Identification Truths Plus 2012

We are in Lesson 17. We will finish today. I think we will. These are hopefully fairly straightforward questions. Again, it's Identification Lesson 17. We were just finished up question 12 and we were in regards to Galatians 6 14 Which was but may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world So we had question 12 went over the relationship. We've been crucified We talked about which I think is an important thing right now and we with all the politics and all the stuff going on.

The Philippians 3.20 and 21, that where is our citizenship right now? We're citizens of heaven. So all the stuff that's going on in the world today and all the politics and all the different things, that's sideline events.

Our citizenship according to Philippians 3.20 right now is in heaven. So And then we are crucified to the world, just as Christ is crucified to the world. And how did we get that? Question 13. How did we get that relationship? Crucified to the world. How did we get that relationship? Oh, come on.

We have been crucified, and where are we now? We are what? In Christ. So if we're in Christ, if Christ is crucified to the world, where are we? Crucified to the world also. Okay? So we're the same. If we are in Christ, He's crucified to the world, we're crucified to the world. That's how we have our citizenship. Where? In heaven. Because we are placed in Him. Where's His citizenship? In heaven. Well, He's also crucified, but He's also redirected. What does that mean?

The separation. He's separated. We're separate. We're not from around here anymore. We're sojourners. We're travelers. We're going to a foreign land. We're ambassadors. And what does an ambassador do? Represents where he's from. Well, we represent Christ in heaven. He's seated at the right hand of God right now. We are his ambassador. So, an ambassador to where? Here, the world. So, we're not from around here anymore.

Sounds kind of funny, but it really makes it a whole lot easier when you go through all the politics or you go through sports or anything else that you want to go through. It doesn't mean anything anymore. Makes me think. When I was a young gal, my sister, who's 11 years older now, of course she's passed, she went on to glory.

But anyway, we were riding the bus late at night, and my sister said, and there are people surrounding us. He said, just think, people in the world are just now going out, and people are surrounded like that. Like we're aliens. And I guess we are. We are. We are sojourners. We are not from around here anymore. By that identification in Christ, we are not from around here anymore. We're his ambassadors here.

But it makes it so much easier to deal with what's going on in the world right now, if you understand that. I mean, you know, I always bring Monique and I. We're political junkies. But it's one of those things where I just, I don't get, I mean, I get wrapped up in it, but I don't get wrapped up in it. Because, you know, whoever gets the election, whoever, whether you're Democrat, Republican, Independent, whatever, whoever wins, Did God know about that?

Absolutely. If you read the Romans, what, 13? Subject to government. Who puts the rulers in place? God does. Right, but so then why is it that we pray? Does He want us to pray to Him and talk to Him? What happens when you pray? You're intimately involved with Him, right? The intimacy that we see in 17, that intimacy He wants? When you pray, you're in intimate contact with Him. Right, but he does what he wants to do anyway. So maybe you'll find out that you're voting the wrong way. It really doesn't matter. You can say what you want. He's going to have his will. I can pray for 59 Cadillacs. Lord give me 59 Cadillacs. Is that his will for me? Probably not. I can ask it. I'm free to ask anything.

You know, there are a lot of times I get into this where people get into, it's either too small or too large for God for me to go before him and pray about it. You know, it's that little thing. I'm not going to, but you know, God's holding together the whole world. What's he worried about? My little thing here. You think he's not intimately involved with that? Absolutely. What about that big thing? Oh, you know, he can't change that. Well, I just put God in a box that said he's not big enough, good enough, whatever, to do this. And I find we do that quite a bit where, yeah, I'm not going to bring that before him because that's too small. He's not worried about the little things. He's worried about the big things. Do you believe that? He's not worried about anything. He's not worried about anything.

