Principles of Position, Lesson 3

So today we're on lesson three, right? Everybody have a lesson three? What about that last true and false? Yeah. And I said that was true, that last one. And I shouldn't be here, but I couldn't miss it. What did I say was false? It's false. Wow. How can I possibly disagree with you? I don't know. Is it one that our Father intends us to know and understand that He's already provided in Christ in our life most of what is required for our Christian life both in time and eternity? You said that's true? I tricked you with one word. Anybody pick up on the word? Most. Most. Oh, I see. I have this chocolate lab and he's getting gray in the face now, so I call him mostly a brown dog. He's not all brown. So, yeah, the trick was all, okay? And it should have been all. Yeah, yeah. OK.

I sent out a bunch of stuff yesterday. Everybody get it? I keep getting kickbacks from you guys. So afterwards, just double check that we're on the same page. I didn't get it. Yeah. And I got a kickback from you, too. I don't know why. I changed it on that list. Okay. Yeah, it's right there. It's probably my fault. I've been trying to... I think Bob Lockwood's been in my class for three years and I've never gotten his right. I'm constantly looking and changing it. So we're on Lesson 3. Everybody got a copy of Lesson 3?

First question. Explain the principle of reproduction from the natural realm and the spiritual realm. So let's start with the natural realm principle of reproduction. A principle is the way something operates or functions the same way every time. So we're going to talk about reproduction that functions and operates the same way every time. So let's talk about that. How is that natural reproduction principle?

How does it operate? Life begins like. There's another part of it. If a seed is planted. The seed is planted. What's inside that seed? Everything it needs. Absolutely everything it needs for complete and perfect life. And inside that seed is absolutely everything that's needed for the subsequent seeds to come along.

Unless they get genetically altered. But the principle in the natural realm is that the grain of wheat contained complete and perfect the life of every subsequent grain of wheat up to this day. It doesn't mean that scientists can't go in and mess with it, but it's going to be wheat. Now, what happens when a grain of wheat is planted in the ground?

It dies. It dies. And if it dies, what happens? Then it comes back to life. It bears fruit. Just that one grain? I don't know. What happens is that if you put one seed of wheat in the ground, like off of those stalks, you know, let's put one in the ground, what happens? Another stalk comes. How many grains are on that stalk? There's a lot of them. So when the seed dies, it produces a lot more of itself.

Can you say that this principle applies in the spiritual realm? I'm just going to ask a question. No kidding. I don't know that much about wheat and seeds and stuff like that. It actually dies. Yeah. If it dies, it doesn't germinate. What's the verse? Unless a grain of wheat fall on the ground and die, it abides alone. Yeah, I know, but I'm just wondering.

That's not how it works. What's that? In real life, that's not how a seed works. Oh, then the Bible's wrong. If it's going to sprout, it is not dead. No, the Lord Jesus must be wrong. Some of the seeds that you plant die, they don't grow. But the ones that grow never die, they're always in process. So what happens? So Christ is wrong and you're right? I'm just telling you what seeds do. What does death mean? Separation. Death means separation, so what gets separated? You're talking about in a real seed or spiritually?

Both. Well in a real seed it breaks and sloughs off its original shell and everything it transforms into a different form, you know, like the caterpillar to the butterfly kind of thing. It does do that? Yes. So where's the separation part? So if it transforms it's no longer a seed. That's right, it's not a seed anymore.

And then what happens? What happens? What's inside of that? The very core of that seed, what's in there? Life. But the seed itself has to cease to be a seed in order for that life to come forward. That outer shell has to die. Go away. and gets separated from the life that's inside the seed. And the life that's inside the seed has all of the complete and perfect life of every other seed. Okay? You alright with that? Now she's upset because I challenged her. Is that that glazed over look? Does the same principle apply in the spiritual realm? Yes. Okay, so how does it apply then?

Let's talk about this grain of wheat or this life that we have. When we believe in the person and work of Christ, the Word of God says that we are born again. There is a life that comes into us which is a resurrected life of Christ, but it is little. in terms of its manifestation through us. Now a believer has two lives in him, doesn't he?

Two natures, old and new. So the principle is that as the old dies or gets separated from the person, the new life can come forward. But it's death first and then life, just like the sea. That's the principle. The life that we have in Christ contains everything we need. It's all there, but it's little. Isn't it that the old is dead, we just keep bringing it to life ourselves?

