Faith Lesson 16 Week 2
JD McCulley · Sep 20, 2015
Faith, No. 36
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49265154267

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

Well, we're on lesson 16. I heard someone say that we're on question 6. I think that's always a debate when Mike ends up teaching, isn't it? Did we get through 5? Did we get through 4? I don't know. Maybe. I'd like to just back up and review question 4 and 5 real quick. And then that maybe gives us a little bit of a segue into question 6 there. So does everybody have a sheet, got their stuff ready? Or does anybody need a sheet for Lesson 16?

I think there's some in the back there. I see a lot of coffees out there today. You know what that means, don't you? For those of you that possess coffee, You got some coffee back there? Yeah. So you're going to have to talk a lot more today. You're going to have a lot more to say. That's the rule. And if you bring Snapple, you're exempt from everything. I'm good with that. You're good with that? Oh man, I'm going to draw you in no matter what.

Alright, let's look at question number four and just remind ourselves what we learned last week. So, you're in the faith class. Remember, we're talking about these four aspects of what kind of faith? Biblical faith. Remember, faith is a large concept. Faith applies to everyone. Everyone has faith in something. What are some synonyms for faith? Trust? What? Belief? Okay. So, does everyone have a trust in something or a belief in something? Absolutely.

As loose as it could be in their mind, and I've heard some interesting, recently, I mean, you know, it doesn't take long to talk to anyone to get a sense of where they're placing their ultimate trust, does it? There's plenty of things going on in the world and in the news that, you know, once those subjects come up, You get folks' perspective pretty quick. And are we special because we have the faith that we do? In other words, is it something that is unique to you that is special about you, that you have the biblical faith?

I would say so. I think it's basic. Is it basic? Yeah, because everything else is colored by it. I would use the word privileged. Aren't we privileged to be able to have been exposed to the truth? And you know, that reminds me of when I listen to folks that are talking about their faith and their trust in something other than the biblical facts that we find in God's Word, I remind myself that I too was once there, and I'm privileged to now know, and it reminds me of my opportunity to share that message with them.

And that sometimes takes a long time, doesn't it? It takes a rapport with people. I'm thinking about neighbors and co-workers, family members. It takes time for them to see. It takes time for them to see you screw up. Why? Why do you think them seeing you screw up is so important? Because sometimes it's how you deal with that screw up that opens their eyes and says, you know what?

We're both human here, but you got something that's totally different than I do, and you're handling it a lot different. So a lot of times we get down on one another for how we kind of screw up in the faith and how we make the wrong decisions or maybe we pop off at the wrong time. But even when you pop off, even when you don't find yourself walking with the Lord with someone that doesn't share the same viewpoints, you've got an opportunity to circle back around and say, listen, that was something that was not quite who I am. And you've got an opportunity to start recognizing how to minister to their lives through walking with the Lord. And so that's what we're talking about today.

We're talking about this whole idea of faith and how it really affects us at a street level. The thing I really am excited about with this class is that Theology is important. Doctrine is key. You cannot live the Christian life without understanding theological concepts and understanding the doctrinal principles of the Word of God. But those doctrinal principles and concepts meet you at your street level, meaning your day-to-day.

When you wake up, you put your shoes on and you get ready for the day. This stuff matters when you're driving. It matters when you're walking into work or when you're meeting your grandson for coffee. All of these things add up to the street-level life that we live. And so, we've got this situation where we find ourselves not walking with the Lord.

We talked about how those instances are either trials or temptations. We defined those two different words a little differently, didn't we? Do you remember how we defined those? Somebody look back in their notes and see what those two words were. Temptation is to trip you up and trial is to... I don't have my notes, but mold you, train you... With the goal of approval. Remember? Yeah, that's right. I got a buddy.

When I give him a hard time, he'll often say to me, he'll say, get behind me, Satan. You ever heard that? Is it Satan that we want to get behind us? What does Mike say about Satan in regards to tempting you? He doesn't. Does he know your address? No. Does he know where you live? Is he stalking you, tempting you in the same way he was doing that to the disciples in the Gospels? So what might we say, who might we say get behind me when we find those kinds of situations?

