Unfathomable Riches of Christ - The Church as one new man. continued
Vern Peterman · Nov 11, 2018
Unfathomable Riches of Christ, No. 42
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261912507151

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

We have a change of plans. And the change of plans is we're going to move on to another topic. The church is blessed and chosen, but by special request, there's probably people who aren't here, right? By special request, we're going to continue on. The church is one new man because, one, we didn't complete it last. Sunday.

And so that was one. And so we have the remaining material on there. And the request is to particularly cover some of the remaining material and to deal with that. So for anyone who wasn't here with us last week, we will at least have it on record so that they can catch up with us. The snowstorm, being predicted to be what it is, is apparently supposed to get worse before it gets better. So that may be keeping some folks awake.

Alright, so let's take a look. We're at the church's one new man. The schedule that you see at the top of the handout will be changed in terms of We've done part one last week, we'll do part two this time. But we'll still end November 25th. And the reason is because Nancy and I will certainly thereafter be leaving, so we've got no choice. So what we covered last time was the regions 2, 14 through 18.

And let me read that, because while we're going to move past it, it's foundational. And this is a passage also that I might mention we keep coming back to. Why do we keep coming back to this passage, Ephesians 2, 14 through 18? Why do we keep coming back to that? Yeah, it is first of all very important.

The other thing is it has several different kinds of truths in it. And that's one of the reasons why we're hitting on this topic and that topic. We keep coming back to this because it has several different kinds of truth all in the same passage. And so in this case, it has the one new man set of words together. along with other truths that we have looked at in the past. So it says, he himself is our peace. And who is he himself?

Christ, right? This is Jesus Christ, who has made both one. Who are the both? Both Jews and Gentiles. So he has made both ethnic groups. He has made both ethnic groups into one. So got that? And has broken down the middle wall of separation. What's the wall? The law. And he spells it out. The middle wall of separation.

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity That is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances. So is there any question as to what he did? He's basically given several different explanations, hasn't he? Is there any question that this is the law that has all the individual laws and ordinances?

No, not really. Does this say that it's only a part of the law? It doesn't say that, does it? It doesn't say that. It's not some part of the law. And he didn't diminish the law. What did he do? He abolished it. And where did he accomplish that? Did he do that when he crossed the sea and called the storm? No, he accomplished it on the cross.

And so this is one thing for people to get clear. The cross, did Jesus die for your sins on the cross? Absolutely. But there are at least a half dozen parallel accomplishments on the cross, and the accomplishments were not partial. The accomplishments, every single one was total. Did he die for some of your sins? Did he die for some of our sins? No, he died for all the sins of the whole world, 100% no exceptions, even the ones you and I didn't even know about. So every single one, this is a statement of totality, and it also is redundant.

It's the law, it's that which has caused the enmity between the Gentiles and the Jews. is explicitly what he did. He did it 100%. He accomplished it on the cross. It was not an accidental or incidental accomplishment. It was his intention. It's exactly what God had in mind. He didn't at the last minute say, oh, why don't we throw in some of this and see if we can pull it off. Right? When did he choose you and him? He chose us in Him before He said, let there be light. That's what kind of forethought went into this day on the cross. These hours on the cross.

Yes? So, would the crucifixion be called predestined or preplanned? Ah! Very, very good question. Okay? So, He chose us in Him So, was your being in him an afterthought? No. No. Was it something he said, you know, I think it's probably a real good idea. Long about, maybe after Jesus was born, did he just think of it then? No. So, this was something done by intention, by intention, and But when we use the word predestined, what's very interesting is the Bible doesn't just scatter that all over the place. A lot of people, especially in the Calvinist mode, will start predestining this and predestining that.

But the word is not that common, and the word predestination is predestination of outcomes. Not everything that happened was predestined. See that? See the difference? So it's a very specific word used in special cases for predestining outcomes. That should give us assurance, not the dread of, you know, God's going to make everything happen, and I've just got no choice, and you know, God does not As I've heard some say, God is not predestined if I drop a pin and it hits the floor and does this and that. He's not predestining every single move. The Bible doesn't say that. What the Bible says is it predestines specific outcomes.