No, we're dead to it. Again, what does death mean? It means to be separated. So if I'm separated from my old man, it doesn't mean my old man went to Florida, or that he just decided not to function anymore. He's in there shucking and jiving, trying to manifest his life through me all the time.

What was the synonym for the word position? Remember that? First class? The synonym was source. What's the source of your life? The source of your life is one of two things. It's either the old man or it's the new man. So everything has to do with source.

If the sin nature was dead, then how do I explain the fact that I'm still sinning? Because I don't realize it's dead. I just keep trying to move on. The problem with that is that when my mom died, whether I realize it or not, she was still dead. Right. And so she wasn't... what you're saying is even though... I'm kind of saying like, okay, your mom's dead, but you're still living like, well, my mom told me to do this. But think about this. If I have... no, that's very relevant, because I know lots of people that their parents influenced them from the grave. Right. But think about this.

Sin has to have a source. and that source can't be a memory or a psychological intimidation. It's got to be a nature. And if that nature's dead, then there's no source. And so the One Nature people say, well, it's either memories that are coming back, you know, that kind of thing, but there's no source. So there's a name for that too, One Nature. One Nature people. So here's the thing.

If death means separation, okay, then I'm the one that got separated. I'm the one who died or got separated from the old man. It's still alive but I'm dead to it. A good example is if you happen to live in my neighborhood and you were Jewish and you belong to the Hasidic Jewish community and were going up to the synagogues on Saturday and you became a Christian, you know what they do? They pray you out of the synagogue and they consider you dead. so they won't have anything to do with you. As far as they're concerned, you're dead. You don't exist anymore.

I'm to reckon myself dead to sin and alive unto God, but that doesn't mean I'm not to reckon my old man dead. I'm to reckon me dead to it. It's different. See that? Because there has to be a source for sin. So, under the principle of reproduction, your sin nature produces what?

That's what it does. It's really good at it. You don't have to practice. You don't have to learn. It just does that. But we have a new life, a new resurrected life in Christ, and it's just a grain to start with. But within that grain is everything a believer needs for life, practice, for existence. It's all there.

But it takes some time for it to flourish, right? Or wrong? If a grain of wheat you plant in the fall or comes up in the spring, at the end of the summer you harvest it. But if we're oak trees, how long does it take for God to grow an oak tree? A long time. It depends on the climate.

You know what's interesting about that is how many times you think that Somehow you are that independent person in the middle that's picking the old man or the new man. When what you're saying from source, you're always in one or the other. In terms of your condition, right? So one of the reasons that we spend that this is an issue is because of everything we're talking about now has to do with our position.

What position do you have from God's perspective? Are you in Christ or in Adam? You're in Christ. Now, think about it this way. A non-believer is in Adam, in the flesh, and the flesh is in him, right? He's in it, and it's in him. A believer is in Christ, and the flesh is still in him.

But his position changed. That make sense? And his source changed. His source changed. But here's the problem. This new life and this new source functions on a whole different set of principles. That's why we call it position that doesn't change and we operate in our position by faith. Remember we talked last week about condition? How do you operate in your condition? by experience, by feelings, emotions, by circumstances, and it varies and changes all the time. Your position never does. You see that? Not only is the location of where my life is different, but the way that I function in that life is different. So what we're saying is that there are two positions. for every human being.

You have one of two positions, in Christ or in Adam. But there's three modes of operation and condition. There's the unbeliever, who is positioned in Adam, and so therefore they operate conditionally in Adam, without fail. Then there's the believer, whose source is Christ, who operates either in the flesh or in the spirit. And that's a conditional thing. And so there's three different modes of operation conditionally, but there's only two sources, if that makes sense.

And you mentioned the word, what if I don't realize that I'm in Christ? I think that's what this whole chapter is kind of about, but I like this statement where Miles talks about every Christian is positioned forever in the risen Lord by spiritual birth, but only the believer who knows grows. You might have already mentioned that, but... It's in here, yeah. I agree. That's a great line, isn't it? And we get arguments about that because people say to me, well, Joe Schmoe at the Third Reformed Church is really a spiritually grown Christian and he knows nothing about position, nothing about condition. He can't grow because he has no object for his faith. It's impossible to grow under the law. It's totally impossible because the new life we have is absolutely and totally outside the realm of legalism.

