The Position & Possessions of the Believer # 1-3 (Lesson 15)

We're going to start the 34 things that Lewis Perry Chaffer in his Systematic Theology book, he in one section of that lists out the 34 things that you receive once you believe and the death, burial, resurrection of our Lord and the salvation message. The 34 things.

But before we do that, I want to go back just quickly in the review of what we've gone through to this point. The name of the course is Identification. Identification. So, I want to go back over the... Again, we started out with identification in Adam.

And is this something we could choose? No. No. Can you choose your parents? A lot of people want that. None of my kids. None of that. You can't. We are being identified in Adam when we're born. There's nothing we can do about it. And nothing's pretty about it. We went over quite a bit about what it was to be identified in Adam. We went through several verses that describe us in Adam. Was there anything really good about that?

Nothing. Zero. So when you think of all these things, and a lot of people try and do the fix up of the old Adam. There is nothing to be fixed up about the old Adam. There is nothing good that resides in the Adamic life. There is nothing that is worth fixing up. And God has already dealt with it.

So why are we trying to deal with it? So, we went through a lot of that, the thing about no safe centers, just dead centers and new creatures in Christ. How we go through a transformation from the old Adam to the new. And the only thing God could do was to put to death on the cross his son, our sins, and to crucify our old nature. We see that in Romans 6. And so that was the transition from the old nature to a new creature was through crucifixion.

The only way to do that is through death. So we see that in Romans and Romans six and I you know I always kind of tell Mike sometimes we need this sometimes we parse these things into little sections and we look at it microscopically and we we do all this and look at one verse and then we move on to the next one and so I wanted to just go quickly through Romans six one through eleven and just I'm going to read it and just read it straight through because we tend to like I said parse it into little little bits and pieces and It's good just to read it as a whole section at one time. Romans 6, 1-11. I'll just read you all along. This is the New American Standard.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him, in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is free from sin." And again, that's when I think Mike Roy says, you know, just read that. And what does that mean? Read that. How do you get by that verse? And that's the crux, I think, of the identification right there.

Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but that the life he lives, he lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. That again is kind of, I think in a nutshell, our identification class. Again, we had to take care of the edemic life.

There's nothing good about it. The only way to be acceptable in front of God is to crucify the old man and in newness of life you stand before him. So, one of the things actually, and I talked to Mike a little bit about this after our race through last week, trying to get through Grace and Free Will. I was going to touch a little bit on Grace and I'll touch Free Will next week. We kind of blew through that really quickly last week.

Just, you know, I'm I are an engineer and and which has its inherent problems. I like, you know, build it, you know, how to figure it out, which becomes a problem for me with with, as you have said many times, metrics. I need metrics. I need to know how to build it, how to make it, how to make it better.

So. Grace is one of those things. A lot of what we're going through, I want things to do, I want things to fix, I want to build it, problem solve, get it done. God's done everything. I can't fix up the old man. One of the things in grace, as I was going through it last week, what does it mean, as Michael was going through grace, grace is what? Unlimited. Unmerited.

Blessing, mercy, favor. Okay, so, and we're to abide in grace, we're to just receive it, to take more about that. What does that mean at 2.30 today if you're abiding in grace? 3.15 and you're abiding in grace? What are you trying to say? What does that mean, to receive grace, to abide in grace? I just thought after last week, at 3 o'clock today, I've listened to Mike and we've talked about grace, and I'm receiving grace or I'm abiding in grace. What does that look like?

Rest. That was the exact word that I came up with. That was what I thought, you know, I translated it to, and I just wanted, the practical things, when we go through these things very quickly and we say these terms, a lot of times, what does it really mean? And we had an old friend, he's with the Lord right now, Sam Dalton, and he always said, what does that mean in shoe leather?

What does that mean, you know, to abide in grace? And that was the exact thing that I thought, rest. And then I thought of the fruit of the Spirit. peace, patience. Those are all the things I think as you abide in grace, as you receive that grace, You have peace. You have rest. It's not work. It's all those things.

