You In Christ and Christ in You

OK, I'm trying to think of how far we get last week. We didn't get very far. We're studying a lesson. Twenty eight. And I asked you to change the lesson number to twenty eight because the one you have is probably twenty nine or twenty nine. It should be twenty eight. And it all has to do.

What we've been doing is going through and talking about this paper on grace. That came from Newell's Romans, the end of chapter 6. Basically all I've done is go through and take some of his statements and make questions out of them. I know we talked, the man under grace is not under probation, how come? And why doesn't failure of devotion cause a withdrawal of grace? And a lot of these questions are similar in the sense that There's a lot of things that we think that we do in our actions would cause God to somehow withdraw his grace from us because we weren't living up to our obligations. So I think we ought to start in question 7. In 1 Corinthians 5, 1-5 and 11, 30-32, why don't these people lose the grace they had? So let's look at 1 Corinthians 5. And the verses are 1 through 5.

Paul says, It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, an immorality of such a kind that does not exist even among the Gentiles, but that someone has his father's wife, and you have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

For I, on my part, though absent in the body, but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed these, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, in the power of the Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord." And we started to talk about that last week. How is that gracious?

Paul, and here's the circumstances. This fella had a stepmother and I don't know, they don't tell you what happened to his dad, but he's engaged in a sexual relationship with his stepmother and he's flaunting that he won't quit. Everybody knows about it and he's not. And Paul doesn't necessarily get on this guy so much as he gets on the church.

You see that? He says, you have become arrogant and have not mourned instead so that one of you has done this deed would be removed from your midst. In other words, he's saying, why are you tolerating this? Isn't that interesting? So he's as much on them as he is on the issue of the man. But he says, here's what we're going to do. We're going to put him out of the assembly. And why are we going to do that?

I think one reason is that it isn't healthy for the rest of the church to see that and think it's okay. And as we were talking about this last week, I was thinking it may be possible that this person wasn't a believer, and sticking him out and letting Satan deal with him for a while would wake him up so he would truly repent, turn around and be a I think the evidence is that this guy is a believer, but he's sinning in such a manner that even it's an abomination to the Gentiles.

So the direction is to put him out. And why does the verse say that he should go out? For the destruction of his flesh. And the word destruction there is the same word that you see in Romans 6, the caturgeo word, which means that if he put out a business, it isn't that his flesh is going to be destroyed, it's just that he would stop relying on it as his mode of operation.

Now don't you find it, does it sound gracious to you that God would turn one of us who insists on sinning over to our sin and over to Satan so that we can get the full brunt of what he's doing for the purpose of us learning not to go there anymore. What do you think about that? It's a scary proposition, isn't it? Isn't that pretty normal, though? Well, I don't know. We haven't had a meeting around here that I know of that we send anybody off to Satan.

But what you talk about the Lord letting you, I think the Lord does let you. Yes, he does. There's no question. Discipline. And a lot of times the discipline comes from the fact that, well, I've decided I'm going to do X. And I know it's sinful, but I'm going to do it anyway. And there are consequences. And I pay the full brunt of those consequences.

Is that gracious? Yeah. Why? The fact that he even saved us. Well, that doesn't deal with the issue. Why is it gracious that he would allow me to suffer all these consequences? Or maybe put me out of the church for the destruction of my flesh, so my flesh would be put out of business. What makes that gracious? That your soul might be saved. I might be saved, see? That's the issue. So I think from a gracious standpoint it's really interesting that there isn't anything God won't do to get you to live under grace. So you learn. the effect of it, learn that grace is the motivator.

Is that okay? But if he's a believer, he's saved regardless. Yes, he is. He definitely is saved. But he's not living like he's saved. And so, most believers who want to live in a sinful environment, one, they don't want to tell anybody about it, they don't want anybody to know. And two, they certainly don't want to suffer the consequences of it. But there are consequences. Especially in a situation like this because it harms or damages the whole body. So I was thinking about this.

