Principles of Position Lesson 15

We're in Lesson 15. If you don't have it, I think there's some back there. And the topic is SIN, S-I-N, and Approach Conscience. And we have worked ourselves through the first three questions that have to do Why is the cry of an honest, struggling, guilt-ridden believer? We talked about that. Why is it essential to know how definitively and thoroughly God dealt with the principle of sin? And three, why would we acknowledge and thank Him for this wonderful position? So we spent a lot of time talking about that last week, or two weeks ago. So, question number four.

How does a condition-centered Christian deal with indwelling sin? Now we're talking about the principle of sin, we're not talking about dealing with a bunch of sins. We're talking about sin or the sin nature of the principle of sin. How does a condition, and everybody understand the difference should by this time, position and condition, a condition-centered believer is one who's focused on their circumstances, and not on the position that's afforded them and the truth. So a condition-centered Christian, which none of you have ever been, I know. How does a person like that deal with indwelling sin?

They don't have a recourse but to do one really interesting thing. What is it? Confess. What's that? Confess of sin. No. And feel guilty. And feel guilty. No, this is a condition-centered... How do they deal with sin as long as they stay condition-centered? Try harder. That's right. They fight it. That's what they do. They fight it. And that's what I said.

None of you have ever been in that position, right? So you seek to control yourself. And how long does it take before you come to the point where you think, well, this is a waste of time. I'm not getting anywhere doing this. And might there be some blaming of God? Or how come you're not answering? Aren't you going to give me the strength to overcome sin?

I had a guy call me last week and he said, I just found out God isn't going to help me. I said, really? You found that out, did you? He said, why? I said, because he's already taken care of everything. Oh. He said, well, mumbled, you know. I said, he's taking care of the entire sin issue. It's your job just to rest by faith in what he's done. See? He's not going to help you do this or help you do that. Wayne. Are you just thinking out loud?

There's an awful lot of people that are sitting in church today that's being taught to them to work harder. What brings Zen to that point? I mean, the Holy Spirit, obviously, but it kind of makes you wonder why. Well, that's a part of my answer. I didn't call him and tell him to ask me that question. Where does that believer go who's struggling with Zen? How would we describe, from a biblical standpoint, what chapter in the Bible is he stuck in? Romans 7, right? Is that a good place to be? Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. It's a good place for the growing believer to be.

How is he going to learn otherwise? He's not. You've got to learn defeat, I think, from a conditional standpoint before you will rest in the victory that Christ has given you. You go down through Romans 7 and it's all about how do I fix this? What can I do? On and on and on until the right question is asked and the right question is who? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

This is a guy who has saved, who understands his position, who understands the doctrine of the two men and the sin nature and identification truths in six, and he understands in seven that he's free from the law. Well, you'd think that guy would be well on his way. No, he's not. Because he's trying to defeat the principle of sin through his own strength or with God's help. Really important that we learn that so that we will not go back to that default position the next time you're in a struggle with sin.

You see? And you started to say a minute ago, what do we do? Yeah. But if you don't know your position, like we're learning in here, can you ever get out of Romans 7? I'm sure you can. Everybody hear the question? I love the question. If you don't know your position, And you don't know the facts and how God dealt with the sin nature. Do you ever get out of Romans 7?

I don't think you do. So what do you do? You either give up, or you fake it. What's the old saying? You fake it until you make it. Or you do something, you become religious, or you hide, but you never rest. In order to have your faith focused, you have to have the information. And God is very clear in His Word, especially in Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8, and other places, Galatians, and places like that, that we are free from sin, that we do live under grace, and that we are to rest by faith in what He's already done. If you don't know it, you've never been taught it, you struggle all the time.

