The Position & Possessions of the Believer # 26 (Lesson 27)

OK. Where did we leave off last week? I didn't get all the way through it did I? I don't even remember. I think we finished eight. I'm not sure. I got all the way down to eleven. Eleven I think is where I started off. I'd like to finish those up and then go on today. Over the next few weeks you're going to notice that there's a lot of similar kind of viewpoints, and a lot of it has to do with associations, which I think are really critical.

But back to finishing up last week, we had gotten down to the part where we were talking about Hebrews 9.15, and that reads, For this cause he is the mediator of a new testament or a new covenant, that by news of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of an eternal inheritance. So, my question in number 10 was, what's the role of a mediator, and we talked about this actually. A mediator is kind of a go-between, or he's a reconciler, and that's the role that the Lord Jesus occupies now, that he's reconciled man to God. Did God get reconciled to man? How many think He did? How many think He didn't? Why didn't He? It wasn't necessary for God to be reconciled to us. It's only necessary that we be reconciled to Him. So we need a mediator or someone who can be a reconciler.

1 Timothy 2.5 says that there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. A mediator has to be a kinsman, or has to be like one of the parties, and that's why the Lord Jesus being a man is so important.

So, in Hebrews 9.15, what's this new covenant that's mentioned in 9.15? Now you have two choices. The first choice is the New Covenant with Israel, the second choice is the Eternal Covenant. Isn't this the New Covenant with Israel? What do you think? How many think that's what it is? I don't.

I think it's the Eternal Covenant. Because the issue, if you look at 915, you'll see that it covers both. It covers the transgressions that were under the first testament which are called, might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Is the eternal inheritance something that Israel gets? What do you think? They get an inheritance don't they? That's right. It's eternal in nature but it's not like the eternal covenant.

The redemption has to be for all sins for all men at all times. Because men need to be reconciled with God. And Jesus Christ, we said he's the mediator of the new covenant, or the eternal covenant, with an eternal inheritance. And one of the things we've talked about here is the type and some of the qualities of the inheritance that we have. Why do you think that that goes back to the eternal covenant and not like at the Last Supper when Christ mentioned that, you know, this is the new covenant. Or was that just, he was referring to the eternal covenant there?

Yeah, it's interesting. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is given for you. The blood of Christ is sufficient to cover both. Israel would not be participants in the promises of Abraham or the prophecy of Ezekiel without the death of Christ. Because it wouldn't be qualified. There has to be propitiation. God has to be satisfied. When God makes a promise, how do I say this? Because God is righteous and because he is just, he just doesn't arbitrarily make decisions or determinations to go ahead and do things without satisfying his character. So his character must be satisfied.

So the death of Christ allows for the new covenant with Israel because he is the sacrifice that takes away their sin. And it also allows for the implementation of the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son. And the eternal covenant is, in fact, the cross. That's what it is. And so there are benefits and beneficiaries from the one act of death on the cross that accrues to both covenants. So I think the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son is the issue here. Do you agree? Disagree? Yeah, I don't have a problem with it being the Ezekiel.

But that, I'm just wondering what that in at the Last Supper, what that was all about. I think he was speaking to Jews and talking to Jews. He wasn't talking to Gentiles then. So I think it had to do with them, but we know from Expanded Revelation later that it covers more than that.

But here we do, what do we do? We celebrate the Lord's Table. And it's interesting that when we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and we use that passage to celebrate the Lord's Table, it's a passage written by Paul the Apostle to Gentiles or any and all believers in the body of Christ.

And he says in there that he personally received it of the Lord. You know, he wasn't there at the Last Supper and Peter and James and those guys didn't reveal it to him. The Lord did directly and said to him, this is the cup of my blood of the New Testament.

You know, do this in remembrance of me. Well, were these Gentile believers to celebrate a Jewish event? I don't think so. I think they were celebrating who they were under the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son. Did it apply to both? Yeah, absolutely it did. Any other conversation about that? Yeah?