That's what predestination is about. It should be comforting and assurance, not a, oh no, I don't have any choices in this matter. So you could say the crucifixion was pre-planned and not pre-destined? It was pre-planned and it was the eternal covenant, so it was covenanted, it was planned, it was what the Father and Son covenanted to do. But pre-destined is a very specific word used for specific things and it ought not to be overextended or extended beyond what scripture says actually applies.

So these things ought to be clear. Let's get another thing clear. If God foreknows something, does that mean that he predestines it? No, so God's foreknowledge should not be thought of as the same as predestination. So, getting these things clear, not overextending the biblically intended meaning of the term. These things are important for us to take note of. The overextension or even the underextension of these things is something that people do.

It's not biblical. That's when you get an ism, right? Calvinism, right? Botulism, right? So we need to be careful just to look very specifically as to what the scripture says about specific things. and not overextend it and begin over applying it. So you ask a very excellent question because it's one that people will get their isms and overextend the meaning of a term. And that we shouldn't do. That's presumptuous. It's also humanistic.

Oh, now I understand everything. No you don't. You know who understands everything? God. Nobody else. God understands everything else, and he has revealed things to us intentionally, deliberately, but it's not our job to go and say, oh, now I got it, and start running with it, as if we understand everything. We don't. Yes. Okay, so I have one more point of clarification. Absolutely. I didn't hear what you said. I have one more point of clarification. Yes.

So, if there's a war, God didn't predestine the war. No. But did he predestine the outcome then? Yes, so let's look at it. Okay, so here is this war. Does the Bible say God predestined the war? No. Bible did not say that God predestined the war. What did the Bible say? Here is this war, and believers will go into that war.

Some of them will live through it, some of them will die in the middle of it, some of them will have horrible things happen to them in the middle of the war, but live through it. And you'll have all three of those outcomes, right? in this thing called war.

Did God predestine any of that? No. But what has God predestined? For those who love Him and are called according to the purpose, what's going to happen? They're predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. It doesn't matter what kind of rockets or bombs or bullets or anything else, Doesn't matter what happens in that war. There is absolutely nothing, zero, that's going to happen in that war, or even in the past election, that is going to change what God has predestined. And that is, you are going to be conformed to the image of his Son. Nothing will mess it up. Absolutely nothing.

You could say about those things, that same thing about the people, the believers who died in that war. They're predetermined and conformed to the universe. That's right. And let's ask this question. So let's say the believers who died in all the wars, from the Revolutionary War up to the current conflicts that we have now, whether we call them a war or not, but all those people, Every single believer who died from the Revolutionary War to the ones that we're involved in right now, is every single believer going to be raptured? Yes. Yep, it's going to happen. God has set it in place, it is absolutely going to happen. Is it predestined that it will happen? What, the rapture? Yes.

So here's the thing, the Bible does not explicitly use that word. It does say, however, that it will happen, so we can say that is God's promise, God has put it in place. The word predestined is not used, it's a specific word for the rapture. It will indeed happen, because that's what God has set in place. But the predestination of that is not, that word isn't used. It's not predestined, but it will, it's promised. It's promised, and it absolutely, 100% will take place.

So we can count on it, it's not predestined, because the Bible uses predestined for specific things, and it's outcomes. That's what's predestined, yes. So were the nations in Daniel, Babylon, and Greece, and all the rest of that, and down the descending statue, were those predestined there? No, the Bible does not use the word predestined for those things. So is that a promise then?

No, so if you look at it, it's God's foreknowledge. God foreknows, it doesn't mean that he makes those things happen in a predestination sense. He is telling, because one of the things that, here is Isaiah 40-48, God says through Isaiah repeatedly in those chapters that the difference between God and the Canaanite and pagan deities is that God tells the future in advance.

And it happens. And it's going to happen. So he knows the future. And by the way, how does God know the future in advance? Because he sees it all at once. He'll plan it all out. One of the reasons he sees the future in advance is that his perspective on time is everything is right now.

