The Position & Possessions of the Believer # 30a (Lesson 31)
Mike Doyle · May 13, 2007
Identification (2006-07), No. 32
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926026521394

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

We're actually going to do what we're working on today over the next two weeks because there's just, there's a lot of stuff there. And so what I did was I kind of, if you notice, if you do at home, then I sort of stopped about halfway through the list of and then next week we'll pick up and finish what we started today. Were there any questions? We didn't quite get through everything from last week. Are there any questions about last week? We were going to do 10 and 11.

Last week's primary topic was Light and the Lord, and the verses were Ephesians 5.8 and 1 Thessalonians 5.4-5, and it had to do with darkness and light, and the Lyrta Wachas, the children of the light, that we've been taken out of the darkness and placed into the light, and we have gone through all the questions except for ten.

What you're thinking Hassan, give some characteristics of children of the light and children of the day. I made it really easy for you last week, because I gave you a list of 215 things that are true of you now that you're a believer. So out of there you ought to come up with one or two. So give me some characteristics. These are the times that the teacher begins to wonder, are you learning anything?

Give me one characteristic of what it is to be a child of the light of the day. Seeking Godly things rather than worldly things. That's a good one. Seek the things of God rather than the worldly things. Give me another one. There's no condemnation. There's no condemnation. So you don't live under the cloud of condemnation. What else? We've been quickened. What's that? We've been quickened. We've been quickened. Made alive in Christ. Not just another human life, but resurrected life of the Lord Jesus.

What else? Just look at your notes, you've got 30-something in there. One of the really neat characteristics of being a child of the light, an adult child of the light by the way, is the fact that you do live out in the exposed atmosphere of the light of God. The Spirit of God can't search you, your innermost hearts, and not find anything of darkness in there, in your position. That's a pretty cool place to be, don't you think? Now in your condition there may be darkness, but in your position there isn't any.

We would never pray David's prayer, search me O Lord, would we? Why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't we pray that prayer? Because it's all in the open. It's all in the open, because of our position in Christ. Of course He sees everything in our condition too. And according to Romans 8, the Spirit of God is searching the mind of God. to inform us about the things that are freely given to us, that we don't know about, and teaching us how to pray like we should, from our position rather than from our condition.

Anything else? Using the examples of day and light, explain how we are to function as children of the light. Quite a really hard question, right? Maybe I'll make it easier. We're not children of the darkness and we're not children of the night, but we are children of light and children of the day. And which means that we live in and by grace alone, right? Do you think grace is a teacher? Do you think grace can teach you how to live in the light?

Tell me how. Give me the verse. Interesting verse. It's Titus. The grace of God has appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly. So grace is the teacher, and how one is to live in the light. And the examples of light and day are in that verse, denying ungodliness.

Notice it doesn't say denying sinfulness or bad deeds. It says ungodliness, which puts the comparison Like in Romans 5 it says the same thing, that Christ died for the ungodly, not all the bad people. The criteria is whether you're godly or not. See that? Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness. So anything that's not of God we deny, and worldly lust, and that we live soberly, righteously, and godly. Isn't that interesting? So it isn't your self-righteousness My self-righteousness, it's godly living, which means that you have to have the life to live like God, don't you? And grace is the principle under which that functions.

Probably enough of that. Let's go on to what we're doing today. OK. Petition of Possession of Liberty. Vitally united to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lots and lots of verses. First Thessalonians 1.1, let me read that. Anybody? Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of Thessalonians, in God the Father, Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you. So the verse says that the church in Thessalonica is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then Ephesians 4.6. One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. Okay.

So my first question was, what does the term, vitally united, bring to mind? If we're vitally united, I looked up some of the synonyms of vitally united and it could be totally, unconditionally, completely, utterly united to the Father and the Son. What does that united bring to mind? Never to be separated. Say that again? Never to be separated. Never to be separated. What is it united to who? To God.

And what's that all about? I was going to do that with his finger but I can't do it. Is it even more than this? We're actually in. The whole idea of this class is to explain and talk about that one issue. To be vitally united or unconditionally or completely or utterly united to the resurrected Christ. And way back when we started out by talking about how we were united, identified with Adam.

And then this transaction happened. What was the transaction? We believed, but what did God do? What did He do when we believed in terms of changing our identity? Placed us in His Son. Placed us in His Son. And once we were placed in His Son, where did we go in? What point in the timeline of His Son?