And I think all these things, and we'll look at a little bit of these things today too, and condemnation. I'm worried about all those sins. Has God dealt with them? Why am I dealing with them? A lot of things. Those are the grace that just keeps coming to you. So just think about these things when we get to it. What does it mean to abide in grace? 3.30 this afternoon. What are you doing? Is it abiding in grace? What does that feel like? What does that mean? What does that translate into? A couple of things.

We have to be taught grace because it's not natural for us to think graciously. So we have to learn it and we'll never understand it unless we, in the word of God, are taught it. And so to think that I'm going to live in and under grace just because it's going to be innate or natural is a mistake. We must be taught grace because we don't think graciously. Our old man and all we come from is based on a merit system. And it's only the Word of God that teaches us grace in the Spirit of God.

So it's a learned thing. And I think that's in our growth, our spiritual growth. Well, then my question to that is that once we understand the identification truths and we're living in that, wouldn't that then become a natural thing? Because that's what our identity, if we're living Then it isn't so much this process of learning that then becomes natural because that's who we are now. The very design of grace is to keep us or prevent us from sinning and to allow us to rest and have the Spirit of God control our conduct by living in grace. That's what it's designed to do.

Does that make sense? Yes. You know, and I think, and Mike and I have talked, Mike always says grace is the most misunderstood thing. I think that's the second thing. The first thing is Romans 6 and our crucifixion of the old man. And exactly what this course is, is about our identification. Because most people are always trying to fix up the old atom.

And if you're in that mode, you will never get to rest, to peace, to all the things where I think spiritual growth is started from. Because I think once you understand that, then you begin to understand about not trying to fix up the old man. You begin to understand these things and start, I think the Holy Spirit starts working these, and the spiritual growth to me is a conformity to Christ, to know Him as to live, to know Him as life. And I think that conformity is where, but it's got to start here, where you're a new creature in Christ, knowing that. I think that's the key. Then you start understanding grace, then you start understanding all these things.

But until you know that, it's just like I was saying, I'm an engineer. I've got to figure out how to do it. I've got to figure out what I've got to do. Nothing except believe in what the word says about the Lord Jesus. I'm not an engineer, I'm a realtor. That's even worse, that's about three levels. Realtors are only concerned with one thing, and that's location.

So when it comes to grace, it's important to know where it is. And the only place it is, is in Christ. And that's why the identification truths are so important to the believer, because it doesn't exist outside of Christ. So as we learn that we are united to him in his death, burial, and resurrection, We live in the location of grace which is in Christ and it's not outside of him. So if you're struggling you're not abiding in Christ because that's the only place that grace functions.

John 1.17 said that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He likes to know how things work. I like to know where they are. That's why we compliment each other. He wants to know where it is and I'll build a road to get there. Mike, did you have something?

I was, but didn't win. Going back on the Romans, William Nees sums it up this way, and I think this is what we've been talking about. We are apt to think that what we have done is very bad, but we ourselves are not so bad. God is taking pains to show us that we ourselves are wrong, fundamentally wrong. The root trouble is the sinner. He must be dealt with.

Our sins are dealt with by the blood, but we ourselves are dealt with by the cross. The blood procures our pardon for what we have done. The cross procures our deliverance from what we are. I think a lot of people know the blood about paying for our sins, but it's the second half about the crucifixion and our death.

That's part of it. Most, I think, churches don't teach or don't focus on that. I think everybody understands the pain for the sins. But it's the crucifixion and dealing with the old man that most people don't and they're kind of condemned to struggle until God brings them to that point that they realize that they can't fix up the old man.

I say many times, I have a flat forehead from crashing into the wall for 20 years of my Christian life, trying to do things. As an elder, I was a deacon, I was doing 59,000 things. Rest was the thing that I always missed. I was very busy, very active, but working, working hard. And, you know, now with these identification truths, I can't express to you how much more rest I have.

It's just, it's totally freeing. And spiritual growth, I think, starts there. And that's why I'm excited about this class, because this really, I think, is a good point, I mean, the point where you have to get to, to really begin spiritual growth. Miles Stanford's None But the Hungry Heart, in one of the recent days, there was one about this same topic.

Christian progress is not a question of attaining some abstract standard. or pressing through to some far-off goal. It is wholly a question of seeing God's standard in God's Word. You advance spiritually by finding out what you really are in Christ, not by trying to become what you hope to be. That goal you'll never reach, however earnestly you may strive.