I guess you could say, ultimately, one day you will know. You will. Maybe not on this platform. No, you will. You'll know that you're free. And I would say that reform theology, it's all they teach is legalism, so you're fighting sin your whole life. And if you're a realist, pretty soon you think, well this is stupid, I ought to go do something else. So what's the basic reason for a guilty conscience then? Question five. Why does somebody have a guilty conscience? What's the cause of it? The root cause? Sin. It's sin. We think sometimes that, gee, we've learned identification truths, we're now positionally free, well sin's now going to take a vacation. It can't bother me anymore because now I already know, see, and he's been busted. Now what really happens is it redoubles its efforts to try to prove to you that what you believe and what you've read and what you believe is not true. Deception seems to be the hallmark of the opposition. Always deception. Always.

So what is required in the believer to begin the process of being freed from sin? We're talking about hungry-hearted believers. What is required in the believer to begin the process of being freed from sin, S-I-N, the principle of sin, the sin nature.

I think the first thing is that he's got to be awakened to the principle of sin itself. We all like to talk about sins, the things that are the product of our behavior, but When's the last time you picked up some Christian literature and it talked about, well, there's the sins we commit, the behavior patterns that we're involved in, but let's talk about the source of those sins. When's the last time you ever read anything like that? You don't see it, because sin has to have a source, and the source is the sin nature. So, the question is, what is required of the believer to begin the process of being freed from the sin nature?

Well, first he's got to be awakened to the fact that he's got one, and that it's not going anywhere. He's free positionally from it, but it's there. It's floating around in good old Mike all the time, and it wants to manifest its behavior pattern through me. You know, if you didn't have a body, you wouldn't sin.

So, you become aware through the process of the Spirit of God showing you and since you only, you have to be prepared by the Holy Spirit to be free. Awareness of need is the primary motivation for intelligent faith. I must say that again. Awareness of need is the primary motivation for intelligent faith. What would you say intelligent faith is? You guys are awake today. What is intelligent faith? In the facts of the word. That's exactly right. Intelligent faith. That's really, really important.

As we learned before we came to Christ, that we had to have the right information in order to be saved, right? You don't have the right information. I came out of a denomination where the whole song and dance was faith for faith's sake. What the heck did that mean? Well, you have to be a person of faith. Well, what does it mean? Well, they didn't know.

Last year we spent the whole year talking about the four basic principles of biblical faith. The most important part is you gotta know what you believe and you have to know who you believe and do you take him at his word or not. So, intelligent faith. Well, it seems like there's so much subjective faith, doesn't it? Sure.

Well, you remember who was in the faith class last year? I know Courtney was. You guys were. You remember when we started? We started with the What is the definition of faith? What was the word I'm thinking of? Essence of faith. What is the essence of faith? And so I went around the room and I asked everybody, do you know what the essence of faith is? And everybody gave me the definition of personal faith. And then I remember I said, the essence of faith has nothing to do with you at all. Nothing. And the verse that we used was Hebrews 11, 1. That faith is, essence verb, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence or the proof or the reality of things not seen. They are the things of God. Right? Where are you in that equation? Nowhere. Nowhere.

It took three months to get most of the people in the class to begin to think, oh wow, faith in and of itself has nothing to do with me. It's a principle. It's the definition, the essence of the word faith has everything to do with what God's principles are and His truth is. And at this point, it doesn't matter about us. And then we talked about, we spent some time talking about the word faith when it had the definite article in front of it. And then we talked about the principle of faith. How does it work? Then we finally got to personal faith.

But personal faith can be just totally messed up if you don't get at least the essence part of it down. We're talking about the things of God that are absolute certainty. And only personal faith makes them subjective and absolutely certain to you. So if you don't know them, it's like salvation. Salvation is a gift from God, right? So why can't you go to God after you're saved and say, look, I did my part, I believed. You owe me.

Doesn't my faith have any value? Does it? Where's the value if the Lord draws you to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the person and work, 1 Corinthians 15. Christ died on the cross for your sins according to the scriptures, buried, resurrected, seen by many according to the scriptures, and you say, I believe that. Where's the value? In what you believed or in the fact that you did believe? It's in what you believe. That's where all the value is.

