Principles of Position Lesson 19 week 2

All right, we're on lesson 19 of the position class. We got through most of question one. There are a couple things I just wanted to hit on that. There were some good ones from the Hungry Heart. So the question one What does the accusation of Satan and, contrarily, the conviction of the Holy Spirit lead the believer to do? We went over what the enemy does, and we went over what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit convicts us, but He always points us upward or points us to Christ, and that's the big difference. Satan is always accusing and trying to point us away from Christ, where the Holy Spirit, in conviction, is pointing us upward to Christ and back to a focus on Christ.

There's a good Hungry Heart from 926, and I'll just read a couple excerpts from it. Again, this is detailing about what the Holy Spirit does. Certainly the Holy Spirit directs in the countless details of daily life. Those who have faith are dependent upon His direction and will not be disappointed. Will you be disappointed by His direction?

Ever? Yeah. You will be? Oh, I don't know. I'm not here really. If you're dependent upon his direction, will you be disappointed? Never. You may be... Ultimately, no. Yeah, I mean, you know, in that, you won't be disappointed in his result, which is to point you back to Christ. You'll be very joyful. You know, and the thing that I really want to do is when you rest in him and you realize this, even through these circumstances, you can have that joy, peace, patience, even through trials and circumstances that you don't understand, if you know ultimately he's in control and the Holy Spirit's directing you. And you won't be disappointed if you are dependent upon his direction.

Being led by the Holy Spirit is the principle by which the Father deals in grace with believers. Outside the circle of the Spirit, men are led by the flesh. Under the law, his people were in bondage and under the schoolmaster. Now, in Christian privilege, the Spirit reads, I have been led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

And then, the Lord Jesus in glory is the standard of perfection, and the Savior on earth is the pattern of our walk. No one's walk is perfect, but the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us is perfect. And as a believer yields to the Father as one alive from the dead, the desires of the flesh are not fulfilled, and the Spirit brings forth His fruit in him." Again, we're talking about what the Spirit does. He brings forth the fruit. There's another one that I looked up to on The Hungry Heart 919. I can always know when the Holy Spirit is leading me, because He ever occupies me with the Lord Jesus.

True, He may have to call attention to my own condition, but if He does, He turns me to the Lord Jesus, not merely to convict me, but to relieve me. Isn't that good? Not to convict, but to relieve me. How many times do we think, oh, I'm under conviction? It's to relieve you, to point you back to Christ and our position in Christ. So when those trials come and all that, it's not under whack-a-mole. It's not going to just whack you.

He's there to do it. He's to relieve you and to point you back to Christ and your position in Christ. That's the job of the Holy Spirit, as opposed to Satan, who always just reminds you of everything, the imperfections that you have and you're not worthy and everything else. pointing you downward and pointing you back to your flesh and yourself. The Holy Spirit is the one who points you upwards into your position in Christ.

Okay? Moving on to number two. How does our Father use the dominion of sin, the conviction of sin, and the condemnation of Satan in the believer's life for growth? First of all, does He allow us to sin? No? Yes? Does he allow us to sin? Yes. Obviously. Obviously, yes.

I was waiting for somebody to say no. I got it. I got it late. I got her. Got that one down. I'm sinless perfection right now. Wanted to see that. So if anybody raised their hand on that one. So the question is why does he allow that? Basically from the question above. Why does he allow that? I think it's to encourage us to grow. Encourage us to grow by letting us sin.

Well, I think if I'm walking in the Spirit quite a long while, I tend to get the idea that I'm sure a lot better than a lot of other people. He's working on a certain aspect there, yeah, that pride part, right? You're the one, sinless perfection, right? You've got it, 100%.

So why does he lust to sin? Or why does he use the dominion of sin or the conviction of sin and the condemnation of Satan? Why does he allow that? Why does he do that? To point out how bad that sin nature is. Okay. Good. Others? Why does he do that? Wouldn't it be a better way to not do that? Not have that? Why would he do that? Wouldn't it be better not to have that?

I think it's just so easy. See our need for him. Okay. Good. Others? No, I can remember where it was in the green letters, but he said something about he allows us to sin and continue to sin and confess our sins to the point where we just get disgusted and go, I don't need this. You know what I mean? Yeah.