Before Abraham was born, not I was, I am. God's perspective on everything that's going to happen is it right now. Therefore it is no challenge to God whatsoever to tell you what's going to happen. God is also not challenged by time. He's not stuck in the time tunnel either as to knowledge or his power. It's one of the reasons for us to understand the difference between what is predestined, God does not set things in place in dread, fatalism, where whatever God's going to do, He's going to do. But rather, God knows what is going to happen.

He has set things in place. He has specifically predestined only specific things that He has said that He has predestined, and we shouldn't overextend that word. Let's go on here. So as to creating himself one new man from the two, making peace. So, one new man, what's the one new man? All of who we are in Christ. It's that simple. All of who we are in Christ. Now, does all of who we are in Christ, does that include the prophet Daniel?

No. Does that include the thief on the cross? No. Will it include the Tribulation Saints? No. It won't include them, right? So this is only from Acts 2 to the Rapture. These are truths that apply only to those from Acts 2 to the Rapture, including us.

And it's not individuals, it's the whole. That's right. And you, and me, and the believers over in Africa, and the believers who gathered together in Philippi on Paul's day, and sent him a gift, and he sent him a letter back, and Epaphroditus? All those are included in one new man, all of who we are in Christ. Are the believers from the day of Pentecost in Christ? Yeah. Are the believers that are over gathering with Hassan today in Christ? So that's the one new way.

So let's take a look now, let's go on to Ephesians 4.17-24 and again I've chosen the New King James Version. It uses updated language but I believe that the translators are the Numeric and Standard and similarly the New International Version. Though the New American Standard is, I think, in general, a good translation, they're talking about the old self and the new self, which I think is a poor choice of words, right? And that calling it, as the New King James does, one new man, and by that doesn't mean male, one new, or as some have put it, person, would be an acceptable translation. So, we have Ephesians 4, so this is just two chapters later from what we looked at before, 17-24, and so the words in brackets are edited from the New King James for the John Nelson Darby translation.

So, this I say therefore in testifying the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, and because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But, verse 20, you have not so learned Christ. By the way, it doesn't say learned about Christ. No. So this is one thing when it says you have not so learned Christ, it's about Him personally. Learned Him, not just about Him. You can say, well, David was born in this town, His mother was Mary, and his father was Joseph, and they moved to Egypt, and then they moved to Nazareth, and he was raised there, and all the different things that happened. Those are things about him. This is talking about learning him personally and intimately.

But you have not so learned Christ, in other words, you have learned Christ, but not this way. if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that your having put off, concerned your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts."

Now, so the old man we said was what? All of who we were, past tense, in Adam. That's the old man. All of who we were in Adam. Concerning the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust. So are there still people in Adam? Yes, there's not us, but there's still people in Adam. And is it getting any better? No, it's growing corrupt. So by the way, are things going to get better while we're here on planet Earth?

Not until Jesus comes. So don't worry about the last election at all. It's not going to get any better. I hear people, Christians, getting really wrapped around the axle about this didn't happen, this election, this didn't happen. It's not going to get any better. As a matter of fact, when the Antichrist comes, it's going to get really, really, really bad here on planet Earth. And it's not going to get any better until Jesus comes. Not at all. Doesn't mean we shouldn't vote wisely and carefully consider things and whatnot, but we should not have the expectation that we're somehow going to make it like, you know, Jesus doesn't have to come back because we made it so good.

Not going to happen. Right? Not going to happen. Right? That's all. Yes. Could you say then that there is one old man? Yes. And I think that's what we're all looking at. Notice it says, the, singular, old man. Right? So all of those people. Yeah. And before we believed, that was, we were included. Right? So before we believed, we were included.

One new man is all of who we are. in Christ, and the old man is all of who we were in Adam, and the unbelievers still are. Do they all have Adam as their federal head? Yep. Are they all in Adam? Yep. And that's what it's saying here. And then, we have one new man, as the Ephesians 2 passage puts it. that is all of who we, pleasant tenets, are in Christ. In Christ, positionally, it even says there in Ephesians 2, in himself, right? All of who we are in Christ, and with Christ as our federal head, Ephesians 5, 12-21. and being renewed in the spirit of your mind, you are having put on the new man. How did you put on the new man? Was it a lot of effort on your part? By putting off the old man. Okay, but how did that happen?

