Colossians Lesson 2 week 2
Colossians · Mike Doyle · Feb 2, 2014
Colossians (2014), No. 05
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926415365000

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

Okay, we are working through lesson 2 of chapter 1 and we get to question 5. Did I get that far? I'm going to have to point somebody in here to tell me where I am. Let's start on 5. Start on 5? Is that what you said? In verse 9, chapter 1 verse 9, somebody read it. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Okay.

How important is it to know God's plan? I think it's a matter of life and death. Life and death. Okay, so four believers now. See how smart you are. Four believers now, what's God's plan for your life? Be conformed to the image of Christ. I've been, and you probably have been too, where Christians got together and the whole night and spent about what's God's will for your life and what's God's will for your life and like they're all different. They're not different. It's the same for every believer to be conformed to the image of his son. Now, you okay with that? Nobody's going to argue with me about that?

So Paul understands that and so let's for just a minute or two, if that's what God's purpose is and his plan for you in your life, how's he going to do it? How's he going to do it? My question was, how important is it to know God's plan? To know the end, where are we going, is a conformity to the image of Christ. But how does he get from here to there? Well, in this verse he says, filled with the knowledge of his will, with all spiritual wisdom and understanding. That's part of it. How does that work? Are you tracking with me? You all look like deer in the headlights out there. Paul had heard about their faith and love. He was convinced that they were believers and there was growth in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus and they were bearing fruit. All that was going on, right?

But God's plan to conform you to the image of Christ, how does he do that? Well, I have a question about this one. Perfect. Look, I looked this up somewhere. and it said spiritual modifies both wisdom and understanding and that I guess that we're studying to have the ability to accumulate and organize principles from scripture and then understanding will be that we can apply those principles to our daily life I have to tell you No, you're right. You get the star. You just moved ahead of Francis. As we go forward, we're going to amplify everything she said. I think she's right. But if you're going to be, if you say, OK, well, I know what God's plan is.

He's going to conform me to the image of Christ. How's he going to do it? How is he going to do it? Is he going to cause you to suffer tremendously? Possibly. No. Through the word. The word is one of the elements, and how does he use the word? How does he use it? Through the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, and so what does he do then?

Matures us. Matures us, but I'm looking for the mechanics. I'm looking for the mechanics. It says he guides us into all truth. Steve. Gives you a wisdom and spiritual understanding. How do you get that? By knowing the word. By knowing the word. Applying it to your life.

Oh, that sounds awfully good to me. Well, the word would tell you who you are and what you have so that your faith has an object not only on Christ but how you are in relationship to him. Okay, you're getting close. You're getting close. The Lord allows us to go through trial. Which gets you ready. Gets us ready. Yeah, but that doesn't do anything for me. All it does is get you ready.

My favorite verse in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 3.18. What's it say? Beholding as in a mirror, and whoever mentioned the word, That's the mirror, right? What happens? With unveiled face. I behold, what? Objective truth, yeah. But what do I really behold? The glory of the Lord. Oh, now we got a, it's personal now. It stopped being an intellectual pursuit and now it got personal. What verse was that?

2 Corinthians 3.18.

But what's the mechanics of that, Mike? The Beholding! No, what are the mechanics of the Beholding? Oh, how do you do it? Yeah, how does it change? Okay, I think it changes as the Spirit of God, in this prayer, is part of it, when He changes your mind about studying the Bible to accumulate facts, to understanding the reason you're there is to know Christ. So is that an operation of the Spirit? Yes. Everybody with me? So it is all three. It is the Word, the Holy Spirit, and us wanting to just be in fellowship instead of just gaining knowledge. Yeah.

I think there comes a day in every believer's life when, yeah, the information is really important, the Word of God is really important, but the top thing that's of importance is to know this person, the Lord Jesus Christ. and to be able to behold his glory, the sum total of his intrinsic attributes as they're displayed out in the word by the Spirit of God.

Now if you take that premise and apply it to these next couple of verses, I think they make a lot more sense than if you take that and put a... I'll say it negatively. If you didn't understand that that's what the Spirit of God was up to, Then this says, save your money and go to seminary because you're going to get four years of education, biblical education. Well biblical education, I don't know of any seminary that even approaches the subject of beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus.

