Identification Truths Plus 2012
Courtney Hemenway · Jun 10, 2012
Identification Truths Plus, No. 23
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926317461613

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

All right, we blew through last week to get to, oh, we didn't even get to question one. So any other questions from last week? Just curious, you know. I asked Randy my questions. I got them out of the way before we start. Well, see, now you should ask the question, because there may be somebody else that has that same question. So what was your question? Oh, well they didn't necessarily apply to our class. It was just about the law and people who weren't Gentiles.

Okay. Alright, so we made it past last week. The intro of intros there. A whole class of intros. So we are in Identification Truths Lesson 15. So on reckoning. We are now getting up to the reckoning part and you guys remember what happened what is 1 through 10? What are they? Position. So we're now into reckoning. So what are we now delving into?

Condition. Condition. OK, I understand that. The dispositions, they're unchangeable. That's true about us right now. Condition is how we're living, whether we're in the spirit, walking the flesh, any of those things. That's our condition, our moment by moment living. OK, so question number one. Question number one. We will get into the questions. We now arrive at our part in God's plan for freedom from the power of the sin nature. What does the word reckon in verse 11 mean? So what does reckon mean? I reckon what?

Count on. Count on. Consider. Consider. Well, yeah. Consider. Believe. Believe. That's part of it. Yeah. Others? To count to be true. To count to be true, which is kind of getting into what the full meaning of the word means. It's kind of a two-part meaning. Any others?

How about expect? Ooh, expect. Have to think about that one, expect. I'm trying to think if that involves an element of chance or... Well, I expect it. Well, if it happens or it doesn't happen, so I don't know if expect... She's expecting it's going to happen. Well, but there's, you know, we expect it to go to full term. Well, it only went to... So you see what I mean?

So I'm hesitant about thinking that expect, because expect is maybe you think it'll happen, but it may or may not. where this is true fact. Would that have something to do with your past experience? You reckon it to be so? I know with me, what I understand to be so, then the reckon would be based on my past experience. But of course, I realize this probably wouldn't pertain to that. You were on the right track until you went experience. Is it based on your experience? Hardly. Not in this right now. No. You're getting there now, reckoning about what? What are you reckoning or considering?

Everything from 1 to 10. Everything about the facts. The facts, where it's based on facts. And we'll get to the other half of this. Wouldn't you say that there is some experience involved in this word because it's a word that means that I have considered the facts, I believe the facts, and I have been persuaded that the facts are really true. In other words, if it's an accounting term, I actually counted all the little Widgets, and I reckon there are 400 of them because I counted every one of them.

Well, that's an experience. I don't say it's an experience. An experience, you know, I say that's a fact, not an experience. Because an experience can be... Well, I can say an experience, you know, I had an experience that, you know, I never saw the new life. So do I count that as a fact? I experience something different than what 1 through 10 is.

Maybe say it this way. It's not something... When the Spirit of God persuades me about Romans 6, 1-10, it's more than just an intellectual recognition that it's true. It's a heart knowledge of it, rather than just facts. And that's where I'm trying to get at. This is a two-part work, and if you look at it, You know, we learn about the verses 1 through 10, and in the New American Standard, it starts with, even so, and I think in the New King James, it says, likewise.

Is that? Is likewise? Would anybody else have anything else? For the first word or whatever in Romans, I should say. Romans 6, verse 11. Anybody else have anything other than consider likewise? Even so. What does yours have? Count yourself. Oh, count yourself. Interesting. Even so. Yeah, mine's even so. That's a new American standard.

Yeah, you know, so God is now saying, because of all that is true, what's been stated in verses 1 through 10, now what? Reckon. So it's consider, likewise, and it's linking this verse now, this is a linked verse, to everything that, so, likewise, consider, count, would you? I'm sorry, I think I misunderstood you, Mike. In the same way. In the same way.

