Major Bible Themes
Mike Doyle · Aug 7, 2011
Major Bible Themes (2011), No. 32
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926243154245

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

Notice here, the outline of what the slides are going to deal with is the potential sins of a believer, the source of a believer's sins, and that's really kind of where we're going. And our relationship to the source of sin, the process of temptation and the impact of abiding in either the old nature or the new nature. So maybe to set this up. What's the source of sin in your life? My endemic nature, what I was born into. Your endemic nature. Are you responsible for that endemic nature?

I don't think so. It was here before I got here. No, it wasn't. He knew me before the time started. He knew you before the time, but you're responsible for your own sin. Everybody agree with that? Yeah. You're not off the hook, right? And so last time we talked about the penalty for sinning. The penalty for sinning is what? Death. Not 40 years of hard labor and 15 days in purgatory. No, it's death. Separation from God. And you're born that way. And the reason you're born that way is you have this thing called an old man of sin nature. So sin has to have a source.

Wonderful. Figure out why this isn't working. Oh, maybe I'm a turn around. Can you see that? All right. Pick a couple of those. Can you go through that list and find something? Can you find one or can you find any that you've never done? I can't see anything. How about selfishness? Ever been selfish? Or extravagant, lazy, busy body, miserly, judgmental, hard-hearted, ignorance, roughness, harshness, impatience.

Ever done any of those? Of course. You know what? There's the page too. We're guilty of all of them, I guess at one time or another. At one time or another. And all of those have a source. All of that behavior has a source. And the source is talked about in the scripture as your old man. Now, I think the scripture does teach clearly that you do have a sin nature. Does it not?

And you can take a look at Romans 5.12-21. Hal Malloy who put these tapes together wanted to make an issue about the difference between the theology of one natureism and two. I think we've covered that a lot, we don't need to do it again.

A one nature person would say that when you became a believer and you were co-crucified with Christ that the old man ceased, the sin nature ceased to exist. The problem is you don't have a source for sin. So, I think the proper and the correct biblical view is that every Christian has two natures. He has the nature of the old man, which is sin, and he has a new nature, which is the nature or the life of the resurrected Christ. And the verses are there if you want to write them down. He says here that God in his wisdom and sovereignty has not removed the sin nature from a believer.

How come he didn't do that? Wouldn't you think he would? He gave us free will to go with it. Limited free will. But why, I mean, he could give us free will and still take it away. Wouldn't that be because he wants to, it's kind of helping the sanctification process. It does. It does. But I mean, you know, every sin that we commit, even as believers, is an offense against God.

You'd think you'd be done with all of that nonsense. Where would be the glory in that? There you go. See, the reason God does everything is to glorify himself. And he receives more glory for believers to be functioning with the sin nature and the work of the Spirit overcoming that sin nature, and the believer manifesting the life of the Lord Jesus in spite of having that nature, more glory that way, okay?

But I mean, he wants to be glorified 24-7, isn't that kind of selfish? Oh, good question. So for God to glorify himself, is that selfish? Is that the question? Well, he wants everybody to give him the glory, but I mean... Okay, but I feel like I'm number one. Okay, he is number one, but at the same time, I have a hard time with that. I understand. And I think that's what a lot of us do.

Why is God's viewpoint that he used to be the center and the focus of everything? That he did everything to glorify himself. Why would we look at that as self-centered? Because we look at it through the eyes of our sin minds. We don't see it from his viewpoint.

His viewpoint is that he's holy, he's righteous and he's good and he's not evil and he doesn't do things from self-motivation, sinful motivation like we do. And when you begin to discover that for him to manifest his glory to you and through you was a tremendous cost to him, cost him the life of his son. when you begin to consider what grace really is and his unmerited and unlimited blessings to you based on nothing you did but everything he did in order to manifest his glory. He wants his glory which is gracious to be manifest. When God manifests his glory it is never selfish, it is always gracious. See that? His wanting and desiring to glorify himself is to show forth the wonderfulness of who he is, not the dirty dog that we would be if we were going to manifest our glory. See the difference? You don't, do you? No, it's good.