And it has to be that way because faith is a non-meritorious act on my part. If it was meritorious, then salvation wouldn't be by grace. Does that make sense? So it is the door opener, it is the appropriating thing that we do so that we can start to receive, but you can't go to God and say, you owe me because I believed you. No, as soon as you believe, you get way more than you ever thought you were going to get anyway. Does that make sense? No. It's the same way when we start to learn about the sin nature, and we start to learn in God's Word about the sin nature, and then he begins to subjectively make us aware of it, and his answer is the same. for that as it is for salvation, you rest by faith in what I've done about it.

If we can't really rely upon our conscience for verification of spiritual truth conditionally, what does God intend for us to put our trust in? Come on, it's not that hard a question. His word. I wrote down, but there is one place where faith can rest, and that is in the Lord Jesus, where the Father has positioned us. It is only in that abiding place that our conscience can be clear with regard to indwelling sin. Even the mature believers, every once in a while, sin is such a pervasive attack on us a lot of times that you kind of wonder, but God is very clear. What did he do about you and your relationship to sin? He separated us. That's right. He separated us from it, positionally. You have to keep that in mind, positionally. Moving along, but I'm going fast today.

Hebrews 9.26 and Hebrews 10, 10, 12, and 14 give the assurances. What are they?

Somebody read Hebrews 9.26 and then somebody over here and then somebody over here and start looking up Hebrews 10, 10, and 12, and 14.

Okay, so Hebrews 9.26.

So what did he do with sin? What's the key word there? Does everybody's translation have put away? Or take away? Remember John the Baptist saw Jesus coming down the road and what did he say? The Lamb of God who does what? Brand new concept. Up until that time, what did the sacrifices of Judaism do? Cover them over, didn't take them away. So Hebrews tells us that He at the consummation of the ages has been manifested to put away sin, put it away by the sacrifice of Himself. That's what God did about your sin.

Hebrews 10.10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. What does sanctified mean? It means to be set apart. Set apart from what to what? By His will we have been set apart from what to what? From our connection with Adam and all of his sinfulness to Christ. There is no sin over there in Christ. Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ 46 times. How many times? Once. Once. Okay. Hebrews 10, 12. But he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat at the right hand. I remember when Roy did a thing years ago on the temple and all the stuff that was in it, right?

Were there any chairs in there? No. There weren't any chairs in there. How come? They were always working. They were always working. The sin deal was not done. They had to be standing up the whole time. But this says that having offered one sacrifice for sins at all times, what did he do?

He sat down. Why did he sit down? Work's done. It's over with. Don't have to do anything more about it. And oh, where did he sit? At the right hand of God. Okay, 1014. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Oh, don't you love it? One offering. He has perfected forever.

The perfected part is your position. And you are being sanctified conditionally. You're being set apart. We are being set apart to a position that's already ours. Is that cool or what? So, we're new creations in Christ Jesus. Brand new. Never been the kind of people around before.

We have been redeemed from the penalty of indwelling sin, right? And the guilt. Further, we have been sanctified or separated from the domination of that same principle of sin. We have sin in us, but it's not on us. It's always indwelling, but it's never imputed to us. So we talk to young believers and they're all excited because they have believed in the person and work of Christ and the guilt and the penalty of sin has been taken away. They're never going to face the guilt or the penalty for their sins ever.

But we neglect to teach them about the sin nature and the separation from the sin nature is just as just as certain as the fact that they are not going to pay the penalty for their own sins. It's just as certain. The great thing is that when God does a job, he does it completely. He doesn't leave anything for us to do other than just believe him. Which is better? Telling God what we are in ourselves or heeding his testimony as to what we are in his Son. Which is better? Number two, when you say he already knows what a condition is.