In fact, that's true. But for us to go before him with anything, you know, He just wants the fellowship. Isn't it to acknowledge our dependence and also all things are for His glory? Absolutely. The dependence on Him, you know, I think is the key. You know, the trials and everything are meant to show us our total dependence on Him. Total dependence on Him. And maybe He would show you why you might want, think you want 59 Cadillacs.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, and, you know, sometimes He may give that to you. And guess what? You find out it's hollow. No, you can't afford the insurance. He may allow you to do that just to find out that... What is your focus? You know, I was wondering about this too. There's one in The Hungry Heart that... 8-15. Well, no, there's 8-11. 8-15 was a good one too. I like that one too.

But popular fundamentalist theology has emphasized the utility of the cross rather than the beauty of the one who died on it. The saved man's relation to the Lord Jesus has been made contractual instead of personal. The work of Christ has been stressed until it has eclipsed the person of Christ. Substitution has been allowed to supersede identification. Listen to this one.

What he did for us seems to be more important than what he did to us. You know, we, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. Is that more important, that he's now the sugar daddy that gives us everything? Or is it more important to what he did for us? What did he do? He placed us into Christ. That's infinitely more than, I want a new Cadillac. who he is is more important than all of that. What he did, you know, it's like who he is.

You know, we don't want to, you know, we were talking about this the other night at the Eccles Bible study. The thing, what did the cross do for us? It, first of all, paid for the penalty. Paid the penalty. The second thing it did was the power. It broke us from the power of sin. And eventually, when we step into eternity, it will free us from the presence of sin. The three Ps. The penalty was taken care of. Right now, we are freed from the power of it. Eventually, we will be freed from the presence of it.

So, you know, there are wonderful things that happened at the cross, but the most important thing is we were placed into Him. And a lot of times, as we're talking now, the gimme, gimme, gimmes, where it's more important to be who you are. You're in Him. And as we see who Christ is, we know who we are. It's a fantastic thing that the relationship we have now is much more important than the blessings of what we get, which is magnificent.

You know, when we look at Ephesians, which we'll touch on right now, Ephesians 1 and 2, what we have in Christ. I'm not going to have you read Ephesians 1 and 2. I won't read that, but I'm going to go over a bunch of the different things in there. Question 14. In just these two chapters, Ephesians 1 and 2, count how many times phrases in him or in Christ are used. Did anybody do it? Mike said a lot. Are you quoting him? We didn't know there were questions on the back. So did anybody count them up? Just out of curiosity, did you all? No, no, no. I said I don't want to. Just because Mike said a lot. Yeah.

It seemed like homework. Higher than we can count, right? Higher than we can count. I've got to remember this. So in future lessons, if you make a new calendar, do math. That's real work. Anybody wager a guess? It's 147 times. Oh, we have two guesses from 8 and 15. Right in between there. I counted 12 times. There's 15 in the first chapter.

Aha! Not related to being in Him. There's other things which I can point out. There are others that say through Him or some of those, but it's not related to being our position in Him. That's what I was worried about. It's really the thoughts about being in Him.

I guess the first question I had from this was, if you don't understand the identification truths, how does this make sense? How many in hymns? If you don't understand in hymn, how do you understand Ephesians? Well, all of Ephesians, but I just took the first two chapters. How does that make sense? You've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in hymn. So how do you understand any of these blessings or any of these things because it's in him. Give me another rational thought as to in him. I was just going to mention that sometimes I listen to radio or watch TV Christian stations.

That's your first mistake. No. What I've been hearing a lot of is that, and maybe I'm just attuned to it, is that people are saying my identity is in Christ. And I think that's, you know, we say identification quite a bit, but I'm really hearing that people are saying my identity, my whole identity is in Christ.

And I know it's just a little difference of wording, but it really sounded to me like it's out there. It depends if... To a degree, I'm sure. You know, I'm not hearing exactly what they're saying. My tendency would be that they would say their identity, which means I am now empowered to be like Christ. Which means I'm going to take the old Adam. No, I don't think so.