Okay, so it's all about now, it basically says, okay, right now, even so, even all this, now what? Reckon. Is reckon the same as appropriate or no? As appropriate? No, I don't think so. And we'll see, the Greek word for reckon or consider is logizomai. I always blow it. Logizomai.

It's a counting or court word. Paul uses it a bunch in Romans 4. In fact, he uses it 11 times in Romans 4. And it's an accounting term. But the other is that in verse 11, it's an expression of belief or an attitude in view of that belief included in the word. So it's a combination of accounting term, like Mike says. I counted up all these things. But the other part of it is believing in that.

I can be an accountant and just count up, you know, there are 59 widgets. Okay? I've reckoned that accounting. 59 widgets. Now, the part of this is, it's the belief in that. Okay? So it's not only an accounting term, but there's a portion of belief in it, understanding. Believing in what you just counted. True. So it's kind of a two-part versus the strict accounting, which in Romans 4, it's more of just an accounting term, just count it, count it. This is count it and what? Believe. Believe it.

So it's kind of like counting something that you can't see. I mean, it's a spiritual thing. It's a spiritual, yeah, I mean, that's why I said, you know, crucified? Yeah. I would say this, you know, the last two weeks we've been talking about my old man is crucified with him. So you get that information and you believe it, but there's lots of evidence and experience in your life that goes against, initially, that my old man has been crucified. But over time, and through your trusting God and what he says, there's a persuasion via the Holy Spirit that you now say, I know I've been crucified with Christ. My own man was crucified, and it's more than just because God said so. That arrives at, I think, what this word means. I'm reckoning it to be so. I'm persuaded.

Yeah, well, it's now you really look at the facts and they're true, that you're seeing the truth. Well, not only true objectively, but true of me. Yeah, well, I mean, that's a point of view of me, you know. It's true, because I can't look at any of you and say, I mean, when I say that I'm looking at myself, that's true. I see that.

And I think that is that reckoning is considering, and I think I still get away from that experience. Because just what you said, at the first, you may not experience that. What's true of this? My experiences are totally opposite of what this, in 1 through 10, and 6-6. My experiences are not that way. And in fact, as I mature, I see more of my old man. I'm able to identify my old man. And that's not who I am.

And I think when you're a new believer, you know, you're all over the board. I mean, when you first see this verse, Romans 6, can you understand that verse right off the bat? But can you say, I reckon you're right? Oh, yeah, I mean, you're reckoning God, not me.

That's the whole thing, is he's saying now, even so, considering all this, which is Romans 6, 1 through 10, considering that you're crucified, You're crucified. Consider this. Now reckon that you're dead unto it. Okay? So, I believe what I'm counting here, all this stuff that he told me in verses 1 through 10, I'm considering it, I'm believing it now. They're true facts, and I'm now believing it. So that's where this reckon is. Like I said, it's kind of a two-part.

It's not just a strict count the widgets, because I can give you a widget report, and say it's 59 widgets. Well, a widget is a ubiquitous term for a thing. 59 vehicles. 59 Ford F-150s. You know, I can count those up in the parking lot. Here's the list. But, you know, it's believing that it's true. That, yes, there is 59, and I believe in that fact. It's true. And I'm reckoning or considering that. It's not just an accounting, but I believe what this...

And you're based in your behaviors. your whole life on it being true, I guess. See, that's the beginning of your maturity, is when you start to reckon. That's, I believe, when you start the spiritual growth. It's true of you, regardless of what you believe. It's true of you.

But I think the growth part is when, and that's why I've spent so much time on this, because once you start believing and understanding it, reckoning, considering this, That's when you realize, wow, I don't have to respond to that guy screaming at me, that old man. I don't have to do that. Whereas before, it's like, I'm going to polish that guy up, and now I've got the Holy Spirit, I can do lots of things, and that old man, he's now empowered to do right. No, he's not. He's crucified. Gone.