So if you don't know, you can still be used by God, but you're not necessarily growing. Well here's the thing, what do you mean by being used by God? Like let's say for someone else to come to Christ or whatever it is, God can use you, but you're not necessarily growing. Well, you know, you can be a babe the rest of your life. You can live in a nursery, and you can spend time recruiting other people to come into the nursery with you, but then you're stuck. Yeah, but I mean, God might use you just for that. That's the way for me to look at it, because I hear that, like, oh, you can't grow unless you know, but then it's like, but you know that God is going to keep using different people that you never expect, and he has both. But you have to learn the principles, that's why Miles wrote his book, he called it Principles of Spiritual Growth, and they're sequential.

If you look at the spiritual gifts within the body of Christ, only one of them has to do with recruitment, which is evangelism. The others have to do with the edification of the body, which requires spiritual understanding and growth and knowledge to be an edifier, and every believer is to edify. If the body of Christ is like you see it in Christendom today, the biggest joy they have is saving souls. Well, that's just the beginning.

It's like if we were going to sell books and all we had was a bunch of salesmen, but nobody would print or even write the books, what do you got? You've got to have the body of Christ to be built up by people who know and who grow. And God intends for them to do it. If you're under a legal system, you cannot grow past birth. You just can't do it. Right. Whatever it is, evangelism or something else, God uses people. It's just not necessarily, they don't necessarily grow from it. You have to grow via the Word of God. That's how you grow.

I'm just going to say, having been in kind of the evangelical circle, there's a lot of focus on being used of God. And I think that's something that we don't really talk about here. And I think it's interesting because the Bible really doesn't talk about it that way either. I think the desire is to mature in your condition. about it that it's not biblical, I want to be used by God. Well, that means nothing in the sense that, what does God have to be like?

You get up and you get a to-do list of things. That's typically the way a believer might think about it in certain circles. But it's about beholding Him through His Word and as you grow, He quote-unquote uses you, but you're focused on Him and your growth in Him. as opposed to, what are you going to do with me out there and how are you going to do it?

So I think part of that discussion is in the next question. Let's look at John 15. And the question is, what's the responsibility of the branch? So John 15 has to do with the Lord Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Anybody there yet? I'm the vine, pick it up from there. The Lord Jesus said, I'm the vine, you are the branches. What's the next verse or the next phrase? Well, you have to stay connected. I'm patient. All right. All right. What is it? Who's got it? John. John 15. I am the true vine. I'm the true vine. And my father is the gardener.

Okay, keep going. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. Well, every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Okay, keep going. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Stop there. What's the responsibility of the branch? Remain. Abide is a better word. Abide in the vine. Why? Because that's the source. The source. Oh, we're back to source. Now, did the Lord Jesus ever go to the Father and say, oh, please use me?

Why not? Because he knew what his job was, and he was absolutely and totally and unequivocally dependent on the Vine to do what the Vine's will was, not his will. Okay? It isn't use me. Use me as a self-centered... Yeah, no, and I didn't mean it that way. Sure you did. I didn't mean it like, please use me. I'm just saying God is gonna use you. whoever he wants for his purposes. Do you think it's important that if God's going to use you, that you study and learn and grow how he's going to do it? Yeah, and I'm just saying like maybe a one-shot deal. I wouldn't spend my life on a one-shot deal. Like I'm going to use this person for this and regardless, I don't know, talking donkeys and stuff like that, you know?

I think this is what we were talking about the other night, the verses I was trying to find in Philippians 1. And that God uses, even if your pretense is wrong for what you're doing, He uses you. He uses all that. I was self-centered and I was trying to do this. I think what Holly is trying to say is what that Philippians 1. He can use you even if your pretense is wrong. He's using you. And God works all things together for good. All things together. That's totally what I mean.

And that's really what, you know, and the other is that, you know, the growth part is, I said that too, is it's predicated on identification. I really think that you don't grow unless you know that you've been separated, and that co-crucifixion, because otherwise you're always fixing yourself up. Every other program, every other thing is to make me better.

That's why position is such a critical principle, because you don't get a change of position without the cross. Oh gee, that's some information that would probably be beneficial to me, that I found out somewhere along the line that I was crucified with Christ. Now I have a new position and what is that position all about?

How does it function? So the vine and the branches is a very good example of what the branch is supposed to do. Is there any life in the branch? Itself? Yeah. The life at the source? Not if it's alone. Is there any life in a piece of PVC pipe? No, it's what's going through the pipe that matters, right? So there's no life within the pipe itself or within the branch. All of the life is in the vine and the vine sends the life through the branch to do what? To produce fruit on the end of the branch that's exactly like the life that's in the vine.