The sin nature that you and I have, and maybe as we go it will answer the question, the sin nature that you and I have is incapable of holiness and it's incapable of righteousness. It cannot be what God is, holy. And it can't be righteous. So God won't have a relationship with your sin nature and you're not righteous and you can't be.

Let's talk about position and condition. Everybody understand position and condition? It's one of those vital doctrines. Positionally, you are incapable of righteousness and holiness, but in your condition, which is your everyday walking around in existence, you're going to try it. You're going to try it. You're going to try to be good, aren't you? It's not going to work. Is this a true statement right here? This thing doesn't go this far, does it? The new nature is incapable of sinning. Is that true? Can your new nature not sin? The old nature stays resident. What's that? The old nature stays resident also. Oh, you just diverted.

The question is, is your new nature, is it capable of sin? Yes. No. No, it can't be. What do you mean? We sin forever and a day, until we die. Which nature is doing the sinning? Well, it's in us, hello? Yes, it is. But who are you? A human being. That's very interesting, because that right there is where I think that the information on this whole subject rests. As a believer, you are in Christ. You have his resurrected life. That's your position.

It can never be changed. Your condition flops around all over the place because you can allow the life of the old man to be manifested to you and you sin or you can abide in Christ in the life of righteousness and the life of Christ manifested through you. The question is, who are you really from God's viewpoint? Are you a human being who's a sinner? No, you're not. No, you're not. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is an entirely new creation. Everything old is passed away, behold, everything is new.

Romans 8.1 says there's no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus.

How come? How could you not be condemned? Because you're still going to sin. But you know what? Your position is in Christ and that's how God sees you. There's no condemnation there. Because we died. Because you died. And you were buried. And you were resurrected.

He, if I do something now, even though I, my position is, my position. Good question, now keep coming, that's good, you're working through it. So, I know, but I still have, even if I don't do something that's sinful, just thinking about it could be a sin. The temptation part, oh you know what?

I'm going to run ahead here and show you. Up back. See this stair step? Now watch closely. Here's a believer right up here who's abiding in Christ. And this all comes from James chapter 1 verses 13-15. What happens? Within him, right here, the sin nature has desires to manifest itself. This word lust means strong desire. You've got that in you and I have it in me. That is not who we are, but that nature is in us and it's wanting to express itself through me, which is called sin. At the point of right here, I'm being tempted. See that? Just because my sin nature says, hey Monique, come ahead, I'm not sinning yet. Temptation is not sin. The temptation itself is not sin.

Okay? And how Malloy used to talk about it from dangling the bait. Those of you who fish know what dangling the bait is all about. Okay? And when you get right here at this line right here, If you get down to that line and don't go across it, you haven't sinned. You can be lured. You can even begin to be drawn away, as James talks about. But at that point, what happens? If you take the bait, according to James, you take the bait, you become pregnant. And that's exactly how he couches it.

In other words, you have allowed whatever the desire of the old man is to take fruit in you and you have conceived. What did you conceive? You conceived, you became pregnant and then there's going to be a birth and the birth is going to be sin itself and when that birth happens there's a result and the result is separation from God.

Does this whole process affect your position at all? No. So which one is who you are? This stair step coming down, or your position in Christ? Which one is real? Position. It's your position in Christ. So, as you get to this point, how do you get restored? What do you do? It's your grandpa's favorite verse.

1 John 1.9. You confess your sins. and God is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. What does the word confession mean? It means to agree with what? What are you going to agree about? That this is true, I have sinned, but that there is something else that is true also. And that something else that is true is my position.

I have been functioning and acting as though my position is not true. Because I do not, as a believer, have to sin. I don't have to take the bait. A non-believer, does he have that choice? No. He takes it every time. What is his choice? Which bait to take? That's his whole choice. He cannot be good in the sense of holiness and righteousness. If he doesn't take the bait, then he'll be proud about the fact that he didn't.

