Knowing and Growing – Christ’s disciple - what is that process?
Vern Peterman · Aug 27, 2017
Knowing & Growing, No. 33
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492665252088

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

We've been going through for a number of months now, essentially what we have previously called what God is doing in the life of the believer. And so we started with conformed, transformed, then maturing and growing, and now sanctified. So these are the processes that God has in place for the believer.

By the way, is that all of them? No, these are the ones we've covered so far. We've got another month we're going to get into another one, and that's called being disciples. These are processes that the Lord has in place. So that is something we can look forward to beginning next time. So at this point, we're looking at bringing what we've covered so far together.

And so these processes that God is carrying out, and I notice the way I say that, these, as we're talking about them, we're not speaking about them as a done deal, although some, like for example sanctified, is that something that is already accomplished in one sense? The answer is yes. Here is the Apostle Paul writing the Church at Corinth, first chapter, and about the second verse is where he says, to these people who certainly have a lot of issues. He says sanctified, and he writes that in the perfect tense, which without getting too greeky geeky, what we mean is sanctified as a done deal.

As a done deal. So we have that. All these are based on who we are in our position. Why do we say that all these are based on who we are in our position? Why would we say that? One, yes. We're not in charge of it. When I say in our position, can you give me some examples of what that means when you talk about our position? Yes? Our position in Christ? Yes. So we've been made to be in Christ.

1 Corinthians 1.30 says, by God's doing you are in Christ Jesus. Who did it? God did it. And I didn't help. I didn't help.

So, our position in Christ, which is phenomenal, amazing, as Paul calls it, the unfathomable riches of Christ, in Ephesians. So, in Christ, can you think of anything else that stands as our position? Our position never changes. Okay, that's a good description. Our position does not change.

If we're seated with Christ, we don't go, oh man, this seat's getting uncomfortable, and we start moving over. And we don't say, well, you're really flubbed and so you're no longer seated with Christ. So none of that. So this is laying it down here. This is our position in Christ, who we have been made to be permanently, completely, totally.

And we don't have enough Sundays to cover it between now and the end of the year. That would be a good idea to go take a whole year in our elective, maybe next year, and talk about all the details of our position in Christ. All of it. Go through every little bit of it. That would be great.

So anyway, as we look at this, we have this position in Christ, the new man, all of who we are in Christ, and our new nature, those are things that are descriptions of our position, our new nature does not change, the new man does not change. These are all of who we are, present tense, in Christ. And so we have these truths that are true of us.

These processes are not designed to try to change anything about our position. It's not designed to change anything about our position. And there's nothing that we can do. Matter of fact, let's ask this question. Can we do something to make our position better? Not a thing. Can't do anything to make our position better. And let's ask the other end of this question. Can I do something to really mess up my position? I cannot. I cannot do something to mess up my position. Now, so does that make me complacent and apathetic?

Hey, I can't mess it up. I'll just do anything. No, that's not what scripture teaches either. Apostle Paul asked the question, should I sin that grace may abound? Well, no, that's not the right answer. Not even the right question. So that's why he says, may it never be.

So, we have our position that we begin with, we have this process that's going on. The process is not there to improve our position or to enhance it. If anything, one of the things you could say is that we're growing into our position. The position being all of what we were at the outset when we first believed, all accomplished by God's doing. So, in Christ is the position that God uses to pull off everything in His processes. He starts off with the position that we have, in summary statement, in Christ.

He starts off with that position to carry on these processes. We're essentially being changed into our position, right? And let's ask this question. Are these processes personal? In what ways are these processes personal? I'd say they're designed for us. Yes, they're designed explicitly for each individual.

God doesn't just say, I'm just going to kind of lay out a uniform layer of sanctification here today and then tomorrow I'll lay out another one and it'll all be the same. He doesn't do that, does he? What he does is God uses different things and different inputs in our lives in order for us to be conformed and transformed and sanctified and growing and maturing as processes. God does different things for different people.

So that's one excellent point. What else? What else is personal? about what God's doing. In other words, we talked about last week, we said, what's your calling? Remember we said, what's your calling? What is your calling? Fellowship. And so we can say for each individual believer, your calling is fellowship with who?