Not what the branch might think is appropriate. The King James talks about any branch of me that doesn't bear fruit, he cuts it off, no he doesn't, he lifts it up. If you've ever been in a vineyard you can see they lift up those branches and tie them up and they do prune them. They prune all of the parts off of them and they stress them. They really stress grapevines so that all of the energy will go into the fruit.

The branch has nothing to do with it other than the fact that it's the vehicle through which the fruit hangs on and it's the conduit through which the life flows. That's who we are. We're the branch. We have one job and that's to stay and abide in the vine. Most of us with the vine over here and the fruit over here are doing this. We're peeking at the fruit just to see how we're doing. And even we're stressing ourselves. We're trying to stress ourselves and to produce more fruit when a storm can come along and knock it all out anyway. So in order to produce more fruit, what has to happen to the branch?

He has to stay focused on the vine. Abide. So if you do not understand about the vine, who the vine is and the source of life is there, and you're not focused on him, you're not going to have a lot of fruit, especially if you keep checking. And if you go to God and say, you know, I can keep watching over here and you'll do something. No, he won't. It's here. And he lays it out for us. He's very careful to educate us spiritually about how his principles work. He's real careful about that. We just look at him and say, well, it can't be that way because I'm important.

You know, okay. I want to say something. When I was 12, when I joined the church, the Baptist church, And then I was baptized. The first thing they said to me was, now you have to get your mother to come to church. That was awful. I mean, that was a terrible burden. Sure. I mean, here I was, happy. I had my friends. Now what you have to do is... Sure. Sure. And that's... I remember when I...

Two days after I got saved, some guy comes up to me and hands me a book and it says, now that you're saved, here's what you do. And it was, you know, 150 pages of spiritual push-ups. And I thought, this doesn't make any sense to me. I knew enough to know that I was saved on a grace basis. Why do I have to get busy? I came out of Catholicism. We did that all the time. And it didn't work.

So what does our Father intend for us to know and understand about our Christian life? Well, it doesn't happen unless we are connected to him. Okay, expand on that. What does he want you to know? That he loves us. Okay, and because he loves us, what has he done? Isn't he provided everything that we need to know? That's exactly right. He's provided everything that we need. Everything.

It's already provided in Christ who is our life. That's why position is important. That's why the analogy of the grain of wheat is important. Everything required for our Christian life, both in time and eternity, has already been provided for us in Christ. in Christ. Now, that one little bit of information will change your attitude about things.

Because, you know, instead of searching in the world and in yourself and in the system, everything needed is in that Word. It's all there. And it's all in Christ. So why is it so important that we get to know Christ? Because all the provision is in Him. As we rest in our position, what happens to our condition? Everybody understand position and condition now? A special condition? As we rest in our position, what happens to our condition? I'm going to go back. I'll try to catch up for you. Okay, I think personally, I think this is how it works.

In my life, when God shows me stuff, I am just so grateful and so blown away that I want to know more. It's not like I should know more or that it's the thing to do is to know more. It's like I just want to. There's a verse, I think it's in Philippians, that God will cause you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. The great thing about what God does is He reveals the elements of this new life. Who is Christ himself? That comes along with it. There's that wooing in there that draws you. God always works on the basis of rest and love and abiding.

He never makes it anxious. He never makes it a panic situation. You should read the Bible every day and finish it in a year. Yeah, he never does that. So you can hear somebody like me tell you a thousand times that the only reason that you spend any time in your Bible is to know Christ. And in him is everything you need for your life. And it's not only facts, but it's life itself.

So, when I ask the question, as we rest in our position, what happens in our condition, what happens? Resting in our position, resting. And we spent a whole year, if I say resting, what other word am I really saying? Believing. What is faith? Faith is resting in the things of God. So as I abide in Christ, in my position, and I'm resting there and I'm at rest because I believe Him, what happens to my condition?

Here's the vine and the branches. It starts to align with your position. Sure. The believer rests in this position, the life of the vine, which is the spirit himself. Here's what happens. He begins to manifest in this condition. Here's what it looks like. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's what it looks like. And it isn't just love, or tomorrow goodness, or maybe next week gentleness. Every one of these attributes are a character of the life and they are all produced together at one time. Do you understand that?

So you don't go to the Lord and say, give me patience. Why wouldn't you ask him for patience? Why don't you? I get to ask the question. Or if I go to them and say, you know, I really need to be kinder. Could I have some kindness? I read something that the fruit of the Spirit is Christ. Christ is one Christ. You know, it's not just like, oh... You're tracking, so why don't I ask for kindness? Because it's in Christ, it's all there. Christ is in us. So if I'm going to ask for something, what do I ask for?