Boy, that in a nutshell is what I was doing for many years, trying to become what I hoped to be. Man, that is what I think many people struggle with. Here's this picture of a Christian, and I'm going to go and I'm going to try and become that. I don't watch TV. I'm not going to eat too much. I'm going to do a whole bunch of different things. It says I'm a Christian. That's not the standard. That's not what we're to do. Ours is to be a new creature in Christ conformed to Christ's image. That's what it is.

So I think that you advance spirits by finding out what you really are in Christ, not by trying to become what you hope to be. I think that's very poignant and a very good thing as we study these identification truths. As we do that, we'll now get into Lesson 15. And if you have your Bibles, I'll be calling. There are a lot of verses we're going to go over, and I'd like to get people involved.

OK, what does Ephesians 1.3 guarantee for the believer?

Mike, do you want to read Ephesians 1.3? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.

So, what does Ephesians 1.3 guarantee for the believer? All? Okay. All. Hmm. She would be asking for more. Yes? No? Come on. I'll do the mic for you. How can you? You can't.

What does all mean? I won't get too political, but it's not like Clinton. What does his is mean? I don't know. All means all. All means all. So, should we be asking for more? No. You've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And then what's the catchphrase that I always like in the last bit?

In Christ, in Him. I'll go into this. I didn't know it until we started doing a lot of these identification truths. And it helped me out in a lot of ways. When you start seeing how these things are, and we'll go through a lot of these terms about election, predestination, all those things.

Those are all tied to the in Him. In Him. It's for the believer. In Him. And that's a real critical key. As you go through these things, look in the scripture and see about in Him, in Him, in Him. That's where we get in Him. It's not what we do, not anything else. But when we're in Him, this is true of us. And then we find out who we really are in Him.

Let's look at Colossians 2. 10. Erica, you're hiding a Bible, but that's OK. Ephesians 3, 8. Oh, I didn't know. Oh, I see. You can read. OK. I'll get him next time. I didn't know he was hiding a Bible or he was just going to use your ears. Colossians 2, 10. David, do you want to go Ephesians 3, 8? These are more, so Ephesians 1, 3 tells us we have all spiritual blessings. These are some other ones about what we have in Christ. Go ahead. Colossians 2, 9 and 10.

For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every power and authority. Okay, so remember mine is, for in him It's all over the place in the scripture. For in him all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made mine complete. Okay?

Ephesians 3.8. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. I like that one. Mine is the unfathomable riches of Christ. Unfathomable. That's a mariner's term about measuring depth. It's unfathomable. I can't measure how deep or how rich the riches of Christ is. And that's what we have, the riches of Christ.

So, in these next few months, we're going to go over a lot of things that you have in Christ, once you're identified with Him. we're going to say all these things that are true of you right now. Right now. And so we're going to go through 34 of these things that Lewis Perry Chaffer pulled out from the scriptures about what you have in Christ right now with our identification with Him.

So, we'll go through... Romans 8, 29, 1 Peter 1, 2. So, fill in the blank for the items related to our being in the eternal plan. Okay, actually I forgot. The first possession we are going to look into is, we are in the eternal plan of God. So first one, Romans 8, 29 and 30.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Let me ask a question right there. Who is the whom in this passage? For whom he foreknew? Whom be that? Us. Us? Believers. This is speaking to believers. For whom he foredo. That's us. Then what was the effect of this on his son? From that verse. What's that saying? What was the effect on Christ or his son from this verse? What was the effect? It's in the verse. Firstborn. He might become the first born among many brethren. What does that mean? Deathly silence. We are a new creation. And what does it mean about him? Christ. The first of many. First.

We say in our identification, Adam is the federal head or the head of this whole race, humans. Now Christ is the firstborn, the federal head, the very first of this new creature. The federal head, the one that now we all descend from. We all are identified just as in Adam. When we are born, we're of Adam. We're of flesh. Now, in Christ, believers are related to him now. We are identified with him.

So he's the first born of the federal head of this new creature, this new race. So it's talking about Christ, he's the first of the new creature. Everybody understand that? This points back to our identification, the death, burial, resurrection, crucifixion, death to our Adamic race, and Christ becomes the federal or firstborn of the new creature.