So, what happens when you're tempted? Right here, this line, before you get to this line, what do you do? Okay, you're tempted, Monique, and here's the bait in front of you, and right at that point, what can you do? You have one of two choices. I'm either going to take the bait and sin, in other words, I'm going to let the desires of my sin nature take over and I'm going to sin, or what else can I do?

Flee. To where? Because I am in Christ. More than that. This word reckon, what do you think that means? To agree. To agree about what? Count it true. Count what true? To put your eyes on Christ and not do the sinning. Who I am in Christ. Okay, that's it. I can reckon myself, Romans 6, 12. Reckon yourself, indeed, dead unto sin. I don't have to take this bait because I am positionally dead to it. I am not alive to that even though it's trying to convince me I am. I don't have to do it. I'm dead to that and I'm alive to God. Okay? That make sense? Can a non-believer reckon? Got no shot. Why not? Because he's got nothing to reckon to. Right, he knows nothing. That's right. And there's nothing true of him positionally, of who he is in Christ.

So fighting sin is not a matter of working really hard, praying hard, doing spiritual push-ups, going to church and memorization. Dealing with sin is understanding that you do have this nature in you that can be solicited. Yeah, that's a great point. And it can take you over and manifest itself through you. Steve. Reckoning really moves you back to just the whole general definition of your position. You're recognizing everything positionally. True. Yeah, and I would say rather than moving back, it just maintains where you are.

I'm talking to a guy now who's who's a dear brother of mine and he's got an issue going on in his life and so we're talking about position and who he is in Christ. And I said to him, I said, the next time that this person comes and, you know, dangles the bait in front of you, just walk away. Oh, I don't know if I can. He said, sure you can.

You're in Christ. Reckon yourself dead to it and alive to God. Just walk away. Stay where you are in Christ. I'm not sure you believe me. But that's how you deal with sin. It's almost like telling your sin nature, go pick on somebody who really cares. I'm not in this deal anymore. That's how you deal with sin. And it's based on several facts.

The most important one is, in Romans 6, before you get to 12, what does it tell you? That your old man, well, even before that, don't you realize that when you were baptized, which is spiritual baptism, You were baptized into Christ's death. In other words, the Spirit of God put you into Christ at the point in which you died. And you were buried with him. It says that. As he was buried, so were you. And that as he rose to newness of life, so did you. Okay? It tells you that.

Then in 6, it says, knowing this, that my old man was crucified with him. For what purpose? That the whole body of sin might be put out of business. That I should no longer serve sin. So when you get down to 12, it says, okay, based on all this information you got, here's what you do. You reckon yourself dead to sin and live in the God. That's how you deal with it. Now, if you do cross the line in sin as a believer, you just confess and you're restored. Okay? All right, now I'm going to back up to where we were before, hopefully.

This is Malloy's drawing of a man, and inside the man, this is kind of complicated. This is the man, inside of him is his mentality, his senses, his consciousness, his emotion, and his will. He has a mind and a heart, and down here he's got a sin nature in him, and he's got the new nature in him. And you see this little lever here? That's how he would describe that you live the Christian life. It depends on where the lever goes. I would like to add something right here is that this makes it sound like that I'm driving my little Plymouth down the yellow line and I can decide to go right or to go left. I don't think that's the proper point.

Romans 6.13 talks about whoever you yield your members to you become the slave of. So the deal is that when you're in the process of being tempted, it's you're not going to overcome sin in and of your own strength, are you? Or are you? So what are you going to do? You're going to reckon yourself dead unto sin, but you're going to do something else too right here. What's that going to be? Flip the switch. How do you flip the switch? Look at Romans 6, I think 14, 13 or 14. That's exactly right. So you have a will and you have a picker, as somebody told me. You can pick. So what do you get to pick? What you're going to yield to.