He kind of does, doesn't he? I wrote down a bunch of stuff. It should not be difficult for us to make a correct choice here. It took you a while though, between the consciousness of our condition and the revelation of our position. If you're like me, when you read about position and conscience and sin, it's very difficult sometimes to believe it, because my experience and my emotions and my feeling and my Environment goes against everything that God's Word says is true. And you get this, well, you don't know what my life is like, it's different than yours. Yeah, I do. I know exactly what it's like. Circumstances may be different, but the battle is still the same. And what happens is, it comes down to a really simple choice. It's almost like the Father is standing in front of you saying, well, okay, Mike, you're going to believe me? Or are you going to believe what your mind is telling you? Or what your emotions are telling you? Or what this experience is telling you?

You know, I feel so guilty. I had a guy call me a couple weeks ago and he was talking about, he has a girlfriend that he's trying to lead to Christ, right? And he isn't doing a very good job. He said, the Lord must really be disappointed in me. What should I have said to him? Why would he be disappointed in you? Yeah, he's not dependent on you, buddy.

I think the question of condition and position. It's a matter of focus. Condition, what are we focusing on? Me? My circumstances? Position, what are we focusing on? Yeah. So when we're focusing on our condition, we're focusing on ourselves or how we're doing and the metrics or everything like that. Right. Versus if we're looking at our position, we're looking at him. Let's expand on that a little bit.

If all I understand is that I'm going to focus on him but I'm ignorant of what he's telling me specifically, I'm still in trouble. Yeah, it still goes back to knowing the facts. Yeah, knowing the facts are so important. So you've got to learn the facts. You've got to learn the facts, and then you rest by faith in the facts.

You've got to learn Hebrews 11.1, and then you get to implement your own personal faith in what God has said. So why do we have Bible study? Why do we get together as believers and spend time in the Word of God? Why do I spend time in the Word of God alone? That's the very reason why I do it.

And oh, by the way, am I going to be able to find out these truths in the Psalms? How about in the Gospels? Not there, are they? They're not there. It's really important that we read our own mail. God wrote the epistles to the body of believers. And that's where this wonderful information is. You're not going to find it in the Old Testament. You're not going to find it in the Psalms. You may find a little bit of reference to it in the Gospels, but not much. Maybe in the end of John. But predominantly where this information is, which is to be the focus of my faith when it comes to sin, is in Paul's epistles and in John and Peter. That's where it is.

Because of feelings and the lack of scriptural knowledge, we put more stock in our condition than our position. We will continue to labor under the intolerable burden of a defiled conscience. Isn't that true? But if we agree with God concerning his condemnation of the old man, there is a perfectly peaceful conscience for us in the matter of indwelling sin.

One time, years ago, I was talking to a guy about this very issue, and he said, I know this sounds a little irreverent, but he said, this is kind of how I see it. That when I'm tempted by my sin nature, my attitude is, go pick on somebody that it matters to. I'm dead to you. And he was kind of flipping about it. I was a little nervous about the flippancy, but you know, the principle is, it's really true. I'm free. You're wasting your time with me.

There's an infinite difference between our telling God what we are in ourselves and heeding His testimony as to what we are in His Son. The former means guilt, enslavement, the latter freedom and growth. And so the reckoning is such an important thing for us as believers, but you have to know what to reckon on. How did God separate us from both guilt and power of sin?

How did he do it? Speaking in facts, you guys need to catch up. How did he do it? How did he do it? What are the mechanics? The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. That's how he separated us from the sin nature? No. Cross. But how did he do it? What are the mechanics? He condemned us. What about me? What did he do with me? Oh, I was there too. So, our Lord was made sin for us. Your sin nature and my sin nature were put on him. Right? He was identified with your sin and my sin. and he was crucified and sin therefore became a condemned thing. When he separated from sin, so did you. So the mechanics really are what we call identification. That's how you get free positionally. At the same time, he took each potential believer as a sinner down into death.

You didn't know you died, did you? Did you already die? I asked this question for a long time. Why does Paul never refer to believers leaving the planet as dying? He always refers to them going to sleep. How come? Because they're already dead. We already died. We already were buried. We already are resurrected.