Can the Jewish or Israel join in the inheritance, in the eternal inheritance, or are they limited to it by blood? Well, in the stewardship that God has ordained for different groups, maybe is the way to say it, there's a nation of Israel that God deals with up until the time of the cross. There are certain promises made to Israel, certain guarantees made to them, and the work of Christ on the cross accrues to their benefit. But once the cross takes place, what's to deal with the nation of Israel from that point until now? They've been set aside. And now the church comes in, the body of Christ, but it doesn't come in for 50, 60 days, but that's the issue now. Here's a good example.

When the thief on the cross recognized Christ as the Savior and the Lord Jesus said, today you'll be with me in paradise, is that guy a Christian? What do you think? When Jesus said, you're going to be with me in paradise today, did that mean that this guy is now a Christian? He believes in him, so he is. By definition, Ian means belonging to. He's going to be with me in paradise. How many think he's a Christian? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. How many think he's not a Christian? One, two, three, four. It's a democracy.

Okay, when did the body of Christ begin? The Pentecost. So what was this guy? If the body of Christ doesn't begin until Pentecost, then where did this guy go? He went to paradise. Right, to be with the Lord Jesus, right? Notice that Christ didn't say, today you will be in me. He said, you'll be with me. It's interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't have said that to that man if what he was about to do to die for the sins of the world wasn't taking place. Because nobody got to spend being in paradise with him until that death takes place.

So the Jews, the saintly Jews, the saved Jews, Where are they now? Like where's Abraham now? I'm chasing the tangent. Where's Abraham now? Where's he hanging out? In the heavenlies. I think he's one of those, as Hebrews describes, he's one of those souls of just men made perfect. He's hanging out with the Lord in the heavenlies. But where's his destiny? Where is he going to live for all eternity? Right here on the earth. Right? New heavens, new earth. He's a Jew.

He's under all of the promises made through Abraham to Israel. Did the work of Christ on the cross cover all the promises and covenants between God and Israel? Yeah. How about did it cover all the issues that we have in terms of being in Christ? Sure. Sure it did.

So the mediation between God here is between God and man, all men. Christ himself, he's the mediator. So he handles the Jewish issue and the church issue. Does that make sense? Okay. You don't want to argue with me? Pretty clear cut. Would that be a yes or no? Let's keep moving. If you want to talk about that issue, we can talk about it after. What did God have to accomplish in order that we might inherit? Because that's what we're talking about here.

What did he have to resolve? Sin. He had to resolve sin and sins, both, right? The second thing is that he had to have a man that was suitable to him. If the resolution was going to take place, there had to be a man that was suitable to God, and that man is Jesus Christ. There had to be one who could satisfy God's righteousness and his justice.

That took place. And then the other thing he had to do was he had to create inheritors. Understand what I mean by that? He had to create the inheritors. He had to make us his sons. Yeah, he had to make us his sons in order that we might be inheritors. It's a very interesting point because what you and I inherit, being recreated in Christ, we wouldn't inherit if we weren't recreated in Christ. Do you see that? You have to be suitable to the inheritance. Does that make sense? The whole idea of this class is identification, that we were crucified, buried, resurrected, seated in Christ in the heavenlies.

We are brand new creatures, and those brand new creatures, which we are, are the inheritors, and you are an inheritor because you are born of God. So there are at least four things that were accomplished to make us that we might become inheritors. I ask this question a lot.

If the work of Christ on the cross only did one thing, nothing else, Take the 34 things, cut them down to one. And the one thing that it did, was it paid the penalty for your sins and now you're forgiven. Are you an inheritor? No. You're not an inheritor, because you're still a sinner, even though you're forgiven. In order to be an inheritor, you must be a new creature. You must be recreated. You have to be.

I'm not leaving my paltry fortune to any of you but John. You know why? Because John's my son. You see that? I mean, you're all wonderful people, but you ain't getting anything. Why don't you gob me then? If I did, you'd take all my money. And I only got six bucks left, so...