That's exactly right. So it says, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies that you should obey it in the Celest. Don't do that. Why? Because he just gave you 10 verses as to why. And then 13 says, and don't present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. That's your choice. I don't have to present myself, my members, to unrighteousness. I don't have to do that.

I can present myself to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of unrighteousness to God. So the issue is, I can't overcome the sin, but I can present myself to God as alive from the dead and the spirit of God will overcome the sin.

Galatians 5 says the spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit, they're contrary one to another. I can't do what I want to do. Which one are you? Are you the spirit or the flesh? Well, I'd like to be the spirit. No, it's the Holy Spirit, so it can't be you. Okay. So what's the other choice? You're not the flesh either, so what are you? This isn't talking about you as a person. It's talking about the Spirit of God in you having strong desires against this sin nature that's in you. You're in the middle. You're neither one of those.

So what's your job? Your job is to yield yourself to the Spirit of God, hand over yourself to Him as one who's alive from the dead and He'll take care of the sin issue based on what Christ already did on the cross. You okay with that? Is that complicated?

Now, when I started the class, I said, did anybody read the chapter? And the reason I wanted to know if you did, if you did, this information we just went over isn't in the chapter. And what surprised me about it was that I think that's the answer to sin. And these guys are writing a whole chapter on how to deal with the strength of the sin nature, and they don't talk about identification.

I don't get it. I really don't get it. I don't understand why they did that. So right here, this little switch, is really not, oh, I've decided that I'm going to sin, or I've decided that I'm going to live in the new nature. You decide to let either one of those control you. You don't control them.

You don't control sin in your life. As a non-believer, can you keep from sinning? No way. As a believer, can you keep from sinning? Not of your own strength you can't. Okay. Oh, what did I do? Something bad happened. Okay, what do you mean not on your own strength? I thought you told me earlier that you can. Of my own strength. Okay. Maybe I should say it this way.

If you're, if I'm tempted, we'll talk about you. If you're tempted to sin, oh there it is. If you're tempted to sin, how are you going to stop it? Let's say Bruce makes you angry. Yeah. Which I know never happens. And you feel that anger rising up in you and you know it's sin. How are you going to stop it? Just count to ten, take a deep breath, go for a walk, drink a cup of coffee?

No way. Yeah, walk away. She'll latch back. Walk away. Walk away to what? And when you walk away you're standing over here and what's happening inside of you? I'm still thinking. Yeah. I'm going to get him when he's not looking. Here it comes. Here it comes. I mean, that temptation is coming at you and I'm, you know, that darn Bruce, he violated my rights. He doesn't appreciate who I am.

Okay, so put your eyes on Christ. Okay. But recognize that one, that you can put your eyes there, but two, and really important, that you don't have to succumb by reckoning. and by you, you don't have to. Let's see. Is that clear, Monique? Yes, thank you.

Now I can't get it to move. Sorry guys, I don't know what my problem is here. I can't get the I might have to start over. You did say we are members of the frozen chosen, maybe it's just frozen. It's just frozen in the issue of sin, huh? Yeah. I want to go past this now. Here's an interesting statement. No, let's see if I can make it bigger. Are we dead to the sin nature? Positionally? Yes. Are you? Yes. It means that we were separated, we were cut loose from the sin nature. It's an aorist tense, which means it's fact. And it's an indicative mood, which means it's the mood of reality. This is a fact and it's real. Okay?

So, when did it happen? When were you separated from your sin nation? When we believed. And when you believed, what transaction took place? You were crucified with Christ. There you go. You were crucified. So when you're crucified with Christ, you know, and you die with him, certain things happen. Death meaning separation. Where do you get separated from? One of them is the sin nature.

Okay? So, if you look at the third point, your death is part of your identification with Christ and his death and his burial, his resurrection, his ascension and his seating. So do you see yourself or even think about yourself as being seated in Christ in heaven? Have you ever had that thought? Or am I worried about where my next two nickels are coming from? Or whatever. You do, you think about both. But have you ever really sat down and thought about, wow, I am right this minute positioned in Christ in the heavens. How do I know that? How would I know that? Because he told me in his word. Otherwise I wouldn't know it. I wouldn't know it. Study this for a minute and see if you understand it.