Can you correlate fellowship and grace? It seems like you don't have to have fellowship to be in grace or be under grace. That's true. Is a believer under grace all the time? Yes. Sure. The lack of fellowship is not an indicator as to whether you are under grace or not. Right? So fellowship is a benefit of walking in grace. The lack of fellowship is a deterrent for not walking in the Spirit or walking in the grace. It goes back... next week and the week after we're going to spend the whole class on talking about position and condition. Because that's how you answer a question like this.

I'm positioned in Christ. I am in grace. That's the operating system I'm in. Now I may, because of my sinfulness, choose to live in the world. Right? I may choose to live in an adulterous situation, or I may be a thief, or I may I may be an investment guy who's stealing money from everybody in the church. I may be a pastor who knows what I'm up to. But all of that does not affect my position. But I certainly, the slightest sin, if there is such a thing, ruins the fellowship I have. Now, I can try to act like I still have it, but I know better. So what Paul is telling these people to do, when this person is blatantly flaunting his sin, he says, put him out of fellowship with you.

Don't have anything to do with him. Not only does he not have fellowship with the Lord, but he doesn't have fellowship with like believers, so he's kind of on his own. And you recognize that this relationship that he's got with this woman probably isn't going to last forever. There's going to be consequences.

And as we find out in 2 Corinthians, it did do its work, and he petitioned to be included back into the fellowship, and they didn't want to let him back in. Once you get the scarlet letter, you're done. And Paul said, no, what we did, has had its effect on him, that the flesh is not what he relies on anymore, and so accept him back into fellowship. Kind of a cool thing. So his position didn't change. His condition certainly did. So then could you say that conditionally there's no benefit to being in grace if the fellowship's broken? I could say that. Absolutely.

And the reason I brought in this other verse, 1 Corinthians 11, 30-32, which is, you know, when we do the words table, we always read 1 Corinthians 11. Well, farther down, Paul talks about this issue of judging yourself in regards to your sinfulness. And he says, for this reason, many among you are weak and sick in a number's sleep. In other words, they were sinning and they weren't judging themselves and confessing their sins and being restored to fellowship. Here's the gracious part. Well, I'll ask you.

But if we judge ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. Now, judgment here is not the word for, we're going to go to court, we're going to have a trial, we're going to judge you. What this judgment means is an evaluation of what you're doing. So if you don't evaluate, what you're doing, or if you do evaluate what you're doing, then nobody else is going to have to.

You can judge yourself, you can repent, be restored to fellowship, confess your sins, okay? But then he says, but when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, here's the reason, so that we will not be condemned along with the world. Now what's very interesting about this is, this is part of the principle of the first verses that we discussed. God says to us in his word, okay, you're sinning, and you won't do anything about it. And I'm giving you the opportunity to do something about it. You're convicted, my spirit has convicted you, but you're turning your back. So I'm going to step in, and I'm going to take control of this situation, and I'm going to judge you.

Is that gracious? Sure it is, because he's a loving father, you know, like I was saying on Wednesday night, when you have teenage sons, you know, you see things, you see the train wreck coming, they don't see it, you do, and you're taking steps to eliminate the train wreck, but sometimes you just have to let the train wreck happen, you know, and your judgment and wisdom is better than your son's, but there's always the restoration. because they don't stop being your son just because they have a train wreck. See?

So this is a really gracious thing, I think, because if you're like me, you know, there have been sinful situations in my life that I didn't even know. Is that frame of reference and that attitude sinful? I didn't think it was so bad. So I wouldn't judge myself, but the Lord would come along and make me really aware through a set of circumstances, I would be child trained.

That's gracious. Because if he didn't care, he wouldn't do it. You see that? If he didn't love us, he would not judge us, and he wouldn't train us, he wouldn't bring us up. Okay? Yeah. What's really cool about that, as you say that, is that through that child training, he encourages you to live in the benefits that the grace provides. That's right. That's exactly what he does. That's exactly what he does.

So, I have to admit there are sometimes with Christians in my experience that won't listen. There's nothing you can do when you see that God is going to step in now and things are going to happen that aren't going to be too pleasant for that person. But it's designed to approve them and restore them, not to ever condemn them. So how can one consent to be loved by God while unworthy? How can you do that? I mean, you walk around with this rain cloud over your head all the time. Oh, I'm unworthy, I'm unworthy. But God loves me, I think, because he said so. How can you consent to be loved? Maybe a better question is, can one consent to be loved by God, or can one deny to be loved by God? Can you go to God and say, you know what?