I mean, I listen pretty, you know, I'm listening for it and I'm hearing good stuff, like people are their whole identity is in Christ, who they are, in Him. I think there's a movement on the day to identify with as an example in the Old Testament it says that the Jews were baptized into Moses which meant that they identified with his teaching and his direction from God and it does not mean that they understand that they were co-crucified with Christ I can say as a believer, while I identify with the Christian principles, I identify with the fact that I'm saved and I am a Christian and I follow the tenets of Christianity. It's not the same thing as being identified with this death, burial, and resurrection. Yeah, and I totally understand that, but I think it's also good to sometimes be listening to what's out there.

Oh yeah, I mean, I talk with people, you know, that my mind is usually, I don't listen as much on the radio, but I just talk with people and seeing where their positions are at rather than the radio. I mean, that's just mine. Everybody's different. But when I listen to it, it might be wrong what you're listening to. Well, sometimes I need to hear what's going on. I mean, I don't just, you know, the pulse is out there, that's fine. I usually talk with people and see where they're at rather than hear what people are saying.

There's this pretty cool JCTV and it's kind of like for younger people, you know, and they have their own programs and everything and it's, I mean, some of it's really cool. said just listen beyond what you know just some buzzwords and things like that what they're really teaching yeah that's that's really the key is you know there's a lot of things that sound really good but when you really get burrowed down into where they're coming from you know it it's not all the way it very rarely do you hear full things yeah I mean it's better than you know some of the other stuff that's gone on you know the by the 59 Cadillacs. A Jewish friend invited me to come over to the Jewish Community Center over in Leedsdale for their lunches, you know, so I did. I also attended. This doesn't have anything to do with their lesson, but I attended because they were going And they had a group meeting on what Jews believe after life.

It was wild. I'm not going to go there. But anyway, one of the women sitting beside me, she said, love, we need more love. And then the conversation at the lunch table got about this baker refusing. He didn't refuse to sell to them, but this baker, she said, we need to put him out of business. I want to say, where's your love? All right.

So, 16, question 16, from the two chapters, Ephesians 1, just look up Ephesians 1 and 2, and from these chapters, what is the result of being in Christ? Just what are some of the things that are called out in Ephesians 1 and 2 as a result of being in Christ? spiritual blessing in the heavenly places where? In Christ.

Okay, what else? What is there after that? There's lots, actually. There's a bunch. Okay, how about... Adoption as sons. That's right. Okay, we've been made sons. That's already included. I mean, if the word of God says that we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, what do you add to that? So you don't read anything else in the scripture other than that? No, I mean, the point is, what can you add to that? So maybe this is just to find out what those blessings are?

You can delve into it and catalog it, but you can't add to it. Right. No, this is just explaining what those are. You can read that and then share the Bible, I guess. This is from one of your elders. So, you know, what about verse 4? We would be holy and blameless before Him. Right? Adoption is sons.

6. Glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us. Where? In the Beloved.

7. In Him we have what? Redemption. Going on, the forgiveness of our trespasses. And what? According to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us. Where else? Number 11. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance. in Him. Verse 12, would be to the praise of His glory in Him. Well, in Christ would be the praise of His glory. And then in 13, we were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. We were sealed in Him.

Isn't that a neat word? You can't get out. I mean, you don't want to. Yeah, I think, Mike, you had written it in a real estate term or something, or sealed or whatever. Yeah. Sealed is good. The Holy Spirit is the earnest money of the transaction. Yeah.

Going to Chapter 2. in verse 5, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and what raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So, raised up and seated us in the heavenlies, where? In Him.

So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, the intimacy. And 14, for he himself is our peace. So these are beyond Mike's all blessings. Further definition of that. Adopted riches, lavish grace.

All these things are what? Because of our placement in him, our identification in him. This is an incredible list of things. Do these verses make sense if you don't understand Romans 6 and our co-crucifixion and our identification? Because these are all talking about what? Our identification in Him. Our placement in Him. That transaction that's spoken of in Romans 6 is our co-crucifixion, removal of Adam, and our placement in Christ.

