Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ Putting On

Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ

Putting On the Lord Jesus Christ I. Introduction II. Phase 1/Phase 2 Distinction III. Phase 1 – Salvation Foundation IV. Positional Truth V. Phase 2 – Spirituality VI. Conclusion

“The reckoning that counts is made up of three essential steps… From this eternal position in Christ, our experiential freedom and growth are carried out as we…: 1. Know and Reckon: When we first realize our identification with the Lord Jesus according to Romans 6: 1 -10, we begin to count upon these wonderful truths… 2. Abide and Rest: Each of us must become aware of our union of life in the risen Lord; we are a branch in the True Vine. It is by means of this awareness that we learn to abide. We simply rest where we have been newly created - in Christ… 3. Depend and Walk: The liberating principle is fully embraced by including the final step: walking in dependence upon the Holy Spirit… “Our reckoning becomes effective as we count on the Word, abide in the Lord, and walk in the Spirit. ” Part Four: The Realization of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 41, “Three Steps in Reckoning, ” pp 188, 189

Position in Heaven Eph 1: 3 -14 Eph 2: 4 -6 In Christ Identification with Christ Acts 16: 31 Gal 2: 20 believe Rom 8: 29 Abiding In Christ Col 2: 6 confess & reckon 1 John 1: 9 6: 11 Rom John 15: 4 -5 1 Cor 3: 1 1 John 1: 7 Gal 5: 16 1 John 3: 6 a, 9 Condition on Earth

“‘Yielding’ as taught by many takes on a wholly negative emphasis, whereas the scriptural concept is very positive. Yielding is often equated with ‘giving up’ a sin or plucking out, one at a time, various things that displease God in one’s life. Such a view obviously concludes that spirituality is never complete, never absolute, since there is always some new sin that needs to be eliminated… “‘Yielding’ is better translated ‘present’ as in Rom. 12: 1, where the verbal is an aorist tense of parastano (parastanw), meaning ‘to place beside, to stand by, to present’…The concept of this verb is very positive, similar to a military person presenting himself to his commanding officer for positive service. “‘Presentation’ (yielding) is the attitude that the believer, once the sin nature’s servant, is now God’s servant, Rom. 6: 13, 17, 18… “Rom. 6: 13 commands the believer to ‘present’ (yield) himself to God as alive from the dead: One does not make himself more alive to God by presenting himself, he is alive because he is ‘in Christ, ’ that is, in living union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Presentation means he gives periodic recognition of that fact to God in his mentality… “Walking in the Spirit will evidence itself in this ‘presenting oneself to God, ’ particularly as one learns the identification truths of Rom. 6: 1 -10. Involved is a very positive and conscious concept of being alive unto God, hence ready and available for service to Him, to His plan, to His righteousness. ” Ron Merryman, Spirituality…Maturation…Retrogression…, pp. 7, 8

“Dear friends in Christ Jesus, it must be proclaimed! When the Christian thoroughly comprehends his participation in the finished work of the Cross, he will be able to yield himself (as a new creature in Christ, not the self-life) unto God as one who is alive from the dead. Yes, ‘alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. ’ There will be no conditions required for the filling with the Spirit. Emphasis on the meeting of conditions arises from failure to establish the believer in the truth that renders conditions needless. Where others posit surrender, the Spirit places the Cross. ” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 61, “Conditions—Cause or Effect? , ” p 278 “The Holy Spirit, however, does not fill the Christian on the basis of yieldedness. The old life is enmity against God and will never surrender, hence the Spirit must minister the death of the Cross to that nature. The new life has only love for God, and will always yield, hence the Holy Spirit freely ministers the life of Christ to that nature… Surrender of self is no substitute for the death of self. ” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 62, “The Spirit’s Ministry, ” p 280 “There is no list of conditions to be met, no yielding called for in order to be Spirit-filled. The Lamb-like life that the Spirit ministers and manifests is by nature yielded. ” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 63, “The Spirit’s Goal, ” p 285

“Romans 6: 13: ‘Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead. ’ In almost every instance where this verse is touched upon, the first half receives all the emphasis; indeed, the second half is usually neglected altogether. ” Part Five: A Guide to Spiritual Growth, Chapter 61, “Conditions—Cause or Effect? , ” p 277 “‘Yield [present] yourselves unto God, as … alive from the dead’ (Rom. 6: 13). ‘This is the true place of consecration. For believers to ‘consecrate themselves to God’ ere they have learnt their union with Christ in death and resurrection (identification) is only to present to God the members of the natural man, which He cannot accept. Only those ‘alive from the dead’—that is, having appropriated fully their likeness with Him in death—are bidden to present their members as instruments unto God’ (J. Penn-Lewis). ” Part 1: Principles of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 9, Consecration, pp 37 -38 “Consecration does not call upon us to do anything, but to rest in what God has already done. ” Part 2: Foundations of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 23, Sanctification and Consecration, p 103

“As growing Christians, it is time for us to see the necessity of going beyond the love motive to the life motive. ‘For to me to live is Christ’ (Phil. 1: 21). Our consecration, surrender or commitment will never hold up if it is our responding to Him from any other motivation than the response of His life in us. Yielding to Him on any different basis will simply amount to our trying to live for Him in the self-life. ” Part One: Principles of Spiritual Growth, Chapter 9, “Consecration, ” p 37

YIELD!

Presen t!