Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ

1. Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ

2. The Christian Life (God’s Plan) Heavenlies Eternity Death/ Rapture

3. Identification Truth • Spirituality: A Complete Package by God’s Plan • Phase 1/Phase 2 Crosswork Distinctions • Reality through Reckoning • The Question of Yielding • Spirituality and Obedience: The Law Problem

4. Identification Truth • Spirituality: A Complete Package by God’s Plan • Phase 1/Phase 2 Crosswork Distinctions • Reality through Reckoning • The Question of Yielding • Spirituality and Obedience: The Law Problem

5. The Christian Life (God’s Plan) Position Heavenlies Eternity Death/ Rapture Condition

6. “Our position, the source of our Christian life, is perfect. It is eternally established in the Father’s presence. When we received the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior, the Holy Spirit caused us to be born into Him. He created us in the position that was established through His work at Calvary. ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]’ (2 Cor. 5:17). This is the eternal position in which every believer has been placed, whether he is aware of it or not. The Christian who comes to see his position in the Lord Jesus begins to experience the benefit of all that he is in Him. His daily state is developed from the source of his eternal standing. “Our condition is what we are in our Christian walk, in which we develop from infancy to maturity. Although our position remains immutable, our condition is variable. Through the exercise of faith, our eternal position (source) affects our daily condition, but in no way does our condition affect that heavenly position.” Part Two: Foundations of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 19, Position Defined and Illustrated, pp 77-78

7. “The truths of identification are those facts in the Word which reveal our identification with Christ in His death unto sin, and our subsequent re-creation in His resurrection. As foreknown believers, our Father judicially placed us in His Son on the Cross—so that we died in Him unto sin, and are now alive in Him unto God.” Part Four: The Realization of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 40, Principles of Reckoning, p 183

8. “In any ministry to Christians where the positional facts of identification are not presented as the basis of spiritual development, there will be no true preparation for experiencing the Lord Jesus as one’s life… Most deeper life ministries are being erroneously founded upon the fullness of the Spirit. There are some that rely upon confession and cleansing for this fullness (1 John 1:9). It is taught that if one will faithfully confess and forsake his sins as they occur, he will then be able to maintain a spiritual walk. Important and blessed as this provision is for restoration of fellowship, it was not intended to be a means of growth. This expedient deals only with symptoms, and never was meant to reach the cause: indwelling sin and the self-life. …. He is exhorted to be filled with the Spirit before he has been felled by the Cross!” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 61, Conditions—Cause or Effect?, pp 274, 275

9. The Christian Life (God’s Plan) Position Heavenlies Eternity Death/ Rapture Condition

10. “Our position in the Lord Jesus Christ is made up of two parts: death and life. Identification with Him in His death issues in identification with Him in His life. Spiritual growth is the result of the old man abiding in the death of the Cross, and the new man abiding in the risen life of Christ. The way of the Cross doesn’t end at the Cross!” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 56, Think Position!, p 253

11. “Our object in sharing these truths of the Word is that we may be turned from all that God condemned unto a deep personal knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ...We are not to know the Lord Jesus in order to emulate Him as our example. Rather we are to behold Him in the Word and allow the Spirit of God to conform us to His image. Not imitation, but conformation.” Part Three: The Ground of Growth, Chapter 38, That I May Know Him, p 175

12. “To abide is to remain where one has already been enlifed and positioned… It is when the Christian understands his death-position that he is enabled to see his life-position in the risen Lord Jesus…The believer’s enlightened faith follows effortlessly, because he now sees himself exactly where he has been positioned all along…” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 56, Think Position!, p 256) “Charles Trumbull said, ‘The effortless life is not the will-less life. We use our will to believe, to receive, but not to exert effort in trying to accomplish what only God can do. Our hope for victory over sin is not “Christ plus my efforts,” but “Christ plus my receiving.”’ Part One: Principles of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 5, Preparation, p 21 “Our part is not production but reception of our life in Christ. This entails Bible-based fact-finding, explicit faith in Him and His purpose for us in Christ and patient trust while He takes us through the necessary processing involved. No believer ever fell into maturity, even though he is complete in Christ. Spiritual growth necessitates heart-hunger for the Lord Jesus, determination, based on assurance, to have that which is ours in Him, plus meditation and thought.” Part One: Principles of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 6, Complete in Him, p 24

13. “We do not have to wage war with the devil to obtain our position, nor do we have to fight him either to maintain it or to retain it. We simply stand where we have been placed, abiding above, resisting his assaults and fiery darts through faith in the Victor who defeated him and all his cohorts…We humbly walk in the train of His triumph.” Part Three: The Ground of Growth, Chapter 34, The World and Its Prince, p 161

14. “The Lord Jesus is ‘put on’ as we abide in Him by faith. Our risen Lord is full provision for our Christian life and service; and the cross is the only provision we have for the self-life. As we confidently rest in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit gives us the things of Christ by means of growth. As a result, our condition begins to reflect what we already are in position.” Part Two: Foundations of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 22, Completeness and Security, p 97

15. The Christian Life (typical) Position Eternity Heaven Death/ Rapture Condition

16. “The babe in Christ has started to live for the Savior and to serve Him with all his heart. ‘He gave His all for me, now the least I can do is give my all for Him.’ The motive is right, but the motivation is wrong! He is seeking to live and serve on the basis of the birth truths and in the strength and ability of self, not yet understanding that God judicially condemned and crucified the old nature at Calvary…The well-meaning believer is seeking to ‘save his life,’ not comprehending the spiritual principle, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.’” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 57, Keep Looking Down!, pp 257, 258 “Although the Christian has been positioned above, he is unaware of this fact when he comes to the Savior at the foot of the Cross... The usual exhortation they are given is, ‘Now get busy and serve the Lord.’ This they seek to do on the basis of the birth truths. From this inadequate ground the majority of young Christians go down in defeat. “Others, more thoroughly taught, move forward in the knowledge of their reconciliation to God, their acceptance in the Lord Jesus, as well as their completeness and eternal security in Him. Even with this firm foundation upon which to stand, they have yet to learn that more is needed.” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 56, Think Position!, p 254