Self. And what is that self called? Well the old man was crucified. He's dead. Sin nature. So I've been thinking about that term and what I find myself and I do it. I'll jab at buddies and poke around and stuff like that. When we think about that whole idea of, you know, get behind me, what we're saying is, sin nature, you have no place, right? So we want to talk about that today. We want to talk about where the sin nature fits in our life as a believer and what that means and how these temptations and how these trials fit into our life. And we talked about with question four last week, we asked the question, is the Christian life mainly sin and confess, sin and confess, sin and confess, on and on and on?

Who has ever experienced that? Yeah, you guys with coffee, better get your hands up. Sin and confess, that has been the majority of my Christian walk. No lies. That's the real, that's what it's been. And I think that even for young believers, whether they be young children or even older in their age, once they learn this mechanism of confess our sins, and where do we find that in the scripture? Where is it?

Yeah, so I'll read that verse for us. If we confess our sins, and that's the key word, confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from every unrighteousness. So He convicts us of our sins and we find ourselves confessing. And what does the word confess mean? Agree with.

Or say the same thing as. So, I'm going to use this again in a little bit, but what does that sound like in a prayer? I think a lot of time, and I'm not asking us to come up with the perfect prayer. I know that each of us talk to the Lord in different ways.

For those of us from Texas, we have a draw. And I think God understands that. Even if Vern learned Greek in Texas, I still think that the Lord recognizes our draw. I've heard his jokes about Texans. He's pretty harsh about that. Sometimes I want to let him know. And I say, get behind me, sin nature. We all talk to the Lord in different ways. We use different words. We use a different kind of conversational style.

That's great. If you were to find yourself in need of confession, what might a prayer sound like when you go before the Lord and you confess? How does that work? What are the mechanisms of that dialogue? Mine starts out with, Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! I did it! Look what I'm doing! The Lord's like, I already know that. How does it go from there?

I'm so sorry. So, you've got some sympathy. Is sympathy required? Is that sympathy? To be sorry? Well, no, I guess it's not sympathy, it's regret. Is regret always required? No. I don't know. Well, does confession include regret? If you recognize it was not the correct thing, you do regret it. So you're saying if... I'm wanting to know what you got to say.

That McDonald's coffee's got you going. Go ahead. Caffeine. No. Let it kick. No, I was going to say confession should be for a believer who understands their position that based on my position, this activity or this doesn't fit with that. Doesn't fit. Do you have to feel bad about that? No. Where does the idea of feeling bad in confession come from?

Parents. David said, I will be sorry for my sin. I think that's probably what most people think. I think the idea of confession in the Catholic system has brought on a lot of this kind of emotional regret. If you had coffee, you would have said it. Well, Mike has been too, and he's talked about some of this stuff. And so I'll kind of lean on what he said about the idea of confession. There's a huge emotional outpouring. If that outpouring is not there, then it's not authentic. But is that biblical? And we're talking about biblical faith. And I would argue that it's not.

You may not feel sorry for what you did. But, when the mind recognizes, and I'm talking about the new man, led by the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit convicts your heart, that new man, that new self, that what you're doing is not of the Lord, the confession may not feel regret, but it recognizes truth. It recognizes the truth of God's Word and it begins a process. We're going to talk about that process a little bit. One of those processes for a lot of believers is, I'm going to confess, regret or not, and you may have it.

It's okay if you have regret. Oftentimes I think confession is accompanied by that feeling, but it's not required. My father's razor straps sure helped me to regret. Because a lot of times that regret is usually focused on the consequences. There are consequences, aren't there? But let's talk about that pattern. We go to the Lord and say, oh Lord, you know, and here's how the confession sounds in my prayer life. And, you know, judge it as you will.

That was not at all aligned with who I am in the scripture. You tell me that I am, and I go through that process of recognizing who I am. This is what you said I was, or who I am, and what I did was completely in the sin nature. And I want you to know that I'm calling what happened exactly what you call it.

It's sin. And that's what confession is, calling it what it is. And sometimes it happens in 10 seconds, that little dialogue. Okay, Lord, that's what it was. That was sin. I'm calling it the same thing as you, and I'm aligning myself with the way you view me. And that was not who I am. But then I go back into walking with the Lord, and then all of a sudden, boom, again. run right into that wall. And I follow this chain of temptation. I'm abiding. The desire becomes strong. I draw myself away.

And James, when he talks about this process, it's literally this idea of the fishing. You're baiting your own hook. You're putting the line out there. You're drawing yourself out from underneath the rock. And you're hooking yourself. This is all the sin nature. hooking and pulling and drawing you out from your hiding place in Christ so that you are enticed. Ultimately you do what? You take your own bait. Can you imagine fishing for yourself?

