Principles of Position Lesson 10
JD McCulley · May 29, 2016
Principles of Position, No. 21
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926534204677

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

We're talking about sanctification. How was last week in this class? It was a little different, wasn't it? Some of the teaching, I think, was somewhat new to me, to think of this whole aspect of sanctification as being a positional truth. As I started to try to work that into my conversations with the kids, and even with Les this week, it was... I just took on some new ways of saying some of these things about we are 100% set apart at the time that we believed, and that sanctification is not a process, but a positional truth that results in spiritual growth. of which growth is a process, right? So I think that there were probably some questions. We got into a little bit of a discussion about holiness, and I think that that helped to some degree. It also brought up some other questions, and we'll continue to look at that. But we've been defining the term sanctification, and what do we say that that meant? I mentioned it a little bit a moment ago, but what are some of the key concepts that are related to this term sanctification?

Set apart. What's that? Set apart. Separation, right? To what? To belong to and do God's will. Ooh, do. That's a Holly Hills no-no. Not if God is running your show. Okay. Well, that's a footnote that we'll allow. Just kidding. I can't witness to anybody successfully, smoothly, clearly, unless God is running the show. That's right. It does not work for me. Some people may have a spiel that works for them, but I have no spiel. I will never have a spiel unless God does it. It doesn't happen. Yeah. That's right. And when he's doing it, beautiful and perfectly ordered and miraculous. Agreed. Agreed. I think that's an important point. When God's doing the living, it's beautiful, right?

So, when we're thinking about separation, we're talking about separated from what? You mentioned to do God's will. We use the term, we're separated, meaning being set apart for God's possession and use. Remember? And then we started talking about, well, man, does he use us all in the same way? Does he separate us all in the same way? That's the first question. Yes. I think so. We're all separated from... and what are we separated from?

Sin, the old man, the old nature. Yes, I've been recreated, right? There's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So we've been separated from the old nature. the old man, and we've also been separated from the operating system of what? What's the opposite of grace? law, right? You operate under an operating system of law, sin runs the show, the father of lies is at the throne, and all you got is that same kind of speak, right? So we're separated from the world, the flesh, the devil, okay? We talk about the enemies, as we've referred to and the Bible refers to.

We're definitely separated from a lot there, and then we're joined to Christ, and we are now possessed. Okay? Meaning, we are his possession. Okay? That's going to be a fun one to talk about with somebody. Your head is spinning. So you are now a possession of Christ, of the Lord, and you are set apart for a special purpose or a special use.

What's the use? Where does that all start? This is going to be interesting because last week we talked about, well, some are teachers and some have different gifts and so forth. I wanted to maybe just touch on this first of all. all of those things that you do, let's call them responsibilities or duties that may come about, I would prefer to actually use biblical terms for that, but for the sake of just this simple clarification, we're set apart for His possession and His use, and how is God intending to use each and every one of us that results in different expressions of how God is bringing about His will in the world? So what is the same for all of us in terms of how God is using us?

I mean, you're not up here teaching today. Maybe some of you would on another day. Does that mean that His use for me is different than it is for you? What is underneath what is happening right now for me that's the same that's underneath for you while you're sitting right there?

The Holy Spirit. Okay, both of those things are true. Whatever it is. I think that's the outcome. Those are outcomes as well. And those are things that come as a result of. And I think that they are all the same, regardless of my role in what God is doing versus what your role is in what God is doing. But here's what I was looking for, and it's a little vague on purpose, but it all starts with the exact same purpose. You become used in the exact same way that I become used.

And it's that 2 Corinthians 3.18. That's the same for all of us.

Okay? I'm going to write that up here. Should I write it in... I'm going to write it in purple. That'll be good. Let's read it again. It's one of our main verses, I think, is a body. but rightfully so, because it puts everything that has to be done in terms of what God is planning and what He's up to, it puts it all into the same root perspective. Someone read that verse for me. Though we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. So Spirit's there, purpose is there, all the things that you said are there, knowing is there, but what is, if you are thinking about being set apart for God's possession and use, what are you doing?