So my last question was, and this was kind of a subjective question, how does one who knows that they are an inheritor behave? How does one who knows that they're an inheritor, how does he behave? Like he's already obtained everything. Yeah, just like a son. That's how he functions, okay?

Now, streaking ahead, Position and Possession of the Believer, a Heavenly Association. Lots of verses to look up. We probably could have spent three weeks on this. It's lesson number 27. Everybody got that one? Some of you share if you don't, because I don't have an extra foot around me anymore. I'm going to start making copies that are watered in the plants. That's right.

And they keep cutting the seats. That's how you pay your dues. So rather than go through. all of the verses up front, what I'd like to do is we go through and read them as we go through. The heavenly associations in it, the way Chafer sets it up is partners with Christ in life, with Christ in position, in service, and in suffering. So, the first question I asked was what does it mean to be seated with him in the heavenly places?

And that's off of Ephesians 2.6. Somebody anticipated that I'd ask this question. And raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Okay.

So what does it mean to be seated with Him in heavenly places? Number one, is this a positional truth or a conditional truth? Positional. It's your position, right? Okay. And what does it describe? More succinctly, it describes the standing and the location of your position. You see that? It describes the standing that you have, the nuances of it, and it also describes the location.

The location is really important. It's in the heavenlies. It's not in Denver. Where is this location? Where is this place? In Christ. And where is Christ? On the right hand of the Father. Right hand of the Father, so how would you describe that location? Joyful. I'm sorry? Joyful. Yeah, I mean in terms of the location itself. Heavenly. Heavenly? It would be, are there places in heaven that, who would know this answer? Are there places where it isn't the very center of where God's presence is?

The thing I want to get across here is that the very center of where God is is where we are. That's our position. We're not six rows back down the block. We are right in the very location of where God's glory is. That's our position in Christ. In the Holy of Holies.

Now, what does that give you to be there? It makes you a heavenly citizen is the way the Bible describes it. You are now a citizen of heaven. I know you can't call up the IRS and say I'm not going to pay taxes anymore because I'm a heavenly citizen. But positionally you are already a heavenly citizen and you are already qualified to be there.

These blessings are not only as exalted and spiritual as heaven itself and eternal, but they are secure apart from all human merit at the very instant one believes in the Savior for the saving of the soul. You got it all the minute you were saved, apart from anything you did that was meritorious. If God drove the man out of the Garden of Eden, why did he do that? Remember why he did it?

Because Adam and Eve would have had access to the Tree of Life and they wouldn't live forever. And they weren't suitable, were they? No. They weren't suitable. So God drives them out and puts an angel at the door and doesn't let them back in. and doesn't let any man back in because the man's not suitable.

Are you suitable? Absolutely. But you know what? You bypassed the exit to the Garden of Eden and went right to the Holy of Holies. You're suitable for that environment now. That's your position. That's who you are. That's where your associations take place. Does that make sense?

That's because of the two men. Well, it's because of the one new man. The old man doesn't get to go. He doesn't even get to go back to eat. Sorry. My second question is, explain what having his life is. What is that? His life. And you got it. What do you got? Eternal life. So the non-believers are going to live for eternity. The indwelling of Christ. The indwelling of Christ himself. And what is that life about?

It's a completely new creation. Brand new creation. And it's glorious. It's new and kind. Never been that kind of life around here before? Never. until Christ came. It's exactly the same life that Christ now is in the heavens. Exactly the same. Can you think of anything that's different between your life and Christ and his life?

Nobody's going to say, well gee, he's deity. Is that a difference? Yeah. What do you think? He's deity and we're not. Is that the only thing missing? I want to spit out the fact that he has no real signature, and we still do. I mean, we're dead to it. I think the focus here is not so much what we've been cut off from, but the focus on what we now are and what we now have. Do you understand the difference?