So what term would he use? Taking the light rail out of here. How would he say it? How would he say it? If we've already died, we've already been separated from the condemnation of the sin nature, then falling asleep is a cool way to put it. Can we say that Christ died for our sins, that's the substitution of salvation? Yes. And positionally we died with him? That's right. Would that be possible to say it's a positional salvation? Position of salvation goes along with the substitution? Yes, it does.

It goes along with it, side by side. Now, what's the next thing that happened after we died with him? We were buried and rose again. We rose. Oh, wow. Same old Ralph, right? Newness. Ralph is a brand new creature. Never been kind of Ralph like that before. Brand new. Resurrected in Christ. Brand new life. And then what happened to Ralph?

Where did the Lord Jesus go after he rose? Where? Arvada? Where did he go? He went to heaven. Did Ralph go with him? Sure did. Now, what's he doing up there? We just read about it in Hebrews. He's sitting down at the right hand of God. Where's Ralph? He's right there. He's right there. That's his position. He's right there. Everybody on this side of the room is there.

We're not so sure about you guys. It's interesting. I kind of go back to the... We're a different bunch here in the teaching. And it's really weird in feeling like, you know, why doesn't everybody see this? You know, up in Alaska teaching and some other... Davis and Denise, you know, they're a friend and talk about some.

Anger's brother-in-law, who teaches reform and law and all this, and it's like, why is it that we can't see, we've had this discussion before, why is it that this isn't more pronounced when you look at these scriptures that we look at and you point to them and they just kind of get a crazy eyed look. There's so many people who don't know these truths. What happens to them? What happens if they don't know these?

You sit there and you try and go over it, and they give you this look like you're crazy. And I just, you know, it just became more and more aware, just in the last two weeks in particular, just kind of seeing it differently, that they don't see this. And, you know, when you say Ralph is seated with Christ, They look at you like you're crazy.

Oh, I know. I know, they start calling the guys with the white coats to come get you. I know. And so, I mean, it's just, it's so just obtuse. I know. 90% of the believers, they're believers. I don't have any doubt that they're believers. We've had that discussion before. I think they're believers. Sure they are.

They're just, they're not in the growth because of these things. They're always struggling on different, you know, teaching reform, you're always under law, you're always struggling, you're always doing this. So my question would be, here is the people I really care about, family, whoever they might be, and by God's grace I'm kind of familiar with these truths, and I trust and believe them, and I wish you were, But you're not listening to me. You've heard me say that I've made a career out of saying the right thing to the wrong people at the wrong time.

So what do I wait for? What do you wait for? What do you wait for? Because if you trust the Spirit of God to do His job, there's going to come a day when they're ready. What are you waiting for? You're waiting for the need. You're waiting for the need. Last year, we're sitting with a young guy and his girlfriend, and we're going back and forth, and we're talking about the Lord.

And here's what this kid says. See if you pick this up. And he's been a believer a long time, but he hadn't been walking with the Lord. He says to the four of us, he said, I don't know how to describe this, but I have discovered that inside of me, There is this demon, and every time he raises his head, I do the craziest stuff, and I'm sick of it. I can't control him. He's driving me nuts. You know what I said to him? I said, there's a name for that demon. He said, there is? I said, yeah, right in the Bible here it says that. He said, what is it? I said, it's called the sin nature. He said, really? I said, yeah.

And so we started looking at him, and he had the need. He was ready to hear that there was something more than sins. That there was something inside of him that he could not control, and he wanted to. And he was just a victim, where he was totally incapable of fixing it when it came on him. And now, so we took him through the identification tubes. Now this kid is all excited. because he's got the right information and he's moving ahead. It's pretty exciting to see.

I would say that you wait, you wait, you wait, eternally wait until the need comes. Because the person under law, what's law designed to do? Condemn somebody. You wait until the law does its job. You wait till they're down on their knees and wondering, old wretched man that I am. That's what you wait for.

And when they get there, then you talk to them. You don't say another word to them until. You can point them towards the scripture and walk next to them and that kind of thing. But you don't want to engage in those, you know, you just have to wait until the Spirit of God does a job on them. It's like friends that you love that aren't saved. What are you waiting for? You're waiting for the Spirit to act. for them to think, oh my goodness, I'm lost. Well, just because you told them doesn't mean they get it.