Knowing Christ. There you go. Sure. Sure. Because He is all those things. See, our tendency and our mindset is, well, we're going to divide up that fruit I'll get a little bit of this and if I have a little extra I'll give some to JD. No, Christ is all of those things and as he manifests his life through you, divine, manifests the life through the branches, the fruit is all of those things at once.

Do you see that? Because it's his life. If you watch the Lord Jesus' life in the Gospels, you won't see him not very good, and faithless, and not very gentle, but a lot of self-control. You won't see that. All of these things are in play all the time. Because that's the way the life functions.

When you're abiding in the flesh, all of that little description of the sin, you're doing all of that. And when Paul says, whatever is not of faith is sin, the only way you abide is by faith. And if you're not doing that, you're abiding in the old man, and it's nothing but sin. Whether you practice at it or not. Whatever is not faith is sin. It's missing the mark.

So the life of the vine is the life that's to be in the branch flowing through all the time. The true vine is established at the right hand of the Father in glory and is the source, there's that word again, source from which our Christian life flows.

The indwelling spirit of Christ is a living link between the Lord Jesus in heaven and our spirit here on earth. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. So look what God has set up. He recreates us in Christ. He indwells us with the Holy Spirit. He gives us a brand new life. We can behold the glory of the Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father. We are joined to Him in oneness. and he's going to produce the life of Christ through us.

I'll take that deal every day. Every day. Actually, today is Hungry Heart. I copied it. Go ahead. It's the first paragraph of it. The fact of our position, which we can see in the Word, may take years to realize in life. Many believers feel that their appropriation of a truth must result in the same-day experience of that doctrine. It is true that we are often given a foretaste, a brief experience of its reality, but we must settle down to the daily processing of the Spirit whereby He slowly and thoroughly translates the apprehended truth into character and walk. Paul testified, I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." He pressed toward the mark. Again, we get a four-sevenths, we get it, but it's... So let's talk about that principle.

It's a very interesting thing because up until this point, it would sound like I'm saying, well, all you've got to do is believe and you get it all bang right now in your condition. What the Hungry Heart points out, that he just read, is that this is a process and it takes time. And really, if you believe in the Lord Jesus about a certain issue and you're abiding, what you're going to do is you're going to peek at the fruit to see if it's working. Because if you're like me, if it isn't working, I'm not interested.

Rather than just continue to abide and let him work out what he's going to work out. It does take a lifetime. But we're growing all the time. That's why it's called growth. Why do you think God decided to do it that way? rather than when he saved one of us, he instantly conformed us to the total image of Christ. Let's say he picks JD, saves him, and now JD is totally spiritual. Of what benefit would JD be to God?

People would probably avoid him. Oh, that's right, you said he would... That's right, they would. You're absolutely right. They would avoid him. And what else would they do to him if they could get by with him? Kill him. That's right, they'd kill him. What did they do to the Lord Jesus? They killed him. And he is the personification of life. And they killed him.

So that's one reason, that's my opinion, that's one reason why spiritual growth is slow. Because I think what he does, he makes us interdependent on each other in the body of believers and he puts each one of us through different and varying circumstances so that we can come alongside somebody else and walk with them in a somewhat similar circumstance or somebody can come alongside you because we grow together and we grow in dependence on each other and dependence on the Lord Jesus. further thought on that, why doesn't that happen right away? I think you have to learn about your own sin nature, and how it doesn't work. So in order to abide, you have to have less confidence in who you were, and that process is one where the Lord He's been very gracious to us so that we can grow over time in that understanding.

But that's really important. If a person just instantly became 100% spiritual, they would not fully understand what God saved them from in its entirety. Not only did you save me from the sin nature, but you saved me even from the power of sin in this present. And that teaching is very important to God.

It is. Yeah, because you don't understand about the power of the sin nature unless the spirit shows you. And he has to get you ready to handle it. I mean, if on the day you got saved he showed you the depth of your sin nature, you'd be looking for the suicide pistol. Right. Well, and conversely, on that faith, it's not like, oh, now I have faith and what's It's a moment by moment dependent on the Lord. So that communication is constantly with the Lord under faith.

When we come into Christ we don't know anything about that. And what's the big difference between us and Adam? Adam was innocent and we're holy. What's the difference? Here's the difference. Adam didn't know evil and he also didn't know good. And so he was innocent. A believer who is holy loves the good and hates the evil. How do you learn the hate part?