Look at the privilege we have. to be able to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ right now, and you have the mirror to do it with, and you have the Spirit of God who will enable it. That's what conforms you. You can be the smartest guy in the room, have the greatest memory in the room, have memorized the Bible from page one to page last, and not be conformed to the image of Christ. Because beholding Him is the issue in the Word. It's got to get personal.

Q. Okay. You all right with that?

A. Did you say that second Corinthians?

Q. 318.

A. 318. Okay. I was there.

Q. Okay. Now?

A. You know, that's confusing to me.

Q. Why?

A. I mean, how do I? I feel like I'm sort of stuck somewhere. Like I want to really trust and understand and get to know. And then I get hung up on this thing of, like, I need to memorize more scriptures. You're a Baptist. No, I mean, we all have those little tyrannies in our mind that say, well, I ought to be, I ought to be, I ought to be, rather than just beholding. And see, it's the Holy Spirit who's going to do the revealing. Oh, and by the way, He's also going to change your mind and your heart about what you're there to do.

I have actually told people and been criticized for this, that if they don't understand what beholding is, close your Bible and stick it on the shelf. If all you're interested in is answering the questions, and getting a perfect score. That's not why you study your Bible. You're in there to fellowship, to have an intimate personal fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, enabled by the Holy Spirit. If you go into your Bible with that attitude, I'll be darned, things will change. Because you'll see them. Some people say, well gee, I pray all the time and my prayers go to the ceiling and they bounce off and come back. God never says anything to me.

Yeah, He does. It's right there. It's right there. Hey Mike, just real quick, I'm going to just plug, Vern did a study on what's God doing in the life of the believer, and you can get that on the website, but we're talking about a very interesting and intimate process that the Lord takes us through in order to teach us about our history in Him.

And I do like the statement that we're, as we behold, we're catching up to our new history in Christ. And that process is transformed, conformed, sanctified. Those are all the words that we talk about in that. And so we're hitting on a really important plan that the Lord has for us. I thought that course was really eye-opening for me and touches on the very things that you're talking about. I think if you wanted to dig deeper about this process, that would be a great place to go.

It just covers all of those interesting words that the New Testament talks about in reference to God's plan. It's called, What's God Doing in the Life of a Believer? And I think there's some 20-odd lessons that tackle this question from all the different angles that Paul does.

You know, I think one of the other things, and I was trying to get on the internet to get a Bible out for the Hungry Heart. The Hungry Heart this morning, I don't know if you read it. Yeah, it was wonderful. Yeah, and there was something about, and I can't paraphrase it, but it was... about knowing Christ versus desiring who we want to be. And I thought, you know, we want to be the stellar Christian or the stellar, you know, or to try to copy. But it's to know Him, and that's the key. I want to be the best Christian around, and I want to memorize scripture, and that's the wrong approach. It's to know Him.

Actually, another verse I was reading this morning, besides the usual one, 2 Peter 3.18, which is growing the grace and knowledge.

Another one this morning, I was reading 2 Peter 1.2, grace and peace be multiplied to you, what? In the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. You know, grace, peace, knowledge, but everything is in the knowledge of Him. And it's looking in the words, your verse, 2 Corinthians 3, 18, and to see who He is.

And that's, again, it's as we know Him, we know us, and that's the cool part of this whole thing. You know, and that's why all believers, that's the leveler. of the playing field is the fact that the Spirit of God will reveal the person of Christ to a believer who isn't educated and one who is. We're all the same when it comes to that.

If I were to say to you, okay, we're all going to go in and spend an hour this afternoon with Verne Peterman and we're going to try to get to know him. Would it matter if you were smarter than me? If we were sitting in a room trying to get to know him? Wouldn't matter at all. wouldn't matter at all.

So the Spirit of God, now think about what God has done. The Spirit of God and the Father have determined that knowing Christ is the paramount thing. They decided that, you didn't. And so we've been given the Spirit so that Christ, who is the express image of God, which we'll get into when Jim gets up to talk, the express image of who God is, so he wants and desires and maneuvers everything to know Christ in the heavenlies.