I've had enough of your love. I'm done. Don't do it anymore. Can you do that? And he'll say, OK, I just wrote down because it is God's plan for new creatures to live freely under grace and try moment by moment. Well, I can't read. Here's the thing. Can the believer refuse God's love? And how does he do it? If I said to God, I'm refusing your love, what am I really doing? What's that? I'm rejecting. What am I really rejecting? I'm him. But here's the thing. From God's side of the ledger, what's he doing? He's coming to me through His Word, full on grace all the time.

So when I reject His love, what do I do? I refuse to believe Him. You see that? I just refuse to believe Him. He says, I love you, and I say, no you don't. This, this, this, this, this, I don't care, I don't believe Him. So really, to refuse to be loved by God is to not believe Him.

Because all of the information He sends towards us is gracious and loving, because He is love. Are you okay with that? So it's interesting, everything we do or don't do always centers around whether we believe or not. To believe and consent to be loved while unworthy is the great secret.

There's no question, as we grow spiritually, we are going to absolutely be aware of our unworthiness of what God is doing. Right? I mean, the minute you start to think you're worthy, guess what? you're outside the realm of grace. But at the same time, although we're unworthy, we expect to be blessed by God. Why? Because our unworthiness is not the criteria in which the blessing comes.

It is God's character and his love that blesses us, not my worthiness. Is that okay? We have to be brought off of this, I can do and be something that would cause God to bless me more or bless me less, it isn't about what I do or don't do. It may be about what I do or don't do in terms of my fellowship, but it has nothing to do with my position and whether God loves me and is going to bless me, and I live under grace.

It's always Him. I love to tell people, especially young believers who have gone through a euphoric stage and then things are getting a little tough and are starting to grow, and sort of go at him from that viewpoint as, well, that means that God doesn't love you anymore, right?

He didn't save you, it was all a joke. He was kidding, right? Just because things are tough, you know? He really made him mad this time. That sin that you're complaining about, that was the one he didn't pay for on the cross, right? That kind of mentality, you see? Because that's really what it comes down to. The verse I wrote down was Romans 7. What shall we say then?

Is the law sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except the law said that I shouldn't covet, or I shouldn't have strong desires. Don't you love that? Here comes the law. The purpose of the law was gracious. Do you know that? When God gave the Jews a mosaic law, he did it in grace. Why did he give the Jews the law?

Why did he do it? You'd think, boy, we were doing pretty good before you gave us the rules. And now that we've got these 600 rules, things aren't going so well. You know, we're having a tougher time because every move I make is a violation of the law. Why did God give him the law?

What's the real reason? Yeah, they asked for it. Tell us what to do and we'll do it. But what was the real reason he agreed to give him the law? I think later down the line it was like the schoolmaster to make us realize we couldn't keep it to the gift of Christ. Okay, so you go to God and you say, give me a set of rules of what to do and what not to do. He says, okay. And he gives them to you. And you say, no, I've got them in my pocket and now I'm going to live. You get about two steps down the road and you look at the first one and you say, oh, I can't do that one. Maybe I'll go to the second one. Oh, I can't do that one.

And pretty soon I'm condemned, right? If I'm a Jew and I'm honest, I'm condemned pretty quickly. Where does that leave me? dependent on God's grace. Isn't that what the law was really designed to do? It was designed to force me, because of my sinfulness, to go to God and say, I can't do this. And he always says back, no kidding. I already knew that. So if you believe me and you'll trust me, then I will save you. Abraham. Abraham was accounted righteous because he believed God, not because he did anything.

In Romans 7.13, Paul says, therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? The law being good, and him being dead, he says no, rather it is sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. Do you think that believers must, in their growth time, have to come to the realization that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing? Do you have to be brought to that? Or can you skip over that part because you spend a lot more time in the Bible? Do you have to be brought to that? I think you do.

In me, that is in my flesh. My old man, not a good thing dwells. Nothing. Nothing. Most believers wouldn't agree with you about that. For I know that in me dwells nothing at all in my flesh that's good. And then he says, willing is present, but to do the thing that I want to do, I can't find, I can't do it.

