Abide Above
Mike Doyle · Jun 19, 2005
Abide Above, No. 10
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262328193055

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

You guys have walked in in a class that's kind of interesting. We've been studying. The topic is called Abide Above. Abide Above. Think that's possible? What do you think? He doesn't mean Arvada either. It means abide in the heavenlies where Christ is. And so what we do is we have questions and things that we discuss weekly. So if you have any questions, go ahead and ask them. We're open, right? It's almost like them and us, isn't it?

True or false? The fact of a pastor's theological training makes all the difference in this growth round. True or false? False. It's false. Why? Why is it false? Because his theology could be all wrong. His theology could be wrong? What else? Probably more succinct than just it being wrong. It takes time. When you're considering the Holy Spirit teaching the hungry heart, you don't have to have a hungry heart to realize it. Right.

Here's probably the main point, and that is that most seminaries, and I would say all seminaries, do not teach growth truths. They teach the basic doctrines of salvation and The training is good. They learn how to run a church. They learn how to do things that would make them, so that if they became a pastor, there wouldn't be chaos. But they know very little, if anything, about spiritual growth and the principles of spiritual growth.

As an example, if you talk to Vern and his son Randy, who both went to Tyndale Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, which is a good place. I mean, what those guys have done, this malcouch has really picked up the mantle from where Dallas Seminary used to be, and he teaches you know, position. He teaches identification to some degree, but they don't teach the work of the Spirit in implementing those truths in the believer's life, and how long it takes, you know, to grow, to sort of wake up, not only you the pastor, but also those that you would shepherd.

So that's the problem, and that's what you find today if you sit down and talk just as a show of hands. How many of you have sat down with somebody who either is in another church or knows somebody who's a pastor, and in the course of the conversation you start talking about identification, position, and condition, and they look at you like, what language are you speaking?

Show me your hands if that's ever happened to you. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Or people you've known all your life about spiritually and then you begin to enter into the growth truths and you start talking about them and they think you just went off the bridge. Right? But you know, Mike, what I realized is when we first heard how I know about identification, I think we had a hungry heart. I'm talking to my sisters and they're really, really godly women, you know, and they just don't, you know, I gave them all the books and everything. Don't care. They don't get it. You don't even look at it. Yeah, that's right.

Because it's so different. I think the need has to be so demanding that a person will look out from himself unto the Lord. Like my brother Steve, what he's had to go through, and he's finally to get glimpses of his position He's had to go through the years of his self-will until, hey, I'm free from it. Seeing who he is in Christ. I've experienced this. People agree with me. Sure, we're positioned in Christ and all this stuff, and there's a but, but in all these conditions, we have to do good work. Yeah, it's so hard to get away from the, I ought to be doing this kind of thing.

I think that comes from really not knowing that Christ did raise from the dead. bodily as a man. A lot of people see him that he died for their sin, but not that the father's view of his life is great. There's the birth offering and then there's the sweet savor. It's seeing God's view rather than our youth. with the exception of the very truths that make all the difference in the life and service of a Christian. True or false? Absolutely true.

So, let me give you, you know, I distribute these Miles's books on the web, which allows me sometimes to get these great calls from different guys around the country. And I had a call about five years ago from a pastor in Canada. And he was really upset. He said, you know, about six months ago, he said, I started to read this material and it's true. And I've been a pastor for four years. And he said, I've been teaching my people the wrong stuff for four years. I think I ought to resign. I said, resign? You're just now getting it. But then, six months later, he called back and we were talking again.

He said, well, I'm tracking But they're not interested. I said, well, the shepherd's got to grow first, so it takes time. Time is the one factor that we just are so unwilling to let God have a free hand with us and give him all the time he needs for us to grow.

Is that what they learn in seminaries? About almost like running a business? You have to have production. They learn that. A sound seminary will teach the basic doctrines of salvation, justification and that kind of thing. But then they also teach the Get Busy program. And they teach programs.

And the whole purpose of the church is to build bigness. And if you have a lot of people, then you're probably spiritually sound. And the whole emphasis is evangelism. And let's talk about that for a minute. Is the purpose of the church to evangelize? Is that the main purpose of the church? What is evangelizing?

Good question. Evangelizing is that you preach the gospel so more people will come to know Christ. You go to the lost, what we would consider the lost, and you would preach the gospel to them, the person and work of Christ, that he died for their sins, that he was buried and resurrected, and if they believe in that, God will save them for all eternity. That's evangelism. Is that the main purpose of the church? What is the main purpose of the church? Yeah, the church is primarily for those who are already believers and to have them grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus.