And how do you use the words? When you read a word like, filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, Well, you could spend hours trying to figure out what that meant intellectually, but if you understand it personally and spiritually, he's talking about knowing Christ. And knowing Christ is not just, okay, I know him and he's not going to have any effect on me. He's going to have an incredible effect, because why? Why is knowing Christ going to affect me so much?

Why? Because you have His life. And the idea is to bring forth that life, which is exactly Him, to manifest His glory through you. See? And that's what glorifies God. In John 17, He said, Father, glorify Me, and then I've given them my glory for what reason that they may be one as we are one so the Lord Jesus Christ is just as present on the earth today as he ever was when he was walking around here probably more through all of you maybe I'm going to stop telling people when I tell them about my new church I said I call it the mini seminary just don't put a T in there So what are the two qualities of knowledge that Paul wants for the Colossians?

Wisdom and understanding. So what's wisdom? The proper application of one's knowledge. Then what's understanding? It has to do with discernment, like knowing right from wrong, from evil and so forth. Okay, anybody else? Yeah. Wisdom is, this is what I'm wanting to learn more. To accumulate and organize principles from scripture. Alright, now what does that mean? You're asking me? Yeah. Okay. Accumulate, say that again. Accumulate and organize principles from scripture. Okay. That's wisdom. Alright, let's talk about, what's a principle? Anybody know what a principle is? Huh? Guys ready? Here's a principle. What's the principle? Gravity.

What does it tell you? It acts the same way every time. It never varies. It's always the same. Scriptural principles are always the same. They never vary. Never. So you learn them. What have you learned? You've learned something that never changes. It's always the same. So your understanding denotes, and here's what I put down, your understanding denotes your ability to apply the knowledge, which is usually the definition of wisdom. And what I got for wisdom, it refers to the ability to perform what one knows. It denotes a skill of application. There's a skill. Skill sounds like a selfie word, but it's not.

I can learn Biblical skills. So, let's try one on. I recognize that, because I heard it in Sunday school, that if I behold the glory of the Lord, that I will be transformed into this very image. What's my role? What's my skill in that equation? The beholding part. So I'm not going to be holding him by watching a Bronco game. But the next time I'm alone with the Lord reading my Bible, if I understand that that's exactly what the Spirit of God is going to do when I open it up and spend some time, I have some skill now that I didn't have before. You see that?

Because I know what he's doing. I know that I'm in there caused by Him to be there. My desire is to know Him, which is caused by Him. And here I am in the Word of God and now I know what He's doing. I didn't really know before. I thought He was making me a smart Christian. Now I know that He's going to reveal Christ to me. That's skill. That's a skill. That's the ability to apply the knowledge that you have.

You alright with that? Well, last week you said something about, just, I think it was about grace, you know, we were talking about. And you said, just take an hour, and then I said, are you talking about meditation? No. Well, what were you talking about? Grace. Actually, you've swerved into the next question. You ready? This will answer it for you.

Did they have to aggressively pursue this knowledge in order to live as practical Christians? No. You say no. How many say, yeah, they did? Who said yes? Come on, chicken, get your hands up. Okay. How many said no? How many are too afraid to answer? All of the Hemingway's recipes. I just wanted to get that on the tape.

What's the verse say? I say he wanted to impress unto them that his prayer for them is a good and a Christian faith, that they might walk worthy of the Lord into all things pleasing. It's being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. He says that they might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So the knowledge is something that they are filled with.

Does that sound like an outside somebody doing it to them? It does to me. there to be filled with it and not run after it. But you have to keep a close fellowship with the Lord in order to do that. So that's your responsibility? Well, keeping a close fellowship with the Lord, I suppose it is. If I buy your assumption. If I decide to go out and shovel snow instead of reading or something, that's a decision I have to make.

But your question, do they have to pursue it, in 2 Timothy 2.15 it says, be diligent. Now that's something we're supposed to do and that tells me that you do need to pursue it. You have an obligation to, is that legal?

It was taught to people who were, who had been taught by these false teachers who were really trying to get them to go back. to the mosaic. No, not here. That's Galatians. Here we're talking about the danger of wisdom and tradition. Okay. Now. Well, it says right here that they've been praying for them. Yeah. Okay. And then it says, and all over the world, they were bearing fruit. And then it says, And since the day you heard it and understood God's grace, now it's true. How cool is that? So that's... No, that's good. That's really good.