That's a cross when he dies. So when he dies, what do you do? You die, what's the word death mean? Separated from something other than vitally united. Separated from what? All that you were in Adam. The whole creation, everything. Buried, resurrected, now you're vitally united to the resurrected glorified Christ. In fact, can that ever change no matter how bad you are? Never can. Never can. So, really, vitally united is another term. Next time we teach this course we will not call it identification truth, we will call it vitally united.

Because that is in fact what we are and what is happening. So, it is the blessed portion of all Christians. We share Christ's death and we are now saved by his very life. John Darby says, this is what Paul meant when he said, to me, to live, is Christ. It is our present privilege and responsibility to rest in Him where He is, because that is where we are positioned, above, right there. So, it's a reciprocal union maybe is the way to look at it. It's the ultimate oneness. That's all true of us positionally.

Do you see how difficult a job it is for the Spirit of God to not only educate us, but persuade us that those facts are true? Because everything in the world would deny your union with Christ, would it not? Can you think of any example in the world system, or the way the world comes at you, or the way your own So nature comes at you that would verify that that is true. Can you think of an example? Anybody? I can't think of one. Because the world is all about separation. That's what it really comes at you. What God has told us about our union with him really isn't true. Or it's just a bunch of platitudes.

But it is true, and the spirit of God's ministry is to make that real to us so that we'll rest in our position and stay there, not move on. So how could you say that the church in Thessalonica has said to be in God? It's interesting, the word in there is a primary preposition that means denoting a fixed place in time or a fixed state. How do you get to be, how does the church of Thessalonica get to be one in God?

Through the Holy Spirit they were placed in Him. Placed in who? In Christ. In Christ, and what's Christ's relationship with God? With the body and with the head. Yeah, and we're all in God. We're all in Him. When you listen and read and hear words like that, doesn't your mind think, huh? What does that mean? Because we can think about the omnipresence of God and that he's everywhere and of course he's in us and he's, you know, because of his character.

Is this the same thing? Boy, you guys are asleep today. We'll get a copy. Is it the same thing? Or maybe I'll ask question number three on the list. Maybe it'll help us understand. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer today, is it the same as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament saints? No. Right answer, and I'll explain why. Because, have you been explaining to anyone? Oh, you do. Because he did knew well, and he came upon them in certain instances. Like, was it David said, taking on your spirit of longing? Spirit of longing, yeah.

So he left them, he wasn't in permanent indwelling. He empowered them, but he didn't. He was probably, just came over the top of them and coached them along. What do you think? I think he engulfed them. He did, but it wasn't the same as what we have. We are not only engulfed, we are placed in him. It's not him just being placed in us. Now let's make a distinction right there.

Does the Spirit of God place us in himself? That's right, and the reason I bring that up, that's one of the subtleties that you'll hear from the Charismatics. They will say that the Spirit of God has placed you in Himself. And that's not true, He put us in Christ. So the Spirit of God can come in an Old Testament saint and dwell him and empower him to carry out a specific purpose, right?

But for the believer, The first thing he does is he takes the believer and he baptizes him into Christ. And then he indwells the believer permanently. And why does he do that? Why does he indwell the believer? Just so he can do a bunch of magic tricks? He's the earnest of our salvation. That's right. But what does he represent in the believer?

Keep going. The new man. The new man. A little more. Romans 8? And that we're sealed. He's sealed. That's right. The verification, you could say that we are in Christ. It's like the stamp that says this, the seal in the Old New Testament times that said this belongs to the king or whoever. Verified it.

Let's talk about, what I'm after here is an understanding, and you're very close, it's Romans 8-2, there's a new principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. So, what I'm after here is that not only positionally are we united to him and he's united to us, but there's a principle there. And it's the principle of the glorified, resurrected life of Christ. He is the one who is the energy of the new life in Christ. The union is so complete that it is the very Spirit of God who energizes the believer and manifests the godliness of that life through the believer.

See how that connection goes? And you can't imitate that because it's his life, but you've been united to it. So what I find interesting is that when the Lord Jesus prays in John 17 about that they may be one as we are one, that they may be one in us, which we'll talk about in a minute. What did he really mean by oneness?

Well, in the example that I've just given, the life that the Lord Jesus lives is exactly the same life we have. It's the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It's a new principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Isn't that interesting? Even the Lord Jesus himself, when he started his ministry, what happened?