God did it. Yeah, so what happened, all we did was what? We believed. We believed, that's it. God says, that's it, I'll take it from there, right? And so, God accomplished these things. They're also, we could say, positional. They're positional. So, you are now in Christ, all of us are together in Christ, the one new man, as Peter Stuthi puts it. Having put on the new man, which is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Look at Ephesians 3, 8-11, which is a parallel passage, again from the New King James.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these, anger, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off The old man, all of who we were in Adam, how did you do that? By believing. By believing, that's all you did. Did you do anything else? You didn't do anything else certain? You do nothing else. There's no brownie points. There's no gray scale. There's nothing yet to do. Yes.

So when he uses put off, that makes it sound like that there is a certain amount of effort required from us, or at least a thought process in the direction of Not doing these things. Right, so let's put it this way. All we did was believe. We say you have put off, that is the effect of our having believed, right? And by the way, this put on, put off idea is kind of the idea, what's the word picture?

This is about clothing, right? So this is a garment. You have, all you did was believe, but in believing, the outcome was put off as a garment, the old, and now have on the new. You have put on the new. All you did was what? Believe. And the spiritual effect of that, accomplished by God, was that you have now put on the new man, but one new man for all of us. Yes.

But when you're talking about the metaphor being clothing, the first thing you think about, anyway I do, is that you can change your clothing. But what you're saying is that once you believe, then it's permanent and never changes. So if you put off the old man through belief, then it should be a done deal and not have to worry about it anymore. But when you're talking about clothing, you put on and you take off.

So that's kind of like you have a choice to be position or conditional. Okay, so let's talk about what this is like. In our position, it's a done deal. We don't go back and forth between the old man and the new man. We don't, you know, hey, I slipped back in Adam, you know. Alright, great, now you're in Christ. Nah, you lost it this morning. You got off on the wrong side of the bed, right? So in our position it does not go back and forth. What, however, is the issue from day to day for you and me? Obedience. Yeah, obedience. And notice that obedience isn't just a matter of do the right stuff, don't do the wrong stuff.

Paul started the first chapter of Romans and ended the last chapter with the term obedience of faith. Those three words, obedience of faith, Romans chapter 1, Romans chapter 16. And there's a reason for that. There's a tendency for us to think of obedience as just do it. But the word obey in the Greek, it means to listen and place yourself under. is to place yourself under, and so it's really a two-step process. One, it isn't just just do it as if it's just your will doing it, but rather it is for us to understand and place ourself under on the basis of faith. So it's an obedience of faith, not an obedience of my works and my accomplishment, and just do it.

It is a position and condition question. The thing he's trying to get across here in Colossians chapter 3, in both of those contexts, he knows both of those have the old man and the new man. This is what has been accomplished, that's our position. In our condition, we still have a question, do you believe it? And the obedience is not just to do it, but the obedience is living it out on the basis of faith. And by the way, when we talk about basis of faith, where's our confidence? In Christ, not in myself. The humanistic, you know, you can do it. You can do anything you put your mind to. No, you can't. No, you can't. As a matter of fact, that's a toxic message, spiritually speaking. Yeah. Because it's not, you can do anything you want. Yes.

So along with this then, this goes back to what you talk about a lot, which is relationship and fellowship. Absolutely. The relationship that we have with God, and all the ways we've been describing it for most of this year, is about position. Fellowship is about condition.

The example I use because Randy tolerates it. So Randy is my son, right? He is my son, I'm his father, that's the way it's always going to be. And that's a fact. However, let's say I did something that was terribly offensive over at Randy's house. And he calls me up and says, Dad, after what you did this last Sunday night or whatever, we just have to take a while to sort of cool off. And so please don't come over for a few weeks until I tell you it's okay. but because I did something to offend him horribly. That would disturb our fellowship, wouldn't it? Would it change the fact that he's my son and I'm his father?

No. So this is the difference between position, relationship, and condition, having as we refer to as fellowship. That's the difference. The fact of relationship is unchanged. It's reality. The moment-by-moment condition, which we use another term, fellowship, is another matter. See that? So these are very important distinctions, and when one talks about the old man, all of who we were in Adam, are you ever going to be in Adam again?