So they understood that they didn't have... You try... You're not supposed to try, right? Well, how did they understand? Someone taught them. Yes, right. Revealed. What opened up their understanding? Who opened up their understanding? The Holy Spirit. Yes, that's right. The Spirit of God did. Steve?

Well, it seems that some of this modifies this couple of words, block worthy. We're not that far yet, so. But it says, filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spirit and understanding. that we may walk worthy. I'm going to read a quote to you from John Darby. He's a little tough to understand sometimes.

He says, No doubt a more spiritual mind may help me in the discernment of God's will, but God has connected the discovery of the path of His will, His way, with the inward state of soul and causes us to pass through circumstances human life here below to test and to discover to ourselves what that state is and to exercise us therein. If I buy your premise, Winnie, it means that the whole responsibility for my spiritual growth is on me, right? Then I'm going to study the Bible rather than go to the movies. that I'm going to make these really good choices all the time and God is really going to be happy with me because I made good choices. Whose responsibility is it for your spiritual growth?

Yours? Is it? Sure it is. So what's your role in it? To let him do it. Let him do it. He will cause you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. He'll do that. I mean, if you get honest with yourself, you have to realize that there certainly is a point in your life where I don't care about studying the Bible. I don't care about any of that stuff. I want to go play golf. I want to take the kids to the park.

So the Holy Spirit, you're saying, is the one that is responsible for spiritual growth? Growth. Because He's the one that does the conforming, right? He's the one that does the illuminating. He's the one that reveals Christ to your heart to the point where you love Him. If your Bible works like clay, he will mold us and make us.

What he does though, I think this conformity process is one of those things that, it's a change from Adam to Christ. Christ isn't disciplined. Do you understand what I mean by that? He is not disciplined to function and act a certain way. His very nature, always, principle, always acts the right way. You and I have the same life.

As the Spirit of God conforms us to that life, guess what? You're going to look disciplined, you're going to walk worthy, as we're going to see in a minute, but it's because he has brought this life forward in you that, you know, you took the list off your refrigerator and you just live by beholding Him.

Could you say that believers can stifle their spiritual growth if we're walking in the flesh? Totally, there's no growth at all in the flesh. So we have a decision to make to walk in the flesh, or walk in the spirit. Okay. Whereas if we're unbelievers, they're slaves to the flesh, they're slaves to sin, so they're open to walk in the flesh. Okay. Right? Okay, that's right.

And so let's say I make a decision, as a young believer, I'm going to walk in the spirit. Let me see you do it. Call me this afternoon and tell me how it's worked out for you. How are you going to do it? Well I'm going to get my Bible out and I'm going to study it and then after about 20 minutes your mind is where? And if you're really a disciplined guy maybe you're 30 minutes.

I mean I'm serious about this because it's like having a human relationship between a husband and wife. I don't love Donna because she said this is what I'm supposed to do. She's got a hold of my heart. The Lord Jesus has a hold of my heart. I want to spend time with Him because He did it all. He created that intimacy.

So I have a desire to not walk in the flesh. But I always ask this, it says in Galatians, walk in the flesh and it's impossible for you to fulfill the desires of the flesh, or walk in the Spirit, and it's impossible for you to fulfill the desires of the flesh. Okay? Question.

When you're walking in the Spirit, what's going on behind your eyeballs? in your mind, what's happening? What's really going on? Okay, does that mean I'm going to run into the wall if I don't pay attention? What's really happening? And how did I get focused on him?

Because I decided I've already got the desire, read Romans 7, there's a guy that's got more desire than I've ever had and he couldn't pull it off. But when you get to Romans 8 it says there's a new principle, back to that word principle, of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. We all have that principle. And that principle doesn't need to be disciplined to seek after Christ.

It's part of the nature. If you learn the grace that it's always coming at you, then the discipline part happens because of your beholding. Does that make sense? The other, having gone through the Holy Spirit class, it's real important about his work to convince us to do this. Going back to verse 9, you might be filled And we're saying whose job that is.

