Introduction: Principles of Position

Okay. For those of you who have not been in my class before, some details. I've got questions for next week. What we do normally, what I do normally, we do normally, is that we'll take questions home with you and try to answer them if you can. And then we use those questions as the topic of discussion the next week. And so you'll find that what I have found over the years is that questions stimulate involvement in the class, and that's kind of why we do it that way, because it makes you think. Now if you, and I don't have the list, if you want me to send you the questions electronically, I should have a sheet you can stick them on. Write down on the back of a piece of paper, if I can find a good one, your email and I'll send them out to you. Perfect. This is lesson 12 from the faith class. Write on the back of this your email address.

And then I'll just send them to you when I have them ready every week. OK. Last time, I think about half of the people got them electronically. I try not to forget. So these are the questions for next week. I got 15 of them. I'll probably have to get some more unless you want me to send them to you electronically and you're on the list. See what else. There's no such thing as a really dumb question. That's not what you told me. It's not so much as the dumb questions. It's just sometimes there are too many from the same person.

But we invite your participation. We recognize that it doesn't matter whether I know and understand the material, it's what you do. The most important thing is that you walk out of here understanding what we're trying to teach. And lots of times J.D. and Courtney and I would attribute that you teach us by the questions and by the discussion. We learn too. So, okay. Now, we're going to talk about this whole class and I don't know how long. Oh, one other thing.

Most of the material from this class is going to be taken from, how many of you have a copy of the complete green letters? Okay, in there is a section called the principle of position. And that's where most of the material will come from. If I had a bunch of these, I'd hand them out to you, but they don't print them individually anymore. So probably the least expensive place to get a complete green letter is like Amazon. I think they're like $11 or something.

So I would recommend that you get one because there's, if you don't already have one, there are 10 or 12 chapters that position has to do with other issues in your Christian life. So a lot of the material will come from the principle of position as written by Miles. Also, and next week I'll hand this out, I went through some time ago and there's lots and lots of biblical references that he refers to in here and I made a list of them. And so I'll copy all these and or send them out to you electronically so you have them in the notebooks. Okay. Principle of position. What is it? What do we mean by position? Anybody know? It's a solid fact. A solid fact. Do you have a position? Yes.

Tell me about your personal history. And I don't care about your playing guitar in the smoky bars. I don't care about that. No, anything about positions. So the whole idea of the pillow, feeling the pillow at night, you go, am I really safe or not? You know, it was kind of a question like, was like, have I been pretty good lately or whatever messes up your brain as you stumble. Everybody hear what Russ is saying? Is he talking about his position? So every one of us in this room has a position from God's perspective. When did you get that position?

I guess I would say after Christ was resurrected from dying on the cross. You're about 40 million years too soon. Here's all of our history. Before anything was brought into being, before the universe was made, before the world was made, before Adam was created, we were chosen, elected, a called person, conceived in the Father's heart and purpose. Isn't that something? Ephesians 1, 4, and 5 says, Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him and loved. He predestinated us to the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will. So when did you get your position?

Ephesians 1.4 says, before the foundation of the world. Chosen in Him.

Wow. Okay. Go. Can you back up? How far back do you want me to go? Last year. No. Because you talked about the position. Is that word only used for, you can't say that everybody saved or lost their position? As I come down this morning, I'll explain. Yeah, we all do. It may not be in Christ, but we all do have a position. You mean some people have a position with the old man and they're going to stay there? Some people have a position in Adam and they stay there. Well, we all did. We all did.

We all come with a position in Adam. But you know it's interesting, Ephesians says that you had a position in Christ before the foundations of eternity, before Adam was ever created. I was stuck in Adam through no fault of my own. Oh yes it was your fault. These later were my fault. She's trying to convince me she's not a sinner.

Second Timothy 1.8 and 9 says, Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, his prisoner. But join me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us, called us up with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose, and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.

Or Psalm 139.16, Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.