It's really a lot of times I think it's showing who you're depending on. yourself or Christ. Last week, Mike confessed that it takes 700 times for him to get something straight, that the Lord will work on him with 700 times, he'll fall into the same pit. Funny how he remembers those things. I do. I have a whole collection of things that I use. But he allows it, and allows it, and allows it, and allows it, and allows it until what?

Your focus is back on your position. back on who you are in Christ. Mike and I had lunch the other day talking about this. A lot in a believer's life, this constant, I'm not good enough, or how can I be seated in the heavenlies like I am? I'm looking at what? Myself. I'm seated in heaven? right hand? Me? Did you see me last Thursday?

I think people, most believers are that way and that's part of this, you know, where are the Holy Spirit? He points us upward. The flesh points us downward and back to the flesh. Where are we positionally? Where does God see us? In Christ. In Christ. So, Well, we'll get to it a little bit later. I guess I'm jumping ahead on that. When you do whatever, the 699th time, what does God go, oh, what's with this guy? Does he do that? I guess I'm going to say, does he even see, does God see 699 times? Does he even see that? It seems to him that he knows that it's happening.

But I think at that point there's a line that was in the book that as Miles said, the honest but still self-centered believer is oppressed and hindered by the darkness of his sinful condition. And I think that's what happens is that I have in my mind this truth I guess I believed it, maybe I didn't, but now that things are pretty dark, I'm not sure which is which. And I am oppressed because of sin, and I am oppressed primarily because it's all about me. But that's the point, that's the whole point of it. Where is your focus at that point? It's on me. It's on you.

And see, when I look at it, I look at it when Christ sees me, he sees me in Christ. Does he see all this garbage? through the filter of Christ? No, it's his son. But he sees me in Christ. My position, he sees me in Christ. So whatever screwball thing that I do, he doesn't go, ah, you know? Oy vey. He sees me in Christ. Positionally, that's how he sees me. And that's what my focus has got to be on, is that my position is in Christ.

I will fail. I will do 701 times stupid things. But Christ, he only sees me in Christ. And as he said, the honest and self-centered believer is oppressed and hindered by the darkness of his sinful condition. Self-centered is the key to that sentence. You focused on yourself, not on Christ. If you focus on Christ, that's who you are in Christ.

And all these other failures and all this stuff, the only consequence is lost fellowship. And who turned their back on who? And as he, you know, some of those things where, you know, and both of you turn your backs to each other, you know, it's like you're in a fight or something and you both turn your back. Does God ever turn his back on you or Christ or the Holy Spirit?

Never. We do. You know, I'm going to decide to be on my own and do what I want and turn my back but he is ever, and that's why I always go to that, the eternal love for me. He never stops loving me. He never stops pursuing me. So again, our focus is not on the condition, but the position.

Okay? So, yeah, he read part of that. So, what sets you free from this process of looking at yourself or thinking you're not worthy. What sets you free from that process? I kind of gave it away. Just to think position and know where you are in Christ. Two things that we always talk about, knowing, facts, and then believing, faith. Those two things.

So nevertheless, in the midst of his downward trend, the Holy Spirit is presenting truth so as to overwhelm him by the light of his righteous position. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. John 8.32 So not only is he free from the penalty of sin, but also from its power to bring forth sin. The believer is bound until, in spite of his sins, he rests in the truth concerning these sins."

So, if you don't understand positionally where you are, you're going to be bound to, I'm not worthy, I screwed up, how can I be seated next to God? I'm a schmuck. Until you know the facts of your position and by faith believe that. You're positioned in Christ. That's the rock. That's the thing that never changes. No matter how much you change, your position never changes. Alright? Any questions? Then we'll move on. How does Satan overstep himself in his apparent victories? Does he always... Does Satan always overstep himself? Does he always try and...

Look what I can do. His most apparent victories all contain the seed of his own defeat. How's that? Understand what that is? His victories all contain the seed of his own defeat. What does that mean? Stunned. The very need generated by the believer's failure is the spirit's preparation for seeing and abiding in his blessed position of light. This is why he allows you to sin? Why?