New creatures. Remember the verse, we are a new creature in Christ, new in kind, new in quality. We're new creatures. But these are all the blessings we get because of that position. Just take one of these. Any of these. You know, the first one. We've been blessed with all spirits of blessings. So what are you going to ask for? Nothing. I mean, in essence, we have been blessed with everything. So what are we asking? Give me more of what? Boy, you've given me everything in the heavenly. It puts it in perspective. But all these other truths, though, about adoption, inheritance, seated with him in heavenly places. Do you feel like you're seated in heavenly places?

Sometimes. I think what's important to understand is that if you're going to ask for anything, you ask for the same things that the Apostle Paul is asking for, which is that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened as you may know. The issue is, Father, I'd like to enter into Personally and experientially all that you say is true of me. That I would know it and own it and it would be part of what I am in my condition.

See I go to 2 Peter 3.18.

What are we to do? Grow in what? The world? Grow in myself? Grow in being whatever? Grow in what? Knowledge and grace. Knowledge and grace. Knowledge of Christ and His grace. That's what we're to grow in. And the knowledge of Christ, what? Tells us who we are. As you know, when you have that intimacy, and that's why I said go over John 17 so much, he wants that intimacy that he has with the Father, he wants with us. And as you have that intimacy, you know who Christ is.

You know, I think Mike's used a lot of times with, you know, as a husband and a wife, you know, we, he and I just had 33rd anniversary, 33 years. We know, you know, a lot about each other after 33 years. Well, it's the same thing. If you spend time with somebody, you know them. You know all their intricacies. You know everything about them. You know how they react. You know how they do everything.

Well, we're to do that with Christ. Know who He is, because when we see Christ, what are we doing? Seeing who we are. He goes, Mike's verse 3.18, Corinthians 3.18, we're transformed as in a mirror. We see Christ and we're transformed.

So, I mean, just start contemplating some of these things in Ephesians. And Ephesians is a top-down look. This basically tells us we're seated in the heavenlies. We're blessed with all the spiritual. You know, a lot of times we joke about, you know, we can look up. We're actually to look down. We're seated in the heavenlies. And that's where we're placed right now, positionally. Seated in the heavenlies. So, We're blessed with all this. Positionally, right now. Remember, position and condition.

Positionally, this is true about us right now. Right now, that's true of us. And because Christ, we're placed in Christ. Where's Christ? Seated at the right hand. Positionally, that's where we are. And that's where Christ sees us, too. We talked a little bit about that the other night, too. He sees us. Does He see us in Adam anymore? Nope. Not at all. Not at all. So if he sees us in Christ, where are we seated? In him, in the heavenlies.

So, I mean, it takes out a lot of the things of the earth and all the struggles and all those different things. If you understand positionally, you're seated in the heavenlies. So all the politics, all the, you know, trials and turn on the news and all this stuff. We're so generous in a country, being an ambassador of Christ, representing him in this world. We're just so generous passing through. And he's representing himself through us because it almost seems to like when we say we're representing like something again we have to take on ourselves.

Now what does an ambassador do? Does an ambassador say anything about himself or his thoughts? supposed to be, a definition of. I'm not saying about the human or what is an ambassador supposed to do. All he does is represent what his leader, that's all he's supposed to say. He's not supposed to say, you know, the president says this, but I really think this. But they also do sometimes put on a facade. That's humanly.

The definition of an ambassador is to represent not anything of yourself, but only of your country, your leader here. Okay, so you present Christ. We're to present Christ, a representative of him. The abiding believer as an ambassador isn't wrestling with the flesh and dealing with the self.

Right. Not at all. That's the difference. As I said before, one of our great friends with the Lord now, Sam Dalton, he used to carry around a strip of straw and a flexible hose. We're just a conduit. That's all we are. The conduit doesn't do anything but channels directly from the source. That's it. We're nothing except a conduit to represent him. So, you know, again, from an earthly standpoint, ambassadors screw up all the time. So you don't use them. The definition of the term of what an ambassador is supposed to do is what we're supposed to do.