How cool is that? So when did you get your position? Before the foundation roll. That's right. That's when you got it. So for those of you who have never read a little booklet called An Eye for an Eye, I'm going to read a part out of it. It goes like this. Once upon eternity there was but infinite non-existence Get that one wrapped around in your mind. Infinite non-existence. There was no atom, no universe, no world, nothing, nothing, nothing but God. Are you there? Got your brain there now?

The eternal triunity of love, God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 57 says, For thus saith the High, an exalted one who lives forever, whose name is Holy. Let your heart, dear friend, be drawn back there and contemplate the beloved Son eternally in the bosom of the loving Father, receiving and reciprocating the divine love in all of its unutterable purity and ardor in the spirit of love." That's what they were doing. way back then. They were receiving and reciprocating the divine love in all its unutterable purity and ardor.

That's kind of a cool thing, isn't it? Think about that. Is that an I for an I, like an I or a letter I? I. Letter I. Okay, that's cool. Back there in eternity, before anything had been brought into being, In the pure essence of divine love, light and love, life, in the mind of the Father, heart of the Son, and the hands of the Spirit, and by and for His love, God conceived you. thought of in eternity past, brought forth in time for eternity future, forever loved. Isn't that a cool thing? I just love that.

In the secret place of the Most High, in the bosom of the Father, Psalm 91, he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. or John 1.18, it says, No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him or explained Him. So, before anything was ever created, the Father fashioned you and me in His heart of love. That's what He did.

Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unformed. He saw us then, in Christ. In your book, all my members were written, which in countenance were fashioned, and yet there was none of them. So when anybody says to you, well how far back does your position go? How far back does it go? Sort of like forever. Yeah, you know it's interesting that God knew each one of us in Christ, positioned in Christ, before he ever created the first atom, before he ever made the statement, let there be, you and I were already created in our position. This is mind-boggling.

I mean, okay, like, why, if God knew that some people that I cared very much for, if he knew that they We're not going to accept him. Why would he do it? Why would he do that? Because he loved us. That's why. He loves his creation. But a person that never said that they believed. Yeah, and that's something. Couldn't he have done something? Now, I know this is stupid and I don't really mean it. Well, I didn't say that. But I mean it is mind-boggling. It is mind boggling.

I'm going to explain hopefully in a minute because I'm waiting for Courtney's hand to go up. Because how can he say this about those who are believers and what does he have to say about those who aren't? And how does he arrive at this foundation from being created back in eternity? Before anything was created, the Father fashioned you and me. Another cool thing is that from spiritual to physical is His Word. Here's another thing. How long is eternity? Pretty long. How short is eternity? How short is it? See, we have a tendency, because we live in a time-space creation, of thinking eternity is long. But I think eternity is like this.

It's all now. It's like God talks about His understanding. He has all knowledge in play right now. He has all knowledge in play right now. Not a minute from now, it's all right now. So it helps, I think, with a finite time-based mind to think about eternity right now than it is to try to think about it going on forever. Because when we go to be with the Lord, time is not an issue anymore. We're not going to be living in time. And I know it's difficult, you know, trying to explain eternity with a time mind is really hard to get a grasp on.

Do you think God gave us time at creation when it was like on the first day? Didn't that like start time? Yeah. When God created, the first thing was time. And he took six days. So, when the giver of life, when the giver of a gift thinks and speaks, even in eternity past, it's done. Isn't that interesting? Think about God. When he thinks about it, it's already done. There's never any doubt. While he may not choose to carry it out immediately, it is forever completed. should give us a lot of rest about what's going on. Again, from Psalms, for he spoke and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast. Ecclesiastes, that which has been already and that which will be has already been. That sounds like circular thinking, doesn't it? what that scripture is.

Oh, Psalm 33.9 was the first one.

This one is Ecclesiastics 3.15. That which has been already and that which will be has already been for God seeks that which has passed by. Spent a whole day studying that verse.