I think the other thing besides that is if you instantly do it, you don't understand. million dollars to somebody versus somebody who works for a million dollars, they understand the worth. If I get something, and I think that's why he does it to everybody, so we understand our position and what that value is, and we grow in appreciation of that. He apprehends that, what Paul says, he apprehends that which he goes after. It's a growing position where you understand the worth. If you get it all at once, I don't think you understand or appreciate the value of it, and I think that's Yeah, I agree. What about the people who get saved and then die?

Isn't that great? Wow! That's the best. Well, you would think that's the best, except that you're not used of the Lord here, which would be a cool thing to do. Well, then I just have a thought, too, about God manifesting His glory. Don't the angels learn from watching God being manifest through your music. Sure. Sure. Imagine being an angel. I've thought about this. You're an angel and you're brilliant.

But you don't know what love is. And you watch God love us, and we're a virus, you know? And he loves us, and he's patient, and he gave his son for us. And the angels must glorify God. Of course, as an angel, I think, are you kidding with these folks? What do you mean angels don't know what love is? God created them. But that doesn't mean they can love. They don't have a soul. Well they'd be that way forever. They're servants, they're messengers, that's what they do.

So how do you put on this, how do you take your new position? Don't you take it by attempting to get it? No, it doesn't work. It's simply by seeing that you've already been positioned in Christ and what that is, and you abide there and you just rest by faith. So as we go through the class now, we're going to go through lots of different positional truths, and every one of them is the same. How do you own it or appropriate it? By faith. So what gives us the freedom to dwell in our new position? You're going to have to finish this up. How about who gives us the freedom to dwell now? Okay, that's not bad. Let's do it a step at a time.

The first issue is that the cross freed us from the reign of sin and self. Did he do that? He freed us from the reign of sin and self, but not the presence of sin. In the resurrection, what did he do? He united us to the risen Christ. By faith, in the work of the cross, the old man is put off. By faith in our heavenly position in Christ, the new man is put on.

And that's what the rest of this lesson is about. Hence, we are free to dwell within the source of every spiritual blessing with which our Father has blessed us. Now, I've said this a lot, if you live under a law system, you are not free. you are not free to abide in the source of every spiritual blessing.

Why not? Because you do not believe or see that it's all yours. You're working for it. Right? If you don't know what's yours in Christ, then you're going to work for it. If you get up every morning thinking, I have to go and bring my mom to church or I have to act and I've got this list on my refrigerator on what it is to be a good Christian and I've got to implement that all day. You never get to the point that you abide in what is already yours because you're always working for something you already got.

That's why if you're under a legal system you can't grow. You may think you're growing but you're not. Okay? So... Well, if we're not under the law, then... I was reading something in the Bible about... I mean, Christ didn't do away with the law. If he didn't do away with the law and we live under grace, Why did he not do away with the law? Well, because the law in and of itself is holy, righteous, and good.

It just depends on who is it applied to. Who was it given to? The nation of Israel, right? Yes. Was it given to the guy in 4,000 years ago that lived in Peking, China? No. No. It was given only to the Jewish nation. None of the Gentiles. And so we live under a principle of grace. And you can't live in both.

You're either on one or the other. So what Courtney's going to tackle before the bell goes on next week is how you put off the old and put on the new. How is the old man put off positionally? How do you do that, positionally? You don't know. You mean it's done to or for you? Yeah. Is that what you mean?

Romans 6.6.

What does Romans 6.6 say? You don't have to go there.

Knowing this. Knowing, knowing, knowing. Knowing, knowing. That our old man was crucified with him. Colossians 3.9, seeing that you have put off the old man. That's a position. We're separated from the old Adamic nature in our identification with Christ on the cross. That's a fact.

Now, Courtney and his wisdom is going to show you how you do it conditionally next week. So, as we finish up this lesson, the issue is going to be, no matter how young I am in Christ, or what a baby Christian I am, I still have instructions from the Lord in his word about how to abide. They're there. How do I rest? How do I just trust him? They're there. Can you abide in your risen position from a conditional standpoint? Absolutely. Because he wouldn't tell us if he didn't intend for it to be implemented in our lives. He wouldn't do it. Let's close. Father Harvey, thank you for your word.

Boy, the positions that you have given us in your Son, the Lord Jesus, are just overwhelming, but also not only overwhelming, but very attractive to us as we continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of your son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his precious name. Amen.