Which Side of the Cross - Lesson 7 cont.

Okay, we are in Lesson 7, and we're working on Romans Chapter 6, verses 6-10, and I think we got through 5 last time, right? Those of you who keep track, if you keep track. I circled an 8. Yeah, I think we're at 8. Oh, gee, I was going to back up. So we're talking about in Romans 6, 1 through 10. First thing we need to always keep in mind in these verses is up until verse 10, they are all positional. What do I mean by positional? Positional truth. What is a positional truth?

I can see I've been really affected. It's true of us and it's eternal. It's something that God proclaims that's true of us. It's immutable and it's eternal. It can't be changed. Whether we experience it or not, it's a truth that is absolutely certain only because God said it initially.

So with a positional truth like that, it would seem to me that you we would have to be pretty clear about what it is, wouldn't you think? Because what do you do with positional truth? What's our reaction? We believe it. So if we don't have a clarity about what it is, we could believe in vain. We really could do that.

So in our example here of the cross, we're right here, and we're kind of leaping over into the resurrected side. So, in Romans 6 we were crucified, our old man was crucified with him. That's the pivotal verse. And so, get down to verse 9, it says, knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead, among the dead, he dies no more, death has no more dominion over him.

So the question is, what is the reason given for this assurance that we shall keep on sharing his risen life. The supposition is or the premise is that we have already been united to Christ and we were united in the timeline of his earthly life. At what point did we get identified with him in his earthly life? At the point in which he died. So now we're united to him and it's permanent And now the argument is going to be from 6-6 on, well now here's some issues or some truths about you that are true of you because they're also, or I'll put it this way, they're true of Christ which means they're also true of you. So when the question is asked, what's the reason given for this assurance that we shall keep on sharing his risen life, once you're united to Christ, then what's true of him is true of you too, right?

Only if you experience it, know it, understand it, believe it, or just because he says it. He says it. So, we know it. It's interesting how the word know is used in these verses quite a bit. Knowing that Christ has been raised from the dead. Or put it another way, he's been raised out from the dead ones. That's a different way to look at it.

When he was made sin for us, he was identified with all the dead ones. Who were the dead ones? Adam's race. All of Adam's race. In particular, all of us. And then he's raised out of that to newness of life. We came with him. And that's how come we know.

Having been raised from among the dead ones, death doesn't have any dominion over him any longer. So Christ is never going to die again. He's never going to have to go through this process because the sin issue is completely and totally resolved. The sin issue with you and me is completely and totally resolved, positionally.

9. What makes the fulfillment of John 8.51? Possible.

Somebody look up John 8.51. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

Oh, really? What does he mean by that? What does the Lord Jesus mean by that? Verily, verily, pay attention really closely because I'm going to tell you something really important. And he says it twice, pay attention really closely because I'm going to tell you something really important.

And what he says, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. What does that mean? First of all, what does it mean to keep his word? To believe it. And he says, if you believe it, you won't ever see death. So, gee, all those people who know that have died, they must have not been keeping his word.

What's he talking about? Talking about physical death? Spiritual death. What's that? Phil says spiritual, what do you think? That's what I thought. So when a believer leaves the planet, I just love that saying. That's really what happens, they just leave. He does not experience spiritual death, does he? No. What is the experience? What does Paul call physical death? How does Paul refer to physical death for believers? He calls it about sleeping. He doesn't call it death, he calls it sleeping.

Like, I'm going to take a nap and wake up in heaven. I had that attitude when I went in for that heart surgery. This one buddy said to me, well, you don't seem to be too nervous. And I said, well, Think about it. They're going to put me to sleep and I'm going to wake up in one of two places and both are good. That's really what it is. I'm going to take my final nap and when I wake up where am I going to be? I'm going to be home with the Lord.