You're beholding. Just like I'm beholding. And when we do that, what is the result of that? Transformation. Okay. And does transformation look the same for each of us? It has the same outcome. Same end result. Same end result, but different ways. Different timing. Different timing. That's right.

So when I think about God set us apart for His possession and for His use, do you think it's wise for us to get caught up in what are all the uses? What are all my responsibilities? What are all my do's? I've got to put my wallet, all my checklists for the day because this is what I know God wants me to do. Does it just walk in the Spirit and those things will unfold?

I think so. That's what the Bible says. So, what I was trying to build in this little discussion was just the fact that it's all the same for us with different outcomes over time. The outcome is different simply because how he uses you might be different than how he uses me, but the end result still becomes the conforming and the transforming.

Right? Okay? So when we are glorified, will there be any differentiation in terms of how the Lord is using us? That's a deep question. I don't think so, because then I think Oh gosh, I forgot the question. I'm kind of not too excited about having asked it. Okay, so we're all going to be beholding Him. It's not going to be about us, so it's not going to be important how we're different because we're all going to be united In the same way, but we might have different personalities about it.

Is there a different eternal use for different believers? Eternally, probably not. What about in the Millennial Kingdom? To glorify God. Those are some deeper thoughts. There are different crowns, aren't there? They all get given back. That's true. But are there different responsibilities that believers have in the Millennial Kingdom even?

Those are some questions that are interesting to think about. I think there's almost a continuity of truth here. We all have the exact same nature. even with potentially different uses. So we will be 100% completely conformed, transformed, we will have the image of Christ complete, regardless of how He uses us in His eternal plan, and what He has each of us doing based on His will, we will have the same nature. Is that true of you now? It is.

And I think that's important because we get into this tit-for-tat comparison thing over believers, like how God's using this person versus that person, or what's this person... this person seems to be taking his responsibility seriously and this person doesn't. What's true about both of those believers? They both have the exact same set-apart possession and God is using them in the exact way that He desires to use them. Now, can they quench the Spirit? It can. So let's talk about that process. So you get converted, okay? And you've got this conversion moment here that happens in your life.

Remember how we had previously kind of a chart that looked like a, I don't know, a heartbeat, guys? I don't know, what is that? What kind of electrical current was that? It was more like a stub acme thread. Okay. I was going to say. And this one is a? A duty cycle wear away. Square wave. I think this one's a little better than the other one. I think it's a rectangular wave. They look like dentals to me.

Dentals? I was going to say buildings. But we'll stop there. So, as you behold the Lord, through his word, there's transforming. And that's the purple here. Okay? Same for every believer. And then what happens in the yellow? That's the sin nature. So you walk in the flesh, right?

And then in that point, you've got a Romans 6, 1-14 kind of thing. Or Galatians 5, 13. Okay, these are 6, 1-14. We won't go into that. So what's happening here is, are you still being used by God right here? You're probably always, well, oh I see what you're saying. That's a good one. I don't know. This isn't sanctification per se. If we're talking about the mental decision to trust the sin nature versus I don't know if you're being used by God, but he's using that situation to grow you. Okay. That is a good way of saying it. Also, when we're out of fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit is quenched, and we're kind of running on one of eight cylinders from zero. Yeah. He's the one who empowers us to do... And isn't God using that?

Yeah, for our own good morning. That's right. So, what... and you could explain this better in more realistic terms, I suppose, but what you have here is you have an on or an off. That's all it is. Okay? It's not a, I'm kinda trusting the Lord to this. It's either you're beholding Him through His Word, or you're walking in the flesh. Or you'll be holding in His word, or you're walking in the flesh. Is that binary? Binary. I get that part. So then, what happens over time is you grow. Let's just kind of call it something like this. There is a growth process. This is progressive spiritual growth.

Okay? Sanctification is what? Is this sanctification? I think so, on a conditional level. But we don't call it that. Or I don't anymore. Sanctification is the fact that you were set apart for this in the first place. It's a positional truth. So you're set apart for God's possession and His use. That's a done deal.