It's one thing, coming from Catholicism, this is a point. you get really hammered about as you become a believer. You recognize that within the confines of Catholicism there's all kinds of self-flagellation agendas. Guys become monks and they go into monasteries. I've been in Mexico where women are crawling on their knees 15 blocks with the flowers going into the church and their knees are bleeding. They're going through all of this stuff to somehow make themselves suitable.

Well, the problem with all of that is that it's still dealing with man and sin on the earth. When you start a discussion about your position in Christ, where's the focus supposed to be? Away from earth, onto Christ. Which means away from the things that would keep you back. Does God want you focused on your sinfulness? Does he want you even focused on the fact that you've been forgiven? No, he wants you focused on the glory of the Lord Jesus. Why? Because that's who you are. See that? Now granted, we're saddled with sin nature and living in a sinful world, with a decaying body. But still, the elements of your position were to apprehend by our faith, and our focus is to be on who we are in Christ, not who we used to be in Adam.

It sounds a little ethereal, doesn't it? It sounds pretty easy if you ask me, but I think Realm 7 is involved there, and there's a transitional period that every believer goes through, and it's just kind of like a parenthesis in that believer's life that's transitional, where the new creation He facilitates, and there's the processing to where he's thoroughly convinced that the old nature is just old, and he needs to abide in the new, possibly. It's a transitional period. It's called spiritual growth. Yeah, and does it ever get any easier? I think so.

What did the Lord Jesus say eternal life was? What did the Lord Jesus say eternal life was? What did he say it was in John 17? To know him and the one who sent him. So if you want to know eternal life, if you want to know what it is and answer my question, how would you answer it? you would describe Christ, wouldn't you?

So the issue in Christian growth is to know Christ. As important as all the facts are, the bottom line is beholding the glory of the person of Christ. That's the issue. It isn't focusing on all of the benefits that I get from the cross and the fact that I'm forgiven and I'm reckoning and I'm doing It isn't about you, it's about Him.

Eternal life is Him. And the whole idea of the Christian life and the work of the Spirit and the believer is for you to know intimately and personally the glory and the personhood of Jesus Christ Himself. Why? Why is it set up that way? Because from that intimacy comes the life. We always focus on trying to manufacture the life to get the intimacy. It doesn't go that way. It's life first, intimacy first, then the demonstration of what the life is like. A little verse in Philippians that Paul prays that I may know him. He wrote Philippians 30 years after he had become a believer.

Why is he asking that for that man? You mean he didn't know Christ? Is that what you're saying? But you know, before that, he is. No, no. Answer my question. He forgot his own salvation with fear and trembling. Why does he say that? That I may know him. Did he know him? Sure he did. But why is he praying at that point in his life?

It was still the prime importance. Yeah, it's the number one issue. It's an eternal truth. So I think for every growing believer at some point in your heart comes that thought and that desire that I want to know Christ no matter what the cost, no matter what the thing, no matter what's in the way, no matter what the Spirit of God has to do, I want to know Him. And that desire is swelling up in your heart and you can't resist it. And what you find out is that you're asking God to do something He's already decided to do. And how many of you really think that the Spirit of God right now would develop an intimacy between you and the Son of God?

Right now? How many buy that? I mean, seriously. Yeah, that's what he's up to. That's exactly what he's up to. And once you kind of get that in your frame of reference, then that becomes your desire. And gee, do you have to worry about whether I'm going to be pleasing to him? Or whether I'm obeying him? No. No, you don't. Because you will. Because you have the life. Tell me. Can we know him in everything we do? When we sit to eat, when we walk down the street, when we sit here in the shower. Can we know him everywhere? I think it's possible, but here's where you get to know him. Right here.

Because God gave us this tool and the Spirit of God to reveal the person of Christ through us. Miles Stamford used to say, that the Word of God goes from objective truth to love and affection with a person. So if I'm in the shower and I'm beholding His glory, trust me, it's going to be from somewhere in here. It isn't going to be some ethereal thought that I have about, gee, wouldn't it be nice if Christ was like this? Oh, I think He's like this. No, He's exactly what the Word of God reveals Him to be, His glory. And it's very plain. and very simple. Here he is, the glory of the Son of God, and he's yours. That's what life is, I think.