Okay, moving on, 16, from Ephesians 2, 5 and 6, we've been made alive together with Christ. How is this possible? When did it occur? And when is the benefit to us? Ephesians 2, 5 through 6, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. How is it possible? When did it occur? And what and when is the benefit to us?

First of all, how is it possible? In Greece. True. Okay. But how do we get there again? Belief. Belief in what? Work on the cross. Okay, so when did it occur? At the cross. At the cross. So what and when is the benefit to us? Ongoing. Eternal. It's now through eternity. That's the benefit. And what is the benefit? Everything we went through in Ephesians? Two. One and two. That's the benefits to us. By what?

Being placed into Him. Again, remember this is, again, the very last part of this. And seated us with Him in the heavenly places where? In Christ Jesus. It's all based on our position. Nothing of ourselves. It's our position. Who we are in Christ. Moving on, we should be able to get through this.

Read Colossians 2.20 and 3.1-3.

In question 17, Colossians 2.20 states that since you have died with Christ, what is the tense of the verb and how is it possible?

So Colossians 2.20 and 3.1-3. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees such as do not handle, do not touch, do not taste, or do not taste, do not touch?

So, what is the tense of that? Past tense. Past. Past tense. So if you have died with Christ, past tense, so what does that mean? It's over and done with. It's over and done with. It happened when? In the past. When did it happen? On the cross. Christ on the cross. Pro-crucifixion. Romans 6, okay? So yeah, in the Greek it's eris acti indicative. Past, active, who did it, and then indicative, it's a fact. It's a fact. You have died with Christ. Again, Romans 6. How do you understand this if you don't understand Romans 6? You've died with Christ. Erase Romans 6 and try and explain that. You've died with Christ. You can't. You have to understand those principles in Romans 6 to understand these things. Otherwise, I don't understand what he's talking about. When did I die? When did I die? How did I die? I have died? Past tense? Huh? What do you mean I've died?

So again, the whole gist of these things, there are so many verses that Paul talks about that relate back to identification 101, Romans 6. And then in 18, how do you explain Colossians 3.3? And that is, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Explain that without Romans 6.

Somebody just tell me how you do it. How do you read this and not understand? Again, throwing stones in a glass house. I've read this for years without the identification going in. I don't know what I did. I just kind of blew it under the carpet or something. I really don't know how I read this without You know, questioning, what does that mean?

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God? Okay, but when they talk about hidden, could it mean that you're in, within, you're in Christ? Yeah. So, explain that. How did, well, first of all, you died, so, and we're in Christ. You're right. But I died first? What? Huh? I seem kind of alive and kicking. How did I get there? Right? Yeah.

So, I mean, you can't explain it. You have to start understanding Romans 6 to understand this. You've died. And again, past tense, you have died. Past tense, in Greek it's eris, active indicative also. Okay? And just closing in a couple other ones, just to add to this list. 2 Timothy 11, it is a trustworthy statement for if we died with him, we also live with him. If we died, past tense, with him? Okay, how do you explain that? Colossians 1, 21 through 29. Verse 22, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death.

Down in verse 27, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. We're complete in Christ. We may present every man complete in Christ.

And then also Colossians 3, 9, and 10. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who has created. I know Mike is going to come out of his seat, so I'll get in advance of that. The first one, the laid aside the old self, is Anthropor, the man. Laid aside the old man. with its evil practices in verse 10, and have put on the new. Put on the new is the way it should be. You cross out self there. And have put on the new.

So again, you have laid aside the old self, or put it off, and then you put aside the old man, anthropo, and then put on the new, new creatures in Christ. So again, tons of verses that we've gone over that just look through that list and try and figure out how you can say any of those verses or understand any of those verses without having the knowledge of the identification. Yeah, Bruce. Courtney, many churches use all of the verses you've just referred to as a means of saying that it's up to you to now start imitating Christ and to get busy. And in so doing, then, you can set aside your own fleshly desires and become more like Christ?