So devils and resolutions, is that a good idea? We're six weeks away from New Year's Eve. We're going to have a meeting down here and I want you to bring your vows and resolutions. Is that a good idea? Why isn't that a good idea or why is it? Why wouldn't to make vows to God be a bad idea? Why would it be a bad idea?

It kind of puts the pressure on you to do it. That's right. Well, we say in the class here that, well, I can't do that, but don't we do that all the time? Especially if you've done the same sin more than four times. I'm not doing this again. And you do. And I'm not doing this again. And you do. What are you doing? You're making vows. You're promising God you're not going to do it again. Right? Why doesn't that work? Why doesn't that work?

The sin nature. Well, a little more than that. Yeah, it is the sin nature. When I say to God, I am not going to sin again, what am I trusting in? Yourself. My ability to not do it. That's a mistake. Conversely, what should I be doing? Rather than saying, I'm not going to do it again, what would your frame of reference be? Don't you think you'd come to the Lord and just tell Him, I'm struggling with this and I need help? Okay, and what would He say back to you? He's already taken care of me. There you go. That's what He would say back.

Now wait a minute. You have been crucified. You're separated from that sin nature. You no longer need to be a slave to sin. You are under grace. Do you believe me? Isn't that what it comes down to? No. Yeah, I do believe you, but I'm really going to try harder. No, you don't believe me then. You see how that goes? It's a situation where God has the answer for everything, and He certainly has the answer for sin. And the issue is, do you believe His answer, or do you say, well, I'm going to have to try harder? No, you're not. No, you're not.

It's very interesting. When you study the second half of Romans 7, you will find that all of the pronouns are personal. me, what can I do, what can we do, until you get to 23 or towards the end there. Now here's where the pronoun changes. He says, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? You see what happened there? He went from him doing it to somebody outside of me has got to deliver me. That's the right question. Up until that time, he kept asking the question, what must I do? But when he gets to 23, he says, who shall deliver me? He recognizes that he needs deliverance.

It's not anything that he can do to deliver himself. Do you see that? So it's a very significant little change there when you look at, I've got to do this, or I can't do this, or I'm trying to do this. Oh, in my flesh dwells no good thing. A wretched man that I am, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And then he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ. He instantly knew that he was already delivered. Isn't that interesting? I think that's cool. Yes?

Is there any problem with, for example, other vows that we have to take? Wedding vows? Yeah, let's talk about those. Wedding vows are good ones. What do you think about wedding vows? Let's see. One, two, three, four. Four of us in here, five, are married. How are those vows working out for you? Let's see, what did I say? Many of us remember even those vows. Let's see, if you did the traditional thing, how does it go? To love, honor, and cherish until death do you part?

I've forgotten these witnesses. Oh, that goes. Yeah, and then I love Christians who want to repeat them. Yeah, they didn't work out the first time. What is a marriage? What is a marriage when a man and a woman come together? It's a representation of Christ and His Church. It's a representation of Christ and His Church. Right? And they live under grace. And there's the best example of Christ and His Church is a married couple. That's the best example of it done right. They live under grace and they live in love. Right? No vows. No vows.

But when Ephesians 5 says, Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the Church, I think it's fine to say, as a prospective husband, to say to my wife, I will love you as Christ loved the Church. And the reason I will do that is because I'm in Christ. And I expect God to do it. Left to me, I know that I can't. I'm to cherish you and present you holy and blameless before God and love. Okay. I agree to do that. But I agree to do it because it's a matter of faith in what God has told me, not because I vow to do it in the flesh. Does that make sense? Are those vows in some way for, as a witness? A witness to who? To the other people that are there. You know, I don't... how do I say this?

I think that weddings are cool because you watch God join two people together. You see Him do it. And if they're doing it in a gracious way, you see the grace operating. And you see that God does put them together. And they're to function that way. And you know that it isn't the vow that's going to make it. succeed, it isn't their intention, or their all-consuming love for one another, it isn't any of those things.