And as you understand that, I think you become to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you have to understand these verses. To me it's accepting without question. Yeah, I think that's true. I mean, it's belief. Belief. You either don't or you do. But it's belief in the facts. True.

And again, what I say too, Well, we'll get to that question. It sounds like what you're saying is that the reckoning is the process, instead of the looking at the facts. Once you have the facts, then the reckoning seems to just... That's the other half of this verse.

This word, legizimae, in the meaning here is, yeah, I've counted it and now I believe it. So yeah, I see these facts, or I say that God said it, it's true. Now do I believe or consider it true? Right. It just seems like once you reckon, you've reckoned. It's not, I'm reckoning and I'm going through this process of reckoning.

It's, I'm looking at the fact, like 59 F-150s and you go, okay, as a new believer, there are F-150s. Now there's 59. But now I'm going to look under the hood. Are there engines under every one of those? Is it missing? Like you get into the nitty-gritty of... We'll get into this whether it's one time or continuous.

Okay. All right. Sorry. No, no. That's good. See, it's a perfect setup. Perfect setup. Yeah. But you know, you get transformed because you know you're learning more and more and it gives you peace. It just gives you such peace that You stop questioning because you get transformed. I don't know how to explain it.

2 Corinthians 3.18, Mike's favorite verse. Being transformed. That's exactly it. And that's the spiritual growth and maturity that happens.

But I think you are hindered if you don't understand what transpired on the cross in this Romans 6. Because you're always struggling with this old man until you know it has been judicially taken care of. There is nothing good in it. God is done with it. That's what I was telling about the wedding last week. I was saying, God doesn't see us now in the old man. He sees us who? In the new, in Christ. That's where he sees us. So why are we worried about all this other stuff about the old man? Is God done with it? Absolutely. Crucified, damn, gone.

So that's the maturity and the growth is, I don't have to respond to that guy anymore. And I think as you grow, I think the harder part is identifying that old man. And as I read that thing last week, you know, I realized I got a lot of bad in me, but I never realized there was no good in me either, in the old man. He could have told you that.

Would you say that reckoning is about context? Reckoning is about Knowing the context, either where you were or where you are, and maybe even both of those. Because to account them, you have to have that context. You have to know. Well, it goes back to the fact, I guess. The context is the fact that we are crucified. I'll go back to that context, that we are crucified. We are dead unto it. So the context is, yeah, we don't have to.

So in some respects, I can see that. There's a relationship there. I wouldn't say that it's a definition. Right, right. So, we're understanding reckoning. It's not just count the F-150s, widgets, whatever. It's also believing in those facts. It's kind of a compound meaning in this one. I like Zodiatis had the definition for legizimai. He said, actually the verb legizimai means to put together with one's mind to count, to occupy oneself with reckonings or calculations. So it's, again, that belief in the facts. Okay? We good? Reckoning? Yeah.

But why is it that this language in Greece has all these wonderful meanings to the word? Why is it that we don't have that? You know, and that's one of those things. I get to this where, you know, Greek geeks, you know, it's simple enough to understand. Just read it. What did it say in Romans 6? I mean, just what does it say in Romans 6-11? even so consider this or reckon this. I can understand that in the English as well.

I think if you understand some of the Greek, it gives it more meaning. I don't want to say that you have to know Greek or have to know the Parsings or anything like that. That is not what you need. If you want to explore it more and dig deeper, I think you can look at the Greek. The Greek just has a lot more meaning to it in words. A lot of times it's hard to get through in the English. They have so many different parsings. you know, the aorist tense, the present, you know, all these different things.

When you look at it, it just gives you more meaning. It's kind of digging deeper. It's, you know, getting kind of from the milk to a little bit more meat, maybe, and understanding. It just gives you a little bit more understanding. But you can certainly understand it just in English. I don't want to say that you have to be a Greek geek to do this. It's just if you want to dig a little deeper into these.