Christ, okay? Fellowship with His Son, is the way Paul puts it. The Son, Jesus Christ. So, fellowship with Christ. And is that, you know, once in a great while, when we make an appointment? All the time, isn't it? Right? All the time, fellowship with His Son. And so that's the other thing we say, what's personal about this, and that is this fellowship that we have with the Son is each individual person. Each individual person.

So are there people in the church who are on the fellowship list, and then others who just aren't? Is that what God has in mind? No. So God doesn't say, okay, these Christians over here, they've got a fellowship list, and they fellowship with the Son, but these over here, they're just not there yet. No, the intent is, we are all called, every single one, into fellowship with his son, right? And that is personal, right? So it's not only personal to each of us, but it's personal to him. It's one reason God doesn't just say, okay, here's the rules, follow them, see you later.

What's wrong with that? He wanted fellowship. He wants fellowship and just handing us the list and delegating it to us is not going to get it done, is it? So it is by grace, that's the only way it's going to work, and he wants continuing fellowship with us, not a, here's the to-do list. And so as we look at these processes, they are personal to us, and they are personal to Jesus Christ. Personal to Him. And our fellowship, our ongoing fellowship with Him, personally.

Not the to-do list. I heard one pastor one time, and I kind of kept cringing, you know, he says, if you're a good Christian, you will da-da-da-da-da. If you're a good Christian, you will not da-da-da-da-da. And it's okay to describe those things, but those things by themselves are not what God's looking for. If we are having fellowship with Him, then these will be the outcomes. Much more biblical perspective to work from, right? If we're having fellowship with Him, then these will be the outcomes, and He will describe then this and that thing. Okay.

So, why doesn't God just say, well, you have your position, and your position is perfect, there's nothing you can do to enhance it, we're just gonna cancel all these processes until you get to heaven. Why doesn't God just do that? I mean, wouldn't that be easier? Wouldn't it be simpler if God just said we're not carrying on any of these processes? You got your position, we'll see when you get to heaven.

Yeah? Okay, so we got this other thing that's going on and the processes take place because of our ongoing fellowship with his son, right? Which is conditional. Do you always have fellowship with his son? There are times we can not do that. There are times when we can fall out of fellowship, right? Is it because he did something wrong? No, it's not because God did something wrong. We can fall out of fellowship on our end, but not because God messed up. Not at all.

So we have our position, which is fixed and unchangeable. We have our condition, moment by moment. One moment I'm walking in fellowship with the Lord and just hypothetically speaking somebody walks through the doors and all of a sudden I'm angry or frustrated or something like that starts to take over and I'm distracted from my fellowship, right? By a circumstance or a person or something that comes along. And then, so here I'm looking at one moment to the next. The processes that God is carrying out, do those happen, do those take place when I'm out of fellowship? Am I being sanctified when I'm out of fellowship? Just one? Very good question. So let's talk about the words relationship and fellowship.

And so just to make it clear, I have a relationship with the Lord that is established eternally. I am a child of God. from the moment I believe, and made a child of God by his doing. That is the relationship that I have with him. Hebrews tells us, and we can see it elsewhere, that Christ is our brother, we are brethren. It is one of the reasons why the word brethren is used throughout the book of Acts, as we'll see in our in our main service study. So we are brethren because we are brothers of Christ. That is relationship. And each other as believers. So this is relationship that once we believe is unchanged, it is relationship based on our position. So with that as the definition, relationship doesn't change.

One of the examples that I use, and so far Randy hasn't objected to it, is Randy is my son. He'll be 40 years old next month. Randy is my son. He has been my son for about four decades. And he will continue to always be my son. And we tend to get together about once a week if we can both make it. And then we have, based on that relationship, then we have fellowship, one with another. So fellowship is moment by moment. Relationship is forever.

No matter what I do, Randy will be my son. It is hypothetically possible that maybe I'm over at his house and I do or say something that's just really offensive to him and his family, in which case, that would break fellowship. But it wouldn't break relationship, right? Randy might call me up and say, Dad, after what you said last time you visited, is this going to take us a while to cool down? We're all a little hot and steaming over this, so wait a few weeks before we come over again, because we're really fried.

And so that would be a matter of, that would disturb our fellowship, but I would still be his father, he would still be my son, that's relationship. The relationship is always there, the fellowship is intended to be always there, but in fact can change from one moment to the next. So now, why doesn't God just make it so that There's no issues of fellowship.

