Principles of Position Lesson 18
JD McCulley · Sep 25, 2016
Principles of Position, No. 37
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926539377979

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

All right, let's see, where are we? So we are on lesson 18. Get my papers sorted out here. Principle of position, and we're talking about sins and light is the topic for this one. So we left off on question number five, I believe. Does that sound right? Yeah. Alright. Does anybody not have the lesson in front of them or needs to get a copy in the back? Oh, perfect. Great. Alright, so question number five. And again, do have your Bibles ready to read. Someone's got to grab a big chunk of verses here for me. Number five. Why is Hebrews 12, 6-11 necessary for the growth of all believers? So let's read Hebrews 12, 6-11. Or I'll read it. All right, I'll read it.

For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom his Father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good so that we may share his holiness.

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful, yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." Alright, that's pretty heavy stuff. What are we talking about here? What does this have to do with the growth of believers? Why is it necessary? Why is discipline necessary?

Correction. What's that? Correct. Correction. Correction. Okay. Just like in the human realm we have to grow through infant to teen to adult. In the spiritual realm we start out as babes and we grow and we don't even really probably realize that we have that siddha nature around. We think the best things about that siddha nature and we have to learn that that isn't the truth. Did you guys hear that? No. So just like in our physical realm where we grow from babe to toddler to teen to young adult and then mature adult, I just mentioned that that's the same for us in the spiritual realm in that we deal with an awareness of the sin nature at an early stage where we don't really know what's going on.

We just got out of the honeymoon of being a brand new believer. And a lot of times, we find ourselves kind of sticking in that same level of understanding for quite some time. The quiet times are regular. Maybe reading the scripture is more a part of your life when you first get started.

And then what starts to taper off is that desire that you once had in that honeymoon period of being a brand new believer. Now all of a sudden you've got, hey, I've got this sin nature thing. And I've got specific sins that I really do like, and I'd like to maybe just start to uncover those a little bit more. And as a young person in the Lord, you start to toy with sin once again. And so then this issue of discipline comes in, where the Father, who says He does it out of a motivation. In the Scripture here, what is His motivation? What's that? His love for us. And it says that it's for our good.

But is that the way you feel? No. Here you are, you just got kind of out of this honeymoon period, and now you're dealing with stuff. Now it's heavy. It's like, wait a minute. It used to be all, you know... flowers and rainbows over here. I was having a good go of it. Every time I went to church, I felt like the songs were speaking right to my heart. I felt like every prayer was right on the money, and the Lord was right there alongside me, and now I'm starting to feel lonely, and I'm out here on my own. So, what do you do?

Could you say then that it's to teach us as to who's doing the growing for us. I mean, he's the one that's conforming us to his image, not us. And when we turn to self, then comes the discipline to say, no it's not you, it's me. That's right. Yeah, I think that's exactly right.

There's a painful process that these verses talk about. If we were to tell a new believer or even an unbeliever that by trusting the Lord for salvation, you're going to remove all pain from your life. You've heard that. That is stuff that gets propagated out there, isn't it? It didn't hurt when Mike cut his finger off with a saw. You better be a little quieter over there. I'm just kidding.

I think we all probably remember the time when discipline in our lives from the Lord hit us pretty hard. But we probably react differently to that. I'm hoping that we react differently to that discipline at this stage in our walk than we did in that very beginning. But what's the difference? The discipline is the same.

The Lord is still disciplining those whom He loves for our good, and it is to share in His holiness. So it has a purpose, and it is for our good, but how we react and how we handle that discipline has probably changed over the course of your Christian walk. Why?

Well, everything you described when you were describing the new believer in the honeymoon stage was all based on feelings and how he felt about stuff. And I think as we grow, we learn to take God as word and trust in what it says. So your focus has changed. That's right. So in the beginning stages of discipline, it doesn't feel good, and your focus is on your condition. That is how you feel, how things look, how they're perceived by others, and your focus is on self. It's condition-centered.

But as you grow and mature in the Lord, it's that It's not that it's not painful, it's just that the perspective has shifted from a conditional one to a positional one. Now I know what the Lord is doing and where I am in terms of my relationship with Him, where I'm seated with Him, and the fact that His holiness is the product of what's happening in my life. Does that make sense?

And also what's expected of us in our position, that we have this new life. that has its own characteristics and requirements, which is holiness, and we don't know anything about that, initially. And as Leighton was saying, once you begin to discover your position, along with the discovery of the truth comes the, wow, not only do I need to know that, but that's the way that life is supposed to be manifested through me. That creates a problem in and of itself, I think, you realize pretty quickly, there's no way I can live this life.