So there isn't any stopping off point. I had a woman who I talked back and forth to over the years from Florida called me about a month ago and her mother died and she'd been the caretaker of her for a long time and she'd been reading this book, she's a Christian, she'd been reading this book about this Christian author said, well there's a stopping off place between the earth Where? Aurora, Colorado? Where is it? Where do you stop off? And this guy wrote a whole book trying to convince his readers that there isn't enough grace in God's universe to just take you home to be with Him. There has to be a stopping off place.

So I said to her, I said, well, this is a guy's a Johnny come lately. How about the Catholics in Purgatory? They've been doing that dance for centuries. The grace of God is so wonderful we just can't say, well, if I move out of this body, then I'm instantly with the Lord Jesus. And that's why Paul calls it sleep.

So the question is, what makes a fulfillment of John 8.51 possible? If Jesus said, if anyone keeps my word he will never see death, what makes that possible? And the reason is this. Death couldn't hold Christ. Do you see that?

It couldn't maintain dominion over Him. Except the only time that death got a hold of Him is when our sins were put on Him. And our sin nature was put on Him. And He allowed that to happen. It wasn't one of those things that, oh gee, this is something I'm not prepared for. It's not like that at all. He was made sin, and when he's made sin, the wages of sin is what? Going to die. Therefore, death with its dominion is for the believer forever passed away. Why?

Because it's passed away with him. It isn't because I'm so cool, it's because it's what happened to him, and I'm united to him. I'm in union with him, so whatever is true of him now is going to be true of us. I shouldn't say it that way, is already true of us.

Our identification with Christ in death at the cross made possible the fulfillment of John 8.51. Do you see that?

Without identification with the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, John 8.51 is just smoke. It's a fallacy.

So it's interesting that the Lord Jesus, while he's here, he says, well, you know, if you If you keep my word, and keeping his word is not doing any spiritual push-ups, it's just believing what he says, you won't ever see death. Is the Spirit of God built that into you so that you say, well, someday I'm leaving, but I'm not afraid of dying? Is that true? I tell people I'm not afraid of dying, it's the process. Worries me a little. No, no. That's really right. The Lord says if you trust me in what I'm telling you, you won't ever see death and it won't control you. I mean, you watch around here. We're praying for Doris Lothar.

Do you see any angst in her? I haven't seen it. I didn't see any angst in Jack McBride in the last couple of days. Did you? No. As a matter of fact, when I went to see him in the hospital, we spent a half hour just talking about heaven. That's what we did. And that's why I kept telling the doctors, hey, I don't need that test. I'm going to check out of here soon and go home and be with the Lord. You don't need to test me. I thought that was really cool.

So, a believer falls asleep. God's word for a believer is physical death. His spirit goes to be with Christ immediately. Now, we have this mindset that I'm here and Christ is there and my spirit is going to somehow get up and get out of my body and going to travel this distance to be in Christ. What's wrong with that thinking, if there is anything wrong with it? We're already there. That's exactly right. See, to be united with Christ in the heavenlies there.

So really what I'm up to is dropping this off. There's no journey. The other is true too. His life is in me. either way. We're positionally there, but his spirit is my life. Now, not waiting. Both ends of that statement are wrong. We're not only waiting that, he's indwelling in that. So, both accounts are wrong. Here's the example of it.

When the Lord Jesus was physically on the earth, in his body, cruising around, was he not one with the Father? He was. He was one with the Father, wasn't he? And the communication was there all the time, back and forth. They were one. So what's so different about us being united to Christ? There isn't any difference. It's the same thing. I don't attempt to try to explain what oneness in Christ really is, other than the fact that, say, well if you said it, I'd buy it. It's okay with me.

But to expand on it very much is very difficult, because we live in a dualistic world, which means I'm here and you're there, and Donna's over there, and you're there, and you're there, and you're there, and Phil's over here, and you know, like that. And then to have this idea, well, I am one with Christ. That means that he's not over there and I'm here. I'm one with him. When we're here in the millennial kingdom, and we're serving Christ, and ruling and reigning with Him, we physically might be in Denver, but we will never be out of union with the Lord Jesus in terms of communication. It will be like He's right there all the time. We'll have the mind of Christ. There won't be any, oh, I've got to think this over. There won't be any, oh, I'm not beholding His glory because I'm busy. There will be none of that. I think that's kind of cool.