Here we have believers right over here in Christ. They have a living union with Christ Jesus and a new nature. They have been crucified on the cross with Christ to the sin nature and to the world. The Bible says that I have been crucified not only to my sin nature, but what else? What else have I been positionally separated from?

The world? When you say the world, what do you mean? I don't read the Post anymore? I'm not a Republican now? I'm something else? I'm a Tea Partier. They're more holy than the Democrats, right? That's where my citizenship is. Yeah, where's your citizenship?

It's in the heavens. What else am I crucified or separated from? Satan. Satan? Wow. That old boy can't pick on me? He can pick on you, but you're separated from him. Again, I ask you, do you think of yourself that way? You walk around every day saying, wow, you know, I'm really separated. No, I don't think of it. Yeah, I agree with you. I don't think we do much. Now here's something else. If I've been separated from the world, the flesh, the devil, my sin nature, then it has to mean that I've been separated to something. What have I been separated to? Yeah, I've been separated by God unto himself for his purposes.

And his purposes are not selfish. He wants to conform you to the image of his Son. He wants to bless you experientially beyond anything you could possibly imagine in terms of righteousness and holiness. And the most important thing he wants to bless you with Is it intimate, personal relationship with Him? Moment by moment. That's kind of cool, isn't it? That's worth it. Okay.

We talked about temptation and the source of sin a while ago. Now, let's talk about for a minute the impact of abiding either in the sin nature or in the new nature, okay? We are living in death or separated from fellowship with Christ if we are abiding or walking in the flesh. There is no 50-50. Do you understand what I mean by that? You can't be walking in the flesh and have one toe in Christ from a conditional standpoint. Not position now, this is condition. And when that's happening, The Bible clearly says that you are a slave to sin. Now I know that's tough for us Americans to think that we're a slave to anybody because of our constitution says we're not. But we are.

Sin controls us. We do not control it. It is more powerful than your ability to deal with it. The sin nature with its desires is reigning in my body even as a believer. Now we all know from our own experience that there are times where sin does reign in us and it's not nice, it's not fun. The sin nature according to 614 can have dominion over you. We are grieving the Holy Spirit, we cannot grow in Christ in that time, we have no fruit that's acceptable to God and we are fallen from grace to law or to condition and we can't please God. That's what happens when the believer is abiding in the sin nature.

Now, I'll point it towards you. When you say no fruit acceptable to God, it's almost like you're stating that we're responsible for producing the fruit. If you're abiding in the flesh, that's your mentality. You think you are responsible. Are you not? Yeah. What's the great thing about grace is that when you're abiding in Christ, food is being produced and you're not the source of it, but it's being done through you. And not only that, God's going to give you credit for it.

That sounds like... If you could get that kind of deal in the world, you'd take it every time. And also the fact that, I mean, I say the same thing, God is selfish. That's my old nature talking, not my new nature. That's right. Because in my new nature, I see the grace, I see the glory. And God is the creator. He does deserve the glory.

I think as a girl, as a believer, It comes. I think the first thing, I shouldn't say the first thing, but along with the growing and the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus comes this introspective understanding of more and more about who I am, who I was in the flesh. And I still think of myself as a saved fleshly Christian. I don't see myself as being in Christ and free from all of that. But that's coming.

I mean, you won't walk away. I don't think you'll walk away conditioning from your old man until you're sick of him. When you've had enough. And then there's, you can walk away. That's the great thing is that you can walk away. A non-believer can. Okay, if you're walking in the Spirit, here's what's going on. You're filled by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit fills us with the things of Christ, including your mind process, your thoughts, everything. You are being led by the Holy Spirit which means you are following. You are not walking in front of him. You are growing and being conformed to the image of Christ. The righteousness of the law is being fulfilled in you. We are not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. The Spirit is manifesting his fruit in us. His life is being manifested through us and we are being used as an epistle of Christ.