It's locked in. You have a relationship with Him. It's locked in. Why doesn't He just make that condition thing locked in? And so we're just walking around here on planet Earth constantly fellowshipping with the Lord and it never changes. Yes? Ah, we have a will that we make a decision one way or the other, right?

So, and that's exactly right, this is why the Apostle Paul would write to the Galatians, in Galatians 5.16, he would tell them, you must appeal to the will, you must walk in the Spirit, and then you won't satisfy the desires of the flesh. But that means that you have to, as a matter of will, continue to do that. We have a will, and so the appeal to the will is for us to continue to walk in the Spirit.

Yes? We also have a signature that draws away from the fellowship. Okay, so let's talk about that because this is a very important point. Okay, so here is the unbeliever, who all of us were before we believed. Here is the unbeliever Does the unbeliever have a choice to walk in the Spirit? The unbeliever cannot walk in the Spirit. It can't happen.

It is only because we believed and a part of our position is we are continuously indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We have, and we've got a handout for this, right? A supplement in the next service here. We have the Holy Spirit continuously indwelling us. We have the seal of the Holy Spirit. We also find out from Romans 8 that we are in the Spirit. With those words we have an intimate position, an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, but it is not forced upon us. Once we believe, God doesn't say, okay, you're going to walk in the Spirit, no ifs, ands, or buts, and it's going to happen, and you've got no choice. Because that's what's going to happen. Because I decided.

God doesn't do that, does he? Instead, he has this appeal, he says, I've done everything to set everything up. for you to walk in the Spirit, and if you do so, you will not satisfy the desires of the flesh. The unbeliever can't do that. You don't come up to the unbeliever and say, hey, you've got to walk in the Spirit. He's going to go, huh? Yes?

The unbeliever is dead to the Spirit, so the unbeliever has no choice. He only can walk in the sin nature. Yeah, we could say it in mechanical terms that the unbeliever is hardwired to the sin nature. The unbeliever has no relationship to the Holy Spirit in the sense of being able to walk in the Spirit.

I've been over to Uganda four times now, and every time I teach on Galatians 5, 16, 17, 18, I just keep going back to that, because that's the core choice. Think about it for believers. Does God want you to not steal? Does He want you to try your hardest on your own strength not to steal? No, that is not what he has in mind. He wants you to walk in fellowship, he wants you to walk by the Spirit, and from there, then the decision coming out of the Spirit's work in wooing, not to steal. not to lie, etc. And so the priority decision for the believer is not all these little moral choices out there.

The priority decision for the believer is to walk in the Spirit. As a matter of fact, one of the things we said earlier in this elective was we have different terms for the same thing. Is walking in the Spirit different from abiding in Christ? No, they are different expressions for what's really the same thing. If I have fellowship with Christ, is that different from walking in the Spirit? No. So these are all different expressions for what is actually the same thing.

But with all those, here's the Apostle Paul, he's writing to these Galatians, He just got through saying, be careful, you guys keep biting and devouring one another, you're going to have problems. And he says, in order to deal with that, you don't sit there and say, stop biting and devouring one another. He says, walk in the Spirit. And you won't be satisfying the desires of the flesh, which include biting and devouring one another. So that's where he gives them perspective. He doesn't come out with this big long letter scolding him, saying, stop the biting and devouring! Stop it! Don't do it again! You know?

It's like I did with Hassan when he was over here. I said, suppose I tell you, Hassan, He's one of the guys who came over to study with us from Uganda. Anyway, so suppose I tell, you know, I was talking to Hassan, I said, Hassan, what if I told you, do not think of a pink hippopotamus? Hassan, remember, do not think of a pink hippopotamus. And after I've reminded Hassan about 12 times, do not think of a pink hippopotamus. Now, what are you thinking? You're thinking of a pink hippopotamus.

And the more I emphasize it, the worse it gets, right? So simple legalism is not the answer. And even if you can feel bad about it, and you can try to do all sorts of things, none of that's going to fix it. because just simply coming in with the law, you know, don't do this and don't do that, doesn't fix the problem at all. It makes it worse. Romans chapter 7 starting about verse 7, right? It makes it worse. So instead of telling Hassan, do not think of a pink hippopotamus about 12 times, right? Instead, it says walk in the Spirit. and you won't satisfy the desires of the flesh. But it goes back to walking the spirit. Walking the spirit, walking the spirit. So it's that walking in the spirit that's the emphasis.