Now Lewis Ferry Chaffer said that God has called us to live a life that's totally impossible for us to live, yet he expects us to do it. Did you guys hear that? Say it a little bit louder. Lewis Ferry Chaffer said that God has called us to live a life that's totally impossible for us to live, yet he expects us to do it. And he disciplines us along those lines. And without an understanding of who we are in Christ, those expectations and that discipline would produce a very frustrated believer, wouldn't it?

Do you know those folks? Have you been there? Are you there? Yeah. Those are the realities of many believers who have yet to understand the positional truths that they are seated in. Roy? also. You're bastards. You're not born again. You're not his son. Illegitimate. Yeah.

So there is a great deal of comfort if we are disciplined from that standpoint. We know that he's our father and he's helping us. He's guiding us. Focusing us on himself. I think for many believers when they read this, Because I've felt this way before. My first reaction is, oh man. It's kind of fearful, right? You do.

Nobody wants to be disciplined. And here you're talking about God disciplining me. And you're just thinking, man, I hope I don't get on His bad side then. Because I sure don't want to be that guy. But that's a comfort though, isn't it? That's right. It's a comfort. It's actually the opposite of what I should be thinking.

This whole idea of, you know, it creates this fear of what God might do to me or my family or my career. Like, oh, he's going to intervene in those circumstances in such a way that it's going to hurt me. It's going to be very painful. And that could cause fear for those that are not understanding this correctly. I know that sometimes I felt that way when I looked at these verses early on. It's like, well, I just am not going to get in. His bad side did, for sure.

But what are we really saying about the Lord if we misinterpret these verses and choose to feel that way? We're saying that, yeah, He is not disciplining us for our good. And we're saying the exact opposite. We're thinking to ourselves, well, if we are disciplined by the Lord, that's going to hurt and that's not going to be good for me. And you get scared about the thought. Well, that's completely opposite of what he says here. Or that he's unfair. Or that he's unfair. That's right. Or that he's wrathful in such a way that doesn't include grace.

He is righteous. He is fair. The word holiness that we may share in is holiness. Holiness has that idea of perfection. It's who He is. So there is no unfair treatment in discipline. It is exactly the way the Father trains you in order for your good to share in His holiness. Somebody has said too that if you grow up in a household where you've been abused, it's difficult. Because you think of God that way. And there's an awful lot of that. Spiritual abuse.

I guess the better word I think in this is child training. The chase thing. Discipline sounds like you're going to get a whooping. Child training to me is more, as a parent, you try and discipline your children to make them better, to make them whatever. And if you put it in that light, you know, I think it's easier that it's a of love because you want them to be better. Most times. Don't look at him nodding over here.

I think the other thing is, putting it in the training phase is, I look at this as, it's related back to faith. I think the James, consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing the testing of your faith. And then, you know, it's fight the good fight of faith.

You know, after our faith class, I just see so much of this goes back to our personal faith and what faith is defined as in Hebrews 11. It's trusting God in what He said. And the child training is to, you know, all I think is, do you trust me? Do you believe me? And I think that's the child training, is do you believe all these things? you are positionally in Christ. And the training is to get us to make position, I think. And when you put it in that, it's not as onerous or whatever.

You know, when you go through a trial, I think if you have that perspective, And it changes how you react and how you go through that. Yeah, and to even look at each trial, circumstance, relationship, whatever the scenario is that the Lord is using, that is absolutely 100% necessary for you. We talk about needing our needs. Those needs, even in light of the child training, are specific to you for maturity and growth so that you recognize what you positionally have not been recognizing before. He's giving us opportunity in those needs to grow.

And so it does change that. And children, as they get older, they appreciate that training and they start to understand Well, that's why. Now I understand why. Sometimes that's the lesson that we have, too. It's delayed for a time until we look back and we think, okay, I see what the Lord was doing there. I think it's important to point out here that the young believer, as you've described him, is thankful for the fact that his sins have been forgiven. And he knows that they are forgiven.

But then I think what causes the dilemma is that he begins to discover that there is something else going on inside of him that he can't control, which is the sin nature, the source of the sin. And that is where the dilemma becomes a problem because the discovery is that, gee, this thing The thing I'm discovering that's inside of me that's stronger than I, my feelings, emotions, desire, my will to overcome it, I can't stop. And God knows all of that and allows us to become aware of the power of the sin nature so that the discipline that he graciously puts us through allows us to overcome by faith the power of the sin nature. Because we can't do it any other way other than His way. And we have to be disciplined into His way or child trained into His way. Like you said, you know, your kids get older and they say, oh yeah, I see what you were doing. I didn't see it at first. Sin, the sin nature becomes the issue. Right. Right.