Now, because of that, you grow spiritually, right? And that growth only happens as you behold the Lord through His Word. Now, as a result of beholding Him, Are you busy as a believer? Are there things that get done? Are there certain civic duties that you choose to engage in? Are there certain marital duties and family duties? Are there responsibilities that you take on as a believer? Is your body busy potentially witnessing to other unbelievers, teaching? Are there things that get done as a result of beholding? Are there things that don't get done as a result of walking in the flesh?

Yeah, there are. There absolutely are. That's spiritual growth. And we're all in different places along that path. But you are sanctified. You're not being sanctified. Now let's talk about some of the things that sanctification does not mean. So look at number three, question number three. It says, does sanctification have anything to do with the thought of cleansing or purification explained? So what I'm going to do is say, let's talk about the things that it does not mean. So the first thing that I have here, and you can write these down, I'm just going to kind of give you some notes and we'll talk through them. It does not mean sinless perfection. Sanctification does not mean sinless perfection. Are there those out there that believe that once you become a believer, you should be sinless and perfect?

Yeah. There are. I think it's called one-nature-ism. And I think it's just, my sister, I was talking to my sister, I don't know, and she was talking about a friend of hers who became a Christian, and she's like, and she She cheated on her taxes or something. How can a Christian do that? And it's like, well, I don't think she's perfect. So let's ask that question of any kind of thing. How can a Christian do that?

Do what? Cheat on taxes? Whatever. Cheat on anything. How can a believer do any sin? Taking your eyes off Christ. That's right. Both of those are right. Taking your eyes off Christ, which means you're not beholding and walking in the flesh. And so that's the answer, right?

I was thinking yesterday of how sin is missing the mark, you know, and when you're like aiming a gun or something at a target, you know, and you're more likely to hit the target, which is, you know, eyes on Christ, but it's like you can get distracted by a squirrel or, you know, oh, I'm going to go shoot at something else instead, you know what I mean? So it's easy. kind of, I think the Holy Spirit's work is to keep us focused on what the target is, is Christ, you know what I mean, and not be wandering off like, whatever else it might be. You know, I think it's easy for those that are spending time in this area, so beholding the Lord and learning, and what they're seeing is, hey, God is using me, and there's some really neat things that are happening. One of the temptations that comes is to look at another believer and say, how can another fellow believer be doing this? I mean, I know I've done it, but that's not me anymore, so how can they be doing this?

And what I would challenge you to think about is, because they're not trusting the Lord, period. And that's the only change that needs to occur in their heart if they are a believer, in order for them to begin walking again. So, yes, are there other challenges that may stand before them physically and mentally? Very likely there are, a lot of times. But don't overanalyze the situation with a believer who's not walking.

It's quite simple in terms of the fact that if they're not choosing to behold the Lord through His word, they're not experiencing that transformation at that moment in time. And then, even, what you're doing is you're spending time looking at what they're doing. And so you, yourself, are probably... And you also might think to yourself, well, how much time do they have? If they keep this up, they're going to come to the end of their life and they're not going to have been very productive believers.

Is that your job? No. So, guess what this does? This relieves the walking believer from sitting there nitpicking on an unbeliever because It's quite simple. They're not beholding Him, and that is all that they need. So that ends up being kind of the broken record conversation that we have in time. Sometimes we have to be careful about that. Sometimes people say, I don't want to hear that anymore. I'm done hearing that. And what do you do? What do you do? Let it go. Let God be big. Let God be who God is.

You keep praying for them, but you don't overanalyze the fact that, oh man, they must have lost their salvation, or you can get into this path of, well, do they ever really believe? And those are questions that you might have, but it comes down to some pretty simple facts from a scriptural point of view.

And so, we are not Because we are sanctified, even the believer who is not walking and choosing to walk in the flesh, they are still 100% set apart for God's possession and His use. But this is the point, that there is no such thing as sinless perfection in sanctification. It does not mean sinless perfection. Who is sinless and perfect? So what we are placed, who we are placed into is sinless and perfect. Okay? And that's a positional truth that only becomes a conditional truth when? When this stuff is gone, as Vern says. Right?