Courtney, what are you doing? Where's your focus? Oh, number one, 699. He's always refocusing you. Satan's always trying to lure you out. Okay, when you do that, you lose fellowship. When you lose fellowship, wow, turn back my focus. So even by whatever Satan's doing, it's his own defeat. Because when he tries to do something, all that does is refocus us back on our position in Christ. So whatever he tries, it always results in us Seeing our lack of dependence on the Spirit, lack of focus, and back to Christ. So whatever he tries is already failure.

He's a defeated foe. Understand that. I guess that's the key to all this. He's a defeated foe. It's like when you defeat a country, what do you do with the inhabitants? Do you just let them hang around? You use the people. You put them to work for you. When you defeat a country, you put them to work. So, Satan is defeated. God now uses him for his purposes. So, again, Satan thinks he's doing all these great things, but he's defeated and he's being used by God right now. I was in a discussion one time with what's the difference between Adam and his innocence and God and his holiness. And Hebrew says that to be holy is God is holy. Well, Adam and his innocence didn't understand evil. He also didn't understand good.

I think the only way that a holy God hates sin and loves righteousness This is the way that the believer learns to hate sin. Because being in this conditional circumstance, he's not comfortable there. And it gets worse and worse. And there really becomes genuine hatred for the thing sin itself. And of course the Spirit of God at the same time is offering the position of salvation. Not salvation, but a position of reconciliation and forgiveness that you'll go for because you recognize that I don't like this anymore. All of us can, I think, attest to the fact that every sin you ever committed you really liked doing. Nobody ever forced you to do it. But then you get to a point where, boy, I hate that thing, sin.

Paul says in me, that is in my flesh brought to know this thing. You have to learn that through these circumstances. I think that's the only way you do learn it. Yeah, I think that's, you know, it's kind of somewhat of a two-edged sword. When you think you got it all licked, that's when you think you have it all licked. Operative word being me. I think I got it all licked. And so I think that's the process. When I think I've got it, you know, that sin or that behavior or whatever, I got it licked. And I'm thinking to myself, you know, I got it done.

You really do? Here it is again. So I think... Do you have a verse, Karen? Did you have a verse? Oh, I was just looking up the verses in Number 5, because I haven't done it in a while. Oh, okay, you're getting ahead. And there's a typo, and so I can't tell what book to go to. Alright, we'll get there. So I gave up. We'll get there.

So again, you know, Satan by doing his own thing, just understand that he's a defeated foe. So God is using him for his purposes. So by definition, he is defeated. So whatever he's doing, he's defeated. So there is no success by what he is doing other than being used by God for God's purposes. So yeah, understand that. That he is defeated. So no matter what happens, he's defeated.

So again, what you do too in the flesh too is, going back to the Romans, you know, reckon yourself dead unto sin and alive unto God. I think a lot of what goes on is trying to believe that statement, to reckon yourself dead and alive unto God. Am I dead unto sin when I took the bait again? I think that's to bring you back to that verse. Are you dead to this sin or not? Okay, question four.

What is the specific truth regards our sin, positionally and conditionally? So what is the positional truth about our sins? Or what is it, well I should say, positionally or conditionally? So first and foremost, what is the specific thing about sins?

Is it position or condition? Position. Position is what counts with God. It must come first with us. So our position is we're in Christ. That's number one with dealing with all this sin issue is positionally we are in Christ. First and foremost. Is that sins or sin in this case? Sins being that they're paid for completely. Sin nature, positionally, But I mean in this particular one. Sins. Yeah. Mike, you were probably doing sins. Was that on number four? Sins. Yeah, so sins being the things we've done, not the sin nature.

So again, sins positionally, again, that's the key. Number one's been crucified. very raised with Christ, positionally in Him. So, again, are those sins attached to us positionally? No. So again, they're not even in the equation at that point, from our position. Now, in the conditional side, again, we can still sin, and sins being plural, what about those sins?

What? First John 1-9. First John, if we confess them. And I think... And to say we've been forgiven. And who paid for those? Christ. Christ has paid for every one of them. Everyone. Everyone who is even not a believer has paid for them. Everyone. Um, what? Every sin was taken care of on the cross. Every sin.