That's what temptation is. That's how the sin nature works in your life. And all of a sudden you become pregnant with sin, you give birth to it, and all of a sudden it produces death, and death means Separation. That's right. So this happens. We confess. We call it the same thing that the Lord calls it. This was sin. It's an offense to God. His righteousness is something that stands in complete contrast to what it is that I just chose to do.

And so we confess and then we get back on the road and we find ourselves doing that same thing again. And a lot of times it happens in the same hour. Same day. And then you do it again. It's kind of a rollercoaster of confession. And I ask for a show of hands, not literally, but we've all been there, and maybe we're still there. And you know what, that's okay. That's where we're at. But is that God's intention for our life? Is that how He intended the Christian life to be lived? Sin, confess, sin, confess, rollercoaster, up and down, every day, round and round. Is that the life that he gave us?

No. What is confession? Does it happen before or after sin? After sin. Well, you might cut off the process before that point. Okay, but that's not confession, is it? No. Now we want to talk about what's that thing that happens before. Recognition? Well, let's see. Let's see. So, question number five.

What would God have us do if question 4 is our experience? What do we do if we're caught in a roller coaster of sin and confess? Let's read Romans 6, 10-11. If someone's got that, can you read it for us? Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is free from sin.

You wanted to ten? Ten and eleven actually. I'm sorry. That's okay. For in that he died, he died unto sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So let's break this down a little bit, real quick. Romans 6, 10, for the death that he died, who are we talking about? Christ. He died to sin once for all. So there's a completion there. Sin has been rendered dead once and for all. He died unto it.

But the life that he lives, so here's the contrast, he lives to who? To God. Okay. So here's the important part for us. Verse 11. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. So that word consider, for some of you it says reckon? Yeah. Okay. Consider is fine. It's a little bit more of a common term that we hear in our everyday English language.

I really prefer the word reckon, and I think the King James has that. For those of you that maybe have a different translation, consider there. Maybe you could circle that and just say reckon. And the reason is, I'm going to say that word a thousand times today. And I want it to be something that we really hit on strong.

So, Romans 6, 10 through 11, and there's other verses as well, gives us some insight into what happens before confession is needed. Right? So, this is preemptive. strike, as opposed to damage control. Confession is damage control, right? Really? Reckoning is preemptive protection. So we want to focus on this today. What is this word reckon all about? What does the word reckon mean?

The account is settled. Okay, the account is settled. What did you say? To count upon. It's a legal term, isn't it? Actually, it's an accounting term. Yeah, close. So, to reconcile your bank statement, what does that mean? You're agreeing with the bank. Okay. What's that? It's balanced. Right?

So your debits are now reconciled to your credits and you've got a balanced bank account. You know what each credit or each debit and how it matches up to one another so that you have a balanced account hopefully. Or you don't. But you can still reconcile it and be in debt. You can reconcile it and be ahead. but the reconciliation of your accounts balances that out, right?

So, in the scripture, based on these verses, Romans 6, 10 through 11, what is being balanced here? What are the debts and the credits that are being talked about in this verse? Start with verse 10. Well, it's one life. That is given for our love. Okay, let's talk about that. So, sin, which means separation, requires, it has a consequence, doesn't it? What's the consequence of sin? Sorry, I said sin, I meant death. What is the consequence of sin? Separation or death.

Okay, is that a credit or a debit? Debit. Okay, so we have the debit of death. How is that death reconciled? And I'm talking about sin. The sin. How is it reconciled? Now debit is what? That is a negative withdrawal. You just said, is that death? Debit? A debit is death. Yes. Right?

Like the debt. The debt. The debt that was on the human race was the consequence of Sandwich's death. How was that reconciled to God? Verse 10, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. That's the credit, isn't it? Christ's death was the credit that reconciled the consequence of Sandwich's death. He made that right before God. Does that mean that every human being has the credit of what Christ did on the cross on their balance sheet? No. He died for all. He died for all? Is that available to all? Yes. Are you sure about that? Yeah! I like it. Front row. Yeah! It is available to all. That's what it says.

We've got plenty of biblical support and other verses to support that. So how Do we have a sin debt on our account when we're born into this world? We do. Because we have not appropriated that provision Christ made for us. That's right. To ourselves. And how do you appropriate that? By faith. In what? In His perfect work. Which is? Death, burial, and resurrection. Right? Right.