Because if you're a growing believer, you exhibit a certain kind of a life that in and of itself is either attractive to a non-believer or it's offensive to him. You're too holy, they want to be around you. Or you have a rest and a peace about you that's attractive to them. And so they'll come to you and want to know why. And you don't have to be over there sliding tracks under their door every day. They just know you.

The real purpose of the church is to equip the saints for ministry. That's really what the purpose of the church is. So that there can be not only an individual but a cumulative manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ in a body. Because the church, if you look at Ephesians 4, the church grows from within. You see that? It isn't from outside, it's from within. Alright, next question.

By the way, is the last one true or false? True. The Holy Spirit will never allow the heart that He has stimulated to starve. True? What do you think? It is true. There seems to be, this is one of those oxymoronical questions because sometimes souls are stimulated to grow spiritually and it seems like they flounder, right?

Or let's say if you're cruising along in one of these churches that we've just described and you start getting hungry and you begin to realize, boy, you know, I really like the pastor, but I go to church every Sunday and it's like drinking milk and that's it, you know? I'm hungry all the time and I'm not getting fed. So what do you do? You get busy. Yeah, you do. That's exactly right.

You'll get busy or from the Holy Spirit's viewpoint, someone or something will show up in your life, either a book or somebody like you who kind of knows what you're involved in and will come in alongside you. So, the reason I put this question in here was for us to understand that there's never a time that if a believer becomes hungry to grow, that the Holy Spirit won't feed him, somehow. You agree with that?

I think, you know, he'd give me a bunch of books and stuff. Boy, I looked through all them books, searching for specific needs to be met. And, you know, them books only point me to a scripture in the Word, what God has said, that makes real to me of my position. But it always centers in His Word.

Yeah, that's exactly right. We had that question I think last week or the week before about, and I turned it around and the answer was false, but that along with the Word of God, there are certain books and things that come along that really do enhance your understanding of growth truths. You agree with that? Yeah, absolutely. The green letters is one of them. Okay, four. We'll see how smart you are. Identification is a church doctrine. In the very strictest sense, it has to do exclusively with the members of the body of Christ. True or false? True.

And how come all this discussion about these parachurch organizations being the ones who actually feed believers? What do you mean by that? If the answer to the question is true, how come the Holy Spirit uses so many other means, like the Keswick Convention, you know, we talked about that, like Deeper Life Conferences, stuff like that to communicate these truths? I think because there are always people who are hungry, and the Holy Spirit brings them there too. to show them even more the need for more? If the Holy Spirit makes a person hungry, right? Then he's going to supply that need.

And if it isn't in the church, it's going to be somewhere else. It's going to be in a conference, it's going to be in a Bible study, it's going to be maybe just a one-on-one, or maybe just a book. But strictly speaking, the identification truths in their strictest sense are exclusively for the members of the body of Christ. Because what we talk about spiritual growth-wise is not anything you would ever discuss with a non-believer, would you? Why would you? What's the whole issue with a non-believer? What's the singular issue with them in any discussion? Their unbelief in Christ being... it's their sins and the fact, hey, they're here. You have to come up and sit next to me. Oh, man. I saw that. I reach right around England. Where was I?

Yeah, with a non-believer, there's only one issue and that issue is their salvation. Right? No other discussion is even relevant. You'll find believers trying to persuade non-believers about God's foreknowledge and His sovereignty and all these other issues that are irrelevant. There's only one issue with a non-believer.

What's your position before God? You are a sinner, there's no question about that, and you're separated from Him. Christ has died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins, and if you believe that, he'll save you. That's it. Now you can expand on that all you want, but that's the only message to a non-believer, is salvation.

All the rest of the conversations and discussions and study that we do are strictly for believers. You see that? I think that's important to understand. If you're spending any time, or the Lord has put it another way, if the Lord has brought a non-believer in your life, the one issue, and the only issue to dwell on, is their salvation. That's it.

Because spiritual understanding is primarily for those who are saved and have new life and the information that the Bible teaches, the Word of God teaches is pointed towards that new life. You've got to have the life to understand. Make sense? But you know what the foundation is? for all of us. I mean, but now, apart from that, God's righteousness has been manifested. We all have to come before that and understand what our foundation is.