It's the life of Christ in them that makes it work. Where do the vows originate from? Presbyterians. Catholicism? I don't know. I think it's from Judaism, where you promise to do, you know, If you go through Ephesians 5, which is husbands love your wife and wives submit yourself to your husband, are those vows? They're logical imperatives, they're commands to a man and a woman who are married, but they're based on what? What are they based on? The fact that those two people read the rules and decided to commit to them? God's empowering?

Well, before you get to Ephesians 5, you get Ephesians 1, 2, 3, and 4. What do you learn there? You learn who you are in Christ. You're in a heavenly position. You have a new life. You're resurrected. All of those things. And so when you get to 5, from a husband's standpoint, I can see why God would say, I'm to love my wife as Christ loved the church.

Because there's no other way. Because I'm in Him. There's no other way. And so when he says, do that, you think, OK. That's the right thing to do. I live in Christ and Christ lives in me if there's going to be a wife. That's what I'm supposed to do. I'm the representative of Christ in my family. I'm the head of my household. God put me in that position. That's what I'm supposed to do. Not on my own effort. But I have to trust God that that's what he intends to do through me to my wife. And that I would actually figure out how this presenting her holy and blameless, you know, because that's what he's doing to me. See? I'm telling you, every woman in this room would not submit themselves to a man who didn't come down that road. Do you agree with that?

If your husband or your intended husband was not submitted to the Lord, you won't submit yourself. And you may say you do, but you're not gonna, because you don't trust him. And you shouldn't trust him. Do you understand that? If I said to Donna, I'm going to love you as Christ loved the church, and I'm not under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, she'd say, fat chance of that happening. That's not happening. And I'll say that I'm going to submit to you, but you're too scary. You're not reliable. No kidding. In the flesh, none of us are reliable. Does that make sense?

So is it a vow? Is it a promise? I think it's a consent to be loved by God and to take his word and say, OK, this is where I am and this is what I intend to do. I believe you about this. I know it's not my energy that will do it. Does that answer your question? So should we have vows at weddings? I don't think we should, in terms of strict vows, but I do think a couple should sit down and write down what they want to say to each other. express their love for one another and how they perceive it.

If they want to say in that, by God's grace I will do this and this and this, that's okay. As long as they understand it isn't the flesh promising it. Because if the flesh promises it, you get past the rice and you're dead. The Americans that have to bear some huge number don't have a clue? They don't. And I think it's because they're not prepared. They're not taught what marriage really is.

What God is intending for a marriage and how he put it together and what he intends both parties to do and what they're supposed to be involved in in the marriage. Because when you think about it, forget Christianity, in a non-Christian marriage what do you got in the same house? You've got two sin natures who want to be king living in the same residence.

How's that going to work out? One of them is going to be tougher than the other and they're going to win. And so the other one is going to get put down. The best a marriage can be without Christ is détente, peaceful coexistence, with a line down the middle of the house. That's the best it will ever get.

I'll love you and we'll trade off a few things and then you wake up one morning and you look over at the list and she erased one and added another one. Wait a minute! I didn't agree to that. That's what vows do for you. Why isn't it foolishness to expect to be blessed even though realizing your lack of worth? Why isn't that foolish? It sounds foolish. Why isn't it foolish to expect to be blessed even though you're realizing your lack of worth?

Because it all goes back to what your blessing is dependent on. Is it dependent on you? No. So if it's not dependent on you, then your actions in the flesh have nothing to do with whether God's going to bless you or not, right? Why is he going to bless you? Because of what he did.

Romans 8.1 says, therefore there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. There are a lot of believers that go around condemning themselves for stuff. When the Bible says there's no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, wait a minute, I'm in Christ, am I condemned? No. Yeah, but I didn't matter. My position is everything. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, this new principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has already set me free from the law of sin and death.

And then this verse for the law of verses of three Romans 8 3 is a terrific verse and it's hard to understand sometimes I listen to this for what the law couldn't do what couldn't the law do The law couldn't make you righteous Couldn't cause you to live right here what the law could not do because why it was weak through the flesh God did and here's how he did it He's sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, what did he do? He condemned sin in the flesh. S-I-N, sin nature. Not your sins, your sin nature is condemned.