Alright, so we got the Gospel. We've got the big picture of what the balance sheet of sin looks like before God, and then we've got our individual balance sheets. So here what we're saying is that for those that believe in the message of the gospel, Christ has paid the debt and reconciled our balance sheet before the Lord so that we might have what? Right, and that's the second part of that verse. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. See, that's what Christ did, and then verse 11 talks about us, and it mirrors that same thing.

But now we're not talking about being saved. Verse 11 is not about being saved. It's about walking with the Lord. This is a sanctification verse. You might write that out in the margin of your Bible, too. This is sanctification. You see, I believe verse 10 and I'm saved. That's what Christ did for me. I believe verse 10. I don't believe verse 11 yet. What does that mean? That means I'm in the roller coaster of sin and confess as a believer.

But you believe verse 11 and now you've got a preemptive strike available to you. You've got a different kind of weapon for combating the sin nature. So, reckon here is the same thing that this reconciliation is a counting term. Now we're supposed to start thinking about our balance sheet as it relates to our walk. And we're supposed to think of it, according to this scripture, prior to sin. So, this is interesting to me.

I have spent some time looking at A lot of the work from Miles Stanford, are you guys familiar with Miles Stanford for the most of you? He's got, I don't know, 30 some odd different resources that make up the complete works of Miles Stanford. Miles Stamford's not the focus here so much. What's interesting about Miles, and he's the one that really was able to, that the Lord used to teach and to train Mike through the Word. He's been a huge ministry to my family as well.

What I did is I took the entire complete works of Miles Stamford and I looked for the word reckon, reckons, reckoned, reckoners, and I said, how much does he talk about this subject? Because it sounds like to me, that if there's any theme throughout all of the work that he spent his life dedicated to, that was the word that he focused on. I found 706 times he talked about this concept, and I broke it down. I mean, I could tell you how many times he said, reckoning, reckoning, and I've actually got a 59-page document that is an excerpt from every single time he mentioned the term.

You know why he mentioned it? because he read in Romans 6, 10 and 11, especially 11, that there is this preemptive ability that we have that's given to us to combat sin before it even happens, and I'm going to focus on it. And it's not focused on by the majority of Christendom. And so I started looking at that, and I'm not going to go through the 59 pages, But I wanted to read some of these different excerpts that I found to you and just get a sense of what you think about them and see how you react to them. So the first one, he says, once we begin to reckon or count on facts, our Father begins to build us up in the faith. So you're saying that since I haven't been reckoned, or I have not been reckoning on the truths of God's word prior to the confession, I'm not being built up in faith? What do you think about that statement? You can't because you're spinning. You're spinning in that cycle. You mean I'm just turning circles? You're just turning circles. Okay, I speak for myself. That's what I did. Can anyone else say the same thing? Yeah. For sure.

Are we being built up in the faith when we're sitting there circling around chasing our tail? Saying confess and confess and confess. I think he's right. I think that once we start to count on the facts of Scripture prior to sin, we start to grow. You hear this all the time. I want to grow. I want to grow as a believer. And I'm sitting here looking at Romans 6, 11, and I'm thinking, here it is. This is what it's all about right here. Now, we're counting on what?

I use the word facts. How do you know the facts? You've got to get in Scripture. So in order to reckon, you have to know something. So there's something even before reckoning that happens as well. And what is that? You've got to behold the Lord through His Word. But beholding Him through His Word leads to a place of reckoning on those facts prior to sin. That gets you out of the tailspin. Right?

Does that make sense? Did you get that from, like I have that book, that thick book of the Green Letters? Some of them are out of the Green Letters, but he has a ton of other stuff too. Where do you find other books by him? I have, I bought it. Where did you buy it? So I use a bible software called Lauras.

You want a printout of this? Well, I'm sure everybody does. If you want this, I'll email it to you. It's a 59 pages Word document. So, come up and see me. No, don't email it. My printer doesn't work. We'll figure something out. If you bought it, we should be able to buy it. You can't buy it. It's a disk. It is a disk and they don't make them anymore now. It's all software that gets downloaded into other software.

So the reason I'm kind of skirting the issue is it's kind of complicated. It's not available in the same way that used to be. I have special access. I can't do a search through the books. I don't have time. So here's the next statement. To those who refuse, and this is by William Newell. This isn't actually Miles. Newell's a great guy. He's got an excellent commentary on the Book of Romans.