Did he just say, oh, it's noon and I'm 33, it's time to get with it? You know, let's go. And we'll have an event that sort of starts it off. I'll go down and have John pour a little water on me or dunk me down. We'll be off and running. What happened there in the river with John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus? The Spirit of God descended on him. That life, the Spirit of God, came in and dwelt Christ and he began to live externally this life that was inside of him. Always had the life there, but even with him, the energy and the power of that life is dependent on the Spirit of God. Even him. So where is your life dependent? Same place. Same life. Same life.

And just so you know, maybe to add a little fuel to this, there's never been any other human beings in the history of man that can say those things. All the Old Testament saints, none of them had this union, this union of life with the God of the universe. Not a single one of them did. When the Holy Spirit came, he was to indwell all the believers. He had been with them, now he was to abide in them forever, ministering the risen life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's the principle. Anybody want to define what a principle is for me? What is a principle? It's how a thing operates or functions. There's all kinds of principles that we function by or things function by on the earth. Gravity is probably the one principle that's the easiest to demonstrate. If you drop your pen, where's it going? It's not going to the ceiling. It's going to the floor because of the principle of gravity. Well, there's a principle of life in Christ Jesus that's set And it functions and operates a certain way. He does. And that's the life we may have. Okay, question number four. In John 14, 20, the Lord says, At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. It's kind of a redundant question I ask. What day was that and when did it occur? What was the day that he was referring to? Resurrection? Day of Resurrection? Anybody else? Day of Pentecost? Anybody else? I think it's the Day of Pentecost. Now, I ask it in two ways because I want to know your day. When does it happen to you? The day you were saved.

So, what's interesting is that, look at the information that the Lord Jesus tells his disciples that they're going to know on that day. Isn't that an interesting bit of information? And that day, when the Spirit of God came upon him in Pentecost, he said, you're going to know that I'm in my Father. And he's already told them and tells them, you know, he and the Father are one.

You know, and you can see these disciples going, that's nice. What do you mean? What do you mean? And that you are in me and that I am in you. Now what does that tell you about understanding spiritual things? You can't understand them until he is in you. Until the Spirit of God dwells in you and starts to show you. You have no concept. None whatsoever. Does that principle hold true then the rest of your Christian life? Now that you're involved with the Spirit of God, all you've got to do is, whatever it is, I understand it.

You need to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Enabled by the Spirit of God, right? Because He's the one that teaches us. He's the one that shows us. And it's interesting that the Lord Jesus, about halfway through when he begins to teach his disciples separately, one of the first things he tells them, you're going to know that I'm in the Father, you're in me, and that I'm in you. One other point about this, one of the reasons that we talk about in salvation, that it's the time of regeneration, what's regeneration mean? Re-genesis, what does that mean? Rebirth means you become something totally new.

In order to understand spiritual things, you've got to be totally new. There's no information, there's no informing of the old man about these spiritual truths. He might be able to verbalize them, but he doesn't know them and doesn't understand them. He certainly doesn't understand oneness.

Is this union with us the same as the Father and the Son, or is it something a little different? This union of life that we have with the Lord Jesus, is it the same union that the Father has with the Son, or is it something... did we get plan B? Or is it something a little different? What is planning? If we are in Christ and He is in the Father, then I don't know where I've seen the drawing of the circles and how they all overlap and where they're placed, but it's there.

So it's exactly the same. Positionally. What's that? Positionally. Positionally. Is there anything left out? No. There's one thing left out. Theory. There you go. The way I like to look at this, which I've probably explained before, before anything was created, here's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit existing.

What are they doing? They're having fellowship with each other, right? Are they totally satisfied with that? Absolutely. They're infinitely loving each other, receiving it and giving it. So they didn't create because something was missing. They created for what reason? What are they really after? A share, the same thing.

What is interesting is that God, by this union transaction that he has completed with every believer, if you look at the triune goddess in a circle like that and they're existing in eternity and they're loving each other, we got plugged into that circle. Nobody else did. Jews aren't in that circle. Old Testament Gentile saints aren't in that circle, but we are. And so we share all that Christ is, except for deity.