Well, you know, one of the problems in contemporary Christianity today is that the salvation message isn't presented clearly. That the gospel, there's things added to it, and it's presented, and we'll talk about this next week. One of the problems with contemporary Christianity is the fact that they modify who they are and what the message is to infiltrate, from their viewpoint, the non-believer so that they can look like them and then try to grab a few out of there. Well, that's not the approach at all. The approach is, what do you offer when you offer somebody salvation? What are you offering them? You're offering that they leave where they are and who they are and come to Christ. Because where they are is death and Christ is life. Now, they don't perceive it that way at first, but that's really what's going on.

You okay with that? I knew when the Lord was drawing me with these guys that were working on me, that that was the issue. The issue was, in my mind, was the life or death issue. If I believed on Christ, all that I knew myself to be before was going away. And that was a scary proposition. Really scary. I couldn't worship the Broncos anymore. I got rid of my tickets. Okay. Five.

The need is always the call in any realm of service, whether it be church or mission field. What do you think? What do you mean by the need? Well, if God creates a need, then the need is the call for you to go. Is it? A recognized need of the person in need? Or is it... Because there's need everywhere.

Yeah. I mean, what do we do to kill ourselves to try to change the world? Kill all the needs. Yeah. So just because the need is there, and you recognize the need, doesn't necessarily mean you get the call. You agree with that? I agree. Yeah. You have to be called to the service. and you have to be prepared for it. Okay? Now, some great examples. Hudson Taylor. Are you familiar with who Hudson Taylor is?

Had this burden on his heart from like one of you guys' ages. As a young man, here's the thought that was in his mind. There were a million people dying every day in China who had never heard the name of Jesus Christ. Never. And he thought that that was a real tragedy.

And so he had the call to go to China from a teenager. And as he grew up, even to prepare himself to go to China, he would give away all his money, put on a set of clothes and go live in the slums of London just to learn how to live with nothing. And when he was in his early twenties, he had a backer and he went to China.

He's the only white guy that lands on the shore. Here he is, right? And he's there to evangelize China. by himself. Well, the need was certainly there, and I think the call was there, but if you read the book about him, he's over there trudging around for 10 or 15 years, and he's having some success, some converts and that kind of thing, but then there comes a time when he begins to understand who he is in Christ, how we got there, and that the mission work is all of Christ. He's just the vehicle.

Once that happened, that whole China thing just exploded. And all that, you know, now that China's beginning to open up, and people, these, you know, NBC sends somebody over there, or the CBN, or somebody like that, that they're going to go evangelize China, and they get there and they find there's all kinds of Christians already there.

I wonder where that came from. It came from Hudson Taylor's work a hundred years ago. It's amazing. You want to talk about a guy who had the call and there's a need, but he's unique that way. I'll give you another example. When I was first a Christian, I was hanging around with some guys that had a little storefront mission down on Larimer Street. Back when Larimer Street, 17th and Larimer was a pretty rough area.

And there was about 50 guys that supported this thing. But there were only four guys that did all the work. Because those four guys had the call. The other 46 of them contributed money and helped out, but they didn't like being down there. They didn't have the call. The need was terrific. They would feed and take care of 100 street guys on a Sunday. They had a Bible study on Wednesday and they'd collect clothes and stuff like that. But they didn't like it there, really.

See that? So just because the need is there doesn't mean you have the call. But once you have the call, for whatever it is, you'll see the need. But you'll be the person who will let God do the work instead of you getting in there and shucking and jiving. See what I mean? That make sense?

I think there's a need in some tropical islands. I've got to tell you a great story. The first time I went to Hawaii, I went to Kauai, that little island, and on every other corner there's a church. I said to my wife, I said, you know, these guys weren't dumb at all. Here they are, they sail across 2,500 miles of ocean, they land on this beautiful island, and they look around and they say, you know what, we've got to write a letter home to the faithful and tell them to send money because there's a lot of work to be done here. I'm staying. And so there's churches everywhere over there, these little churches. One other point.

The tendency too, if you see the need, is to forget the process God's going to put you through. in order for you to be the one he'll use to meet the need. Do you see that? You okay with that? Because, trust me, if you aspire by the work of the Spirit to become a shepherd, it's going to be frustrating. This guy coined the greatest phrase I've ever heard. The sheep are stinky. What?

I've come in contact with people, but I think I've had the same attitude, that there's this need, and being impatient, and then, okay, God's not Make it happen. So I'm going to make it happen. I'm going to train for this. I'm going to do this and that.

I think a lot of people just, they don't, they're just kind of blank. They don't, they think that they need to get moving. Yeah. And that's probably the background they came from. The get moving background. Now that you're a Christian, here's what you need to do. One, two, three, four, five. The problem with that is you can only bring somebody along as far as you can. That's right. If there isn't, then there isn't the sharing in life. Well, here's the other problem, and I think he's to the point.