Mike's the only one, although he's moved now, I think, the guy next door. We've got to point to him. That poor guy's been abused. How about the guy this way? We'll go this way. Cross the fence this way. Even if he's a non-believer, were his sins paid for? I never thought about that, of course. He just has to accept that Yeah. Keep going.

The only question left to anybody on this earth is who is Christ? Do you believe in the death, burial, resurrection? Simple gospel. Who is Christ and what did he do for us? Okay, I'm still, my mind is on, did I say the wrong thing when I said to my son's father that he was a Christian when we married. But was he really? You know what? We'll never know. Only he knows. But I thought he was. He might be. And I think he thought he was. If it was true, in simple faith, he believed the Gospel message, then he is. We don't know that. I can only attest for myself. Nobody can attest to anybody else. Okay, I'm not going there anymore.

Right. So yours is just to be an ambassador for Christ, to show him the growth through all these different things. And it's up to the Holy Spirit. to convict and convince him, and if he's not, to convict him of his need for Christ. If he's a believer, to convict him of the truths that are about him.

So we don't worry about that. Okay. Thank you. Okay. To your son's father. X's are always thrilled to hear anything the other person says. It's always going to be fake and wrong. Alright, moving on. So, just going on these specific truths. I also went to Colossians 1, 12-14. giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us, or made us suitable, for us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." And then 1 John 1 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sins.

And then Colossians 3.3, For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So conditionally we can sin, which allows for our growth, the all things, and lose fellowship with Christ in the Father, but our position never changes.

The fellowship can be because we turn our backs on Him. He forever is pursuing us. The Holy Spirit is forever convincing us of who we are in Christ and convicting us of the things of God. But He's always pursuing us to restore that fellowship. Not to beat us down, not to be mean, not to be cruel, not to just do it because you did that.

It's for restoration. Restoration of the fellowship. All right, now we're up to five. In Colossians 1, 20-20, we are told the source of our Christian life. What is it? So let me read. The problem is the first phrase, it should start by him to reconcile all things unto himself. That's where it's wanting to start. Yeah, well okay, I'll read the Colossians.

Colossians 1 20 through 22. And through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven, and although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. So, The source of our life is Christ. The beautiful part about this and the end part of this verse, these are the ones that have really been hit again from the faith class. And this is kind of the whole gist of I think this lesson is right here in the end. In order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Do you believe that? Are you holy and blameless and beyond reproach?

Yes, sir. Yes? Yes. No? In my position. Yeah, do you believe that? Because when Satan's going to say, oh, look at that nasty wart. Well, look at what you're doing. Look at, oh, you're not holy and blameless. Are you kidding me? Look what you did on the way here. I did speed. I confess that.

23 says if. Going to 23? That's since. If you continue in your faith. Am I reading the wrong scripture? No, you're right. There are lots of ifs in there that mean since. That mean what? S-I-N-C-E. Sense. Oh, okay. Sense, read it that way. Yeah, read it with sense instead of if. If is kind of a conditional, like, you know, if we do this, but a better translation is since, or, you know, because of this, instead of if. Okay? So, I want to also, I don't know the other verses I was looking up, but with, the source of our life again.

Because of Christ, we are positioned in Christ and we are now before God, holy and blameless and beyond reproach. So whenever the sin, Satan, whoever, tells you you're not worthy, look at what you did today. You kidding me? You're sitting beside God and you did that? What does it say? that we're holy and blameless and beyond reproach in God's eyes because we're positioned in Christ. Ephesians 2, 4-6, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephesians 2, 4-6, again, even when you were dead in your transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ and seated us in the heavenly places. That's positionally where you're at. And positionally, you know, I go back to position, it's like, did you, what does that mean when we say you're seated in the heavenlies in Christ, positionally?

What does that mean today? Right now? What does that mean to you? I've been trying to, you know, as we say that a bunch, what does that really mean? You're secure, you can't lose what you've been given. Uh-huh. I mean, the essence of seated in the heavenlies, right now. In the spiritual sense, it seems like we literally are there. We are.