Well, it's not scriptural. Well, that's not what they teach. They do it because they haven't grounded the people in the Roman 6-6 truth. Right, and I guess that's my whole point of this whole lesson, is you can't explain this. If I go to any of those verses, that's why almost every question that I had explained this without Roman 6. I mean, I open up every question with, explain it if you don't understand Romans 6. Just give me an explanation.

You can't. And, I mean, you can make up and say that, you know, yeah, it empowers you, it, you know, allows you, you can, you know, imitate, you're supposed to, you know, whatever. But that's not what the verses say. So you have to know that you died with Christ. That's the whole basis.

And once you understand that, as we're going to start grace now, I don't think you can understand grace, or operate in grace, because the old man is always wanting to pull you back into the law, and to works, and to do. And unless you understand that you have been separated from that, the hardest thing in grace is to just say, thank you. Because there's nothing, you've not earned it. But the old man always wants to do something.

This is too good to be true. I've got to do something. I've got to at least read my Bible three times a day. I've got to go to church at least once a week. There's nothing in grace other than thank you. It's unmerited. And we'll get into all this now. This is a little weird for me.

Even me. kind of a thought, I guess, that I heard a song and then I got this thought of Jesus washing my feet. And it was weird because I wanted to switch it around. I wanted me to be the one washing his feet. And he said, well, I heard sorta, it's like, if you can't believe that I would wash your feet, You can't believe that I would die for you on the cross. And that kind of took me to Peter.

I know, it was like the same thing. It was pretty cool. Jesus was here to serve and eventually that's maybe what I would get to be able to do, but not because I choose like what it is it's because who you are in Christ it's a life it's not a it's not a list of things to do you know and that's with it you know we're saying that's exactly Peter Peter you know don't watch me don't watch me oh wait watch my head watch everything now do that do that whole number I want the number five wash you know I want the ten dollar wash yeah you know the car wash I want not the little basic you know yeah it's like you don't you don't realize how much Jesus served us That's exactly the whole thing, is to be like Him. As you know who you are in Christ, then you can serve, because that's who you are.

See? Finally! And I think via the introduction, what we're going to try to do through the introduction is arrive at a definition of grace. So, do we have a handout? No, this is just an introduction. You have to take notes. Those of you who have not ever been in the grace class before, What's your definition of grace? Because if I ask you the recipe, you're just going to give me the standard answer.

What would you call it? Well, how would you define a marriage favor? A marriage favor. Nothing we could work for. OK. But anybody else? I guess it's two point. OK. Two point. OK. Describes it for me. OK. Now, the first thing I want you to understand about grace is that, what I want you to understand is what it isn't. It isn't a bottle that contains something called grace. It's not a commodity. You can't go to the board of options and trade it. It doesn't come in jars, bags, boxes.

What it is, it's an environment in which we live in. Up until the time of Christ, the environment that the whole world lived in was the environment of law. It was, do this and I'll bless you. If you don't do what I tell you to do, I'll curse you. That was the Jewish system, but also the regular Gentile, the whole world was under a performance system.

So, I want you to think about Operating systems, how many of you are reasonably computer savvy? So if you if you have an operating system of windows, can you run your Mac computer on it without having some sort of without having some sort of adaptable programs for it? Can you can't Kenya? Why not?

They are incompatible. They are different operating systems. Grace and law are different operating systems. All of the principles of grace are totally different than the principles of law. Totally different. Not any of it is the same. Because if the basic tenet of law is that if I obey the law, I will get blessed. And if I don't obey the law, I will suffer a consequence. What part of grace fits into that definition? It doesn't. So understand that grace is an environment.

People say, wow, the guy walked in a room and he sucked all the air out of the room. I want to suck all the law out of this room and fill it up with grace so we can learn what it's like to live in a grace environment. Courtney is a diver. Claire is a diver. You go down 40 feet and look at the, this is for Courtney's benefit, the glories of the reef that God created 40 feet down.

