from now, we'll just be starting. He's so magnificent, and this just goes right off the chart. My brain goes to tilt right away when you think about something like this. We still have the millennial kingdom to come. We still have the seven weeks of Daniel. We at least have a thousand and seven years of time left. at least that much in 15 minutes.

And then after that we go into eternity, and in eternity you can't say, well in eternity there's a million years or ten million years because there isn't, but unfathomable time from now, we'll just be beginning to explore the depths of the wonderfulness of Christ. And like Vern says, it will always be going, ah, ah, all the time.

Now, your mind and my mind thinks, oh, there's nothing that could be that cool. That couldn't, oh yeah. I'm convinced that's the way it is. Because the glory that you can see by beholding the Lord Jesus now is like that. It's like, oh wow. Okay, now here's where we got tricky again, and not this just because I'm... my mind wasn't working.

Set your mind and keep them set on things above. Where's that from? Colossians. Colossians 3. So then, death works in us, but life in you. What? Second Corinthians 4.2. Yeah. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest. That's an easy one. Hebrews, right? He will honor and glorify me. John 16. Alright, and Adam all die, in Christ all will be made alive. 2 Corinthians 5. Okay. Whosoever shall save his life shall lose it. That's the tricky one, because it actually says that in two places.

It's in Luke 9.24 and it's also in John 12.25. The same idea. And then, back to your life is hid with Christ and God. Where's that from? Colossians 3. OK, go. I had a couple of. What is the number? That's Colossians three. It's three to. Yeah. Yeah. It's not. No, that was my fault. Sometimes I get brain dead doing this. OK. I say we did 18. Talked about that.

Why is the new lamb life taken into death? Number 19. Do you understand what the question is about? There was a discussion in the book about the application of the cross to the old man, right? But then there was also the discussion about the lamb life being taken into death.

What's that about? life is a sacrificial life in contrast to the old life of self-preservation. Do you guys get that? The life that we have in Christ Jesus here, here on the earth, is a sacrificial life. When I think of that, I think of the marriage feast, and the masters of the food says, you've saved the best wine for last, you know. When you think about it, the life that, well how do I, maybe I'll say it another way. There's an initial apprehension that the Christian life is a victorious life, and that it's powerful, and that it's, overcomes all obstacles, and every Christian gets to wear this underwear that's got a big S on the front of it.

And so you begin to discover, though, as you grow, that really the Christian life is more like 2 Corinthians 4.12, so that death works in us, but life in you. And you begin to find out, especially when you study the Gospels, that the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God lived a totally sacrificial life, so that this newness of life is really death to me, that that life functions in a way, the life of the Lord Jesus functions in a way on the earth where it is totally sacrificial. It never claims its own rights. even though it's the life of Christ. That sort of is an oxymoron, isn't it? How can you be victorious and still have death working in you, so that there might be life in others?

What's interesting, that's the very nature of his life. That's the way it is. That's the way it was here. I mean, we like to quote verses like he says to Pilate, you don't take my life from me, I give it freely. Oh boy, he's stuck it on Pilate. No he didn't. He was just stating the reality of his life. That he freely gives it.

If a corn of wheat falls into the ground and doesn't die, it abides alone. That's right. But if it does die, it brings forth much fruit. So, as you grow spiritually and as the Lord has you minister to others, that's the way it's going to be. That death works in you, so that there might be life in them. That's the way of it. And therein lies the resistance. Because you're hoping it isn't going to be that way. It really smokes out the self-life. Oh, oh. Yeah. OK, this next part.

When I asked the question the way I did, if you studied the book, you couldn't answer it. I said, why doesn't, and then I listed the love motive work, the hate motive work, the death motive work, and the faith motive work, and then the last question was, why does only the life motive work? If you were looking for the answers to that in the book, it wasn't there. So you had to think outside the box. Because you're looking at the fruit and not the source. Well, think about it.

The love motive is a great motive, is it not? But why doesn't it work for living a Christian life? It's self-motivated. Let me maybe ask it another way. Is your love for the Lord Jesus enough motive for you to live the life? It's not enough, is it? So, how about the hate yourself motive? Is that enough? Why not? Well, how about hate and love together? Why isn't that enough?

You're still relying on yourself. That's right. That's exactly right. So, well, let's bring in the death motive then. We'll take care of self. We'll give him the axe. So why isn't that enough? You can't die to self on your own. You can't die to self, self can't die to self, right? From your own, it's still basing it on your strength. It's still basing it on yourself and saying, I'm going to deny myself.

Yeah, and I've read in the gospels it says I'm supposed to deny myself, take up my cross and follow. His life has to be revealed before a person can enter into it. I'm reading, we're studying on Thursday night again, I don't need to be referring back to that so much, but the Lord Jesus, when told that Lazarus was sick, he hangs around two days and he doesn't go up to Bethany, right?