Hope not. No, not happening. Adam will never be your federal head. You are not going to be in Adam again. Not happening. When you believed, like we refer in plumbing terms, there's a one-way valve. One way, one time, you go on the basis of belief from in Adam, with Adam as your federal head, to in Christ, with Christ as your federal head, it happened once, the valve won't let it go backwards. That valve is called God's accomplishment. It's one way, it's like a check valve, but it's one way, one time. The thing doesn't flap open and flap close and go both ways.

It doesn't happen. Not happening. Which goes right along with you not going to lose your salvation. Not happening. Is there any place where it says you go from being in Christ to back to being in Adam? Is there any place that says that you have Christ as your federal head, but you messed up so now you're going back with Adam as your federal head? Not happening.

Now, the one important distinction to make is that the believer still deals with the nature of the old man, which we call the sin nature. But what has God done with that sin nature? The sin nature was once the reigning monarch, having been crucified with Christ. Having been crucified with Christ, this is Romans 6, 1-10, we are to reckon ourselves, consider, count, figure it out, make a logical conclusion, dead to the sin nature, and can I stop there? No. Am I alive to God? So this is real simple, but very important. dead to the sin nature, alive to God. So we're not talking about the sin nature goes away. The sin nature, the nature that pertained to the old man is still hanging around and as long as I got this body, that's going to be the case. But God has made a means for me to deal with that. Rasty, nasty, sin nature.

And that is we're no longer under this reigning monarch. Though the reigning monarch, just like it was earlier in all of our lifetimes, Ferdinand Marcos could call people up and try to full strength and say, hey, you know me, and you know who I am. Idi Amin in Uganda could continue to call people up and try to do things, but nope. And there came a time when Ferdinand Marcos was out of the picture completely. And there came a time when Idi Amin was out of the picture completely. And there will come a time when the sin nature that we still have to deal with will be out of the picture completely. And when will that be?

Rapture when you die. Yeah. Raptured alive or raptured After the Lord has taken you from sleep. So, in that instance, then we are no longer dealing with sin nature and we will be, as we referred to earlier, we are predestined to be conformed to Christ's image. And the sin nature will be out of the picture. Never again to mess with us.

So it says, since you have put off the old man, all of who we were in Adam, with his deeds, and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, and the Greek was the kind of typical Eastern Mediterranean Gentile, right? He's a nominal Gentile, nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian. By the way, the islanders in the Acts passage we're looking at were called barbarians. They would translate islanders as barbarians. That's the word. Scythian, that was another barbarian that lived up north of the Black Sea.

Slave or free, but Christ is all and in all. So the unbelievers that just got elected, are they in Christ? No. Is Christ in them? No. But this is true of who? Believers. Believers. Doesn't matter if they're Jew or Gentile. Doesn't matter if they're barbarians or not. Right? No distinction.

They're in Christ. The one new man, all of who we are, doesn't count, in Christ, with him as our federal head. So, we have these terms here at the bottom of page 2. So, the old man, Pelaios Anthropos, by the way, the word Anthropos means, it's not Andros, which is just male, but Anthropos means humanity in general, person, right? The old person.

And so it's Romans 6.6, Ephesians 4.22, and Colossians 3.9. This is the reference to the old man. Those are the three references. We've looked at those. Those are in the passages we looked at above.

The new man, Kainos Anthropos, Ephesians 2.15, 4.24, and Colossians 3.10. So old man is how many times in the New Testament? Three. New man is how many times in the New Testament? Three. And in two cases, they're in the same passage. Ephesians and Colossians. They're in precisely the same passage. So what we have here is the three points there.

In Ephesians 4.22, 4.24, and Colossians 3.9 and 10, the old man and the new man occur in the same context.

Only Romans 6.6 and Ephesians 2.15 have the old man or the new man without the immediate context of the other. So that's important.