One of the things that under the economy of the law, that Solomon wrote about was train up a child in the way he is bent and when he is old he won't depart from it. In the spiritual realm we live in, under grace, I think our father is training us up in the way he has created us. It's a positive We are coming to learn who we are in him, and as such, he's showing us how he has gifted us, and he's training us in the use of those gifts. Isn't that neat?

It's a whole new world, a whole new relationship that it isn't a do or else and now it's a let me live and appreciate who you now are in me. There's always an approval, isn't there? Even in the testing of approval, positionally, we're approved, aren't we? And so there's no fear of standing before the Lord and feeling condemnation. And that's where we're going next with the next question here. here in a bit. Let's look at question number six.

Describe the young, growing believer's experience when sin begins to creep back into his life. So this is the scenario that Mike just kind of brought to life here. The young believer, his experience with sin begins to creep back into his life. So we kind of painted that picture. What does that experience look like? We kind of already talked about it, but just to kind of review a little bit.

They've got a struggle, and what is their struggle with? The struggle is with self. That's right. Here they've got sin nature, and it's producing sins, and they're focusing on their sin, and that peace and that joy that they once had begins to be overshadowed by the sins that they now start to struggle with, regularly.

Sometimes these sins are mental, sometimes they're outward, but every believer goes through this phase where the sin nature starts to rear its ugly head again. Because that presence, we talk about sin, that we are saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin. That's true positionally, for sure. And it can be true conditionally, in two areas, from the penalty and the power, and then when we go to be with the Lord, conditionally, we will be safe from the presence. But in the meantime, while we have this body, and we're on this earth, the presence of sin is real, and those struggles produced in the life of the young believer are real.

And they're overwhelming, aren't they? The life of the unbeliever? Believer, sorry. So, the focus is on self. What's the remedy? Do you just tell them? No, that's not how it is. You share a little positional truth with them and all of a sudden they're not focused on self anymore? Is that how it works? Sure, that's how it begins, isn't it?

How many times do you have to hear positional truth in order for those sins to not produce a focus on self, but to produce a focus on Him? It's different for all of us, isn't it? Do you think every believer has to go through this process of, I can't read the Bible anymore, I can't pray anymore, I'm having trouble confessing my sins, this whole euphoria, Christian euphoria has gone away. Do you think every believer has to go through that spiral? What do you guys think? Yes. Yes? Yes. I think so too. I think so too.

And it might not just be once. And I think it's different for every believer. Whatever the pathway is. Your weaknesses, my weaknesses. It's individual. To me, it's the relationship is personable. It's focused between the Lord and I, and He's working on me in a way that's different than He's working on you. To me, it gives me comfort. John 17, He personally is involved with each and every one of us. So whatever the trials you go through may not be the trials or the chasing that I go through. And the way that you react to those, based on what Mike said, might be different. So, for example, one believer may think, I can't read, I can't pray, my sin is just too much to think about, and so I'm just gonna wing it. I'm just gonna go at it. Another one, another believer might say, I'm gonna do this, but I'm not there.

This is more of a living under law type of thing. It's like, I'm reading, but I don't want to read. And I'm praying, but I'm just praying the same thing. I'm checking it off, but I'm not present mentally with that whole process. Because the emotional side of it is still the same. You're still focused on yourself, just in a different way. I want to read you this part that Mike had prepared for the answer to this question. It says, we're talking about the believer that's in this scenario. Desperately upset about his failing condition, he struggles to improve himself. Right? It's like, I don't need prayer. I don't need the scripture.

I can do this. I mean, I've done a lot of stuff in my life. I can do this. I can fake it until I make it, is what you're really saying, right? You know what I'm talking about. I can do this." So he struggles to improve himself, all the while begging God to give him relief and victory. If you pray at the end of this struggle, that's really where you're at. Come on, Lord! I just need to see some victory over this issue. This is the vantage point Satan has been waiting for. He slyly leads the believer to compare the present condition with the happy, carefree days gone by, and to question every realm of belief, thus shaking all reliance upon the Word and the Lord.