And by being recreated in Christ and having this union of life with Him, we have been raised to a place where we have the capacity to receive God's love on God's level. And to respond on His level. You see that? Because it's the same life. Does that make sense? that what God has done by uniting us with himself is, we'll spend eternity growing into all that that means, but the neatest part about it is that Here's an example of me and my dog. I've got the greatest, loving, 90-pound, blind, black Labrador you ever saw. And he loves us like crazy. But you know what?

I've never had an intellectual conversation with him. I've never asked him what he thought of a TV program. How do you like the dog food? Does it taste good to you? If he doesn't like it, he doesn't need it. But we don't discuss it, because we can't. Well, the natural man is in the same relationship with God as I am with my black Labrador. Except natural man doesn't love God, like my dog loves me. So what does God do?

He recreates us in Christ and moves us up the ladder, so to speak. creates us in the same plane as the resurrected Christ is, so that we can draw all the benefits of what it means to be there. So God can come and He can discuss with me His things. And I can understand them. And I can receive them and I can give back to them. And He can love me and be loved by me on His level. And the way that that happens is by uniting me to Christ.

Does that make sense? So the privilege that we have and the position that we have is You can hardly take it in because you're thinking, has God really done this? Yeah, he has. So, the answer to this question is obviously that we have this union, and it's in John 17, 20, 21. In 21, he says that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. I don't see anything, you get 95%, we're keeping 5% for ourselves. I don't see any of that. In 22, I've given them the glory that you gave me. What is that glory that the Father gave the Son? What is that? What is glory? It's the essence of God? Add to it. Add to it. Add to the essence of God. It would be one thing if the essence of God was in a box. It's not in a box. It's manifested. It's His attributes being displayed.

So, the Lord Jesus says, as a man, Father, give me all the essence that you and I had before the world began, but now that I'm a man, give it to me now, so that it might be displayed. That's a key thing, I think, Mike, that you didn't read, what the reason was. So that the world might know. So the world might know. And so here he says, okay, here's the transaction.

The Lord Jesus, as a man, says to his father, I want the same glory now as a man that I have with you from all eternity, that we as God have. But now it's going to be manifested in and through a man. And then he says a little while later, oh by the way, I have given them the glory that you gave me. Who is he talking about?

You and me. So that they may be one just as we are one. I and them, you and me, that they may be completely one with us. So it's cool. That the world may know that you sent me and that you have loved me as you have loved them. Isn't it interesting that this union that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ has an express manifestation and representation to the lost world.

Without you saying a word. How do they know? What does this prove to them? What does it prove to the lost world? That the Son has come. That God has been here. And that the love of God is now shed abroad in human beings for the non-believing world to see. And it proves to them, according to this scripture, without a doubt that He has been here. Isn't that something? And you don't have to say anything. They know that the love of God is in you. They can see it. So go home and polish up.

It's kind of an amazing thing to think that here we are walking around, and we're one with Christ, and the love of God is manifested in and through us, and the lost world can see it. And it proves to them that Christ was here. So, your oneness with Christ is one of those things that will constantly be something we'll be growing in for eternity, I think.

Question 6. In Colossians 127, what is the mystery? Somebody read Colossians 127. Actually 26 and 27. So. You think in the Old Testament guys knew what was coming? About this issue of oneness? They didn't, did they? So, the mystery is that God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this secret and he made it known among the Gentiles. Isn't that interesting?

Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now the mystery of Christ Is Christ indwelling the believer? That's the mystery. That in fact you have, the very second person of the Trinity, God himself indwelling you, and you're in Him. Now, what is the hope of glory mentioned here? What is that? Before that he says, the riches of the glory of this mystery is made known to the saints. But what's the word hope mean?

A certain thing. It's an absolute certainty from a biblical standpoint, right? Future certainty. But it's future, right? And as we talked about last week, or the week before, about faith. And faith is substance, and reality is substance of things, so hope is absolute proof of the things of God. So the hope of glory is an absolute proof of something that's coming, and it's the glory. So what does that mean? What does it mean? There's a hope of the glory of God. What's the next step? If you know it's the sure thing, what is the thing that's sure? Don't say it's the glory of God, explain what it is. Our fellowshiping with Him.

What does it produce? It produces Christ in us, and is it not the hope of the face-to-face fellowship that someday we will all enjoy? I think it's not only that we will enjoy it, because we can enjoy the beginnings of it now, But I also think that the hope has to do with the manifestation of that glory out of us for all eternity. So not only do we have this union of life with the resurrected Christ, Christ himself right now is in the heavenlies, seated at the right hand of the Father, exhibiting and manifesting the glory of God.