Not the, don't do this, don't do that, don't, don't, don't, don't. Sometimes I've heard unbelievers joke about And he says, I know about you Christians, you guys are people who don't do anything. Don't do this, don't do that, you know. You don't do anything, right?

So instead of giving the wrong picture, it's a matter of, oh yes I do, I walk in the Spirit. I walk in the Spirit, but it's not a matter of here's my list of things not to do. Don't think of a pink hippopotamus, right? Okay, so we have this walk in the Spirit understanding, we have this abide in Christ understanding. We'll be looking, let's see, about two weeks from now, we'll be looking at Ephesians chapter 5, where we'll look at be filled with the Spirit. By the way, that's the only place in the whole New Testament where it actually has a command to be filled with the Spirit. So we'll be taking a look at that.

Okay, so now, did we answer the question, why aren't we just hardwired, fixed in place, that we're not going to make any bad decisions? Why doesn't God just fix it that way and then it wouldn't be a problem? I wouldn't need a command. I wouldn't need somebody to say, walk in the spirit. Here's Christ. He says, I'm the vine, you're the branches. He says, abide in me. Ever seen any branches that can't decide whether or not they're going to stay on the vine? They're jumping back and forth.

Ever see that? We don't see it. Why? It's because that's the analogy. The branches aren't having a hard time deciding whether they're going to abide. But it's human beings, that's a different matter. So there is an appeal to the will there. God has given us a will and he intends for us to use it. And the priority is not, do this, don't do that. The priority is fellowship with the Son. The priority is walking in the Spirit. The priority is abiding. The priority is being filled with the Spirit. Okay.

So what's the answer to that question? Why aren't we hired? Why aren't you doing the right thing? Let's think about that, because you asked a very important question earlier, or made a statement. We have this sin nature thing, okay? So believers still have a sin nature attached to this body. Is the sin nature in charge? Why not? Well, because we choose. The sin nature is attached to it, but is not indwelt. It has no authority, really.

So this gets addressed in Romans chapter 6, right? You must reckon yourself dead to that sin nature, right? Dead to that, and alive to God. Now, what if I only say, well, I'm dead to the sin nature, or dead to sin. What if I just stop there? Is that good? What's the problem with that?

Because alive to God is another way of expressing abiding Christ. It's another way of expressing walking in the Spirit, it's all those things, right? And so we can't deal with the Holy Spirit, excuse me, we can't deal with the sin nature without walking in the Spirit, right?

We're dead to the sin nature, but we can't deal with those issues unless we abide in Christ, unless we're alive to God, unless we walk in the Spirit, unless we're filled with the Spirit, unless we're beholding Christ, 2 Corinthians 3.18, all those different expressions for the same thing. Yes? So my question is, the reason why some Christians still do some things that are not in line with the Word of God is because of lack of fellowship? Yes. Yes.

As a matter of fact, my My son Randy and I were talking, as we're prone to do. By the way, we never get done with the things we want to talk about. Anyway, so we were talking, and one of the things he said, he says, I don't understand why going around teaching believers to abide isn't done a whole lot more commonly, right? Because of how important it is, how essential it is. That's what God wants and desires and has made things to be so that we have fellowship with him, so that we're abiding in Christ.

Yes? You could say that's where our nourishment comes from? Yeah, just to use the analogy, abiding in Christ, that's the vine and the branches. You ever see any branches that are sitting apart from the vine that are doing just great? Yeah, that'll kill you, right? So, continually abiding is what God has in mind. Yes? But to be able to abide, to me, you have to have some guidelines. Okay. Well, one thing is, what does that look like? Right? What does that look like?

It's not the law, per se, but you still have to have Well, one thing is to talk about its personal relationship and dependence and intimacy with Christ, and those things need to be there, and that needs to be described and understood. When Paul describes the works of the flesh in Galatians 5, he talks about the works of the flesh, he's letting them know this is what it looks like, so that when you see that, you say, oh, that's the way the flesh acts. Now, so coming back to the original question, because I'm not sure we answered your question here. Coming back to the original question is we need to deal with the sin nature, but to move on to abiding in Christ.