I think something that's important to remember is if you're there, let's talk about the next several questions and we'll bring some perspective to that. If you're not there and you know those that are, don't forget what they're going through. There's a lot of folks that don't show up or that do show up that are reveling with these challenges in their life. And you think, what's going on with this guy?

This stuff takes time, doesn't it? Thinking positionally is not an overnight deal. And here they are, asking for relief and victory, when almost everything they desire, they already have. And they're just lost in themselves, because they're trying to produce it on their own. They ask for relief and victory, but they try to acquire that relief and victory on their own. Right? So number seven, what has happened to the believer's focus?

All me, a little bit of the Son, the Lord Jesus. He's there in the background. I acknowledge him, I would never, I'm speaking from my own perspective, I would never use the Lord's name in vain, or I would never do certain things, but for the most part, I'm just kind of on my own. I respect him, he's over there, but he's not right here in the middle of what I'm doing. You know what I'm talking about?

John used to say it in the scriptures that we walk in darkness. Last week we talked about this scenario as being one where we're closing our eyes. We have all the light needed, but we're literally masking our eyes to prevent ourselves. And we take a little peek. It's like, yeah, he's there. Okay, still there. But for the most part, it's all about me and what I'm up to, right? Question number eight, then.

Why is it Satan's goal to lure believers back onto the ground of condemnation? Because if you think about it, this whole closing your eyes and attempting to find relief and victory from your sin nature and the sins that you struggle with, all being a self-effort, if you even take for a moment, the typical response to that is, oh man, Lord must be so upset with me right now. And then you go back to closing your eyes. But, over time, that feeling of condemnation is so great, it starts to produce something. It starts to produce a reaction in your life, right? But how is it that Satan designed that condemnation to lure you into a place where you feel the whole pity party going on? Why do you think he's up to that?

So we take our eyes off the Lord? I think of Peter out there on the waves, and he looked at what was going on around him instead of looking at Jesus. He had a psyche. To feel condemned is to feel and focus on a truth that is not, or to focus on something that is not true. Right?

Let me read this. He ruthlessly puts the wavering Christian on the defensive in every aspect of his life and walk. He applies downward pressure, we're talking about Satan here, and fills the heart with the gnawing remorse of self-condemnation. The goal of Satan is to lure the believer back onto the ground of condemnation in order to negate the benefits of his resurrection with Christ and his union with him in the heavenlies.

Does that make sense? One of the things that has helped me understand him is that he exists even when I'm looking at myself as my beloved father. And even though my world has become small because I'm shutting him out, he's still there. He's still wooing and convicting.

You know, the world system is like a box without God, or a box with a God who's angry, one or the other. In both cases, that's just not true, because that's not real. What's really real is that God does exist, He is good, and we live in this realm where He really is, right now. He's in each one of us in this room, right now. I've got two thoughts.

One, this whole downward spiral, this whole downward is part of child training. The Lord not only allows it, but orchestrates it so that we'll learn from it. And two, when we do learn from it, when we do grow through it, then we realize how to come alongside someone else, a believer who's younger than we are, and walk with them patiently and carefully, not overdoing it, giving God all the elbow room he needs to bring them along. And that's what's lacking, I think, in most Christian environments today, that people that are sufficiently child-trained to walk with believers who are struggling. Because they're still in that mode of coming up with some sort of method or system to overcome sin, rather than Christ himself.

That's good. I'll say. That's the second page in 1-4. who comforts us in all affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. I don't know how many times I've been through stuff and then how many years later somebody else is going through the same thing and he has you there to help them or go through it or you've been through something to help somebody else. I think that's, you know, as we go through these trials, a lot of times it's to train us to also comfort those who will go through the same thing later. Those are good points.

Let's look at Romans 8.1, question number 9. What biblical truth has this believer not been established in?

So, condemnation, frustration, you need Romans 8.1 and 2 for that matter. Let's read those. Whenever you've got it, somebody read.

8.1? Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And then 8.2? Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. So I think, Courtney, you quote this verse quite often. Let me ask you this. Where is there no condemnation? In Christ. So if you are experiencing condemnation, and you know how that feels and how it looks. We've talked about it many times. Each of us have shared different instances of that in our own life. Prayers that we've prayed together as a body have reflected certain possible experiences of condemnation. I think we've all been there.

But there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. So if you're going through a sense of condemnation, where are you? As a believer, where are you? Out of fellowship. Out of fellowship, but still in Christ Jesus, right? So what's wrong? I'm resting in my position. That's right. It's a positional problem. Conditionally, I'm condemned.