So let's look at John 17, 19. Someone read verse 19. 17, 19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. If sanctification, or this process of being set apart, meant sinless perfection, why is Christ saying that he sanctifies himself? And he talks about them being sanctified. Were they? Sinless and perfect? Right. So, another aspect of sanctification, some people say, well, it means moral improvement. Like, things are going to get better. Moral improvement or betterment in a believer's life.

Does it mean that? I kind of don't think so from the way you're asking the question. Why? Well, moral is... that kind of sounds like more law. Like, I think the Holy Spirit's not focused on what we're doing wrong or what our rules are. It's more conforming us to who He knows Christ is. I don't know if that makes sense. I don't know. Yeah, I think so.

Let's look at John 10.36. You're right there in John. Someone read that one for me. What about the one whom the father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said I am God's son? So he sanctified and sent his son into the world.

If sanctified means moral improvement or betterment, can Christ be improved upon? No. No. So, in every instance of these verses that we're looking at, the Lord Jesus uses sanctification as a definition for being set apart and possessed, possession-wise, okay? When he uses that term, that's what he's talking about. But it's a temptation, I think, in learning from the Word and just being in different environments to think of this as sanctification meaning becoming better, morally better.

Does it mean salvation? Well, didn't it say somewhere that we're set apart even before we're born? Did I dream that? Was that God actually created us? I think the word is chosen. Can it be set apart? It's very similar, the term. And yes, it does say that. But who were you chosen in? Who was chosen? Christ. Oh, Christ.

Right, so when you become a believer and you're placed in Christ, there are many predetermined choices that are now true of you in Christ. Well, after we die and go to heaven, we're already in heaven, but when we are there, We'll have a job, right? I don't know, will we? Well, I mean, will he let us do something?

Please don't. Don't do Mike. Just keep asking more questions and more questions. Please don't keep asking me more questions. Well, okay, so you said, will we have a job? Will he let us have a choice? Like, you know, I know what I'd like to do. What would be that?

I want to sing. You want to sing? And dance. You want to dance? You got it. Just dance for the joy of being there. You want to sing and dance. Do you know what kind of dancing? I just told you. You showed me. I want you to tell me what that's called. I'm just kidding. Praising. Well then your job is fulfilled. Feel good to do that. I'll get to sing too. Yeah. Great. Furthermore, I'm even going to be able to sing on key every time. Well, I used to be able to. The whole way through. It is purely a miracle. Well, I'll meet you there and we'll really have fun. We'll all sing together perfectly.

Let's look at 1 Corinthians 7.14. Does sanctification mean salvation? Oh, right. I think it does.

Oh, well, no. So here, I'll read this one, 1 Corinthians 7.14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified. Uh oh.

So is there a term for sanctification that does not apply to spiritual, this whole concept of spiritual growth? Yeah, I mean here the word is being used for an unbelieving husband. through his wife. He's being set apart through his believing wife and the unbelieving... I'm sorry. Let me reread it. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. So flip-flop the situations. For otherwise your children are unclean but now they are holy.

We're not going into that verse other than to say the fact that set apart does not imply salvation. What is the husband set apart for then? Oh, you said we're not going into that verse. So here we have a situation where sanctification, in order for it to be used in the biblical sense of what we're talking about for believers, sanctification has to be in the context of salvation, but it can also be outside of the context of salvation, right? So it depends upon it. Okay? So, we've got some various points that we brought up about... Sanctification doesn't mean purification. It doesn't mean cleansing. It doesn't mean sinless perfection. It doesn't mean moral improvement or betterment. And it does not necessarily mean salvation. Can it be in the context of salvation? Yes. Yeah. It can. But it doesn't always have to be used in that way. The Bible doesn't use it that way. Alright. Alright, so let's look at question number four.

Explain the difference between positional sanctification and conditional sanctification. In our condition, the Holy Spirit teaches us and we and he grows us. Seems like more of an individual thing, maybe, like what we're set apart for in our condition. So this is one of the things that I've wrestled with for Okay. Joe said that there's not a difference between positional and conditional sanctification.