I don't. I don't. You can be a zodiacist There's a dependency on the Spirit of God to reveal to us what He means, and it doesn't matter what the language is. Perfect. Yeah, I mean, that's what I'm saying. English, Greek, it doesn't matter. It's the Holy Spirit's the one convincing you. And he can use English, Greek, or Portuguese. It doesn't matter. It's the Holy Spirit.

It allows us to dig in a little bit. I like Zodiatis because he really gets into some of the words a little deeper. One of the best guys, and one of the reasons why I actually look more to Greek is because of how the homily, how would, you know, look at this, and I just, he would say, this word means, and it was like, oh, That makes so much sense. That just brings the meaning out much more. I just like that because it really just started to explain things. It's a deeper digging into it.

Even like the word love. I love ice cream. Well, agape love and eros love, and there's, you know, in the Greek, all the different meanings of love. You know, you can see love written down, but is it agape love? Is it eros love? Is it probably aphelios? I'd say Hal's Greek teacher was an atheist.

Yeah, he told me that. Yeah, he said that. But he gave him out, you know, the meanings of it. And just, Mike's exactly right. Zodiatis. I like Zodiatis because he does more than some of the Strong's definitions. He broadens it out and puts it in different verses. It's like the Romans 4 where he uses reckon or count. That's a different meaning than what was used in 611. Zodiatis brings it out, but Mike's absolutely right. You know, some guys who are great scholarly guys, they're believers. They'll walk right by Jesus when they're in heaven. They'll carry their books right by him. They won't know they exist. But they don't know the person.

So, okay. Number two. Moving on to two. Is reckon a command? Yes. No. Ooh. Ooh. My teacher's dream right here. Okay. We have what? Two no's, one yes? Come on, weigh in, weigh in. No. God gives you choices. So we have no's. Who's a yes? You were a yes? Yes. Okay. Explain. About six numbers down. No. Okay. Six numbers down. So which one? Number eight, based on the command. Okay. Okay. So do we have nos or yes? Say the nos. Who are the nos? Okay. What? No. Why? Why? Because of grace. Good. said, no, it's not a command.

It's a logical imperative, is the way I put it. And this is, I think, Vern's. And that made sense to me. Logical imperative means that if all this is true of you, this should logically be the result. It's unlike a law or a command that's based in law, which says what? Cause and effect. If you do this, cause and effect, law. We're under grace. So this is, if it's true about you, I mean, if all this is true, then what? Logically, I should do this. It's a logical imperative. It's a command, but it's a logical, if this is true, you should. Maybe it's not should. Maybe it's like, logically, I will. Shall. Shall. Yeah, I mean. The should makes it kind of a command.

You know, it's kind of like what I was saying last week in the example, trying to get you to understand how God sees you now crucified. As a husband, and I think Mike brought it up, you know, my wife now sees me as a husband. Once that transaction was done, she sees me as a husband, you know, according to how God sees you crucified now. He doesn't see anything, he sees you crucified. In the wedding, as soon as I, you know, your man and wife, my wife saw me as a husband.

Now what? Logically, if I'm a husband, what do I do? Do I go out and whoop it up with the boys? No, I'm a husband now. And I will logically, if I know who I am as a husband, I will logically act this way. Same thing here is, you know, if you understand this is all true of you, I will logically... I don't have to respond now. I am what?

Dead unto sin. Dead unto bachelorhood. The wedding one? Yes, that's right. That's right. Well, and if I were to get married and didn't reckon myself married and still lived as though I wasn't married, I wouldn't be reckoning. Yeah. But you know the other thing I would say, without the obvious faults in this, you're still a husband. That's right. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I mean, but you're not acting as who you are.

And how's your intimacy with your wife if you're working it up with the boys? But you didn't make the choice to become a husband. So maybe that's where it is. Maybe, you know, if that was going to be the case, if you weren't going to sort of, if you weren't ready to be a husband, then you wouldn't have done it.