And the way I do it, and that's what I was saying kind of from the beginning with what Mike was saying, I forget, but God only sees us in Christ. When he looks and he sees Christ, he sees us. That's how he sees us now. I tried to figure out how to do this, and the best way I could do it was with husband and wife. that before I was married, I was just a boyfriend, a fiancé, blah, blah, blah. But once we were married, I'm a husband. Can't be anything else. I can be an ex. I can be a deceased. But I'm a husband forever. As long as I live, I'm a husband.

It's all that I can be seen as. That's the closest translation or analogy I can bring up, that God can only see me in Christ now. He can't see me any other way. He cannot see me any other way but in Christ. No matter whether I fail, whether I do, He sees me in Christ.

And as an intended husband, I can go through all the pre-marriage classes and all the stuff that's there, but now that I am a husband, I'm going to learn what it's like to be a husband in the going. And that's like, now that I'm positioned in Christ, how am I going to learn about that in the going?

In the going, exactly. That's the growth. That's the conditional part. As we grow in it, we grow from here going towards our position. So that's the thing with being a parent. Here comes the offspring, I don't know about being this dad thing, how do you do that? Yeah, that one you definitely learn through the process. And when you got one kid and then you get a second and a third and a fourth. But positionally you're a dad.

Yeah, I'm a dad. There's nothing I can change. I can only be viewed as a dad. I was just trying to figure something that equates to how God sees us in Christ. He can only see us that way. We can never change. He can only see us in Christ. What joy, peace, rest, all that, the fruit of the Spirit, is when we realize that. That no matter what warts, failures, whatever, He still only sees us in Christ.

That's again, the payment has been done. All those sins that I'm going to do tomorrow, They're paid for. It's done. Gone. Punishment, the wrath has been put upon Christ. It's done. Do you understand that? That's the thing. That's the whole key of our position.

Galatians 2.20 also, I've been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, But Christ lives in me in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. So it's no longer I who live, but Christ in me.

It may help also to think of this as a father-son relationship that you've mentioned. Who is our father? I go through John 17 in tears all the time. And the Abba Father. We have the intimacy now to go before him and say, Daddy. The God of the universe, the one that holds every atom in my body together. I can go before him and say, Daddy. And it's because of our position. We're seated right next to him. He's the wayboy. He gave us the first and the second.

Okay, and then 2 Corinthians 5.17.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things pass away. Behold, new things have come." Again, from our standpoint, we are a new creature, new in kind, new in quality, positioned in Christ. It's not unbelievable. It is believable because he told us that. In summary, every believer, regardless of present condition, is in the very presence of the Father. We are in Christ at the right hand of God the Father.

The source of our Christian life is in light above, in Christ risen. It is there we are to abide. It is that completed standing which alone will affect the growth of our daily state. So again, as our focus is on our position in Christ in the heavenlies, Does that change, or does that begin to modify our condition if our focus is on Christ?

So, you know, that's again the time in the Word, just getting to know Him. Daily. You know, I go to, and this is not law, I think of how much time we spend on other stuff, but how much time do we spend in the relationship with Christ daily? Getting to know Him. How much time do you spend with your wife, your partner, your son, your daughter, your friend? How much time do we spend with Christ, knowing Him?

That's really the key, is to know Him. And that's where, once we know Him, again I go back to the fact that we know who we are. Wow. so we will continue on 6 we'll get through these last few should go pretty quick so hit that next week let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you again thank you again for our position in Christ we thank you again it's nothing of what we have done it's all through the completed work on the cross of your son dying on the cross paying for all sins for everyone past present future all sins taking care of the wrath poured upon your son not upon us And through simple faith in your Son, we have an eternal position in Christ, seated in the heavenlies with you right now. It is such an incredible position to be in. And we just pray each and every day we come to know Christ in just an intimate fashion, where as we get to know Him, we get to know who we are in Christ. So we just pray for that time that we can just be able to focus on your son each and every day. And again, as the world has so many different draws and different distractions and different things, let us, again, it's our prayers just to be focused on your Son.

And that's where the growth is. That's where the joy is. That's where the peace is. That's where all that is promised through the Holy Spirit is. So, Father, we thank you again for this time to open up your Word. We pray as we move into the next meeting, again, your work through Vern, presenting the Word and prepare our hearts to receive it. We thank you for all these things in Christ's name. Amen.