1 Peter 1 and 2. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit and to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Okay, going back to what is the first thing associated with the eternal plan between those two. For whom he foreknew, We were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and the answer is?

Elect. Foreknown. Is that what yours is, elect? Actually, this is kind of a double verse, so I kind of have to be in my seat to really see what I'm looking at. It's a little unfair because it covers a couple of them. This one is foreknown. You are foreknown. But what is the caveat of that? What is my cat phrase that I like? In him. You're foreknown through him.

You know, it's that wonderful revelation that I started when we were in the Ephesian study on the men's Bible study. Figure that out, all this predestination, some of what that means. And we'll see that all these terms we're going to look at are meant for the believer. Once you're in Christ, these are the terms, and I'll read some quotes from some, that these verses are not for the unbeliever. This isn't meaning predestined for the unbeliever, predestined for, or elect, some of these terms we're going to look at.

It's for the believer, and that's the in him part. And that's where, you know, stepping into Him, we're wholly identified with Him. So what's true of Him is true of us. So He's from eternity past to eternity future. So that's why God's known us from all time. Because once we're in Him, He's known us in Christ from eternity past.

That's hard. But let me tell you, it makes a lot more sense to me because I always... Go through this really quick. I'm sorry. It always confounded me. How in the garden, when Adam is walking in the cool of the day, fellowshipping with the Lord, he said, it wasn't enough. That always bothered me. It's like, wait a minute. We're waiting to be face-to-face with God. We want to see Hal as face-to-face with the Lord right now. That's our joy set before us. Well, here's Adam walking in the garden.

And he says, it's not enough. You need a helper. You need a wife. You need a woman. Why was it? That always bothered me. And I thought, why did you need that? I mean, you're fellowshipping, walking in the garden of Eden. Why wasn't that enough? Because he wanted to reveal his love. Well, he could reveal his love, he could creation, all these things. Why wasn't it enough?

It has to do with relationship. And that's, you're getting there, to what helped me out. Well, Adam wasn't in Christ. Yeah, which, what does that mean? He had this relationship, God was here and he was down here, it wasn't that in Christ. That's the whole key. That's what I, you know, why wasn't it? He was flesh and God was spirit. You can talk, but it's not like...

I love our dog. Spike is one of our dogs. Great dog. He's a great guy. But I can't have that intimate relation knowing everything that he's thinking. I really don't think I want to know what he's thinking. I can't have that relationship. We can respond, we can interact, we can do things, but it's not the same relationship as a human.

And I think that's where we had to be moved into in Him, in Christ. To have everything similar, to have that relationship, that intimate relationship. And that's why I said it wasn't enough. Because they were on two different planes in the garden. And hence now he had to bring us into a new creature, that same spiritual creature that Christ is. We have everything except the deity.

So now we have that fellowship one-on-one. We have that intimacy that Adam and God in the garden didn't have. And so that's why I think once you do that, you're in Christ and then everything is through and we step into that eternal plan. And when you look in Ephesians, there's a lot of predestination, some of the terms we're going to look at.

Once you step into Christ, everything that's true about Him is true about you. Well, when did He begin? In eternity past. So did God know Christ in eternity past? You're now in Him. Did He know you in eternity past? predestined. I knew you. I foreknew you. I knew you. Because you're in Christ.

It's like you step in the door and you look back and now it goes... infinitely back that way, and infinitely back in front of you. You know, I go through the door into Christ. I mean, it's a bad analogy, but you step in, and wow, and then I look back, and now, everything's true about Christ, and now, well, that's eternity past.

So, wow, God knew me all the way back. So he knew you was going to choose or do whatever you wanted before? No, he knows me in Christ. And once I believe in the Lord and I receive the message, and by faith, the only thing I can do is by faith, I step into Christ, now I'm eternally known. being acted upon rather than you.

Yeah, then all these things are happening to me. What convinced me about that was, and I harp on this, is the in him's. All these things when you look in Ephesians, and I'll go over that, there's six times in there, in all this predestination, foreknowledge and all that, it's in him, in him, in him, in him. So once I step into him, that's true of me now. He's foreknown to me. He's predestined. All these things are related to in Him.