So what does it mean for death to no longer have dominion over Christ? I think you answered that you said death had dominion over him only for the time that he had our sins transferred to him and then it was done. So he never had dominion over him, but death did have a very brief That's the point. That's the point. It's a brief dominion, three days, where death did really have dominion over him.

And the reason is why. Why? Because he was taking the punishment we deserved at that time. That's right. And what did the Father tell, what did God tell Adam and the Garden about sin? If you sin, dying, you'll die. The soul, the sins, you will surely die. So the Lord Jesus didn't sin, but his sins, our sins, were transferred to him. Guess what happens next? He has to die. And death means... Who did he get separated from? The Father. At that point, death and sin has dominion over him. And that's why I think the resurrection took so much power to raise him out of that.

We don't realize what an all-encompassing, powerful force death is. Death controls the entire world. All the time. You turn on TV tonight, guess what you're going to be watching? Death. You know, death walks up and down Colfax, it doesn't lay still in a box. It's moving all the time. That's death operating. It's the realm of death.

Separation from God, sin. So Christ at one point, death held him, had a grip on him. As I wrote here, death once held the Prince of Life, the Lord of all. yet behold the Lord of life under the dominion of death. But he is not making atonement for those three days and nights that was all finished at the cross. When he died, it was done. And now, praise God, we read death no more has dominion over him. That's a really important understanding for us, and the reason it is is because if it doesn't have dominion over him, who does that accrue to?

To you and me. You know, and so many Christians walk around with their head under their arm, with the well-me's and their sinfulness and all of that kind of nonsense. Yet this says, look, death doesn't have dominion over you anymore. You don't have to be there. And the reason is because we live under God, in a resurrected life.

And it's never going to end. And there's nothing that can tarnish it. Nothing. You alright with that? That's a hard one. Guess where we just went? Now we're on this side. So that's why the question, which side of the cross do I live on? Do I live on the resurrected side? Or do I live somewhere in here or do I live on the woe me side? Which side do you live on?

And it matters in terms of your demeanor and the way you function. It matters huge. This is the life that we share because we shared in his death, we now share in his resurrected life. Simply said, but difficult to walk in. Do you agree with that? Why is that? What makes it so tough?

The old nature. The old nature. See, the old nature didn't get the messy. It didn't get the memo. Well, you got it, but you didn't like it. That's right. And here's the thing. And right here is where it gets confusing, and you hear people say things about their identification with Christ on the cross and you can tell whether they really got it or not by answering one question. Who died on the cross? We did. We did. Did your sin nature die? No. No, it didn't. But you died to it. And so it spends the rest of its existence trying to persuade you that that's not true. You didn't die to. Hey, I'm sin. You didn't die to me.

I control. I'm the boss around here. Watch me. Here it comes. Yet God says, no, you died to sin and you're alive to me. So what do you do about that? You believe it. You can't go to God and say, well, I'm waiting for you to show me and experience what this is. You know what he says back to you? That is true. Belief is the doorknob. It's the appropriating thing that we do for the Spirit of God to come in and to make real in our experience what is already true in our position. Do you see that? How many Christians do you think know this? How many? Not many. And when they do, they usually get it mixed up with something else. So the next question was, did sin die?

Now, there's a whole group of believers, and they actually originated in Denver. They were called the Deeper Life Ministries. A guy named Lee LaFaber and Chuck, what was Chuck's last name? He was a Martin Marietta engineer. And these guys are the deeper life ministry and their whole ministry is they get all of this and they get one thing wrong and it changes everything.