I'll have my own question when I'm done with this list. We're reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, so whenever there's temptation, reckoning takes place. It's a mindset, it's what it is. It isn't, oh let me get out my little card and see what I'm supposed to do now. We're free from the slavery of the sin nature, we're walking by faith in God's grace, and our walk is pleasing to God. All of those are true.

Now, what's going on If you're walking in the spirit right now, let's say you're doing it, what's going on behind your eyeballs? What are you thinking about and focused on? What are you doing? I'm thinking about Christ. Okay. And what's that? Expand on that a little bit. What is that about? Your reckoning. Your position to be true. Okay. Every time I ask this question of any class, it's a really hard question to answer. If you say it again, the question...

If you're walking in the spirit, or when you're walking in the spirit, what's going on in your head, behind your eyes? What are you focused on? What are you thinking about? Wouldn't it be more of a sense of gratitude? Gratitude? Wouldn't it be almost like just resting in who you are? Resting in who you are? That's good.

Never had that thought? Never asked yourself that question? If I'm abiding in Christ, being controlled by the Spirit, what is my mind doing? What is my consciousness and awareness of who I am? What am I doing? What if I'm at work? What if I'm in my garden? What if I'm going down the street driving my car, abiding in Christ? Aren't you sort of like in fellowship, chatting with Him?

I think that's closer to what's really going on. I think there's an intimacy happening, and it's not formal, it's not rigid, it's not, see what I'm supposed to do next, oh yeah, it's not that, it's spontaneous. I guess it goes back to your old example of your dog's nature, and your new nature, the more you're entertaining your new nature, the more natural your new nature is going to function in this one way. You're going to respond, interact and so forth more fluidly in your new nature. It's pretty good. Yeah. Rather than bumping and grinding trying to avoid sin and be a good guy. Yeah.

And that's the whole, in my thinking that's That's the process of that new nature gradually taking its place in our lives. Yeah, now Courtney Hemingway, his view is that if you're resting, you're abiding in Christ. I think that's okay, but I think there's more to it than just my resting. I think I have Christ before me. thought process, you know. And I could be doing something else like driving my car. Yeah, your life, I mean your lifestyle has changed. You're still thinking about fixing potato soup, but your lifestyle has changed and you're thinking in different areas that you were not ever thinking about. There's a, I think there's a mindset there too of dependence on him. Because he's the one, the Spirit of God is the one who manifests Christ to you. So there's a dependence on him to do it.

And it seems sort of weird, I think, when at the beginning you think, am I supposed to be this restful? Does God really intend for me to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus? To have this kind of fellowship with him on an ongoing basis where I don't, I'm not all taken up with the things, cares and woes of the world? Can I actually rest? And even if I'm at work taking care of whatever my business is, I'm still resting, you know, free from sin. So I think that's the big secret to walking with Christ as a believer is that you rest in Him. And I'll give you an example. One time this question was asked of Miles Stanford in a class. Here's what his answer was, kind of a cool answer.

He said, let's say that a man and a woman have fallen in love and have gotten married. And they're Christians and they dearly love each other. And they've been married a month. They can't hardly stand to be away from each other. The man has to go to New York City on business. And so he gets on the plane and he flies to New York City and he's in a conference room in the middle of negotiations and there's a 10-minute break, where does that guy's heart go? To his wife. It goes right back to his wife, doesn't it? Takes out his cell phone, calls her, makes sure she's okay, what's going on, just wants to hear her voice.

That's the Lord who's got your heart. When you get a 10-minute break, where does your heart go? Spirit of God will make sure it goes to Him, because that's where your home is. Now you may call your wife, you may call your kids, you may call whatever, but Christ is becoming on an increasing basis the very center of what your focus and attention is. To the freedom of your own self. I'm free from me. How cool is that? Okay, let's see if we can make this last point here. Now this is kind of a complicated chart but I think it explains something really interesting. The first thing we want to do is we want to separate them right here.