And God has set that up. And so we ask the question, why doesn't God just hardwire us so that we just can't make a bad decision? Well, it would not be nice. Okay, I'm a believer. So why doesn't God just hardwire us and say, all right, you're just hardwired now to make a good decision and that's it.

You're not going to ever mess up because I won't let you because now the circuitry and the mechanics for doing that just are gone. Not happening. but it would really mess up the relationship. I mean, a fellowship wouldn't. I mean, you can't have a fellowship with a microphone.

You're an introvert. Yeah, think about that. There are a lot of things that are hardwired and mechanical and set in place, but it's not personal. So that's one thing. Relationship that we have eternally is fixed, but the fellowship is not fixed because it's personal. That's one reason why it is a personal decision to fellowship with him. And then here's another aspect of it.

If God just wired us so that we always do the right thing, all the time, no exceptions, I can't mess up because I'm not wired to do anything but the right thing, how am I different from a robot or a computer? Did God want to have fellowship with a computer? Not really, right? Yeah.

So the answer to that question is that the relationship, the fellowship would be deeper if I had a choice to choose what the sin nature wants me to do or choose to walk in the Spirit. My fellowship would be deeper if I had that choice. And God gave me that choice. So here's a question.

Will there come a time, among us as believers, will there come a time when I no longer struggle with sin? Yes. Yes, there will be. When I walk through heaven's gates and see the Lord face to face, I will no longer struggle with sin. Not happening. So what that means is, in order for God to hardwire me, so to speak, so that there's never any struggle with sin, he'd have to take me out of this world. He'd have to take me out, and that comes back to God has a purpose for us to be here. Between the time we believe and the time he takes us home, God has a purpose for us to be here, and he doesn't short-circuit that purpose by just saying, OK, you believe, I'm bringing you home.

Can you imagine you see people just dying right there like I must have become a believer. You just died right there in the sidewalk. You see these people and you have some kind of an evangelistic campaign or something and everybody just dies. It wouldn't work, right?

So God says, no, I'm not going to take you out. I'm not going to take you home instantly. And so here's, I'm going to make provision for you to deal with that sin, the sin nature, right? I'm going to make provision for you to deal with it, but I'm not going to take you home immediately. I'm not going to take you home immediately.

Yes? In the Kingdom, when all the Israelites have the law written in their hearts, their fellowship will be just as intimate, but they won't seem to have the same sin problem. It does not appear to be the case. It's just in this time we have the sin nature attached and we need to grow in our walk with him. Yes. That's just the way he set it up. Yes. Yes.

I just wanted to comment that Now that we are in Christ, we are partakers of divine nature only, we have the nature of God in us which has replaced that sinful nature because God has promised before that I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. and I will take away their head of stone and I will cost you to work in my statues. So that divine nature is the ability of God in us that enables us to work in God's Word, to work in His statues. And so when we are in Christ, we are created in Him. And we have that new nature and that ability to work right. The same nature is no more there. But it becomes tricky that how then do we get involved with simple acts and stuff like that. And the Bible also addresses that like in Romans 12.

It says, do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And the transformation here is not about Our spirit man, because that spirit man has already been transformed when we believe in Christ and believe in what He did. But the transformation is at the level of the mind. And it is that transformation at the level of the mind that helps us to work in conformity to who we are inside.

I think for every believer, Dealing with the issue of sin is at the level of the mind because when our minds are renewed through the Word of God, which is part of what that fellowship is, we study God's Word, it's part of that fellowship, our mind is renewed, we produce fruits of righteousness, which is walking in the Word of God. diagram that we have here on page 2, what we would say then is that the new man is all of who we are in Christ, and that new man has a new nature, right? And so the appeal is for us to walk according to who we are in Christ, including according to the new nature, right? I think at Holly Hills, we would have a different understanding than what you express regarding the sin nature. Does a believer have the sin nature or not?

And that's a much bigger discussion than what we have here. But I'd be glad to talk some more about that. One of the things that is key, there is certainly the appeal to the believer to walk in fellowship with the Lord and live in fellowship with the Lord so that the new man and the new nature are describing our walk and our life. That's certainly the case here.

Now, some questions as we get towards the end of our time here. On page 3. So what if a person doesn't recognize the difference between position and condition? What would be said of a person who doesn't live like he or she is saved? They're not growing.