My example is getting weirder and weirder. You know, that's getting back to salvation and some things there. But again, the thought is that, you know, and I think it becomes a better, I mean, the example is that if I'm not, you know, the husband or whatever, if I'm not, I'm suffering the consequences of not acting as a husband. Loss of intimacy, fighting, all the other stuff. But if I'm acting as I should be as a husband, the relationship will be there.

I think too that it's an imperative under grace because I don't think Paul wanted people to think that it was their responsibility to reckon in order to make the facts true. It's the other way around. The facts are true. His eyes rolling. He's ruined the next question. Does reckoning make it a fact?

I should have said that a different way, because I've run into a lot of people who have grabbed onto this word and used it as their reckoning in order to achieve or to get to or arrive at being dead under God, dead under sin and alive under God, and so they've made a law So if you're trying to do this, it's not under grace. And we are, as believers, under grace. So if you're trying to do it and working at it, it's not under grace.

Isn't the real meaning of husband as caretaker, does that go all the way back to the Garden of Eden when God told her to be the caretaker of the garden of husbandry? Is that kind of caretaker? I mean, it was a description. He was to be the husband. I mean, it's really just the title now of husband. Are you acting that way or he sees you as that? That's the example I want to say. Whether he's God saw him as the husband of the garden. Yeah, but what's the meaning of a husband? Would it be like caretaker? Yeah, of your spouse. I mean, as you look at the requirements of a husband, ain't going to happen through me.

I mean, I can only do it through the Holy Spirit. I mean, I just, that's one of those things that as you come to realize that, you know, you can try to do all those things and guess what? It doesn't work. It's when you've, at least in my own personal life, when you come to know that you can't do it is the beginning of when it starts to work. That's when you reckon. You reckon, exactly.

Well, I reckon I can't do it, other than what God told me, and only through the Spirit that I can do that. So, is two yes or no? Well, since I'm teaching and Mike is not, no. Here's going back to the Greek, and I hate to belabor the Greek, because it's the emperor of new clothes, but it's I will do that because I did do that because it does make a difference. This is the Greek if you want to do it.

The parsing of the verb is present tense, middle voice, imperative mood. What that means is the present tense means it's continuous or ongoing. So it's a continuing thing. Keep reckoning, keep reckoning, keep understanding this. Remember, this is true of you. present tense, continuous.

The middle voice means the subject, we participate in the result of the action. So we're participating in it. We are reckoning. We're considering. So the middle voice is we are participating in this. This isn't the... It just went out of my mind. active, active, where somebody is, you're the subject, you're being acted upon. Yeah, you know, it's passive or active, you are participating in. Passive means it's just happening to you. You know, and the active is you're the subject is doing the action. Middle voice is you're part of this. Okay, so that's in this one. So it's a continuous reckoning. We, middle voice, we're part of it. And imperative means it's a statement or command. But this is the logical imperative or command.

If this is true, then this. It's not a law based one. So it's based on the facts, therefore it should be a result in action based on the facts. In light of the grace as the basis of accomplished facts, we are to and will respond in faith if we know and understand grace. So it's a grace-based logical imperative or command.

Okay, so is reckon a command? So what is it? No, I said no. Yes, it's a logical imperative. It's not a, I say no, where it's not a command. From the Greek parsing, the imperative means it's a command. But when you think that, I don't want you to think it's a law based, if I do this, I'm guaranteed of a result.

This is, if this is true about you, this is how it should be manifested. Also, which is kind of interesting, in verse 11 states we consider or reckon ourselves, the next part is to be dead to sin and alive to God. The verb to be is in the Greek, is in the present tense, active voice and infinitive mood, okay? That means the result of the reckoning we are to be continuously, so this is after the reckoning, we're to continuously active, we're involved We're the ones in the act of reckoning that would be continuously present tense, involved, active voice, in this act of reckoning that produces a result that we were dead, we are dead unto sin and alive unto God.