In your life as a believer, right here you got saved and you began the growth process and the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus coming up this line. At this point you sinned and you abided in sin for a while. and there was no growth, the Spirit of God restored you and you began to grow again.

That's your condition. Any questions about that? Below the line is who you are in terms of in Christ. If you're along this line and you're abiding in Christ, you are 100% spiritual, 100%. At the point in which you sin, you're in the flesh, you are zero spiritual. You understand that? When you're restored and you live by grace and faith and truth, you're back to being 100% and you're living by grace. This is the growth process on the top. This is what happens when you're abiding in the spirit and then you abide in the flesh and then back like that. Because you have fallen from grace, yes?

Okay, on your upper graph there, I accept the gift of salvation, moving right along, and I get to a point where I say, no, I'm going to reject everything that you've ever told me. Do I? Setting it aside. Instead of being level, can that graph go downhill? No. So I'm going to stay always at that point where I ceased to walk in the Spirit. If you're saved by grace through faith right here, and you start the growth process, what would cause you to go back? Looking to the flesh. Well, I mean, to the point where you reject your salvation. Unbelief. Okay.

Now, what's interesting is that when you believed, What kind of a positional transaction happened to you? You were crucified with Christ, buried and resurrected. You're now a new creature in Christ. That's your position. Did you get that position by anything you did? The second part of that is that you're indulged by the Holy Spirit. Did you do anything to effectuate that? No. So, as a position in Christ born-again believer and dwelt by the Holy Spirit who's been crucified, buried and resurrected with Christ, you are going to change your mind about all of that.

I've thrown it out as a... Okay, now let's say you do. Okay. Does that mean the Spirit of God says, you know, this guy didn't take. We're going to wash him out of the program. Does it change anything from your position? Nothing. Does it mean that the Spirit of God says, oh Bruce is a hard case, I'm going to stop working on him. Absolutely not.

But you know it can happen though, if you, let's say something terrible has happened and you have forgotten everything and blame God for it. And how could this have happened? The problem with that scenario is that you can forget all you want. You still have the Spirit of God in you who is about his business of revealing Christ to you and convicting you of your own sin. That's his job, Steve. I guess where probably people get confused on that, they can be growing and then maybe some icon figure in their Christian life does something and so their opinion goes down, but they don't realize that they haven't lost their growth. It's just that they get bombed by...

I will say this to you, that if you're saved on a grace basis, but with a little law mixed in, and you're involved in a legal-based environment in a church, you can certainly take a pass at a point where you decide, I can't do this. I mean, the standard's too high. You know, I'm critical myself. Everybody's critical. I can't live this life.

Well, and there's so many Christians out there that I believe they're saved, but they think you know, if you're not walking with the Lord at your time of death. I mean, I had Christians tell me when Tate died, there's no way that he's in heaven. Because he was not walking with the Lord, he was not seeking the things of the Lord, but I know he came to know the Lord when he was five. And God's not going to go back on his word. See, the problem is that you enter salvation by faith, which is a non-meritorious act, and all of this wonderful stuff happens to you on a spiritual basis that God does.

You've already made your decision, it's too late for you. You can act any way you want, but it doesn't change who you are. Well, and I think it's so sad for those Christians that live in that fear. It is. And they don't need to. And it's really kind of quite simple if you study the word of God, especially the letters that are written to us specifically as believers, Paul's epistles. The positional truth and the grace is so overwhelming, it will cause you to rest. But if you study Deuteronomy as a Christian and think that's the Christian life, you're dead. You're toast. Because you've got no temple to go to. Let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your grace. How we thank you that you have, in fact, positionally freed us from the power of sin and that you are working on a moment by moment basis to free us up conditionally from the power of sin. We thank you for the life we have in the Lord Jesus. We pray in his precious name. Amen.