What do you have to have with you to stay down there very long? You've got to have the substance from the environment you came from. Right? So if God were to change your capacity and you became a fish, you could stay down there forever and you'd never go back up into the air. Your environment and you would change.

Well, as we've talked about in identification, the new man, resurrected in Christ, operates and functions only in grace. He does not function in law. That's why identification is so important to understand, and that's why we insert in here a few weeks about understanding what grace is. It's hard, I think, to change your mind from the idea that grace is some sort of thing that you go into 7-11 and buy. Or that you do a whole bunch of spiritual push-ups and God somehow rewards you with grace. Do you see that? It's really different.

So, if someone didn't have law before, it would kind of be considered moral law? Yeah. Is that the first bill? Yes. If you do a fairly careful study of the first three chapters of Romans, he covers that. He talks about the Jews, and then he says, well how about the guys that aren't Jews? So that would be like the Gentiles? Yeah, they've got a law unto themselves. And it comes from what we would call the moral law, which came from God. Or Adam to Moses. Yeah, Adam to Moses. Why did people die from Adam to Moses? It was a universal death.

At that time it wasn't personal sins. What was it then? Based on what Courtney's been talking about for weeks. That's right. We should have the answer. Why do all men die? Because they're in Adam. Because they have sin natures. That's why they die. It doesn't matter what they did. It's what they are. But is it also because Christ had not yet been crucified? That's true. But now think about it. Christ is crucified. You're identified with that crucifixion. He's buried, resurrected.

He's resurrected into what Romans 6.3 calls newness of life.

You know what the breathing environment and newness of life is? It's grace. This newness of life that we live in operates and functions only in grace. So the next time you get stopped for speeding, you just tell them that and they'll let you off the hook. How many people in the planet are under grace? Not very many. How do you get to be under grace then? You got to pay your dues? That's right. Only Christians are under grace. Only Christians.

Now I know as I go down this path, in the back of your minds these little bells are going off. They're saying, I'm not going to support my family. I'm not going to obey the laws. I'm just going to, because I'm under grace. There's another thing that grace isn't. Grace isn't the liberty to do what you please. That's not what grace is.

And I'll explain that as we get on. So, there's one central verse that we're going to work off of. And it has to do with sinning. And the verse is Romans 6.14. And the verse is, for sin shall not have dominion over you. Why? Because I've got all the list of the stuff I'm not supposed to do in my refrigerator and I won't ever have sin dominion, have dominion over me. No. Sin is not to have dominion over me because I am not under a law system. I am under grace. So what does that tell you why we got grace? Why was grace instituted by God? Why did he put it in? To put the law? Keep going. We couldn't live by the law. Think about what the verse says. Why did God implement the grace system?

Sin. The whole reason for grace is so you won't sin. So no matter what sort of tap dance you think you're doing and what you're obeying and how your list is and how good you are and how much you're reading The real issue, the real reason that sin won't have control over you is because you live under grace. Even though you're still sinning? Amen. If you're sinning, you're not living under grace. So the verse says, if I live under grace, sin won't have dominion over me. Well, maybe you do less. What, less grace or more grace? Sin. Sin. I mean, you're more, you're geared into Christ.

So if I'm going to take the verse at face value, it says to me that sin will not dominate me because I'm under grace. Which would say to me that if I sneak a little law in the back door, guess what happens? Sin dominates. So nobody in this room except for Courtney and probably Randy, who believe that grace is strong enough to keep you from sinning.

I find that getting older helps too. Or I'll try that one. Getting older helps with certain sins. Alright, so next week we'll pick up, and I'll probably get through the introduction next week. But I want you to be thinking all week about what is grace in terms of it's not a commodity, it's not a system, it's an environment. Okay? Let's close.

Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace and how we thank you for the fact that you upon yourself identified us with the cross of Christ, that you crucified each one of us, we were buried and resurrected and now we have new, resurrected life and grace, and that we might abide therein from now on, Father. We thank you and we pray in your Son's precious name. Amen.