Okay. Yes. Yes, so a believer can be carnal. This is what in fact Paul told the believers at Corinth. He says you are carnal, you are fleshly. And so this is a spiritual problem. They are operating according to the flesh and that's characterizing them rather than walking in the Spirit. That's characterizing them rather than their abiding in Christ.

Yes? And ultimately, that's played out by the rewards and the beam of judgment and your works being like wood, hay or stubble, right? Okay, so let's talk about that. So, we have described in the New Testament crowns and rewards. OK? And so there are different crowns. I think five are identified in the New Testament, and three rewards there for applying to us in the church. So those rewards and crowns are given there. So what about the bad things if a believer walks out of fellowship for a time? Is there a crown and reward for that?

No. There's no crown of reward for it. What happens? Burned up. So this is 1 Corinthians 3, 10-15, where there's wood, hay, and stubble, gold, silver, and precious stones, and the wood, hay, and stubble will be burned away. So it's not the believer who is burned, but it's the works that are burned away. So is the fire of testing, is that bad? No, it's designed to show that which is good and rewardable. It's designed to show that which is good and rewardable. Excellent question here.

If we don't understand the difference between position and condition, we will get confused. We will get confused. Why is it confusing to not understand the difference between position and condition? I think it's all part of knowing, you know, you're supposed to know Christ, you're supposed to know God, you're supposed to know the scriptures.

This is all part of that knowing process. And I think, you know, if you don't have basic understanding, then it's difficult to proceed in the right direction. I think it's kind of, okay, so you have the tree of knowing good and evil, again, knowing. So, what's good, what's evil? So, it's basic understanding, and we as people, I don't think, are able to discern that without the help of the Spirit. Yeah, it's the ministry of the Holy Spirit that allows such discerning, right?

Okay? Yes. I know from my own experience, not knowing the difference between position and condition, yeah, I was confused. And I've noticed in other believers too, that they don't have a problem with walking in sin. Okay. And let's ask this question. Why is it that they don't have a problem with walking in sin? And one is they may not understand it as sin. Why else would they have a problem? Well, God's going to forgive me anyway. OK, yeah. All right. Yes. Maybe they are not yielding to the Lord. Ah, OK. So you have different issues. One, there may be an ignorance. OK? One is a possible ignorance is contributing to the problem.

Another is, and yielding is a decision, isn't it? So yielding is a decision, it's an act of will, and maybe I know, but I fail to understand I need to have an act of will to yield. And so that lack of yielding, this is out of Romans 6, and by the way, in that picture there's a yielding there, it is yielding to the Lord, presenting our members to the Lord, or presenting our members to sin. And so there is a choice to be made there.

And if people don't understand that it's a choice, they may not understand, oh, I have to make a decision here. And they don't understand the decision that must be made. And by the way, what happens if you fail to make a decision altogether? What's the default? The default is often just sin because of either ignorance or spiritual laziness, or however you want to state it. But you're right, that yielding is a major issue, and someone may be ignorant of that, or they may be aware of it, but simply spiritual laziness, so to speak, and I could even call it spiritual insanity. causes them not to understand that this yielding is a choice and a decision that they must make, and the failure to make that decision has consequences. Failure to make that decision has consequences.

So then, what's the problem with thinking that we or God have any part in addressing the old man? all of who you were in Adam. Say, if the old man is all of who you were in Adam, then what's the deal with that? Am I dealing with being in Adam anymore? No. I'm never again, once I believe, I'm never again dealing with being in Adam. Not happening.

Yes. And now in law is. Ah. So that's one thing is, the old man, is the old man going to understand anything about being walking in the Spirit, abiding in Christ. Not at all, right? Not at all. And so the law is not going to help. Do this, do this, don't do that. Good luck with that. We are never again in Adam. There's a door, it's a special door. It's one way, one time. It's not one of those swinging doors where people keep going back. It's not that. It's one way, one time.

You go from being in Adam to being in Christ. By the way, how do you go from being in Adam to being in Christ? You believe. That's it. You walk through that door one way, one time by believing and that's it. That's it. I don't slip back in. I don't change my mind. It doesn't happen.

Next one here. So what will be the result of trying to change, improve, or build up the sin nature? Let's ask this. Can you make the old man who were an Adam any better? We cannot. We cannot. There is no improving. What's that? Lost forever. Lost forever.