Those things are true of you only when you're in Him. And a lot of commentators also say none of these verses are about unbelievers, about drawing you or predestined about knowing you. It's only about believers in Him. So when you look, when you think about it that way, about predestination, election, chosen, a lot of these things, those are speaking about believers in Him.

They're not about drawing or bringing or, you know, I knew you out here. I knew you in Christ. It took me a while, but finally a lot of these things just fell into place. It's nice to have a chauffeur, especially in weather like this. What? A chauffeur. Let the Lord do the talking. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, very much so. All right. Okay, so the first one is for knowledge.

Next one, can you do 1 Thessalonians 1.4?

We got 1 Peter 1.2, Romans 8.33, Colossians 3.12, and then Titus 1.1. Remember what we're trying to find, what this is in the eternal plan of God is.

1 Thessalonians 1.4 Knowing brethren, beloved by God, His choice of you.

1 Peter 1.1-2 To God elect strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.

Romans 8.33. We're sharing. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? Is it God who justifies?

Colossians 3.12 Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, all suffering.

Titus 1.1 Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after God's works. Do we have a word that all those elect of God, his choice of you who are chosen according to the foreknowledge, who will bring charge against God's elect, Chosen of God, chosen of God.

This again, elect of God speaks only of believers, not of unbelievers. Therefore, this is not a pre-selection of believers. It speaks of those who have already believed. So, Bruce, I think what you guys were saying about this pre-selection of me, this speaks of believers. You're in Him. So you're chosen of Him, elect of Him. because you were in him. Alright, rocketing on here.

Next one, Ephesians 1.11, Romans 8.29 and 30, Ephesians 1.5.

In Ephesians 1.11, in whom we also, we are of king and inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own law. Okay, next one.

For those whom he bore in, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified.

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. the common thread maybe through all that is predestined predestined again and what was it that God determined beforehand that we should have attained that we are predestined to from these verses Ephesians 1.11 an inheritance in Romans passage conformed to the image of his son in the Ephesians 2.5 passage So these are the things that we as believers have been predestined.

Going on to the next one. Matthew 22, 14. Mike, you got one? Ephesians 1, 4. So yeah, it was predestined on C. We're now on D. According as he hath chosen us, he and him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in the last. Chosen. Chosen. You are chosen. Again, I go back on this one. The Ephesians in the first chapter, the term in him, in the first chapter, the term in him is found six times.

So, all these things that are talked about, it's to believers. From Lewis Ferry Chafer, he says, as far as the New Testament terms have been traced, the words predestination, elect, and chosen are not used of those whom God has selected for salvation when still in their unregenerate state. However, the next one that we're going to go over may include those still in the unregenerate state. The first ones, A through D, are for believers. This one that we're going to look at can also be for unbelievers.

Could you say that these words talk more about our purpose, as opposed to we're chosen for position? In other words, you're predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. That has to do with, once you become in Him, it's already been determined that you're going to be conformed to the image of Christ.

It would be like if we had some type of drawing. We had a whole bunch of different colored tiles. And we've already determined that if you choose a red tile, that you're going to get some sort of prize. It's not predetermined that you're going to choose that red tile.

It's predetermined that once you choose that, you're going to receive the prize. So those that are in crisis, You know, a lot of people talk about predestination. You know, you're predetermined to become in Christ. Well, no, you're predetermined once you're in Christ that you're going to have all these different things. Yeah, I don't know about that. I'm talking about a purpose. I guess the prize is the term that we have everything. So, I mean, a prize. The other term, I guess, is... Whichever tile you turn over, it's all good.

You know, I think you will be conformed to His image. We are being conformed to His image now, and we step into eternity. We're just like him, minus the deity. You mean that we're not predetermined to salvation, we're predetermined to certain things after we are saved? Exactly.

The predetermined for the good works, Ephesians 4, the good works that he's prepared for you beforehand, And we've discussed that one. What does that mean? Does that mean you are going to do them? Or he's predetermined and you can do them or you will do them? And we've had debates about that. I don't want to open that camera warms up right now. You don't know how much sparring we do in the office. We beat each other up off camera here.