God called the world into being. He created Adam. to be the head of the human race. Now this is the important part right here. To be the head of the human race for the world and hence every single human being was created in time in Adam. Every one of us. We were identified with Adam. He was our life. He was our position. See that? We were positioned, every human being is positioned in time in Adam. In eternity, believers are positioned in Christ, but in time we all came in and we were positioned in Adam. He was our position. One of the first questions for next week, what's the best word that you can think of for position? A really good word. The word is source. Source. Where did it come from? What's the source? Source is a terrific word for position. It's a good synonym for position.

God himself is his own source. Positioned in Christ, he is your source. In time, positioned in Adam, Adam is your source. So, when Adam sinned, and thereby he positionally died to God. How would you describe what that is? Here's Adam, he's the head of the human race. Everything that's true of Adam is going to be true of every human being that comes from him. And he sins. He misses the mark. He falls short. And he dies. What's the word death mean? So he dies positionally to God. What does that mean?

Is it that his source changed from God to himself? Yeah. Everybody pick up on that question? That was a really good question. His source changed. It changed from God to himself. Okay? And what happened to you if Adam was your source? Come on, didn't that hurt? What happened to you if Adam was your source when your source positionally dies? We positionally died too. Yeah. There's the answer to... What? I didn't hear that. What happened to you when your source positionally died to God? What happened to you? Same thing. You positionally died to God too.

So Adam. In Adam. Now you can say, well gee, I wasn't responsible. If I was Adam, I wouldn't have done what he did. Yeah, you would have. You're just like him. There's no difference in you and Adam. And Romans 5, 12 says, just as one man, sin entered the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. Why? Because all men sinned in Adam. We all fell short in Adam. See that? Now, that puts the responsibility back on us, doesn't it? For sin. Even though we got it from our source. Stay with me. When Adam sinned and thereby positionally died to God, we died in Adam with him. Okay? Every human being does. When he became flesh because of his sinful disobedience, guess what you did? You became flesh too. When he was condemned, what happened to you? Yeah, we were condemned too.

The rejected old Adam was superseded then by the accepted new man, the last Adam. The term Adam, in the Bible you'll see the reference to the first Adam and the last Adam. So what does that tell us about who these two guys are? Who are they by the way? Adam the first. Who is the last Adam? The Lord Jesus Christ.

So why would he be termed the last Adam? Because he needed a new Adam. But why Adam? Why would that idea? See, if God identified every human being that comes into the human race with Adam, the first, and we inherit, we have a position in that Adam, and so we inherit everything that's true of him is true of me, then he brings on the scene this other man who he calls the last Adam. It means there isn't going to be one after him. So, why the last Adam? Because there isn't going to be one after him? What's the other characteristic about Adam that's really important?

We've said it three times or four times. Every human being is positioned in Adam. Every one of us. We're positioned in Adam. So whatever's true of Adam is going to be true of all those that are united to him, identified with him. See that? So, to answer Wanda's question, we're born in sin. We're condemned because we're in Adam. Because Adam was condemned. And if you just stay there and never move, guess what? You go and do and suffer and occupy whatever Adam's going to occupy for all eternity. Because Adam is your position. See that? inherit death from Adam, but we inherit life from Christ, right? So it would change our inheritance.

So the reason these two men are so important when it comes to a discussion about position, what really matters is who you're positioned in. Location is everything. That's why I'm a realtor. Location is everything. It's not what you do, it's where you are. Make sense? All of us, where are we? Positioned in Adam. But then, like we started out, we talked about being positioned in Christ from the foundations of eternity. It really does matter where you are, doesn't it? It really does matter.

When the father sent his eternal son into the world, he subjected him to the death of the cross in order to vindicate himself. That was the real reason for the cross, was to vindicate God. Because God was the one that was offended by sin. And to rescue us from our Adamic death. because he loved us as chosen ones from all eternity. So when the Lamb of God was on the cross, and not until then, our Father laid all of our as yet uncommitted sins upon him, and his death for those sins freed us from their penalty.