So we're continuously, we, us, are reckoning. Continuously. Okay? You all have deer in the headlight looks. Is the 2B something that is included in the command or is it something that's just an ongoing truth in and of itself? It's a result of. The 2B? Yeah, the 2B. Even though consider yourself 2B. So even though this is everything past, reckoned, and then what? 2B. So it's a continuous act to be. You are to be what? Dead unto sin, alive unto God. So again, continuous that we are to be dead unto sin.

Okay? So we're active in it. Going on, oh wait. What about those fighter jets? Okay, just as a thought passing through my mind, since we've reached verse 11, now we're doing conditional things, is that kind of the rule, not law rule, but principle, thank you, that when it is middle, when it starts talking in middle voice and these things, that that gives you this flag.

Now we're in condition and not position because position is at you instead of me participating. It can be anything, because it can be active, where active is doing this under you. You know, God is active, he's doing it to you, regardless of what, you know. So it's not a rule that can be, now it's conditional.

Because we have an active voice in the to be. But a lot of times God is in the active voice. He does it to us. I don't think it would be a rule in the middle voice. I mean, I guess in the middle voice it's always the subject and the person being acted upon.

They're a participant in it. If it's an imperative, then they're Because you're impaired to do something. Yeah, you're a participant in it. I know like active, we see this active, that's us acting. And that's why I say active is not always about condition. It can be active as God did this.

He was the one who acted. I'm thinking like in Colossians it says since you've been risen with Christ, seek. I think seek is in the middle voice. In Galatians where it says stand fast in the liberty, and stand fast as a middle voice. We're participating in that act.

I think it's important to recognize that a command does not have to be law. It does not have to be legalism. Commands and grace are opportunities to explore liberty, and I think that's a happy way to look at commands and grace rather than being afraid of my checklist getting another item on it. it's a life. So if this is true of me, I should do this.

It's like if I'm a dog, I bark. You've used that a lot. I will bark, or I do bark, not I should bark. It's not a command that you're a dog, you have to bark. It's because I'm a dog, I bark. And the reason the commands are there is because we don't know anything about initially about how this life in Christ functions.

Exactly. So we have to be told. And that's really all the things in Paul's epistles. As we said before, he always says the facts. These are the facts about you. And then even now, likewise, consider this. And this is how this is manifested in your life now. Those are the logical imperatives.

If this is true about you, you're not going to be the fruit of the Spirit. I mean, in Galatians, here's immorality, blah, blah, blah. But if you have the fruit of the Spirit, what is that? How is that manifested? Peace, love, joy, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, it's a logical imperative. you're in the spirit, what is the logical outcome of that? Yeah, and right after that it says walk in the spirit. Walk in the spirit, yeah.

But I mean, it's not a command that, you know, you have to be in. If you are in, the logical result of that, or the logical imperative of the command is, you will, peace, love, joy, all the fruit of this world. I think under the loft system, you're commanded to do something in order to receive. Right. In this case, you're commanded to do something because you already have it. You have it.

And I get back to a life. If that's the life, it's manifested this way. Isn't that, so what Paul said, you know, you're born, I mean, God says you're born again, you know, born again, and then Paul says, you know, you should no longer need milk, you know, and get more deep, so it's an ongoing. That's spiritual maturity.

You start, you know, you don't start off, I don't, I didn't get my first child and I had a really good steak tonight. You know, I don't feed the kid you know, a newborn. It's a growth. And that, but you know, the thing that I see, unfortunately, is a lot of people stay in the nursery on milk for long, long, and I look in the mirror, I look at myself, 20 years and this, all this stuff, until really, and that's why I push hard on the identification truth, because I don't, I don't think growth goes as, you can't start this until you understand this.

You're going to be always struggling with the old man and lots of different things and issues. Once you start understanding these identification truths, I think that's the beginning of a rapid or a long-term growth process because you start to understand who you are. And that's why I pound on this verse because I just think you're stuck in this mire. And I look in the mirror myself for so many years.