It's hard for us to get a mental picture of what the manifestation of the glory of God is. You see guys that draw things with rays coming out of it and brightness and all of that. However, the description of the manifestation of the glory of God that is manifested now through a man, because it's a man who sits on the throne, is exactly the same way that the glory of God will be manifested through you and me. Pretty cool. way cool, over-the-top cool. You think about what God's up to.

And so when the Lord Jesus comes to rule and reign, he will come gloriously, right? His glory won't be hidden this time. And everyone, you think anybody would ever get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus during that thousand years and not recognize who he was?

What do you think? Who was that guy? You think that will happen? No. How about you and me? Ruling and reigning with him on the planet. You think people will say, oh there goes Karen, I wonder if she's a sign. You think that will happen? No, that same glory is going to be manifested through us too. The glory of God himself. The fullness of it, not just 25%. The fullness of God's glory. It's going to be pretty bright around here for a thousand years.

Is that because he's closed the hearts of those that don't recognize him? I don't understand the question. Unrecognizing who Christ is. If they're not going to save, is it because they are just so callous in their self-centeredness that they can't recognize him? Yeah, everybody understand the question? Bruce is talking about the people on the earth.

Will they just... through the callousness of their sin nature that they will just reject him even though he's here gloriously. You think that will happen by the way? I think there are people on the earth in the millennial kingdom who are going to say, absolutely there is. Do you think that happens today? Absolutely it does. Men don't reject God just because they didn't get around to it. Or just because they don't know. They do know. They do know. There's ample evidence in the Word of God that they know. God has revealed himself to every man.

It's the hardness. Remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about darkness and light? Darkness hates the light. Oh no, that means that when we're all back here, walking around manifesting light, there are going to be people that hate us? Yeah, there are. So, question eight.

By the work of the Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. How did they do this? How do you do it? How do you do it? What does the word baptize mean? To be placed into and never to be taken out of, right? So, I'm not really sure mechanically how God did it, how he got a hold of Courtney and placed him in Christ. But the Word of God says it over and over again that that's what he did. That he baptized, which is a terrific word, not only does it mean to be placed into, but it means to be identified with. And put him and united him to Christ.

And important, like we talked about a minute ago, to understand that it happened at the point of contact where the Lord Jesus died. And the reason that's so important is that Christ was dying from all of the old creation. And in order for us to die in the old creation, we've got to be in them at that point. It's a critical time to understand that that's when we went in, because there's no Jewishness left over, there's no earthliness left over, and when he dies and he's raised again to newness of life, it's an entirely new kind of life that's never been here before.

It's a new creation. So not only is it like in this verse that God took Jews and Gentiles through the Spirit and put them in Christ and they are not Jews or Gentiles anymore, they are now new creations in Christ. It's important to understand that that's what we are from our relationship to the world. We don't look any different than the guys that are not in Christ, but we have been totally separated from all of that first creation, all of it. So when Christ said it is finished, and then gave up his spirit, that's when it happened. It was over. Yeah. That's when he died too. Yeah. And at that point, you and I were in it. We were there. Two thousand years ago on the cross, when he said, when he gave up his spirit and died, we were in him and died with him.

Okay, John 15, 5. So you can see where I am, I'm moving my way down to number two under B. Fifteen five. Somebody read it. I am fine here at the branches. If a man remains me, I am him. He is there much fruit. Pardon me. OK. My question was, what kind of branch are Congress? Nothing by itself. Nothing by itself. Everybody agree with that?

So, let's talk about the relationship between the vine and the branch. What's the relationship? They're united, they're connected. Connected, united to the vine. Where's the life? In the vine. In the vine, right? And all the characteristics of the life are in the vine, right? So what does the branch do? What's that? It just hangs there. Thank you. That's what it says. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now, say that? Draws from the mind, the life from the mind. OK. Does he actually do the drawing or does the life surge into it? Yeah, it surges into it, right?

The entire source is the vine, right? So here comes the life, surging through the vine, or the branch. Then what happens? What starts to be produced? The fruit, right? And the fruit doesn't hang on the vine, it hangs on the branch, doesn't it? And so, without the vine there's no fruit, but without the branch there's no place to hang a fruit. But the source of life has to come up and go through the branch in order to produce the fruit.