The Greek geek. But it's in the passive. Yes, it is. And that means it's being acted upon you. That's right. And that really shows that the Spirit is the one who is fulfilling you. Not our effort. It's being acted upon us. And that's real key that we understand it's the Holy Spirit's job to do that. And trust me, the Holy Spirit is more interested in your spiritual growth than you ever have been. He's more dedicated. He's God. Are there people in here that constantly know that? Do I ask? Should I ask? Does anybody like fit the bill here?

I don't see any hands going up. But here's the issue. It isn't so much of, you know, now that I have a PhD in applied theology, that I'm going to not be interested in the Bronco game. I might be. I certainly might be. I've got the liberty in Christ to do whatever. But my liberty is modified by principles again. What kind of effect is it going to have on you? Am I going to cause my brother to stumble? Do I love? That kind of thing.

Am I free? Am I at liberty? Yes I am. You know the great thing about liberty is, is what am I free from? I'm free from having to suck it up and do spiritual push-ups. I'm really free from that. What's that? Free from the law. That's right. And that little black box back here that's your own personal law, you're free from that too. Because God woos you. He doesn't force you. See that? Okay? No challenges? Yeah, I finally pulled up the hungry heart. Christian progress is not a question of attaining to 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. The goal you will never reach, however earnestly you may strive, is when you see you are dead to sin, that you die to it daily. It is when you see you are risen, that you are risen. It is when you see you are a new creation in Him, that you progressively grow.

Seeing the accomplished fact in the Word determines the pathway to realizing of that fact. The end is reached by seeing, not by desiring or working. The only possibility of spiritual progress lies in our discovering the truth as God sees it. The truth concerning Christ, the truth concerning ourselves in Christ. But it's by seeing, not by desiring or working.

Now, here's the prayer in verse 9. I pray for you and ask, who's he asking? that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Isn't that what he's talking about? If you don't have the knowledge and you haven't been filled with it and the understanding, where are you going so fast? Does that make sense? Does that hungry heart make sense to you? I mean it's really tough for you guys to have to depend on the spirit for your spiritual growth because you're such rooty kazooty Christians. You've got all kinds of energy.

Dependency, the most dependent believer is the most spiritual one. He knows. But the great thing about being dependent is that you're dependent on the God of the universe to conform you to the image of Christ and it's one of those things that, trust me, like I said, he's more interested than you are. That's a great realization to come to. That Christ and the Holy Spirit are more interested and conformed in me to the image of Christ than I have ever been.

So mine and my mom will just let them get on with it. What do you do with grace when it comes your way? You take it. It's too bad when you have to trust somebody other than yourself. Well, that's true. But, oh, here comes the butt monkey, here we go. And so that, if you have that, you know, for years and years, you don't want someone taking over your life. Oh, I see what you're saying, yeah. Yeah, I absolutely agree with that.

The most difficult thing for a growing believer is just to let God run things. Because I've worked all these years to make sure I got my act together. It's hard. And especially if you have fear. That I've worked through this circumstance, this fear I had, and I've got a wall built around it now, and I'm comfortable. I've got it parked right where I want it.

And the Holy Spirit comes along with a big hammer, and he goes wham! And he breaks it into a thousand pieces. And you know what you do? You spend the next few weeks trying to grab all those pieces and build them back up together, and he just wants to free you from them. So you can get on with Christ.

Isn't it interesting that what you just read, that spiritual growth is understanding what you already are. It's not trying to become something, it's just trying to be. You already are it. That's right. So it's not you trying to become or be something, it's learning what you already are. I think that's an excellent way of putting it. It's a great way of putting it. It takes you out of the picture.

Sure. Absolutely. And so when the Spirit of God gives you spiritual wisdom and understanding about who you are, what do you do with that information? You just rest and believe it. Right? You know, you use your will to believe, not to implement, and that's a hard thing to come to. It's a really hard thing. Okay. I'm going to try to get done here. How would you define spiritual understanding? Okay, let's make it easy. Does it matter whose opinion things are? Whose opinion matters? Only God's. And your opinion about his opinion doesn't matter either. Do you see that? It's important for us to have the perception. I'll put it this way.