Let's say that you've been taught of the Spirit 5, 10, 15 years in your life that you've been growing and struggling. And God brings some younger struggling believer in your life, and you feel like you're prepared to help them. And after a month or two, you're really frustrated. What have you forgotten?

That's right. That's right. Or realize that if God is going to have you minister to somebody, it may be for their whole life. That once they show up in your life, they're there for the duration. And you're comfortable with that. It's okay. And you're going to go through the ups and downs and walk alongside them for however long it takes. And you give God all the elbow room he needs. You may never see any change. May not?

Because it's the work of the Holy Spirit. In our society, we have to name it. We have to show success. Oh, I do this. This is what's happening. You have to describe it. That's where I think a lot of people go, what does God want me to do? How do you know really? Do you just kind of do this and then things just happen? What a great question. How do you know? How do you know if you're, you know, here you are, you've been in a church like this place that focuses on the Word of God and spiritual growth, and the messages are identification and position, and, you know, you're over the point of, you know, faking it. You're serious, you know, and you're growing, but you're beginning to wonder, is God ever going to use me?

And how do I know? What do you think about that? I think your whole thinking is wrong. Yeah, it is. You know, because you're still looking for... Yeah. And the whole thing is being something. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And you're focusing on yourself.

Yeah. I've been reading Romans 5 and it says, and not only so but we glory in tribulation also knowing that tribulation works with patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope make it not a shame because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts from the Holy Spirit which is given us and I guess it's the patience and the experience that leads to the hope well it's interesting that what I'm involved That word experience means tribe character. And whose character is it? The Lord.

That's right. It's his life. You find out that you don't need patience, you need him. Because he is patient. See that? We view him as the spiritual gas station. I get 40 gallons of patience today, I'll do really well. But it doesn't go up in price. No. Well, the price cut is the death to the old man. That's the price.

Jumping ahead, one of the questions I asked, when it comes to sharing the deeper truths, what two important factors that must be taken into account? What were they? It's question 18. The first one is that it's imperative to know the doctrines scripturally and to some extent experientially. How long does that take? Absolutely. But before you kind of get a handle on it, how many years are we talking about? Five? Ten? Right?

The second thing is, it is every bit as necessary to know how to share them. That takes twice as long. It takes time for the Spirit to impart a clear understanding of identification. A clear understanding of identification. And it takes time for Him to teach the intricacies of sharing effectively.

And I used to do that with Miles. I'd call him up on the phone and I'd say, Miles, I've been working at this too long, when's something going to happen? And his answer to me was the same every time. And that was his answer. He'd say, it takes the Lord a long time to teach you the truth, and then it takes Him twice as long to teach you how and when to give it to somebody else. So here I am, ten years with the Lord.

He's saying it's early in the game. In 20 years, it's early in the game. Well, we have a concept of an earthly time limit on the earth. God's working from eternity, and we can't even comprehend that. Well, you find out that when you are ready, and this was the third phrase he would say, when you're ready, the woods will be full of them. That's what he used to say. So here's the premise. As you grow spiritually, you're always looking. Are you a suspect? Come here. I want to tell you about identification. And the processing goes on, and you learn through mistakes, but also study.

But when God has you prepared, there will be more than you can handle, because the need is certainly there for spiritual growth. And you begin to see it in the hearts of believers that you hang around with, and you recognize in them that they're hungry. and that they're seeking to be fed, they're not seeking to be lectured. They're seeking to be shared with, not preached to. There's a difference. Well, how long is it going to take God to teach you to share, not to preach? That takes time.

A lot of people don't want to hear descriptions. Well, that's because they're deadly. feed over the head by the Bible, they want to see the real thing. What I find is that the real barrier is they don't want to hear grace. They don't want to hear that God has done everything, that it's already an accomplished fact, that you live under grace whether you like it or not. and that God operates and functions from a position of grace. And you know why grace is so detested? Because it doesn't leave any room for the self. If God is doing everything and he hasn't left any room for you to do anything, that's appalling to you.

I've got to do something other than just receive. What is this all I do is receive business? Well, I'm going to move ahead here. Why doesn't theological training and seminary academics prepare a pastor for growth? We've kind of already gone over that. So then why does the Spirit allow conventions and other outside the church activities to foster spiritual growth? Why does he do it that way? Because the churches aren't doing their job. That's why. That's really right. That's really right. So what's the first thing the Spirit does in getting one ready for growth truths? Clean. Yeah, that's part of it.