How does calling and fellowship translate into service? The verse that I use, which I probably Dump yourself properly, honorably and righteously among the Gentiles, so that although they may slander you as evildoers, yet they may by witnessing your good deeds come to glorify God. You have this life in you, right? Can you think you can imitate the life? In other words, could you study how Christ, you know, you go in the Gospel and say, now what would Jesus do in this circumstance, in that circumstance, in this circumstance, and I'm going to learn to adopt that behavior pattern. Is that the glory of the Lord? I have a no, and then what is, if it's not that, then what is it? It's a rest. No, what's the life look like? Good service to others. service to others, it's a sacrificial life.

If you're in the process of learning and valuing the beholding of the Lord, the knowing of Him, and through the Spirit and the Word, you begin to know Him and you get occupied with Him. He's at the forefront of your thought process all the time, and you really get interested in him. He begins to take over your focus and your heart. What are you doing in terms of motivation? You get so interested in him, you begin to want to know what his interests are. Those of you who are married, after a while, once you get over the, gee, my wife or my husband is there for me, you get over that concept and recognize that you're a servant in your marriage, then you begin to try to understand what would be pleasing to her or him. You begin to get interested in their interests. When you get to know the Lord Jesus that way and you start to get interested in his interests, what do you discover? What's he interested in? He is. So where's his focus? Who's it on? It's on us. I mean, it's on us. Isn't that interesting?

Is he interested in you? I dare say most Christians don't think he's really interested. They think, well, he's in heaven and doing his thing and eventually I'll get there. He is myopically and aggressively focused on his body, which is every one of us. So then what does that lead you to do? Focus more on him. On him and his interests.

It frees you up. It does. Miles Stanford used to say that when you discover how intensely interested God is in you, it frees you to be interested in him. Because he's way more interested in you than you think you are. And so then you begin to get involved from a love standpoint in serving Him. And your focus, not your focus, but your evaluation of believers changes.

It changes from, gee, I wonder why they're not performing, to, He loves them. And it's really cool to be involved with what He's doing. Does that make sense? That wasn't very clear. I think that's the motivation for service. It's focus on the Lord Jesus himself. Is he a servant? Is he serving us? Absolutely he is. What's the Spirit of God doing? Is he serving us? Yeah, he is. By conforming us to the image of Christ. Karen?

And I think in us, if he's serving us, it's from there to here. And I think a lot of times our services I know I tend to think, OK, I'm going to serve him from here to go there, instead of that service is always coming from there, not from here. Earth-like. You know, like, oh, if I help out with the kids, or whatever it is. God has gifted every one of us with at least one gift, right? To serve the body.

Where do you get your marching orders? where he is, from him where he is. You don't figure him out yourself and then go to him and say, what do you think about this plan? I'll do these 15 things and maybe 7 of them will stick. No. You have to come from the Lord with your ministry. Which means what? You've got to know him. And that's the whole focus on what he's doing.

That's why association is so critical in a believer's life. How did God make us adequate as servants of the new covenant? We should have put eternal covenant there. 1 Corinthians 1.9, God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3.9, our labor is together with God, you are God's husbandry, you are God's building. Sounds to me like he's interested.

2 Corinthians 6.1, We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain, 2 Corinthians 6.4, but in all things, receiving ourselves as ministers of God in much patience and affliction and necessities and distresses.

2 Corinthians 3.6, who has also made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives us life. or gives life. Now 2 Corinthians 3, 3, for as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. So my question was, how did God make us adequate as servants of the new eternal covenant?

How did he do it? Number one, did he do it? Yes. Yes you did. How do you do it? How do you make us adequate? By taking us out of Adam and placing us in Christ. That's exactly right. If you're going to be a servant, you've got to be suitable. You cannot serve in a godly manner unless you're a godly person. You see that?