So it's hard for us because we get really excited about these truths and we recognize there's a life of rest and peace, conditionally freedom from sin and all this, and we want everybody to know it. No, they've got to be prepared. You were prepared to learn. The Spirit of God did His work in you so that when you heard these truths you thought, oh wow, there it is, I hear the answer. I think the key there is hearing the truth. The teaching is all askew. That's the part I really like. but there's no teaching to help them with that need. That's the frustrating part to me is that, you know, why isn't more taught?

Because it's not known. Oh, I know. We've had this. I mean they all got Bibles and it's right there, but they don't know it. You know, that's just the part that you have to hear, well, they're not being taught. I went to the gym a couple of weeks ago and I always listen to headphones. It takes my mind off of whatever I'm doing.

And I'm listening to David Jeremiah. I probably shouldn't mention his name on the tape. teaching identification truths out of Romans 6. And here's what he's saying. This is the secret for the penalty of your sins being paid for. And I was screaming in the club. What? That's not what Romans 6 is about. It's not about my sins. It's about the source of those sins. He didn't know what he was talking about. And this guy's got a radio audience of millions. He doesn't get it. Oh, by the way, he's a Dallas grad, too.

So, God separated us from the guilt of sin. We've got Ralph already in heaven, seated. He's now and forever. The only position he has and we have as believers is before the Father, in his Son risen. And from that position we've been cut off from the old relationship to indwelling sin by our death, burial, resurrection, ascension and seeding.

Why not acknowledge and thank Him for this wonderful position purchased at infinite price and so freely given. That's what you could say to him. Anything we do short of resting in him in our position, anything we attempt to do beyond that rest is to slight the perfection of his life and work.

If you get exposed to these truths and you say, well, I've got to do something other than rest. I've got to do something. What am I really saying to God? Your work wasn't enough. And I'm really slighting Him in what He did. That's what I'm really doing.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God. It doesn't get any more definitive than that. You, every one of us, have died and our life is hidden with Christ and God. How much more, then, shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works purpose to serve the living God? What is it?

Galatians 2.19 says, I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I don't know why these Reformed people, they must erase that verse out of their Bible. You have to be dead to the law in order to serve God. You have to be, because law forces you to live out of yourself and your old sin nature.

Let's see if we can do this. Decide whether the following verses are positional or conditional. You ready? First one is Hebrews 9.14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Is that a positional truth or a conditional truth? How many think it's positional? How many think it's conditional? How many are too chicken to raise their hand? I think you should read it more slowly. I'll read it slower and you'll get it right.

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Could I say that both are in that verse? Yeah, they're both there. How much more will the blood of Christ, the blood of Christ as a done deal, the eternal spirit offer themselves without blemish to God? He did that. Now, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. That's the conditional part. Romans 8, 1 and 2, we ought to be able to get this one pretty easy.

Therefore, now there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Position or condition? Total position. for the law or the principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the principle of sin and death. Position or condition? I'm going to say condition. I'm going to say position. Chickens. I've got chickens all over me. It's position. It's position. We're free positionally. Third one.

Romans 7.16. But if I do the very thing I want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good. So now, it's no longer I that do. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

Position or condition? Total condition, right? That's the Roman 7 dance. 1 John 1, 7. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Position or condition? It's both. Do you see that? Because the walk is there, but the blood of Christ does the cleansing.

And the last one is Hebrews 1.3.

And he is the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Position or condition? Totally position. That's what Christ did. That's his condition. Well you can't separate his position and condition. And when we leave here and go home to be with the Lord, you won't be able to separate your position and your condition either.

Okay. Good. We finished 15, so we'll tackle 16 next week. Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace. How we thank you for the position that we enjoy in your Son. And may we ever be growing in the knowledge and grace of your dear Son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his precious name. Amen.