To those who refuse or neglect to reckon themselves dead to sin as God commands, we press the question, how are you able to believe that Christ really bare the guilt of your sins and that you will not meet them at the judgment day? Isn't that interesting? You believe, or you reckon, you agree with God about Him paying the sin debt for your sins, but you don't believe Him with regards to the temptation you're dealing with.

You see the contradiction there? And we all do it. But I'm trying to call this out to myself and to you in hopes that we recognize the spiritual insanity there. Right? How about this one? This is from a guy named Wallace. Reginald. Why does nobody name that anymore? Reg. Listen to this one. God says in effect, my child, as you reckoned on the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, now go a step farther and reckon on the representative work for your victory day by day.

Why not take it to the next level? We could spend our whole life enjoying knowing that we are saved from the penalty of sin. And what's the penalty? But we can go our whole life not enjoying the realization that we're saved from the power of sin. And be basically rendered inoperable on a day-to-day basis. You want victory day by day?

It's bound up in reckoning. I think Reginald is right. He's a smart guy. Here's another one. Our reckoning it to be true only makes us begin to realize the fact and experience. We're always talking about the Christian experience. I know all this stuff, but where does rubber meet the road? Where does the experience really get exciting for the believer? You want excitement? Whatever that means? It's based on reckoning. It's that step further from the substitutionary work that was done for the penalty of sin to now recognizing that it has no power over you.

Colossians 3.3 says that we are dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. Do you believe that? Your dead and your life is hid. with Christ in God. So, Romans 6-11, Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus our Lord. You see the logical flow there? If you're hit with Christ, then reckon yourself there. Is this helpful? Kind of thinking through different angles of this word?

Here's another one. We shall never know the experience of Christ's victory in our lives until we are prepared to count upon his victory at the cross as the secret of our personal victory today. Now who said that? That was Miles. I want to show you something. He's just explaining Reckoning there. Yeah, he's just explaining it. And he's just explaining it from different perspectives. I'm trying to find my little... I brought something. I don't know where I put it. Oh, here it is.

These are cards that Miles printed out and would hand out to people. And Mike explains to me that he would at times... He was very conscious of where people were in their growth. He may not hand out a card if he didn't get a sense that you were maybe ready for that realization, but this is one that he handed out. This is one that he actually printed.

It says, Reckoning is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And then it states Romans 11 underneath it. Wait a minute. That's the exact thing that we're talking about in Hebrews, isn't it? The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. That's what we're reckoning. What are those things? We've talked about them over and over and over. The things of God. These are the things that we're reckoning. The things of God.

Yeah. So, you're talking a lot about doctrine that I struggled with for years. I studied with Miles for 20 years. Oh, great. Now I'm in trouble. Huh? No, you're not in trouble. So much to learn and so little time or so little brain power or whatever. I went for years studying all this stuff, thinking I understood it, but it was like mist going through my fingers.

And the thing that started helping me, I was just telling Helen about this, I started being able to relate, because of somebody else I studied with, who used a lot of Old Testament stories to explain God as character and old sin nature. Who was that person? Tom Wontrop, you probably don't know him. I basically found this guy and I listened to 200 of his nine minute tapes in a year.

Because what it did, it helped me sort of switch, make a switch to start looking at the scripture differently. So if this is hard to grasp what he's talking about, while you're talking, Peter came to mind. And because Peter, before Christ, before the Holy Spirit, was like one person, right? And then after the Holy Spirit came, he was this other bold, you know, not fearful person. And I don't know if I can really say this, but so when I, how I started seeing all this doctrine with these stories, the Old Testament stories and the Gospels and Jesus' relationship with the disciples. I mean, I really studied it through.

It sort of clicks with this so that I can understand What it does? I don't think I can explain this. I think I understand. Can you try and explain it? Yes, I can. It's going through too fast. So, a lot of times, there are many things of God. Right? We've talked about the things of God. And we went into his character. What are some of the character attributes of God?

Loathe. Okay. I have a little acronym. I'll give you a hint. It's called Sir J. Louie. What? Sergei Louis. Write it down. This is brilliant. How do you spell it? Yeah, you need to spell it. S-R-J-L-O-O-O-I-E. R-E. Yeah. Sounds like a name. Sergei Louis. He's a friend of mine. Sovereignty. Righteousness. Justice. Because you go slowly. You betcha. Serge A. Louis, Sovereignty, Righteousness, Justice, Love. And then you've got all three of your Omnis. Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent. And then I.E., Immutable, Eternal. Sergei Louis. I use it all the time. Did you make that up? No, I learned it from Charlie Clough. You guys know Charlie. Sergei Louis. So, is that right?