And he says the reason is that God is to be glorified in it. Well, the disciples are all, you know, trying to figure this out. And so when the Lord says, well, it's time to go, he said to his disciples, let us go again. And so here's what the disciples say to him. Wait a minute. Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee. Goest thou there again? They're saying, well, why would you want to go to Judea? Those guys are after you. They're going to kill you.

And the Lord Jesus says, Are not there twelve hours in a day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbles not, because he sees the light of the world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles, because there's no light, referring to himself as being the light of the world. And these things said he, after he said unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps. Now, the point that I want to make is, Then Thomas, who is called Didymus, said unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him. The Lord Jesus is talking about something over here, and Thomas picks it up.

Boy, there's a lot of danger in Judea. I guess he's going to go up there to die. We better go die with him. We as believers study this life and death, new and old life. I can't tell you how many believers in my life, not around here, but other places, who are beginning to apprehend some of these truths, you say, well, how's it going? And they say, well, I'm really trying to die to self.

You are. Death motive. The recognition that death is appropriate, the application of the death of the old man is appropriate in a believer's life from a conditional standpoint, and they're really trying. Not enough of a motive. So let's combine them. We love, we hate, and we die. Is that enough? Not enough.

How about the faith motive? I believe all the facts. Why isn't that enough? Am I not to live as a believer by faith? Because it's got to be worked in. Think about this. Now we're talking about, maybe to make it clear, we're talking about the motive and the modus operandi of the Christian life. And from my perspective, or from the Christian's perspective, my love of Christ, my hatred of self, even the application of the death of the old man, and my faith in the facts is not enough for that life to be lived. It's not tricky, but it's important to know this, I think. It's what the Holy Spirit takes you through. Well, He takes you through a lot of things. He takes you through these motives.

But we're talking about the application and the implementation of the very life itself, himself. And the answer is in the next question, why does only the life motive work? It's the life in Christ. I mean you as a Christian and as a person may love Christ, hate yourself, have death working in you and walking by faith, but all of those things are what you're doing. None of those are what he's doing. His life, and I think this is, if you learn nothing else about abiding above, it's important to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and the Son of Man, He and His life are unique.

And He and His life function a certain way. I think that's why He puts His seed. off the wall, possibly. Off the wall of the self? Yeah, that we can see that it has to be. Well, yeah. I've asked this question before. Does the Lord Jesus get up in the morning and decide, I'm going to glorify the Father today? Why not? Because he's already glorified. Yeah, the life functions that way. You see that? He is what his life is.

You know, I don't have to take my dog and teach him to bark. Why not? He's a dog. I don't have to teach any of you about sinning. Why not? Because in Adam, you were a sinner. John's 13. I haven't sent him to sinning academy. He knew that. Out of the box. He knew. He knew how to sin. Well, you don't have to teach the Lord Jesus how to be holy, righteous, and to function in a godly manner. It's His life to function that way. So, how about you? You have that life? Can you make it happen through your faith and your motives? No. His life functions a certain way all the time.

And our job is to do what? Abide there, where we are. The life doesn't need your help, it doesn't need your input, it doesn't need your energy. The great thing about positional truth is that God has placed you in Christ and you already have the life. It flows from a rest. A rest. And what are you doing when the life is flowing?

We had a great discussion on Tuesday, and we were talking about the prayers of a righteous man avail us much, and we ended up in a discussion about the reason that a prayer of a righteous man avails much is because of his intimacy with God. And James uses the example of Elijah. And then Elijah prayed that it wouldn't rain for three and a half years, and it didn't. Well, how did he know that? Did he just say, well, I'm going to pray this, God, and you better follow up? No. He had an intimacy with God enough so that when he knew God's mind about the situation.

Well, you and I as believers have this life of Christ and the mind of Christ, When we pray about things, we pray according to the will of the Father, as we grow intimate with Him. Well, the point being this, that the life functions a certain way. And our job is intimacy and to live by faith. Our job is to behold the glory of the Lord. And the job is implemented by God Himself. That's what the Holy Spirit's doing. So we think, just to finish up, one of the guys said, well, we have to be diligent about confessing of our sins. So my question was, okay, let's say you sin, the Holy Spirit convicts you of that sin, you confess your sin and God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

What are you going to do the next 15 minutes? What are you going to do the next 5 minutes? What are you going to do? Are you going to be on the lookout so you don't sin again? If you're doing that, you're self-focused. You're going to feel good about yourself. If you're doing that, you're dealing with self.

What happens the next 15 minutes or the next 15 seconds? The issue is to behold Christ. Not to be any self-conscious at all to behold Him. And as you behold Him, what happens? The life functions. It's there. He's there. Let's close. That was a second buzzer, right?

Dear Fathers, thank you. We thank you for the life that we have in your Son. We thank you for your Son, who's now our very life. And that we have not only the privilege, but the responsibility to abide in Him and behold Him. We pray in His precious name. Amen.