If he makes us able ministers, if he makes us an epistle of Christ, what's an epistle? What is an epistle? It's a letter of communication. Okay, if I were to write you a letter, then do you hear my voice? You probably would. What do you find in an epistle? It's non-verbal and it's a communicator and it's something that's observed. So when God makes you an able minister or an epistle of Christ, it's non-verbal, is it not? It's observable. What's observable?

The life of Christ and it's for who to read. All men, all men. Tony was telling me something today that Thomas Aquinas said, and Thomas Aquinas, a lot of things aren't all bad, but what did he say? He said, go out into the world and preach the gospel, and if you have to, use words. Cool.

So much theological, I've never studied in a kind college. So, what's the concept here, in terms of how the life is manifested? Well, let me ask you this, what can you do about getting this life generated? In other words, what do you contribute as to become an adequate servant of the new coming?

Believe. Believe, that's it? When I say you need to obey, what do I mean? You need to believe what he says is true. Sure, sure. And so when you believe, or you have what I would call the obedience of faith, what happens? You get rewarded. What about if I said, well you need to find out? Is that important? You need to find out what you are and who you are and what you have. Is that important? Absolutely it is. So you go and find out. How do you find out in terms of knowing spiritual truth? The Word of God and how else? What goes along with that?

The Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God Himself. If you study Ephesians, Ephesians is a very interesting book. Paul is so heavenly in that book. It's amazing. But twice he prays in that book and what does he pray for? That their heart may be enlightened. See? That they might know what they're reading, what he's telling them, that the Spirit of God would show them.

Because it's spiritual intelligence, not human intelligence. It's a really important issue. Now, we say, well, like we were having a great discussion on Tuesday and Ben said to me, well, then the reason we're not spiritual is because of the Spirit of God and it's his fault. I remembered that. The thing is, if you just look at these six verses that I've read, it would convince me that the Spirit of God is doing His job.

What's it mean to be an ambassador? What's an ambassador do? When Condoleezza Rice goes over to someplace in the Middle East and sits down with a leader. What does she say to the leader? Here is a representative of the United States. That's right. And what I have to tell you comes from where? From the headman. Is she allowed to say, my opinion is? No. No, she's not. So if you're an ambassador of Christ, are you allowed to say, my opinion is? No, you're not. No, you're not.

2 Corinthians 5.20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. Here's the message. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. That's the message. Be reconciled to God.

Why? Why would you say such a thing? Because he who knew no sin became sin. that we might be made the righteousness of God. Andrew's a non-believer. I'm the ambassador. I come to him and say, Andrew, be reconciled to God. What's he going to say to me? Why would I want to do that? And what would I say to him?

God is satisfied. All you've got to do is believe what he says. Be reconciled. It's pretty simple. If the whole entire message of an ambassador is, I beseech you, be reconciled to God. That's the whole message. Isn't it? Isn't that the message of salvation? Because God has done all the work. He wants you to be reconciled to Him, because He's satisfied. He doesn't need you to perform anything other than to believe that He's satisfied. So be reconciled. 2 Corinthians 6, 4-10.

How is a life like the one described possible? And I'm going to read this. But in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, regarded as deceivers, and yet true, as unknown, yet well known, as dying, yet behold, We live as punished yet not to put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. How is that possible? I like these verses because when somebody comes up to me and wants to tell me what a great job they are doing with the Christian life, I say, well read these and tell me how you are doing.

And oh by the way, you don't get to do these sequentially, you've got to do them all at the same time. How are you doing? How is this life possible? You've died to this life. You've died to this life. Okay, that part is taken care of. Now how about implementing this? How is this implemented? That's the other great thing about all of this is that the Spirit of God has been given to every believer because you're a heavenly person, you're suitable, you're associated with Christ, and I know you were thinking that the Christian life was going to be health and wealth and rest and fame and no hassles. What does this describe? So after hassle, after hassle. And why? Why so much hassle? Why so much hassle? Because the results are nil without him. What's that? The results are nil without him. The results are nil.