You know what they get wrong? Sin died. What's the problem with that? It didn't die. That's the first thing that's wrong with it. It didn't die. But let's say you think it died and your faith is in the fact that your sin nature died. You're back under law? Here's the other thing that's a real problem. Where do you put the cause of the next time you sin? The next time you sin, you say, gee, I thought old Willie was dead. Well, no. Well, what's going on here?

Same people. It's exactly the same thing. You'll hear them referred to as one nature people. One nature is no sin nature, only the resurrected nature in Christ. The believer is a one nature person. When you first listen to those guys, they get about to hear. But then going forward, they say, well, sin actually died on the cross.

And they're very difficult to persuade them otherwise, because they think by understanding identification that they're a little bit more spiritual than the run-of-the-mill Baptist. They're a little arrogant about it. And so the problem is this. The biggest problem is this.

What's the source and cause of your sin? Sin has to have a source, doesn't it? Life in Christ has a source. Who's the source? Christ himself. Sin has a source. What's the source? The sin nature. So what do you think their answer is? They have several. They have strange things like, what is it, old memories? Old memories, yeah. Well, you know, I remember all this sinning and it just keeps coming back. You know? And so when they wear that one out and they say, well, gee, logically if If the sin nature is dead, why am I remember, why am I sinning?

Or then you get to be a Nazarene and he says, well, we just don't sin anymore, as he's sticking it in your forehead. I'm not sinning. Bang! There were guys in the real estate business, one guy I remember, he was a Nazarene and he would just stick it to you and say, well, I'm not sinning. I said, really? It hurts a lot. Give me my money back.

And here's the other thing, ultimately they realize that it isn't the memories, and so who gets the blame? The devil gets the blame. And who should get the blame? Their sin nature. And it's all based on one little tiny word. Here's the word. Look at verse 10. Verse 10 says, For in that he died, unto sin he died once and for all, but in that he is living, he is living unto God. What's the word I'm looking for? Unto. That's the little connector that says Christ died unto sin. Do you see that? Does yours all say unto? Mine says to sin. To sin. I died to it. It didn't die, I died to it.

That's the word they forget. And if you call them on that word, they stutter because they don't know how to explain it. They don't know how to explain what unto really means. It's important that we understand that Christ died unto sin. You can't change God's word. He says unto.

And the other thing is you don't want to confuse this passage with the passage that declares that Christ died for our sins. So what's the difference between Christ dying for our sins and Him dying unto sin? What's the difference? First one, what about for our sins? That's the sins of everybody.

And that has to do with what part of this equation? Penalty and guilt. And he did that alone. We weren't involved with that. On two part, we were involved with. So he did those two things when it came to sin. He paid all of the cost of all of the sins against God for all time. So the sin that you're going to commit a week from today has already been paid for on the cross. Because he took them all into consideration. That's the four sins part. And the unto sins part is the part that we participated in in union with him.

Now, if you go back and read the book of Romans, and you look for the words in and sins and sin, you will notice that up until you get to 5.12, it's all sins. It's all paying the penalty. It's all four sins. From 512 on, it's sin, singular, sin nature, sin nature, sin nature, and that's where the N2 comes in. If you just know that little bit of information, you'll see right when the change is made in Romans, right there at 512. For by one man, sin entered the world, sin nature. Up until that time, it was all about sins, the acts that we committed.

I think it's too bad that the translations never put in the definite article. They should. And they don't see, so they don't differentiate. I know. And the only way... Sin, sins are sin, same thing. Yeah. And, you know, it's interesting how, I guess the translators must have thought that, well, if we took the S off, maybe they already know.

So Christ dying unto sin, the sole question here is what's Christ's relationship to sin? So what's my relationship to sin? I don't have one. Doesn't mean I won't do them, but I don't have a relationship with them. Here we're talking only about Christ dying to sin. He's not here dying for sin. That's verse 10. So does God intend to change the old man? I'm not going to make him that good and fix him up. God's way was not to change the old man, but to send it to the cross and to death and release us from it. That's His answer.