So we're the branch, right? So we don't do any of the producing. So what do we do? So the branch has this fruit being produced on it. And it all comes from the vine. What's the branch paying attention to? The vine. You mean it's not supposed to be watching the fruit? No. How come? Because the focus and the life is in the vine, but most believers are like this.

We've kind of seen how much is out there, if any. Or, you know, they get the mirror out and give it one of these. So how does the branch function? What would be a terrific word for the branch to come up with that would identify for it what it's supposed to do? What would be a great word? And it's in John 15. What's the word? The word is abide. What's that word mean? Live there. What else? Be at home there. What else?

By the way, how did you find out you were a branch? How did you find that out? God told you, right? What did he ask you to do about the information? Believe him. Okay, so I believe him and I believe he says I'm a branch. So what am I supposed to do with that information? Believe it? What else? Nothing. Abide. Stay where you are. Don't move. Do you see that? So, and you begin to recognize this little phrase where it says, without me you can do nothing.

We have a tendency to look at that like, well, we must be in a partnership. It's 50-50, right? The Lord, maybe he's 60 and I'm 40. We're always looking for that participation. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ is the source, and the Spirit is the energy, who produces the life and the fruit.

Our job is just to stay where we are. That's what abiding is. If you come over to my house, and you hang out in my house, I can say to you, just abide, which means don't leave. That's what it means. Just stay here. I have to keep some of you guys out on Thursday night. We stop abiding. So you just abide. You just stay where you are.

So you get the information. You get the positional information about where you are. You exercise faith in the one who tells you the information. So here you are. You have responded to God's information by believing Him. And most of the time the information is based on here's the position that you have. And by faith you just stay there. Don't move. You don't have to move. You don't even have to decide. You can just stay there. See that? Was that the first buzzer? Wow, I don't get that.

So, we fellowship with the Lord Jesus. I'm sorry, our fellowship is with the Lord Jesus and His is with us. and an interpenetrating union of life. As you abide in Him where He is, He is progressively manifested in you where you are, which is in Him. There is a bond of common life and nature for me to live as Christ. Paul says, Now thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place. It's amazing to me that the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit would place us in Christ and then go about the business of trying to get in, or stay in, or help out, rather than just stay in where you are abiding. So, John 15. The next and last one for today is Ephesians 2, 19-22. How many get to read that?

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into the dwelling of God in the Spirit. OK. Under the heading, I'm vitally united to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When you talk about God's house, what are the building materials made of?

What's that? Believers. Human beings. Believers. That's exactly right. And when the Lord said in Matthew 16, 18, He says, upon this rock I will build my church, what was He talking to? Who is the rock? Now, no Catholic answers here. Bruce and I, we came from the same background. When we found out that Peter wasn't a rock it was a real shock to our system. Who's the rock? Christ.

So he's going to build his own church on himself and he's going to build it out of human beings. What I found interesting about that is that it's a building. An example used of this, finally united to Christ, if you look around at this building, this is a building made up of sticks and mortar and bricks and that kind of thing, and it's a unit, it's an entity, but it has all of these parts to it. If we're a building of Christ, we're all of the integral parts that make up the whole, but all of the parts are human beings. Christ is the foundation and the church is built only on him.

Now, the building blocks must be suitable to the foundation. Understand what I'm saying? In other words, do I need to tell you this three little pig story? The building blocks have to be suitable to the cornerstone and the foundation if the building is going to be suitable to the one who is the foundation and the one who is the builder.

In Hebrews it says that the one who is the builder of the house is deserving of more honor than the one who dwells in it. So not only is Jesus the cornerstone, but he is the builder. And he adds, each one of us in that sense is a brick. We are living stones and we are in a spiritual building which Christ himself is the chief cornerstone.

So, question 11, why is the foundation the apostles and prophets? Why does he say that they are the foundation? Christ the cornerstone, they are the foundation. What did they do? What did the apostles do in terms of the context of building this building? They brought the message, which was the foundation. They laid it out. They dug the footings and they put the support system under the entire building. Last question.

What is the purpose of a temple constructed? Why do you have one? What do you do in a temple? Worship. So, a temple is a place to worship God, and since we are the temple, not this building, we're the temple, worship is conducted within each believer personally and collectively as we gather together. We're the temple.

Okay, let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for our oneness and our union with your son. And if we would ask for anything, we would continue to grow in the understanding and the fullness of what that is. Thank you. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.