Okay, so let's, you know, suppose I said, you know, we just have to do WWJD. What would Jesus do? Is that, and I try really, really, really hard to do what Jesus did. Is that going to do it? That's not going to do it. Why? What's the problem? Huh? It depends on you. Yes, it depends on me, right? So what would Jesus do? And I'm going to try, out of my resources, really hard to do what Jesus did. And that's not going to work, is it? So what would Jesus do is about as good as asking, what would Moses do? Right? Right?

Yes, instead, the Lord does not intend for us to ask, what would Moses do? The Lord does not intend for us to ask, what would Jesus do? Instead, it is, abide in Christ, walk in the Spirit, fellowship with his Son, filled with the Spirit, and those kind of terms. So you're talking about doing it, but again, just like the Old Testament is there for a purpose and the commandments and the law, and it's holy and good and true and all this, so that helps us in discerning what's good and what's evil, not necessarily that we should force ourselves to do that. Right? It quantifies it. Oh, well, you committed this sin five times. Right? So it quantifies it. It defines it. Oh, you committed this sin five times, and you committed that sin three times. So it gives us quantification. It gives us description.

Does it help you any? The law doesn't help you any, and that's the problem. Right? The law is of no help whatsoever. So this is Romans 7, starting in Bible verse 7. I looked at, do not covet. Is it a good law? Oh yeah! But just try it. Try it on your own. It doesn't work. Yes.

But the difference being, when Paul was a Pharisee, he knew that commandment but didn't understand it. When he became a believer, he understood the commandment. A big difference. Yes, he understood, but he also understood, is it my job to do it? And the answer is no. And that's why he's explaining to the Church of Rome, this is why he's explaining to the churches in Galatia, this is why he's explaining, it's not my job. So he tells the churches of Galatia that I've been crucified with Christ, so it gets me out of the picture. It's no longer I who live, no longer I who be the living, but Christ does the living in me.

One of the statements you made last Sunday that I thought was really hit home for me was you're out of fellowship, you have to confess and agree with God about sin. To recognize it and agree and contest it, and then you agree about it, and then you move on. Yeah, and it's only when we agree with God about sin, that then He can deal with it. By the way, is this agreeing with God about sin so that we can be saved? No, this is agreeing with God so that then he can deal with the sin, get it out of the way, and restore us to fellowship. Yes?

Again, that's the difference between 1 John 1.9 and 1 John 1.5. When you're walking in fellowship, it doesn't require confession and forgiveness and all the rest of it.

But once you step out of that fellowship, then you get to 1 John 1.9. Do I have to agree with God about sins I'm not committing? No, because fellowship is the priority and primary issue. Fellowship is what he is aiming for, but if I am out of fellowship, that is when I need to confess or agree with God about the sins, and then he'll deal with it to restore us to fellowship. Yeah, Jim?

That's why I think Colossians 3.2 says, set your minds on things above. It didn't say set your minds on the law or on sins or something like that. Because then you're just going to do that. Set your minds on things above, you're going to do those things. Yeah. Yeah, it's the set your mind on things above, not on the pink hippopotamus. Right? Right. Not on things here. Yes. So how do we?

Ah, so here's 1 John 1.9 and the purpose of it, if we confess our sins, and the problem is most people think well that's what we kind of fess up and list them, but the Greek word there really means to agree with God. So it's really my agreeing with God as opposed to disagreeing with regards to Yeah, that's sin, and that's a problem. Then he is faithful to do what? To take care of the sin problem so we can put us back into fellowship, right? Yes. He already knows. Oh yeah, so guess what?

Prior to that we disagreed with God, right? So what people will say is confessing is really agreeing with God as opposed to the disagreement with God that we had before. Oh, that's not sin, or I'm not looking at it. If I don't look at it, it doesn't exist, right? I don't agree with God about what that is. And technically then, the old nature will always disagree with God. That's why you have those two serpents. The new nature is the one that understands and is willing to choose to follow God or agree with God about its in nature.

Right? OK. Let's pray and we'll call it good for today. Thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you as we look at these processes that you have in place. You have those processes in place on purpose. You have put us in this position where we do have an act of will to make, an act of will about sin, an act of will with regard to being alive to you, an act of will with regards to yielding. And so in those things, Lord, we pray that you'd help us to understand and to recognize what those are and what we are to do. And so we just pray for your wisdom and understanding and insight in these things. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.