So the old man and the new man, they compare. We use the term comparator contrast. What compares between those two terms, old man and new man? What compares? It's the same person. Well, one thing is just the use of the word man, which is anthropos, which means person. So that's one. So that we look at is a comparison. But what's different between, what contrasts between old man and new man? Who you really are. Yeah, old and new, right? So who you are and who you were, that's the contrast, right?

Pardon? Yeah, so it is identification and federal headship together. Yes. Okay, I think this is, the way it's written here to me is not real clear and it says who is renewed, but it's being renewed. in the Greek. So it's a process. It's not a perfect tense where it's already accomplished. It's being renewed in knowledge, and knowledge, the reason it's being renewed is because that word for knowledge is epagnosis, which means full knowledge, which you'll never have, right? Right, so here's something that's going on. Is the new man changing? Not in God's creation. In terms of position, it's not changing. In terms of our knowledge and understanding, that changes. By God's intent changes. See the difference there?

Okay. So, in every context of the old man and the new man as listed above, there is federal headship and or identification teaching. In every single one. Identification and or federal headship. Or both. In every single one of those passages. So that's what new man and old man are about. Identification and federal headship. It's that simple. Yes? The analogy of the butterfly, I cannot buy that because it's the same creature. It would be the same federal head. One of the things that we encounter is that word pictures And this is even true of parables, even the ones Jesus tells us. Word pictures or parables are there to illustrate a point.

They should not be over-applied and over-extended to mean things that they don't mean. So we need to understand if a picture like that is used. For example, people give various word pictures to describe the Trinity. Are any of them adequate? No, because the truth is it's something beyond what we can give some physical word picture to. So any word picture that gets used, including a butterfly and a caterpillar and things like that, all those things are word pictures that should not be overextended. The problem with overextending a word picture beyond what it's intended to show is that we end up with untruth if we overextend it. Understand what is meant, learn from that, but don't carry over too far and start arriving at other conclusions.

So yeah, very good point. What we see here, the old man is in Adam, with Adam as the federal head, the new man is in Christ, with Christ as the federal head. And by the way, it's that simple. It's just that simple. See that? The old man is in Adam with Adam as the federal head. The new man is in Christ with Christ as the federal head. Is there any ambiguity in that statement? No. Is there any like it's mostly true? No. Is that clear and simple? How do you like simple? How do you like clear? Right? That's what it is. It's just that simple a statement.

In Ephesians 4, 22 and 24, I give several different names, seeing the old man as having been put off already positionally. It is a statement of accomplishment. Paul's direction to both the Colossian church and to the Ephesian church, as he does in lots of places, what is about position?

And what is about our condition? And not understanding the distinction, as we often reinforce at Holly Hills, not understanding the distinction between position and condition, people run into all sorts of troubles, for no good reason, because those are not made clear. So it's one of the reasons we want to make it very, very clear, because scripture is clear here. We need to look at what is our position, what is stated as a conditional issue, and don't mix them up and mess them up.

Yes? That's why I like John 17, because they would be one with me, and I am one with the Father. That's totally new. That's a new creature. Yes, this is a new creature, and as you say, you're 50% one. As you and I are mostly one, none of that. These are absolute statements. And so people get messed up when they don't understand the distinction between position and condition. If you don't get those straight, you're going to be messed up from there on out.

That's where people are trying to accomplish something that God's already done. This is when people are praying for something that God's already done and accomplished. And people are also worried about losing something that God alone has done and God alone is responsible to keep there. That messed up thinking has most of Christendom turned upside down on these very important issues.

Very important issues. And scripture is not ambiguous. It's not unclear. It's not foggy. It's not confusing. It isn't. But you have to understand the difference between position and condition. Absolute must. OK. Thoughts? Questions? Inspirations? Perspirations? Exasperations? Yes?

Why do you think so few, if any, denominations or preachers or teachings Even mention position and condition. But you ask a very good question. We do have enough time to begin to address it anyway. Why do so many churches get that messed up? Or not even mention, I mean, not even acknowledge it. Yeah. I can remember hearing one pastor over in Carson City, who will be unnamed, he spent the whole sermon saying, if you're a good Christian, you're going to do this and this and this, and you're not going to do that and that. What's wrong with that? It's not true. Can I try to be a good Christian? No. It's not my job! Right?