That's how you're conformed. You're conformed. Now let's just say, we'll pick on your back. The Spirit of God conforms you to the image of Christ so that you begin to manifest His life. How accepted are you going to be amongst your peers? Not very. And how accepted are you going to be in the world? Not very. Not at all.

So what can you expect? Castle. There's a list. There's a list right there. That's what you can expect. But inside your heart, what's happening to you? You're resting. You're resting. When the Lord Jesus Christ is living his life on here, was he hassled? They were trying to put him to death from the minute he opened his mouth. Right? Was he restful? He was stressful sometimes. But he was at rest, and he was purposeful. He knew what he was doing, and he knew where he was going. You know, it's interesting.

So do we. We know what we're doing, and we know where we're going. Because we're not of this world. So people say, how come there aren't more Christians who manifest the life of the Lord Jesus? You know why I think? Right here. When you start to manifest and this begins to be the experience of your life, you can't think, this can't be true. This isn't what God has in mind for me. Right? Isn't that right?

So I better slow it down a little, modify it a little. It's like contemporary evangelical efforts, what do they do? They take the gospel and they try to fit it to man, rather than just laying it out there and letting man come to it. We offer, when you present reconciliation, what you really present is, You have now the opportunity to leave all that you know yourself to be and come to Christ. You have to walk away from all that you are. That's really what the invitation is. And oh, by the way, you're going to come through the cross. We're not coming in there and modifying what the gospel is so it's appealing to you. No. We're here and you're in sin. Come out of sin to Christ. Do you see the difference?

Well, if this is the way you're to live, or if there's a description of this, this life is only possible by the supernatural power provided for the exact and perfect execution of a superhuman rule of life under grace. This is the life that's lived under grace. Now I know you're thinking, is that really right? Is that really right? That's the way the Christian life is going to be? One of the reasons we all huddle in these little churches is because it's a safe haven.

7. Is it possible for a believer to deny Christ and what are the consequences? What do you think? Real simple, yes or no. How many think yes it is? How many think no, can't do it? What do you mean by deny Christ? Are you saying he isn't the Christ anymore? Or to deny to follow his command of conformity in his image? Just to deny him. That's who he is.

2 Timothy 2.12 says, If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. Boy, does that sound gospel-ish to me. Can you deny him? It says we can. What does he mean then?

Then you guys aren't secure. I think by deny, he may mean that you deny the Holy Spirit, the influence in your life to conform to this, to ignore the Holy Spirit. So, for Paul to say this to Timothy, what's he saying? You ignore the gift that you have of going out and spreading.

Are you a son of God? Yes. Are you positioned in Christ? Yes. Are you all that God says you are in the epistles? All of it, right? So would God be going against himself if you were to deny him and he were to deny you? If you're positioned in Christ, can he deny you? He can't. He can't. Does that make sense?

Now, we all know, I mean, I know believers who are, I think they're believers, that have, you know, demonstrated that they were amongst Christian circles and then went off to live a life that was totally dishonoring to God. Is that denying Christ a dishonored life? It's sinful, but he's not denying God. The point of this verse is that the denial God would have to deny himself if he were to deny a believer in this blurring position and condition.

I mean, I think that's a position we can't secure. It's when you have a condition, you sin, you lose fellowship. That's where I think we're trying to pull the word deny, deny it, and when I said I'm not agreeing with God. That's right. So I mean that's in essence, you know, thinking about the word deny and denying his truths and all that, that's conditional. Position, I don't change anything. So I think that's the confusion is between position and condition. That's right. I think the question I'm going to give you next week are probably two or three questions so I can catch up.

Actually, we're going to talk about, to finish this part up, is suffering for Christ's sake, which you guys are very familiar with. Let's call it, Dear Father, how we love you today. We thank you for your Word, and we thank you for your Spirit that teaches us, and we thank Rest, Father, and trust You as You've implemented in our lives those things which are our possessions and our position in Yourself. I pray in His name. Amen.