The things of God are wrapped up in these character attributes. Now, throughout the scripture, in the Old Testament included, God displays his character through historical events, right? those historical events are designed to be remembered, right? When the Israelites saw the character of God, maybe it was His omnipotence, His power, His all-powerful, when they recognized that and they experienced the delivery from maybe the enemy, they would build an altar to remember what the Lord had done. So, the stories of the scripture are like our altars that we build and we remember what it is that the Lord has done and how he has communicated himself to us over time.

Throughout the Old Testament, including the gospel messages prior to Acts 2, we have stories that represent God's character in relationship to man without the Holy Spirit. important, very critical seedbeds of knowledge and understanding of who God is, but it doesn't tell us the full story. And that's the reason the Lord didn't stop there. So we have additional stories and additional doctrine and truth throughout the New Testament epistles, mainly including Paul, Peter, etc., that tell us the rest of the story of who God is based on the fact that we now are new creatures. So, here's what I'm saying.

The Old Testament is critical to understanding the character of God. You don't know him as a creator unless you go to the book of Genesis. John says in the book of John, John references in John 1 the creation in the beginning, but you can't reference that if you don't have the historical reality of that in Genesis. So the entire New Testament is built on the reality of the Old Testament as being true.

It's connected, it's complete. But when we think about reckoning the things of God, we need to recognize Sergei Louis in relationship to who we are in this age. That's my firm belief. If we recognize ourselves in the same way that David recognized himself in relationship to God and his character, then we have an incomplete view of who we are and what we have access to. things have progressively been revealed over time, and we have access to more. So we need to access that more, meaning that we need to understand the Book of Romans. We need to understand 1 Corinthians, etc. Okay?

Everybody tracking with me so far? So, what this mist thing that you explained is, when we say reckon, it's like, oh my gosh, what am I reckoning? What am I thinking about? Do I have to have a degree in systematic theology in order to reckon? What do I need in order to get this thing going in my mind? And your mind is searching. It's searching. It's like, where does it actually find substance to grab onto in that moment of temptation or frustration or whatever, and actually nail itself down into the truth of God's Word? I think that it can be a combination of things for us.

It can start with Old Testament realities. A lot of times for me, it's like, Lord, you are the creator. And you had so much interest and love for me that as a creator, you literally died for me, you gave me new life, and I've been crucified with you, I've been buried with you. And so, you see how I go from who you are as the creator, omnipotent, you own it, you're the creator, owner. all the way from the Old Testament into the New, you died for me.

Not only did you create me, you sacrificed your life for me, and that means something based on Romans 6.11, 10 and 11. And so, in my mind, I move from Old Testament truths that explain the character of God to their New Testament application in my life, and how it impacts me and you.

Does that make sense? So the myths become solid when you're able to understand how these character attributes of God, the things of God, the Sergei Louis, when they become things of God and they become things that are true of you based on the scripture of the New Testament.

I was just thinking, I don't know, I can't remember where it is in the epistles, but Paul talk about, think about what is true, lovely... I can't think what... Set your mind on these things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where is it? Where is that? I just said, he said, set your mind on these things. Right. Is that the same kind of idea that... I think that it goes a step further for us. And this is, you know, this is where... That's one. I always go over, so don't let me do that. It's bad here. Bad, bad.

Yeah. Gives us an understanding that God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Eternal. Yeah. So when we set our mind on love, let's use that as an example. Does God display love in the Old Testament? Yes. Is it foundational to the New Testament? without the love of the Old Testament as God displayed His love for a people, calling them out, using them as a teaching tool to the rest of the world, showing them grace?

We talk about law and grace, and Byrne would, I think, agree with me. It's not so much law and grace, it's law, grace, and grace. It's a combination of law and grace. He could have annihilated everybody instantly for sin. He would have been right to do so, wouldn't he? But he didn't. He showed a lot of grace through the law. But he shows even more grace moving into the substitutionary work of Christ and following.

So when we take the concept, set your mind on love, we recognize the love that God showed David and how he focused on that in the Psalms. But we move on from that. And I'm not saying that the Old Testament doesn't have a place. It absolutely does. It is the foundation of what Paul talks about and love in the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, right? So, when we're reckoning on the things of God, those Old Testament stories are meant to be recalled and understood, but they're not meant to communicate who you are in Christ fully.