Do you realize in terms of when you talk about position, that when Christ died on the cross, every single sin that everybody in this room would ever commit was put on Christ before you were ever in existence conditionally. Does that help you understand position?

Or not? All of your sins were all future at the time in which Christ died. All of them. And they were all paid for then. So if you sin this afternoon and you start getting the woe me's, forget the woe me's. It was handled by God a long time ago, and the one tomorrow. And all of you who are going to be depressed if the Broncos lose today, all of that sinfulness has been taken care of too.

Except for Nick's. And I like how you explained it before too, is that God owed no one that. So that some people can be saved, well everybody has the opportunity, but that all aren't. He wants everybody to be, but not everybody is, that he owed none of it. So the people who aren't saved, that's like more the situation would be because it's like he's the one, he could have saved none of us. That's exactly right. He was under no obligation to save anybody. So that would be the, I can't think of the word, but that would be that no one would be saved would be the thing. He could have done it that way. Yeah. Because everybody sinned in Adam, so everybody was an offense to him. Yeah. Everybody.

Because of our position. Well, going back, I just had a question, I guess, just trying to wrap my mind about this. When the earth was void, you know, and before the creation, we, all of us, God knew he was going to create us and we were going to come into being. But at that time before we died with Christ, we were, he knew at that time before he created the earth that we were positioned in him?

Yes. Well, more than that, more than that, what he's saying is that I created you in Christ then. Isn't that something? Yeah. And so he knew that Adam would... Sure did. Even before the creation. Sure did. Did it anyway. I wouldn't have done it that way.

So is there any parallel between how salvation is penalty and all that was taken care of on the cross was for everyone. Is there any correlation between that and how God sees everybody in Christ, in eternity past, and it's just that people don't access it because they don't know the concept? That's a good question. Only believers are seen in Christ in eternity past, not non-believers.

So let's explain that now. Yeah, I was waiting for this to happen. The best way that I think we can explain that is that when we're identified with Adam, and he's our source in time-space, okay? Adam is a time being. And you can draw a timeline for every human being, you know, that kind of goes like this. And here's Adam back here. That's when we all really came into existence, and you can't say that Adam existed before then, because that's when time started, and that's when creation started.

Now, somewhere up in here, Russ, the cross happens, and out in here, Russ believes in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what happens to Russ? One of the most important things that happened to him is that he leaves time-space. He leaves it. He's not in it anymore. He's now in Christ. Where's Christ? He's in eternity, right? So now he's identified with Christ in eternity. So how far back What does Russ's timeline go? As far back as Jesus's did, how far back does that go?

We just described it. So the Father can say, hey, I've known you in Christ from the foundations of eternity. That's how he knows. You see that? Did I explain it okay? We've had this discussion a lot. It's really a great one, I think. Not that you really can get it in a box and think about it, but I know that from a positional standpoint, God takes us out of all of Adam and places us in Christ. And that's a really important thing that we want to get across as we go through this class. We want you to think about your position. Where is it? So when you come waltzing in here and telling me what a crummy week you've had, you're not talking about your position. I want to know what went on in your position this week.

Adam means man, right? So we have the first man and the last man. The last man is a God-man, so he has the nature of both the man and God. And we're thinking about our source, we're either in the first man or in the last man, which has a divine component to it.

When we try to think outside of time creation and get into eternity past, we have, I think there's a danger that we can get into. Calvinism is a system that attempts to solve a lot of those problems. And what that system tends to do is go beyond what the scripture says using time and logic as a way of extrapolating back into eternity as to how God might have done things.

And so I would just caution us to stay within the first and the second source. First and second Adam. First and second man. and realize that we did exist in the mind of God, but to try to wrap our brains around that leads us into a rabbit hole that there is a system that exists out there to try to solve that, but it has many faults because it goes beyond.