I'll just say one thing. You're just proving that location is more important than how it works. How you get there with the crucifixion, you're done. Got to start there. You know, there is a lot in that. And, you know, we've discussed that as far as the works predetermined. I agree that we won't do one more than he's already predetermined. Yes, 50 things for us to do in our lifetime. Predetermined work. I'm not going to do 51. I think what we discuss is if he's got 50 for you, are you going to do 50? That's the million dollar question that we beat each other up on. Will you do 50? Or will you do 48?

But it's coming from a position of rest. Oh yeah, all this is from rest. It's just in Ephesians verse about predetermined I think we get off of that position thinking that we've got to do something rather than seeing that it's already been done. It's so easy to slip into that without... We haven't resolved that question that you have. You know, there's...

I have. He has. I have. I have. I have too, but until we send an attorney, we may not know that answer. And one of Mike's things is the best quality is humility. I've learned that over the years. All right, we are slowly getting through this. And so in answer, we don't have a great answer for you. We still beat each other up on that.

All right. He first says one is five twenty four. Ouch. Right. Mike. I'm sorry. He first says one is five twenty four. It doesn't happen. Then why don't you have that? There's a lot of different ones. I didn't know. Wow. How did I do that? It's unless you're a boy.

Okay, the last one, sir, that you should have on your sheet is 1 Thessalonians 5.24. And I'll read it.

Faithful is he who calls you, and he also will bring it to pass. So this is calling. And this is the one that is applicable both to believers and non-believers. So who is doing the calling? He is. He is. Lewis Perry Schaefer puts it reference and all this discussion is to an effectual call such as indicated in Romans 830. God and not only gives an invitation. but inclines the heart to glad acceptance of it.

Romans 8.30 is, and whom he predestined, these he also called, and whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. So this is calling, and this is more of to the unregenerate, you know, the calling, you know, it's how we're drawn in the conviction by the Holy Spirit and the inclination that he brings you in, he calls you, draws you in.

So this one can be of the unregenerate. Okay? We're good with that? Let me read a couple of things from Schaeffer along that line. This was under the free will and sovereignty that we talked about last week. Schaeffer says, when God, by his spirit, inclines one to receive the Savior, that one, in so doing, acts only in the consciousness of his own choice. It is obvious that to present a convincing argument to a person which leads that one to make a decision does not partake of the nature of a coercion of the will. In such case, every function of the will is preserved and in relation to the gospel it remains true that whosoever will may come. Yet back of this truth is the deeper revelation that no fallen man wills to accept the Savior until enlightened by the Holy Spirit."

I thought that was pretty good. Alright, maybe we'll get through three before. From the Corinthians 5.18-20, Colossians 1.20 and Romans 5.10, what is a believer's position possession number two? I'll just blow through these and read them since we only have about two minutes left.

2 Corinthians 5.18-20, now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

Namely, that God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against him, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Colossians 1, 19 and 20 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having been made peace through the blood of his cross, through him I say whether things on earth or things in heaven. Romans 5, 10 and 11 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God, through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, what shall be saved by his life?"

So what is our second thing that we have? Reconciliation. That one was like a neon sign pounding on your head. Quick question on that one. Once somebody has been reconciled to another, what is their relationship like after that? You've been reconciled to somebody. What's your relationship? Like-minded? Yeah, like-minded. I think of restored or fellowship. We have fellowship now. I guess, how is it unlike being alienated? Kind of the converse of that. If we've been reconciled, it's not being alienated.

We'll continue on a couple of these next week and I'll try to blow through them a little faster here. But I do also want to touch a little bit next week about free will. Because we went through that really quick last week with Mike. Alright, why don't we close. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. Thank you for just the word that you've provided to us. We thank you for the indwelling Holy Spirit.

We just thank you of all these things we're beginning to just understand about who we are in Christ your Son. We realize that it's It's nothing that we do. It's so hard sometimes to figure out that it's all what you have done. The only thing you required us to do is to believe in faith.

We thank you for these truths. We thank you as we study these truths and these things that we have in Christ that you'll be glorified and honored. We just again thank you for your word and this time in your word. We just commit this day to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.