What is the first thing He'll do? Send you to school. What does He do? Creates a need, but what does the need do? That's probably what I'm after. What he does is he prepares your heart to receive the truth so that you will go for it, so to speak. You understand? He prepares your heart so that when the food comes, you gobble it up. You understand that?

Before that time, there may be people in your life that give you copies of things that are growth material, and you reject them because you're not prepared yet. And if you're one who is doing the sharing, you must recognize that, you know, to go slow. As a matter of fact, I think you find as you're going forward that really what you're doing is backing up. That you're always way ahead of the Lord and you need to just slow down. And give God as much elbow room and free hand as he needs to get the heart ready. Because once the heart is ready, they'll just take it away from you. Yeah, they'll take it. There won't be the pushing and the pulling and he'll let...

Now, why might an enlightened pastor who has awakened to the deeper truths find little success in his enthused preaching of these truths? Why would he have trouble there? Like my buddy in Canada. Didn't teach him the wrong stuff. Say that again? I think he's right. Sheep are stinky. Whoever she's pasturing or his flock isn't ready. You've got to remember that it takes time for them to get ready, too. That's right. You know, I was reading a book about sheep, this rancher. I forget the name of it. Oh, I know the book you're talking about.

He was a shepherd that had a flock of lambs and this one lamb used to run off all the time. What they do is they break his leg and then that lamb always limps by the shepherd. That's the only way they can get him to stay. I think it goes back, like Miles said, the thing we have, the hungry heart. It's trying to jam something down somebody who's not hungry.

Getting these, I find myself in the same thing. I've had, you said, 25 copies of the Green Letters out to everybody. It's so apparent, so why don't you understand? And the hungry heart isn't there. And I think as you mentioned, the hungry heart is one of those ones that may sit on your shelf but it gets picked up five years, ten years, somewhere where suddenly all the selfish efforts have ended and it comes to you have to really get in and find the identification truths.

But I think as a pastor, you're going to try and shove that. You're so excited about it, you want to shove it down people's throats who aren't ready. That's right. And then the frustrations come, because the sheep are out there with glazed eyes going, huh? And so if you put it, you're Calvinistic to begin with, and Armenian after all. That's right.

So that's the issue, and you find that And I think that believers, persons come to Christ, and when they're first saved, there's an incredible enthusiasm in them about their salvation, especially if they're, I would say, born properly, you know, they have the right information. And they cruise along for a while, a couple of years usually, that scream you hear is them going off the bridge because the enthusiasm is gone and you can't live on birth food forever. And so God begins the process of growth. Now, same thing happens when a pastor or someone has been hungry for a while and someone gives them a book and they read it and it, you know, like the green letters and it's like being saved all over again. I mean, the enthusiasm. You can't wait to tell everybody you know about, you were crucified for Christ, buried and resurrected. I remember telling my mom that. She told my brother, all he ever talks about is dying. She thought it was crazy.

Then you go through that same routine where, gee, these people, they don't care. They don't care of all this terrific stuff that I'm learning or have learned. Why don't they respond? The heart's not prepared yet. and yours hasn't been prepared to share with them either.

And as we've talked here, way back six months ago, she talked about how important it was to get the basic truths of salvation down first before the growth truths are presented. So we want to lay Romans 6 on somebody before they got 5 settled, or 4. Because how many believers do you know, honestly, that aren't really sure that this salvation is forever?

Secure? They say it. They say they agree with it. But aren't we all like that? Yeah. I mean, we all say it, but do we really believe it? Right. Are you settled down on the fact? There's no reckoning. This word reckoning is key. I can come up to you and you can say to me, are you sure that you're safe? And I can give you 15 minutes about how I'm sure. And I really am sure. But my surety doesn't convince you that you're safe. That's a work of the Spirit. A lot of people, like, in the green letters, they say, well, if I only had the witness of the Spirit. You know, well, sure, that's one. one thing, but that's got to fizzle out too. Well, we're going to talk about that next week, and probably for the next three months.

So the Spirit witnesses to you about your, like Romans 5 in there, that I have an eternal standing before God, cannot be changed, you know, and I'm convinced. I really am convinced, right? So then you come along and you read Romans 6 and you find out that you were baptized into his death, you were buried and resurrected and seated and that you're positionally free from the old man and the law. I mean, that's absolute nonsense. I'm sitting here. I've been here for a long time. What do you mean I died?