Yeah, it does. Talking about predestination. Well, I'm defined improperly. Isn't that the difference between fact and feelings? Well, it's not only that. Here's the interesting thing, and I'm glad you brought that up because some of you were in the last class we taught which had to do with faith. And how do you stick with what the Word of God says? Here comes this information. I read some verses. What do you do with those facts? What do you do with them? That's it. You don't have to be a reformed guy and try to figure them out philosophically.

Ask Craig Case to give you his definition of philosophy. It's really funny. And he's got a minor in philosophy. It's like going to Regis University and studying theology. Why would you do it? You know, going back to a couple of things. One, we were laughing when you said... Hey, he's got a band-aid on his thumb.

The position and all that. We were saying, come in and describe my position. Nothing's changed. When I describe my position, it's the same every day. That's the definition. That's right. So we're not going to change. It would be more talking about my condition rather than my position. Yeah, I got my position is I can read you the thirty three things. It's the same every day. It's that never changes.

But then, you know, getting back in and you know, it's what helped me is because of the Ephesians versus everybody. I think misinterprets that by saying it's predestination and selection and all these different things. And that's why we've had our discussions about this. It's once you're placed in, and that's all the position is about, what this class is about. It's where your position is.

Because you do move, you're in Adam, but once you're placed into Christ, all your history, everything, and I guess mine is, What position? I try and define it as how God sees me. He either sees me in Adam or He sees me in Christ. Those are the two positions that I have and that's how God sees me. Because when we talk about I'm an Eternal and now my history is in Christ, I'm trying to understand that now. I mean, I look at my flesh and my bones and I'm trying to figure out if I'm an eternity past in Christ. It's just the thought that God now sees me in Christ.

And through faith I believe that He's from eternity past to eternity. And that's how God sees me right now. And that's how He can say all the things in Ephesians. Because if you look in Ephesians, all those things are in Him. In one of the classes I looked at, it was like 28 times in Ephesians 1 and 2. All those things are related to in Him.

Which is position. So the reason, you've just described why Having a class on position is so important. All of us are really, really familiar with our former position in Adam, and we continue to try to make this who we really are. That's not who we are. We're in Christ. And being in Christ, positionally, everything is different.

Yet if you think about how you view your life, you're always trying to filter it through your Adamic experience. When what God wants you to do is to learn of Christ and to rest in his facts about Christ, which are true of you. You see that? That's why position is so critical. Because otherwise, if you're stuck in this guy, you're, of most men, really miserable. But, thank God, don't choke.

God gave us the Holy Spirit. To do what? To get us to there, because He knows. And He gave us His Word. He gave us His Word and He gave us the Spirit of God. To do what? When we did, last time we did, when we talked about the essence of faith, Hebrews 11, 1, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. These are the absolute true facts of God.

Right here. They're all in Christ. And that whole year that we taught that, if you came into class and said, yeah, but, you were going to ask me a question from here, rather than here. This is where the rest is. This is where the truth is. And oh, by the way, that's where our identity is. Only here. We don't have identity here anymore. Position. Position is everything.

You mentioned the word history. I think that's going to be a pretty important word for us as well in this class because we only, before believing, we only know the history of being an atom. We know how to hide. We know how to be separated. We live in a separated... We know how to deceive. We know how to deceive. Blame. That's our history.

And we get a new history when we believe And I like the way Vern puts it, we spend the rest of our life on this earth catching up to our history. So the Holy Spirit uses His word to teach us of our new history. So you're in a history course right now, and that history is about who you are in Christ. As you learn of His history, you learn about your own history. You know what else you learn, which I think is really cool? You get to learn Him.

As a person. And he, as a living, breathing, Son of God, human being, glorified, becomes not only the source of our life, but the source of our whole focus and affections. That's really cool. I mean, think about this. Is it possible for you to love somebody more than you love yourself? The answer is yes, it is, if you're positioned in Christ.

If you're positioned in Adam, you've got no shot. What about all the people that were born before Christ? Lost? No, Abraham's not lost. But how could they accept Christ if they never did? I think the requirements for salvation from Adam forward was to exercise faith in the amount of revelation that God gave you, as an example. Did God offer Adam a remedy for his sin?