The law couldn't do that, and your vows certainly couldn't do it. So God did what? He knew that you and Adam couldn't perform. If anything, if the Old Testament teaches us anything, it teaches us that man can't live up to God's requirements. If it teaches you nothing else, it teaches you that. So you have to go to God in dependence and say, well, what are we going to do about this?

Because I'm in big trouble. He said, why don't we crucify you on the cross and I'll take you out of Adam and put you into Christ and then you'll be totally acceptable to me. How's that? Oh, that sounds like a good plan. I think I'll go for that. He said, well, I already did it. So your blessing doesn't depend on what you did. It depends on what God did.

So what's the big problem with hoping to be better? Don't you all hope to be better? You'll do better next time? Let's see how honest you are. In this last week, did you not run into a circumstance where you said to yourself, I'm going to do this better next time? Did you?

What's wrong with that? Nothing. It's great, isn't it? What's wrong with that? I'm going to do better next time. Well, better is progressive and we can't progress in ourself. It's the exchanged nature's fault. Okay, that's good. Everybody understand that? Could you almost say that that's a characteristic of the sin nature? It's totally a characteristic of the sin nature is to hope to be better.

If I know my position and my possessions in Christ, how do I improve on those? I can look at God and say, well, I know what my position is, but boy, my condition is to piss. Well, how am I supposed to live? By trying to get my condition to line up with my position? No. I'm to trust Him. I'm to live by faith. I'm to believe Him. If I try to work any of this position out, I'm doing it in the flesh by a law system. Because God says, I have. I've already done it.

Just a thought, the words grow in grace, grow in grace. Grow in grace. It means we learn how to believe in more and more. Well, it's interesting. The new life in Christ is so radically different. than anything you've experienced in Adam, but you have to learn every step of it, and every inch of it. And that's why the Word of God is there. And that's why we hang out in fellowship with one another, because we learn.

You have to learn to live in grace. When you believe in the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ, He didn't come along and say, OK, now you're a gracious person, you understand it. Grace is that one thing that we never stop learning. We will learn it, At the second before he takes us home, we will always be learning how grace functions. Because we're already in it. It's the operating system. It's not a commodity. You alright with that?

Growing up in Catholicism, they divided grace into categories. Sanctifying grace, enabling grace, all this other stuff. And what you did is you pulled into the service station of grace and you said, I need a gallon of that, and a gallon of that, and a gallon of that, and I'm out this week. See, it was something that was added on to me, rather than me being in the environment and living in grace all the time. It's like taking a fish out of the water and putting him in the air and saying, we're going to teach you how to live in the air. Well, you better recreate the fish first. You see that? So, that's how drastically different it is.

It's got to be a burden on our Lord's heart that so many are out of fellowship. And He's at work in their hearts, don't get me wrong, but they're unaware of His grace, they're unaware of His love, at work in their hearts. And the more I think about that, Think about this church Kind of contrasted with that and where does God say that but he's merciful isn't he? Yeah at the same time is gracious. Mm-hmm What?

How does God see me? in crimes only I Understand yeah, but our condition as a church is so terrible. You know, it's interesting the condition only affects me. It doesn't affect him That's what I mean. We're the one that's affected by the condition, not God.

God sees us in Christ all the time. And he doesn't look down and say, oh, that Mike, boy, he walked out of grace. No, he didn't. I still see him in Christ. He's still perfect before me. He's righteous. He's holy. He's all the things that I said he is. He's the idiot.

And that doesn't break my heart because I've already made provision for him to live there. And I have not only have I made provision positionally, but I've engaged my spirit to cause him to grow in this grace and to learn and to become conformed to the image of my son. I've taken that upon myself to conform like. I'm doing it. What's my job? To believe him and let him do it.

At the same time, you've got relatives and friends I mean, God's will is that none should perish. He wept over Jerusalem. I wanted to take you under my wing, but you wouldn't come. He wept. But see, that was before the cross. Now that the cross has happened, I think God's attitude is about sin as the grace has been provided now, and everything is there for man. That's all done. Let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your grace. How we thank you for not only that positionally we are in him, but that conditionally you are working to cause us to abide in Christ and to rest in a position of grace. Father, we thank you. We pray in his precious name. Amen.