Now listen to this. No one who remains in Adam's race will ever be saved. You alright with that? You must be born again. That's where that term comes from. That's why it makes so much sense. And in order to be born again, what has to happen first? You've got to die. So I already died. I was born again into Christ.

God's method was to set forth a second man, the last Adam, Christ, with whom indeed all God's eternal plans were connected, whom God would not only set forth to make expiation of guilt, but would make it to become sin itself, thus to get at what we were as well as what we have done.

How do I say this? Is this the answer to sin for us? Is this the big answer? Let me ask it another way. Have any of you, and I already know the answer so don't lie, have any of you ever just run out of gas fighting sin? That you just get exasperated and say, Come on, I'm waiting for an answer. I'll do it this way. How many of you have just gotten to a point in your life sometime where you're just out of gas when it comes to sin? I can't deal with it anymore. Ever gotten there?

Well, we've got some people that are telling the truth here. Flat forehead syndrome. That's why your forehead is flat. Yeah. I keep hitting the wall. Whatever new program came out, whatever new book. Sure. Sure. The program to end all programs. Well, that didn't work, so go to the next one. Yeah. Oh, Promise Keepers was going to do it. Yeah. The Purpose Driven Life. Yeah. The Prayer of Purim, J-Biz. Well, now it's Spiritual Formation. Yeah. That's the latest.

Here's the thing, what God has done with our identification with Christ in that death, burial and resurrection is a completely finished job. Yet Christendom tries to come and sell you programs that would indicate from the very beginning the job is not done. That's what spiritual formation is. Well, we're going to make you, if you accept our method, you'll be more spiritual than you were before the method. Well, wait a minute, I'm positioned in Christ resurrected. It doesn't get any better than that.

So can I just stop fighting sin? You say yes, but there's still a fight. When the Jews finally crossed the Jordan River and went into the Promised Land, did they have to still fight? Yeah, they fought all the time. What were they fighting? I mean, a good logical Jew would say, well, I thought this was the promised land, the land of milk and honey.

Why do I have to fight these boys? Fight the good fight of faith. There it is. See, fight the good fight of faith. That's the fight. And we have to understand that that's the fight. And what is the fight of faith? How does that work? How does the fight of faith work?

Believe what he says. You believe what he says and you rest in what he says. And the third part of this class will be three plus months on the issue of faith itself. It's critical. The fight is faith. The fight is to trust God and believe Him in what He's revealed to us. The fight is not to put sin out of business. The fight is not to feel better. The fight is not to walk around with a sweet-smelling Christian. That's not what the fight is. The fight is, by faith, I'm free from sin. By faith, I'm free from sin. I don't think we appreciate how powerful a thing faith is. You agree?

That's the fight. Well, you know what's great about that fight? When you're in the midst of the fight of faith, what are you doing? You're resting. Did you get that part? Everything happens in the Christian life when it comes to sin from the position of rest. Why? It's already been taken care of. And who's resting about this? The Lord Jesus Christ is resting about sin. He's the one that finished it.

So he's not saying, well, maybe my work wasn't good enough, so I've got to get up off my fanny and I've got to go kick some sin. You know, I've got to go running around looking for Satan, wherever he is, and putting him out of business. No, it's over. So from a position of rest, from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, the fight of faith is. So, here comes the temptation.

Whatever it is, whatever your little sin that comes your way about every other minute, what do you do with it? Here it is, it's there in all its glory, the little temptation, looks really good, all the flowers are there, the music is playing, the temptation is there, the wooing is there, what do you do? Get off your horse and pull out your sword and go for it? What do you do?

Reckon yourself dead. Yeah, you don't move. You don't move. Why would you move? If you understand. You'd stay right there. You wouldn't move. It's like, you may not like this example, but when you go hunting, when you shoot the animal, once he's dead, you don't have to shoot him again. You don't walk up to him and say, I better plug him six or seven more times just to make sure. No, he's dead. I'm dead to sin. I don't have to be plugged six or seven more times.