Answer, yes. What was the remedy? The skins. Something had to die for God to bring those skins to Adam and even see her put these on and take the philodendrons off. The philodendrons are your remedy. The skins of a sacrificed animal is my remedy. Adam said, okay, I'll do it. Was Adam saved? Sure he was. He believed God. Is he in Christ? That's another question. That's a whole other question. I've got five minutes to finish. So what's the answer? No, he's not. He's not. He's not in Christ. But he's saved. He's a saint. They're called Old Testament saints? And they believed what God had revealed to men to that point. That was all the truth they could have. I understand, but my question was, what happened to him? What happened to him?

He's in a place called Paradise. With that guy that was on the cross with the Lord Jesus. They're all hanging out there. Is Paradise heaven? Well, listen. See, from an Adamic standpoint, We always think about going to a place. From a Christ standpoint, you think about going to a person.

And we'll talk about, next week we'll talk a little bit about the new creation. Christ was the creator of the new creation, or the old creation. The new creation is Him. He's not the creator of it, He is it. Read the first two chapters of Colossians. It's amazing. Quick identification. While the Lord Jesus was on that same cross, the Father identified you and me in our Adamic sin with his Son who was made to be sinned. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21.

He who knew no sin was made to be sinned for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. In Him, we died unto sin. In Him, we died unto this entire creation. Because that's what He did. We were crucified with Christ. Yes, you and I, the sinful ones, were not forgiven. Our sins were forgiven. but not our old man, the source of those sins. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh. We were not forgiven so that we could start all over again in the first Adam person.

And that's the way most Christians think and that's what Reformed theology tries to teach you. We're starting all over again. We were crucified with Christ. We died unto sin in Christ. In that death we were positionally separated from the old Adamic life, the entire thing.

You know, really, when you look around the room, you know you guys are all aliens here. Illegal to. All of us. We don't belong here. We're not from here. Especially you Republicans. We were separated from our old Adamic life, the indwelling source of sin. The Lord Jesus' death for us redeemed us from the penalty of our sins. Our positional death with Him freed us from the condemned Adamic life with its penalties, with its power and its reign.

Pretty cool, huh? That's really why identification is so important. I was just wondering, we were in the Father's mind and in Him before the foundation of the world. I think this is wrong and I'm getting ready to say it, but it sounds like we were in Him and we went into Adam and came out of him because we had to put our faith in Christ to get back in Him. That's right where I am. Hold your place right there.

Our Father in eternity past formed us positionally as individuals in His life and mind. He formed us actually, conditionally, at a later date in our mother's womb. The fall did not unmake us as that particular person that God knew, neither did our new birth unmake us as that same person. What is intrinsic to our personhood we never lose. Our identity is eternally the same. Whatever alterations we pass through in our new birth as to soul and spirit, whatever changes awaits our body, at the rapture we will never lose our essential identity in which our father conceived us prior to the foundation of the world.

How cool is that? 2 Timothy 1.9 called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began.

I'm going to read a little poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. E-R-E, everybody understand what E-R-E is in Old English? Before, before suns and moons could wax and wane, before stars were thunder-girt and piled, the heavens God thought of me, his child, ordained a life for me, arranged, in circumstances, every one. To the minutest eye God said, This head, this hand should rest upon, thus before he fashioned star and sun. He fashioned you.

So that's kind of what we're going to do. We're going to focus on what our position is in Christ, how we got it, and how all of these cool terms that talk about our position, how they fit. So that ultimately, by the time we're done, we'll do this. We'll think position. Is this where that peace, you know you talked about that quite a while, this peace. Is that where this peace really comes?

Right here. Our position in Christ. What's the word for position? Source. What's the source of your rest and peace? Right there. Let's close. Father, how we thank you. We thank you for the position that we have in your son, the Lord Jesus, and we look forward to growing and learning more and more, not only of our position, but certainly of him. And we pray in his precious name. Amen.