So let's talk about that. I keep writing this P and C, position and condition. First John 1.9, if you confess your sins you'll be forgiven. Right? Is forgiveness a positional or conditional thing? Positional. Christ paid the page to send that so you were forgiven the moment you believed. So if I don't confess, am I not forgiven? You're already forgiven. Then why do I confess? So that you recognize that you are not in God's will and you can have the fellowship back because I think before you confess, you're hiding from God.

So there are definitely... we went through a number of verses with Mike a couple weeks ago where he said, position or condition? And the class was always on both sides of the thing. Remember that? Half of you were yelling out one half and the other half... So, the way that I've tried to think through these things is, what is our position?

I mean, if you just summed it up in one word. Christ. Thank you. So, if there is a truth that is true of Christ, it is positional, okay? If we are told that we possess it as well. So, if we have something like, in this case, sanctification, we've talked about it being positional, we're set apart in Christ. That has a positional impact. Now, the way that I logically work this thing through is, because of our position, Because we are set apart in His possession, and God is using us, are there conditional consequences? There's consequences, there's experiences, there's all these things that we talk about as believers that we're going through. So what happens a lot of times is we think of many of the truths that are, such as identification truths, we think of them from a conditional point and we almost start condition and then work our way back up to position.

So, I think it's more biblical to look at the positional aspect of it and then how does it translate over condition and carry itself out. Right? So, there are so many things that we've looked at in terms of justification. Is justification positional or conditional? Positional. What does it mean?

What do you mean, is it declared righteous? Declared righteous, right? Are you declared righteous conditionally? No. Okay, so you're declared righteous positionally. Does that declaration of righteousness have conditional experiences and consequences? Yeah. Like what? Like stumbling from where I've been falling. If you know you're declared righteous, what does that do conditionally to you? How does that impact your life? Free to trust. Free to trust? Fear. That's something we've talked a lot about in the past.

Do you fear God's judgment anymore? No. If the positional truth of having been declared righteous was not understood conditionally, you might still fear. And that's probably because you're not understanding the truth of the position itself, right? But when you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that what God has said is true about you from a justification standpoint, you don't have fear of standing before the Lord, being judged for your sin, and potentially losing your salvation, or all of the kinds of things that people conditionally get caught up in because they don't understand the positional truth.

So that process is true for almost every every positional truth that we've talked about. So, let's talk about sanctification. Positionally, you are sanctified. You are set apart. You are now a possession of God, set apart for His use. Does that have conditional impact? Yeah, probably rest. I mean, if I picked a word. That's a good word. Does that mean that you're not doing anything? That you're not following up with certain responsibilities? Why not?

Because we could fall into someone's outside perspective as being really lazy believers by what we're saying. I'm just saying that people will say that. We get that every time teaching identification and all this about the apathy or you just sit in a room and you do nothing but it's operating from a position of rest and it's understanding that you're not having to work to improve to make God smile a little better on you. That's the typical believer is they think if I do this God's going to smile on me. No, so I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to sit here and contemplate my navel in a room and do nothing because I don't need to. But it's a different thing.

It's once you understand that you're in a system of grace, then you can operate without the motivation of having to work or to try and impress God or to do anything that we will elicit more favor from it. What more than Christ do we need? And so we battle this all the time on the identification and grace too. Grace is probably the bigger one. Grace, I do no work. But it's not that. It's from your realization that you are in Christ. You're free now to be a slave to righteousness. And you're operating from a position of rest in Christ.

And that's a really hard concept to get to a lot of people. Operating from a and then the use of it. And then it seems too like sometimes them guys can say, you know, pick up your mat and go, you know, like you're going to do something. You're going to you're not just going to continue to lay there or whatever. It's like you're going to You're going to be kind of directed, I guess, even guided by the Holy Spirit, even if you maybe don't really know where it's going to end up. This brings up a good point.

Is there somewhere in the Bible that says that you will walk in the works prepared beforehand? Right. So, if you're trusting Him, you're going to be doing the things that He prepared beforehand for you. And that's it. You don't have to sit there and try to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. If you're beholding, He's going to have you doing. And He's going to be doing the doing through you.