I mean, I was a doer. I keep telling you, I'm a type A-er. I go out and slay the world. You know, I'm going to do this for Lord. I don't want anything from you guys, but I know if I do this, God's going to smile at me a little bit, because I'm a doer.

Absolutely the wrong thing. That's the old man. Totally 100%. So, you know, we have to get out. That's why this is critically important. This is Christianity 101. And once you do this, the growth begins. You go into 202 and 303. So, alright, let's move on to question three with the bell happening in about one minute. Why is your relationship to sin exactly the same now as Christ? Easy question.

We're dead to sin. We're dead? Why? Because he's dead. Everybody understand? And more importantly, where are we? In Christ. In Christ. Okay? So what's his relationship to sin? Dead to it. Dead. Okay? So, as a believer, are you associated with Adam? No. No! He is no longer head of your race. You've been crucified or judicially separated from your Adamic life. It is still resident in you, but you are under no obligation to it. You are dead unto it. You now have a new nature with a new head of the race. Okay? Everybody understand that? So, if Christ's relationship to sin is dead, you are too. Okay? And, well, we'll try and maybe go on here so we can, there's some other stuff, but let's move on to four.

Is Romans 6 and 11 a matter of feelings or facts? Hopefully I've beaten you up enough that there's nobody, unless they're just going to irritate me. So is it feelings or facts? Facts. Facts. And that's where whoever, I think, started on this. Did you just say feelings? Did he say feelings? Oh. I knew there had to be one in there. Yeah, I know who he's married to. The official Holly Hills pot stirrer. You know it's actually.

So, this is not an experience, it is a call to faith in a fact. The fact is believers have been past tense separated from their Adamic sin nature and are dead separated to sin and now alive unto God by being placed or identified with Christ in a new creation.

I love, and we'll get into some of these verses. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. I love this. These are the verses, if you don't understand Romans 6, 6, and what we're going through, 6, 1 through 13, you can't understand this verse. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. How do you understand that if you don't understand you've been crucified and you've been placed into him?

So, what Romans 6.11 is now saying is that God told you about the fact that you have been crucified and placed into Christ. You now have the same relationship to sin as Christ. Now believe on it or reckon it or consider it true. You have the same relationship. And if you understand what Christ is, there is no relationship to the sin nature. Okay? I like how Newell put it. To those who refuse or neglect to reckon themselves dead to sin as God commands. Logical.

We press the question, how are you able to believe that Christ really bared the guilt of your sins and you will not meet them at the judgment day? It is only God's word that tells you Christ bared your sins in his own body on the tree. And it is that same word that tells you that you, as connected with Adam, died with Christ and your old man was crucified. That since you are in Christ, you share his death unto sin and are thus to your present relation to sin in Christ as one who is dead to it and alive to God. Key point.

If we claim that this is too difficult because we feel the consciousness of sin dwelling in us, then reflect that it is only by faith that we know that our sin-guilt was born by Christ, and it is by faith alone that we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin. Let us beware, then, lest we be found making a secret truce with the indwelling sin, while yet hoping to be saved from the guilt of the sins we have committed by Christ's shed blood. Again, we repeat, if we are in Christ, we are in a Christ who was made to be sin on a cross and died unto it. This, therefore, is our relationship to sin, and God expects all of us to assert by simple, obedient faith in this revealed fact to reckon ourselves dead unto sin and alive unto God in Christ Jesus. The main point in there is, you believe Christ paid for your sins, right?

Yes. So, you believe that? Where? Why do you believe that? Because it's written. His Word? Holy Spirit? Yeah. You have to have it written. Yeah. No, I'm there. I'm not questioning that. So, now you read this verse that says you're crucified. What he's making the point is, you have faith in that Christ took all your sins, you believe that. But now when he says you're crucified, oh, that's too much. That's too much. I believe that, you know, when he took the sins upon you, all those sins are paid for. The same faith that you have in that should be in the fact that you were crucified.