It says right here, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's like, well, I better get back in Christ Jesus. How do you get back in Christ Jesus? Let me ask you this. For a believer, how do you get out? So, this is clearly a positional truth. There's no other way to understand this. Does that make sense? So I have a faith problem, right? The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. What's the law of sin and death? Unbelief. Okay? And what, unbelief. So, going back to the basics here. Law of sin and death. Oh, there's a law. A principle. Would be a better word here.

A principle that sin produces what? separation or death. So it is absolutely 100% accurate as a reality for all that sin produces separation and we all have sin. Without Christ we have no relief, no salvation from etc. So the law of sin and death is the very issue that the gospel covers, right? It answers you. Just to clarify, it's separation, not of being in Christ, but of being in fellowship. Right. In this case, yeah. That would be, yeah.

So, the law of the spirit of life in Christ, what is that? The principle of the spirit of life in Christ. He made us free? That's right. So, in order to deal with the principle of sin and death, the Lord gave us the principle of the Spirit of Life in Christ. And how is that obtained?

By faith. And in the same exact way that you believed in the gospel for freedom from the law of sin and death and life in Christ, it's the same mental process that occurs when you have a believer out of fellowship, right? But in this case, you're positionally not separated from being in Christ, but conditionally, you are. And what is it that obtains that spirit of life in Christ conditionally? Faith. It's all the same thing. One is for positional salvation, which is a once and for all, but in a loss of fellowship, the same reaction of faith is required in order to gain that fellowship with Him again, and to overcome conditional condemnation. Does that make sense? Big words. I think this issue of condemnation is a big deal in the church. Self-condemnation, the Lord, I think we're all seeing that in our own lives and seeing it in others regularly.

But there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, and that has to be understood by faith as a positional truth. I think this all goes back to the identification. If you don't know the identification, you're always trying to fix up positional truth of identification. And I think that's where there's salvation, but I think there is no growth without understanding what happened at the cross in our position. Because otherwise, like I said, you're always trying to fix that guy up. Now it's Christ and me. Now they have the power to do this. But it's not the separation from the Adamic and the position in Christ.

I remember growing through some stuff early on in this way, and I remember thinking, how do I fix this stuff? And I want to fix it in a Christian way. And so I found verses that were specific to what I was dealing with. And I wrote them all down, and I memorized them, and I put them in my wallet. And anytime I started thinking about something, I'd pull it out and I'd start reading it. Now, is there anything wrong with that? No, not really. But I was kind of using them like a magic wand.

It's like, here's this verse, Sin. Look at what this says. Sin is never going to react to the scripture. It is completely blind, and it is 100% self-focused. So, hoping that a verse would somehow reverse sin, what it really was, was not me memorizing, but me looking at that verse, or thinking through that verse and saying, this is true of me, and I believe this.

Do you have to write them down and stick them in your wallet? No, but you need the word. Go ahead. I think the child training of the Lord will put those verses that work in your memory, you'll never forget them. Because the reckoning part of spiritual growth is that you know and you understand and you're persuaded. So when sin raises its ugly head, you know, your response is reckoning into your position.

I don't have to go there. It's not really... A struggle is just a recognition of, wait a minute, that's not who I am. Does that make sense? It really goes back to facts and feelings, doesn't it? There's a huge difference. And today we live in a feelings world, not a facts world. It surrounds us. Faith in the facts is like the train on the tracks, and feelings follow.

Yeah, my favorite. I get that right every time. That's a good question, Tim. Actually, Jay, it reminds me of yesterday, or whatever this was, on the Hungry Heart. There are some really good ones. And I think it goes to getting the verse, and I'm going to say these, and God will make a miracle or do this, because I pulled this verse up. There are some great things, just a couple of things.

Faith is not a power that one possesses by which he can move the arm of God and work miracles. Faith accepts quiet guidance. Only unbelief demands a miracle. There is nothing in true faith but the flesh and glory in it. The power is God's. It is the Father who works and does it according to His own wisdom and will. Faith is simply absolute confidence in the Father which gives the certainty that He will fulfill His word. Faith must be based upon certainty. There must be the definite knowledge of and confidence in the Father's purpose and will.

Without that there can be no true faith. For faith is not a force that we can exercise or a striving to believe that something shall be, thinking that if we believe hard enough it will come to pass. that man, do I do that all the time? That's explaining, that's written, I don't know who's watching me here, like writing down my thoughts, but those are all relevant to the exact way that I have thought at times about the scripture and about overcoming feelings of condemnation or sin in whatever capacity. I think it's really good.