I already am that. The Holy Spirit works there too, right? Yeah, let's talk about that. Good. Yeah. So, good point, and I didn't put it in the questions and I probably should have. And it'll probably be in some of what we do next week. So, one of the cool things about being a believer is we're involved by the Spirit, right? and that the spirit is who? He's God. So we're walking around on this earth in bodies that are decaying and dying and we're a temple of God. That's what we are. And he's there all the time.

So what's he doing in terms of implementing the Christian life? What is he doing? He's revealing Christ to us. He's implementing this. He's implementing this thing. So you say, oh boy, I've got to be really alert, because the next time temptation comes, I might miss the bus, and I'm going to sin, and God's going to be disappointed in me. No. You have the Spirit of God in you. What's He doing? He's telling you about this. He's bringing to your understanding.

Wait a minute. I understand this. I taught this to you. This is true. Trust me with this. So the fight of faith is not a fight that you're in it alone and God is saying, well, I'm just going to see how Mills does with this. It's not like that. God allows sin now to come at us. To do what? Why does he do that? Why wouldn't God just say, well, you know, these guys are Christians, so no more temptation? Why would he allow temptation?

That's exactly right. The Christian life is a life of faith only. And faith is a very, very powerful thing. And temptation, the verbiage that you've heard over the last few weeks about identification with Christ, is to be implemented in our everyday walk. Well, if it's not tested, it isn't any good. If I haven't learned through the work of the Spirit and through temptation coming at me that this really works, then it isn't really solid. You see that? It isn't tried. It isn't, what's the term, the assaying term, where you put the stuff in the thing and you heat it up and you burn off the dross, what do they call that? Proofed it.

Yeah, proofed it. proves that this is real, where you can say, you know, I really don't have to sin anymore. And I know it because I've been through it, or I've been taught it, and I've been through it to some degree at some point, and I can just rest. It seems like It is, to start with. It seems like, oh my goodness, God expects more from me than that.

No, He doesn't. He wants you to believe Him. And why would it be that way? Because He gets the glory that way. That's coming back to two things again. understanding he's a sovereign God, so he's in control of all things. Right. And then he loves us with an internal love. Yeah. So, going back to, you know, it's in Romans 8, and we know that God causes all things. That's where the trials come in, the blessings, everything. To work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

His purpose. And that goes on, you know, who will separate us from his love? So all things, in the trials and the blessings, you have rest and peace knowing that he's in control. And what's the purpose in 29? For those whom he foreknew, he predestined to become conformed to the image of his son.

Alright, his son, image of his son. Where does his son live? Right side. Right here. He lives on the resurrected, seated side of the cross. So what's happening? All things work together to conform me to the resurrected, seated, glorified Christ. That's where it is. So even though I'm positioned there, He's not satisfied with position. He wants it in shoe leather. Everything that happens in our life is designed to conform us to Christ.

Everything, including temptation, including... Last question. And I don't need an answer, but you can think about it. If God is finished with my sin, how come I'm not? He's finished. Why am I not? Well, it's simple. I may not know. I may not understand. And if I understand, I may not believe it. Because I'm looking at God every day and saying, well, I hear what you're saying, but boy, you don't know what life is like with me. What does he say back to you? You don't know what life is like with me. Here. Can I ask you something? Yeah.

You know how it says in Galatians 2.20 that I no longer live, Christ lives in me. Part of that is He is living life in us. That's right. And the next phrase is, the life I now live in this body, how do I live? By faith in the Son of God. There it is. Who loved me and gave Himself for me. That's how it is. Let's close.

Father, how we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for that You have made absolute, total provision to deal with the sin issue. We're thankful for that. And we're thankful that you are in the process of causing us to continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of your dear son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in his name. Amen.