It's so awe-inspiring that sometimes as humans it's difficult to comprehend. You know, I mean... Even though. Consider this. All this is true about you. Believe it. It's true. And the experience and the facts will still... With me, I go along with that saying, and you've probably all heard it, dyed in the wool. And you dye wool and it's going to stay that way. And with me, I accept it. and put it aside, because that's the way it is. This is the reckoning, consider it true. And like I said, once it happens, it's done.

And it is not predicated on your belief in that. Is it true of you, regardless of whether you believe it or not? Absolutely. The good part is, as you reckon and consider what happens, you grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. You have an intimacy that now is growing because you understand you're in it.

It's a life. It's not rules and regulations. It is liberty. Unbelievable liberty. I'm not under the law. I'm not under that stuff. It is fantastic. As you begin to understand this, you know, I keep thinking, you know, this has got to be a great prison ministry. You know, somebody who has a past, I've been thinking, a lot of this, that, you know, as a prison ministry, a guy who's in the prison who has all this past, has a lot of stuff, you know, probably abused in the circumstances of all the things that have gone on and that, what liberty it is that says, God's done with that. You're done with it.

You don't have to be in those sins anymore. You don't have to be in all that past. How freeing, what liberty we have in that. The stuff you're linked to, you're into, and you can't... God's done with it. You be done with it. Now he sees you new in Christ. How freeing is that? I mean, the liberty. You're in prison, but you now have liberty in this.

Even like Chuck Colton. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if he had the identification truth. I don't think he did. And that's what I said, I just thought, you know, here's a guy, you have this past, and you can blame or whatever, but now you have liberty from it. All that abuse that happened to you, all the past of your alcoholism or drugs or whatever you do, you're severed from that. God is done with it. You have a new life in Christ, whether you're sitting in a prison cell or what, God sees you in Christ. Liberty. Unbelievable liberty. So if you don't have the identification truth, as you had just mentioned, that he might not have had it, what happens then?

I think he preaches salvation, and it's just people kept in the nursery. I think, you know, this is where we kind of somewhat differ sometimes. I still think simple faith. It's if you believe in this fact, it's a done deal. The transaction is made. Now, it's just whoever is saying this, when you understand the identification truths, then you start the path of growth. If you don't know those, you're in the nursery for a long time. I was in the nursery for a long time, 20 years, thinking I was doing great things, but I was in the nursery. It's now understanding this that I have more peace, I have all the liberty, I have all these things because understanding what's transpired.

So I think he understands. I mean, there are a lot of people saved, but I think they just don't have the growth if you don't understand these things. They're absolutely going to be, we'll see him there in heaven. But I think they just don't have the growth. Let's just say Chuck Colson, if it was all true for him, all what we've studied today, even though he may not have...

It's true of everyone. That's the thing. It's true. Believe it. And then you start to grow. Like I said, I'm a perfect poster child. You know, I had this and I didn't understand it until I understood the identification truth. Then all this started to come together.

Galatians made sense. Grace begins to make sense. I think you can't really understand grace or just sit in that grace system and enjoy all that until you understand these identification truths because you're always trying to do something for it. And grace is unmerited. So I really think You understand grace and you just are absorbed and motivated by grace because now you're not hindered by this old man. You don't have to, you're dead unto it.

So we've got the fourth. Woohoo! Woohoo! Readjust the schedule again, Mike. All right, let's close. Maybe we should come in at 7 in the morning. Yeah, I know. We're going to have to start earlier. We're the procrastination class, so we have to start early.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again for this time. Thank you, Father, just for your Word and understanding, your plan of salvation and these identification truths, how freeing, what liberty we have in that. that we're not under the law-based system, that we're under grace, unlimited blessings based on what Christ did on the cross. That is a freeing message that we just adore and thank you for. Father, we just again thank you for this time and we just pray you're honored and glorified by all we say and do here and we just thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.