Faith is not a power. It's not a magic wand or possession that you have that just fixes it. It's the Lord. He's the one that is the power. Right? Faith is resting in a truth that He has told us. That's good. And what were those dates? Yesterday? I think it may have been yesterday. This is the 24th. The 17th was all about chastening equals child training.

That might be something everybody For those of you who don't know, the Hungry Heart is AbideAbove.com and you can get the whole thing there. So if you haven't ever looked online at that, you can. And then Mike's got copies as well. I know we talk about that resource quite a bit, but it is available for free online for you guys. Question number 10.

What is the difference between Satan's accusations and the Holy Spirit's conviction? You mentioned the convicting work of the Holy Spirit earlier, but what's the difference between Satan's accusations and the way that the Holy Spirit works to convict? If Satan's accusing me, I'm going to be occupied with myself pretty much, don't you think?

Good answer. We're done. You're right on. That's right. And if the Holy Spirit is convincing me of something, then he's drawing my focus to Christ and my position. That's good. Any other thoughts? I have a question. Yeah. I think it goes along with this.

Is there a difference between the discipline of the Lord, trials, and condemnation of sin. Is there a difference between each one and is it important for us to figure out Hmm. Which one it is? So is this a trial or is this the Lord disciplining me? Which one? Is it our job to... Do we have any scripture that would help us clarify the difference between the two? Romans 8, 28. That God works all things together for good. to those who love Him, to those who call according to His purpose.

So whether the circumstance, the relationship, the trial, or perceived discipline, or child training of the Lord, is it all part of Romans 8.28?

I think so. It doesn't matter necessarily for us to figure out. We might gain clarity on it. months or years or days later and perceive it a certain way, but the point is that the result is for His good, for your good, and for sharing in His holiness. Those are the outcomes of every one of those situations.

And in terms of the Lord designing a trial for you, I've never viewed it that way. Sin is not caused by God, but it is used for the testing of approval, right? So God is using the sinful environment that we are in, conditionally, to test us to approval. And in every single circumstance, it's a faith issue.

So I would surround any kind of thinking with regards to where is this coming from, why is it coming from, but that God is working here for His good, for my good, and to share in His holiness, and I've got a faith issue here that I need to deal with, one way or the other.

And at the end of it, that's really as complex as it has to be. Now, it doesn't go down like that, right? We revel and we're like, well, I think I'm ready to trust Him with this. Not yet. So, sometimes it takes that back and forth with the Lord until you do rest in faith.

So, does that answer your question? Romans 8, 28, I think. Thanks for sharing that. Jo, you had a thought? Well, I was just thinking that through all those things, the Lord is training us to have that faith and to abide. And how important abiding is in the result of those trials. Absolutely. Yeah, it's a relationship, isn't it? I think it goes back to, at least for me, it goes back to the two things. That God is sovereign.

And that goes to, when I go to Romans 8.28, all things. or you do something, or a trial, or any of that, all things. The all doesn't have any subtypes, or sub-things, little legal outs. It's all things. So that's what sovereignty is.

But the other thing to link it to, the other part, is that God loves us with an eternal love. So if he's in control of all, he's sovereign and he's allowing to do all things, but when you link it to love, he does it in love. So no matter what, you drop it, you fail, whatever, he's allowed that and he loves you. And that's where you get the other thing, the peace that surpasses all understanding or the rest that he can only provide.

Because once you know that, those two, it's the whole thing. That's good. I think, Mike, you're up next week? So maybe we'll touch on TEN just a tad bit more to clarify the answer to that question. Go figure. Alright. Well, thanks guys. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for the truth of what you're doing in our lives and that you're not angry with us and you're not non-existent but Lord you are real and you are loving and you are gracious and you have sought us out so that we can share in that love and that grace and have a relationship with the Creator of the universe in a very intimate way.

And we know that as we struggle through sin and the challenges that it brings in our condition, Father, we know that you use those things for your good, for our good, and to share in your holiness. And so, Lord, we just pray that you would Just continually convince our hearts of the positional truths about there not being any condemnation in you. And we know that we are in Christ and we can never be taken out of that place. We are identified with your death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. and those are truths that will never be taken away.

We thank you for just the boldness that we have to enter into the holiest place and know that it is completely through the blood of the Lord Jesus that we have this access to you and so we thank you for that. We love you dearly and just pray for a great day of walking by faith. It's in your name. Amen.