In the Old Testament, one of the things that really made God upset with the Jews was what? What was the thing that just drove him crazy? And it would drive me crazy too. It was that they were not familiar with his ways. What does that tell you? That they were interested in anything other than him. They were interested in the Jewish religion, performing the law, being a really cool Jew, I live in the neighborhood of a bunch of Hasidic Jews. They are all interested in making sure that they look and act perfect. None of them care about God at all. Really.

When God says, you know, to you Old Testament Jews, none of you really knew my ways. You know, it would be like being married to somebody and after five years you don't know what, you know, I don't know her ways. How would she respond to that. Some of you have experienced that way. Do you see that? The thing about beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus and knowing him is what? You know his ways. You understand who he is, what he's about, how he thinks, what pleases him and what doesn't please him.

How do you ever get away in your life from this laundry list of sins? How do you ever get away from that? Where somebody says, well here's the list, don't violate those. The issue is, how do you know, those of you who are and have been married, how do you know what pleases your spouse and not pleases them?

Because you hang around with them, you live with them, and you find out what pleases them and what doesn't please them. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. So you hang around with the Lord Jesus, what do you discover? You discover what pleases Him and what doesn't please Him.

So you avoid it. That's grace. I'm not going there because it wouldn't be of Him. There are things with Donna that I'm not going there. Why? I mean, I don't even have to think twice. I know she's not going to like that. I don't want to offend her. I don't want to get her upset. I love her. I don't want to do anything that would cause disharmony. It's the same way with the Lord. I don't want to do anything that's not consistent with who he is.

Now the Bible has to use terms, so they use terms like spiritual understanding. But it's really an intimate understanding of who Christ is. That's why I can have liberty about certain things that's different than yours. How many of you this afternoon at about 4.30 are going to feel guilty when you turn the TV on? Well, I'm going to be good and I'm not going to watch.

Mike, just to kind of even build on that point, first, John 520. I was looking at that same word, understanding, and in the book of Colossians we have the result of understanding leading to verse 10, which we're getting into, a walk. And that's an outward appearance, right? You see a walk that is in the manner and worthy of the Lord. But when you compare that and build a broader picture of what understanding does, 1 John I think is really Interesting, it says, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, there's that word, so that, again, so that, same here in Colossians, but in this case, so that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ, this is the true God in eternal life. So there is the outward result, but it's because he's given us an understanding that we actually know him. And so it's a very personal thing. It's not being good and having that outward appearance. Of course there's the outward appearance. James talks all about that. All the time. All the time.

But Paul's job was to explain how that walking gets done. And it's this passive being filled with the understanding and spiritual wisdom that leads to a knowledge of him. And as a result, you walk in a manner worthy. Don't worry about the walking. He'll do the walking. you worry about the knowing. And by knowing, it's a restful beholding that we're talking about. It's not this insane pursuit to get this understanding that all of a sudden now I can walk in a manner that's worthy. No, it's about a relationship. And when you know him, he does the walking on your behalf.

He does the living. And so it's a very peaceful process here. This isn't an aggressive pursuit. It's a restful faith-based life. And so, just to kind of compare what we get caught up with in terms of, I've got to walk in a manner worthy. Well, no, he does the walking. Yeah, and isn't it interesting? We'll go there now and try to finish in five minutes. A walk that's worthy of what? Of your being a good Baptist? Who's the criteria? Who's the standard? So, if you don't turn on the Bronco game this afternoon, is that something that's worthy of Christ?

No, I was just joking. I'm not. But I don't like that. Think about how the words are. That my walk would be worthy of Him? Wow, that's a pretty high standard, isn't it? Much higher than I'm capable of, maybe? Huh? Yeah, it is. But guess what? That's the standard expected.

Looseberry Chaffer said that God calls us to live a life that's totally impossible for us to live, yet he expects us to do it. Boy, doesn't that sound like an oxymoron. How does it happen then? It happens by the manifestation of the life of Christ by the energy of the Spirit through us. It's Him. Who doesn't? Now, a couple of verses.

1 Thessalonians 2.12, a walk related to bringing honor to God himself.

Ephesians 4.1, emphasis is a walk that is consistent with their position in Christ.