There's more to the story, and that's why we need the epistles. I just think it's also that we just have to somehow, God allows us to. We literally believe it's true that we're dead and sick. We have to really believe it. Well you have to ask yourself that. And I think that yes, God intends it because he said it.

Do you believe it? Don't you think you progressively believe it? You start out here Do you think you progressively believe it? No, you begin to believe it a little bit and then it just takes over you after. Do you know what I'm saying? I think we start out as babes in Christ and then have to grow.

I agree. I want to read you a story. This is an allegory of a sea captain. This is one of my stories. I love it. It's a big part of my brain as it relates to reckoning and this whole issue of the sin nature. There's an allegory of the sea captain who, in mid-ocean, is charged with a capital offense, put in chains and replaced by another.

As the ship sails on, the chained one seeks to assert his old authority over the crew. Can you see it? Here he is, capital offense, chained down, dropped to the bottom of the ship, and all of a sudden, he seeks to regain his old authority. Some of them might be foolish, meaning some of the other crewmen, might be foolish enough to respond. He's telling us what to do. We've got to do it. We've got to get back on it. That voice sounds so dadgum familiar, I've got to get on it. Right?

Some might be foolish enough to respond that there's no need for he has been judicially deposed. It is now simply a matter of acknowledging the new captain and refusing the threats and orders of the condemned one. The death sentence is not yet carried out beyond his being held in the place of death. He's held in chambers, shackled. Death sentence hasn't been carried out fully. His power is broken, but he will be executed when the ship reaches port. In the meantime, he causes a lot of trouble.

You see the picture there? He goes on to say, is this not a picture of the eidemic source held in the place of death, replaced by the new source at the helm of our ship? Our attitude toward the old man is to be this, I reckon, here's that word, I reckon, I consider it so, it's balanced out in my mind, I reckon upon the crucifixion of the cross as your undoing, God's undoing of the sin nature, right? And therefore refuse your reign over me. I count the Lord Jesus as the captain of my life. When we reach the heavenly port, the conflict will be over. In the meantime, we rest in him.

You see that picture? That's what it's like. You got this old captain of the sin nature that's in a place of death, shackled, has no authority over you, but is still yelling out commands. And it's so familiar of a voice to you that a lot of times you just say, I know you. And it's easier for me just to go ahead and do what you have to say than for me to recognize the new voice of who I am in Christ. But there's a situation there of spiritual insanity, as Mike calls it. Now you're caught in obeying the wrong master. And we know what that's like. But you cannot get out of that cycle of listening to the old master if you do not reckon yourselves dead. to that old master. You will sin confess, you will tell spin, constantly, until you reckon on the new voice of who you are in Christ, and that being the Lord Jesus, the captain of your life.

Does that make sense? That's great. Good. Where did you get that? That's Milo Stanford as well. But you can't get it. I can email it to you. It's in the green letters. It's in the book you have. And if you want resources of Miles, go talk to Mike. He's got them. He's the guy. Does he have them in hard copy? There's a whole room full of books. You know, I'd like to take a photograph too.

The Old Testament of how the Israelites were taken out of Egypt to the Promised Land. And that's a picture of, to me, our lives were taken out of Egypt. Where were they before they entered the Promised Land? In the desert. And how long did they stay there? 40 years. What do you call that? Wilderness. I call it a tailspin. A tailspin. Right?

And we're headed for the promised land too. We are. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that not only do we have the privilege to come and confess our sins before you and find fellowship, being reunited in fellowship with you. Lord, that is a beautiful, wonderful thing. We thank you for that gift. But we also recognize that you went even further and gave us a tool, a mental tool of reckoning on who we are in Christ to battle the temptation process before it ever takes root in our lives and gives birth to separation. We thank you that you love us so much and that your goal is to spend time with us.

It's not to beat us into submission. It's not to cause us grief and pain and suffering as we try to walk with you, but it's a lovely rest where we find ourselves intimately spending time with you in a way that the world just cannot understand. But we pray for us, for our body here, that we would reckon these things to be true, and that you would bring to mind the truths of your word to battle the sin nature as it's been shackled and chained and is in a place of death. We pray that we would recognize that and call it what it is. It's in your name we pray. Amen.