You know what always comes to mind is Romans 8.28. You know, this is kind of in that path when I think of all these things. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. things he's using all those things for his purposes for our growth to draw us to him and to be conformed to be renewed in our mind all things and I think a lot of times believers think it's only the great things that you teach that you do and it's I go back to it's all things all things and it's your everyday life it's your you know moment by to his image. And we get tied up in all these things that we have to do and that, you know, I failed here.

Well, did he allow that? Did he allow you to do that? Absolutely. And I go back to my, you know, can we ever be separated from his love? He's doing it. And all those things, the failures, the misses and the minuses, to be the great things, or this or that, or I have to do great works, you know. You don't. It's going back to what you started out originally. It's beholding Christ. That's what we do.

And as a result of that, he'll be manifested in us. It's kind of crazy to think about this whole Christian life is all pinned around beholding. I was just thinking, I know beholding can sometimes seem kind of grand and big. Can you also use the word knowing, knowing him and beholding him? I think beholding or knowing is the result of beholding. So what does beholding mean?

Yeah, that's right. What does it mean? You tell me. I don't know. kind of just thinking about who Christ is and what he did for us, and more important, who he is. What he did is part of who he is. For someone to do that, it's very graceful, it's merciful, and I think that's knowing, beholding, is looking at the characteristics of God.

But we all with unveiled face. So unveiled face is what? When were people's faces veiled? Like you mean when the veil ripped before that? Before the cross? Before the cross? So wearing a veil in this represents being under mosaic law. Okay. And that just comes from looking at the term there. So we with all unveil face, so we're no longer under mosaic law. So now we're under grace. So we now, with an unveiled face, meaning under grace, are beholding as in a mirror. Okay, so that's important there as well, because as in a mirror represents God's Word. Oh. She got it! Yay! I didn't know what that mirror meant.

Right, yeah, so if you look at 1 Corinthians 13.12 or James 1.23, you can get some further clarity on the fact that the mirror represents God's Word. So beholding means looking at the Lord Jesus through His Word.

And as a result of that, you grow in the knowledge and the grace of the Lord Jesus, but knowledge and grace is all tied up in Him, not in you. So as you behold Him as in a mirror, because that mirror reflects who you are, you've been placed into Christ, these things that are being said, are they true of me? I'm in Christ, and my buzzer went off. But what's really cool about the rest of that verse is that the glory of the Lord, you're being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. In other words, that mirror of who you're seeing in Christ, you're now seeing of yourself.

It also seems to make beholding a more important word than just like Reading the word or just like saying I'm going to read the Bible in a year it's beholding is almost like makes it seem more like um like you behold like a Little baby, you know you hold it. You don't just count its fingers, and you know see if it looks okay It's like the whole everything it literally means to reflect and It means reflect. In that context of a mirror, it's perfect. Contemplate. Reflect. Those are some synonyms. One last thing on that. Going back to what we do and all that.

Every time we do that, who's the one wanting to do work? Who's the one who wants to have a metric of how I'm doing more? is doing that metric, like what do I need to do, how do I need to do it, and when that comes up your focus is off Christ and it's the old man. Where is your focus?

When you see an imperative, though, in the scripture that says you must X, we need to talk about if it's not coming from a sense of duty out of your own mind, meaning that you're being driven by self metrics and your own personal gratification for doing something, what about when there's an imperative in the scripture?

You must love your wife. You know, children must obey their parents. So, are those imperatives in the scripture accomplished any differently than what we're talking about right now? No. And if we don't understand that, we need to talk about it next week.

Alright, let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the freedom that we have under grace, and we know that that does not lead to apathy, but leads to the privilege that it is to be motivated by what you've done for us already, what we already know to be true. And while we may be busy doing many different things as believers, we recognize there's definitely effort that is kind of fake it till you make it, and driven by the flesh, and even as believers we can get caught up in that. And I just pray that we would recognize the difference so that we might Just go through that process of 1 John 1 9 and experience the forgiveness that you have for us and find ourselves being used in a way that is completely consistent with who we are in Christ. And so we just pray that as we continue to learn about these truths of sanctification that they might have conditional consequences in our life. And then we might be able to literally rest in the fact that you are growing us and you have us specifically set apart, separated for your possession and for your use. It's in your name we pray. Amen.