Philippians 1.27, in harmony with the doctrine that you believe. You see, Christ is the Word of God, the Logos of God, and He is the resurrected, glorified life that we have, and that life expresses itself only from Him.

It's not us imitating him. That's a hard thing to get through. Now, question 11. What is the way by which believers know God's ways? And when I wrote down, and I'll quickly go through this, in John 17, 17-21, Paul said, or the Lord Jesus said when he was praying to the Father, Sanctify them in the truth thy word is truth. So we've covered a lot of that this morning.

As you descend me into the world I've sent them into the world, not for their sakes I sanctify or set myself apart, that they themselves also may be sanctified in the truth. The truth sets you apart unto him. Now, I do not ask in behalf of these alone, and here's where you and I get into the picture, but for those also who believe in me through their word. And here's the deal, that they may be one, even as you Father are in me and I in you, that they may also be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. What does this oneness mean? It means that you and I manifest the life of the Lord Jesus in the walk exactly as he would.

And you can't do that by imitation. It's impossible. But you can do it by beholding his glory and being conformed to the image of Christ and the Spirit of God manifesting that life through you. You can't do it yourself. And the energy that you expend trying to imitate that life is a waste of time. It's a total waste of time. Because even if we have a knowledge and spiritual understanding, we don't know all of the nuances of that life yet, because we haven't been totally conformed.

So what happens? I find myself in a circumstance that requires a walk that's worthy of the Lord right now. I don't have time to think about it. I have to respond Christ-like now. Wait a minute. Give me five minutes. No, now. How does that happen? How does that happen? Faith. Faith on your part, but it is a rest and trust in the Spirit of God manifesting that life through you.

All of us as believers have gone through a time when we used to do something Christian this way, And we've come to realize, well that's kind of self-effort, I wish it would change and it would be of Christ. And then one day we were walking in the will of God, gee how did I get here? But there it is, that's the Spirit of God at work, manifesting the life of Christ. The walk has to be worthy of Him, not worthy of some standard that you've come up with, or Holly Hills has come up with, or some seminary has come up with. It has to be worthy of Him, which means it better be Him. Okay? So it says we have the mind of Christ. Yes, we do. You have it right now and then. At what point do you feel like that you really have attained that? that it would come just spontaneously to do what Christ said. I understand.

I don't think you do fully here. I just don't think you do, because the flesh doesn't wake up one day and say, well, they've gotten too spiritual for me, I'm not going to pick on them anymore. There's this strong desires from the flesh, strong desires from the Spirit of God that influence me and I'm not able to do what I want to do. What do I want to do now? I want to walk worthy of a life that's worthy of the Lord Jesus.

Even where Paul says, those things that I would do, I don't do, and so forth. A man living under law. That's why he said it. He said, what I really want to do, I don't do, because I'm trying to do it. And at the end of that, he says, a wretched man that I am, who, not what, shall deliver me. Well, it's a couple of things.

One, it's a spiritual growth pattern that is not unique to Paul. Every believer goes through that performance mode. And I think that every believer must come someday to the old wretched man. a wretched man than I am. Up until that time he was asking for systems, programs, laws to be delivered.

Finally he asked the right question. You know what the right question is? Who? Who is the right question? Who will deliver me? It's somebody else. And then he gets to A2 and it's the new principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. What's happened? That has already delivered me from the principle of sin and death. trying to get over what I was going through.

You couldn't ride a horse because you had to wear men's trousers. You couldn't go swimming because you had to wear a bathing suit. You couldn't cut your hair. Hair you couldn't wear. And you get those put in you when you're very young and it becomes part of you. And then you go to church and you judge someone, oh they cut their hair or something.

It takes a long time, only by the grace of God. That's why it's so important for us as believers to learn what grace is. When he prays for spiritual wisdom and knowledge and understanding, what's he talking about? He's really talking about grace. Who is it and how does it work? Let's close.

Father, how we thank you for your word and how we thank you for this life that we have in union with your Son is a life that we pray every day that we would grow in because we already are in it. And as Paul said, we would grow in the wisdom, or Peter said, we would grow in the knowledge and grace of your Son, the Lord Jesus, recognizing that we already are in the grace, learning what it is to be there. So Father, we thank you. We pray in your Son's precious name. Amen.