And the idea that I will, as an act of will, decide to do the right thing and decide not to do the wrong thing, the Apostle Paul takes Romans 7 and Galatians 5, 16-18 and says, you're not doing it. You are not, as an act of will, simply on your own going to choose to do the right thing and choose not to do the wrong thing.

There's no such thing as trying to be a good Christian. You know who tries to be a good Christian? The flesh, the sin nature, tries to be a good Christian. Does the Holy Spirit try to live out righteousness in you? No. You either have the Holy Spirit, who is fully enabled and empowered, calling the shots, or the sin nature, and the flesh is the sin nature engaged through our human bodies, is calling the shots.

Period. That's it. If you try and fight against the sin of nature, you'll lose every time. Yeah. God does not intend or design. It is not God's desire or hope. He has not done everything that He has done so that you and I can try really hard to be a good person, or a good Christian, or anything else. It's not our job. Imagine, okay, you just bought a brand new car. And you say, man, this new car is just fantastic. I love it. I love the way this car smells. I think I'm going to drive it into Lake Dillon.

How's that going to work? Did the car manufacturer ever intend that I do that? No. No. Is that a good idea? Even if I think it's a good idea, is it a good idea? No. Right? If somebody gives a sermon and says, look, you've really got to take your car for all it's worth and drive it into Lake Dillon. Is that a good idea?

No. So what you have is people not understanding that, and here they're not reading Romans 7 or Galatians 5, but both of them say you cannot will Here's the impossible. You cannot will to do the right thing and not do the wrong thing. It's not possible. You can't do it.

But you have a whole bunch of pastors preaching sermons about doing exactly that that the Bible says you can't do. Why do they do that? Why could they possibly do that? Preach a whole sermon? Preach repeated sermons? because they don't understand it.

Yeah, you have to look at the Bible and see what it says and it says you cannot will to do the right thing and just simply will not to do the wrong thing. That's not the choice. You really have one choice and they're not just equal choices. Paul says you must walk in the Spirit and if you do you will not satisfy the desires of the flesh. It's an absolute statement. Can I do 50-50 at the same time? No. Can I shade it? Well, man, I'm mostly walking in the spirit right now. I'm about 40%. Eh, 60 maybe. Can I do that? Does God want me to try really, really hard to walk in the Spirit?

No. It's just like taking the car and driving it into Lake Dillon. That's not what the manufacturer had in mind. As nice and phenomenally equipped as this car is, it's not one of the things it's designed to do. So you could say, in essence, they're preaching from condition and not preaching from their position. That is a very good summary. They're preaching from position, not understanding condition at all.

It's just like, don't drive your car into Lake Dillon. Why? It was never intended to go into Lake Dillon or any other body of water and it doesn't matter how well you tune it or how well you maintain it or anything else, you can't put special fuel in it to fix the problem. Do not drive the car into Lake Dillon, it's not designed for that.

Yeah. You can also say that these guys are, these preachers are using incorrect observation and interpretation. Yeah, if you look at scripture, scripture just simply does not have any provision for us to try really hard to be a good Christian, for us to make the right decision and not make the wrong, it just It's not there in Scripture. It just isn't. So this is a problem with observation and interpretation, to think that I can do that, and to understand position.

Here are all the things that talk about the believer being in Christ. More than 160 times in the New Testament, the believers in Christ. How many passages talk about, you know, you better be careful or you're going to be taken out of Christ? Zippo. Nada. Doesn't happen. If you read scripture, it's a complete 100% conclusion. You're in Christ. The idea that you might mess up with that and somehow be taken out? It doesn't say that anywhere. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the absolute certainty that we have regarding our position. The absolute certainty that we have with regards to what you know. The absolute certainty that we have with regards to what you have predestined. Thank you for the great clarity that you have brought about in scripture.

And we pray that by the Holy Spirit that that clarity might come across and remain and we might understand it. And as you have had the Apostle Paul write, that we might walk in that. That we would understand our position and in our condition, walk in what you've revealed. We just thank you for that. We know you love us and care for us. And we just thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.