But you believe him and then it takes him a long time. to persuade you that those facts are true, of you, that you really did. You really were included in that death of Christ 2,000 years ago. This is really true. That persuasion process goes on without coercion, visa a drawing to Christ through the Word. That's why it takes so much time, because you can't go to somebody and and tell them and persuade them about the identification truths or even birth truths if you're not persuaded yourself.

It shows. I think it's like Miles is so right on, but it's like the Lord says, okay, I got my will for you and I'm going this way. You can come if you want, you know, but I'm going this way. I'm going this way, and he says, and you're going with me. Yeah, we do. And you may not want to do it now, but you will. Right, right. But that's how it works. And boy, then we start really having to get specific needs in the Word and faith. That's why Romans 1-5 really has to be understood before Romans 6.

Are most believers, you think, prepared for the death to self and the Christ life? No. Why not? When you say, you know, salvation and others you know who are affirming their salvation, you know, I know countless ones who affirm their salvation. But I think it's salvation in the two of them, the old man and the new man. You know, they want both. Right. It's this Roman six where you're dying to the old man. I think that is the key and that's where 99% of the people struggle. I still struggle with it. We all do. If he's dead, why wouldn't the music play? It stops. I'm still dancing. That's so violent for the physician to be dead. Is that the second one? Instantly, you died unto it. Yes.

You are already positioned in Christ. Yes, I am too. That is what I think 99% of the people... Look at the Christian bookstores. Self-help. Everything is on help. How to make the old man better. It is not on death. That is the astounding fact when you go through it. There is very little teaching about death unto. They take it through salvation and all the stuff, but then it is, how do we fix up this old guy? That's 90% of the books that you see in bookstores.

Yeah, hey, I've been studying Bob George and that's what he does. He fixes up the old man. Yeah, and he's a one nature identification guy. It's psychology. It's so complicated. get a hold of. I was always taught, be a living sacrifice. So it's the old man saying, alright, I'm going to give away all my money. I'm going to go live with the poor type of thing. Monastery mentality. Living sacrifice. Sure.

But then they don't understand the last part of that. Hey, if you're going to give all your money away... That's what I tell the guys on Tuesday night. If we're going to wipe out those bank accounts, just put the name of Mike on the top of the check.

So therein lies 10 or 15 years or longer of the work of the Spirit in the growing believer. And that work is the death of Christ that you were included in. And what's interesting about the way the Holy Spirit works is He communicates that truth to you through the Word, right?

He tells you, He shows you. Romans 6, 6, Knowing this, that your old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed or put out of business, that henceforth you should no longer serve the sin nature. So he tells you plainly. And then he says, by the way, you need to reckon yourself dead unto sin and alive unto God. You say, okay, no problemo.

But then there comes this, as Hal Malloy calls it, the peeling of the onion, where as the revelation of who Christ is to you increases, at the same time the revelation of who you are in Adam, who you were in Adam, is revealed to you too. And you begin to see yourself as God sees you. And it is not a pretty sight. Because you have worked your whole life to create this veneer, this Christian veneer that no one can see past. You know, that you're a terrific person. And not only that, you're a Christian. Right?

And here's the Holy Spirit working behind the scenes to show you what a rotten dog you really are in Adam. and that the only thing, the only remedy for your old man was death. How many years is it going to take the Holy Spirit to convince you, yes God, you're right.

You did the right thing with me, you crucified me. There is no hope for me. Crucifixion is the right thing and thank you for doing it and recreating me in Christ. How long do you think it's going to take them to convince you that that's really the best thing? Don't talk in years, talk in decades.

Because, like Courtney says, I think I'm dead to sin, but when the music starts playing, my feet are moving. How come? How come I still have the attraction to the things that I'm supposed to be dead to? And then, at the same time, as the death of the cross The Holy Spirit applies the death of the cross to the old man. At the very same time, He is revealing Christ to you as your new life. And what's happening is that your affection for Christ and the taste for the things of Christ are growing all the time. You're finding out that you are suited to Him. This is really who I am now.

I never did used to think that was valuable, but now he is valuable. So think about that process in terms of the work of the Spirit in the soul of the believer to accomplish that goal without any coercion. How would he do it? Without pushing you, without twisting your arm. By growing in grace. Yeah, how would he do it? Only he could pull that off. And so that's why it takes so much time. And you learn to settle down and let him get on with it. Because you know that if he doesn't do it, it isn't going to happen. Okay, let's close. Father, how we thank you for all that you have done, not only for us, but to us. And Father, we look forward to growing every day into the knowledge and grace of our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in His name. Amen.