Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday
August 25, 2019
Being in union with Christ also means that we share His life [eternal], His righteousness.
“True Vine” = the Hypostatic Union of Jesus Christ. “The Vinedresser” = God the Father.
Any good deeds that any of us ever produce comes from the Filling of the Spirit and is called divine good or the righteous acts of the saints that brings glory to God; REV 19:8.
Every believer is said to be in our Lord called “in me” which is a dative of advantage prepositional phrase “en moi” correctly translated “in me” or “in the location of me.”
1CO 12:13, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
At the point of salvation every believer receives at least 40 different things, one of which is the baptism of the Spirit whereby He takes us an enters us into union with Jesus Christ.
Positional truth belongs to the carnal as well as the spiritual believer, to the supergrace believer and the reversionist; 1CO 1:2, 30.
The Doctrine of Positional Truth as it relates to the Epistle of the Book of Romans.
Positional truth or the doctrine that allows our Lord to look upon us in our position and not our condition is what really protects the believer from divine judgement in eternity; ROM 8:1.
Being in union with Christ also means that we share His life [eternal], His righteousness [+R], which means it is impossible for us to be judged at The Great White Throne Judgment].
His sonship, His heirship, His priesthood, His election, His destiny, His kingship; all of these are involved in our positional truth;
ROM 8:1.
Positional sanctification qualifies the believer to live with God forever because we are all sanctified or set aside for our Lord for the purpose of honoring Him and respecting Him as we should.
If we are going to live with God forever there are certain things we must have: for example, we must all have eternal life, not everlasting life but eternal life; 1JO 5:11-12.
In 2CO 5:21 the believer enters into union with Christ, he shares the life of Christ, the +R and he is qualified to live with God forever, he has the same kind of life that God has, the same kind of righteousness that God has.
Positional truth also explains both election and predestination.
ISA 42:1, “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him;”
MAT 3:17, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
EPH 1:6, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Christianity is a relationship: union with Christ, not a religion.
Positional truth also guarantees the eternal security of every believer; ROM 8:38-39.
Positional truth also exists in two categories: known as retroactive and current.
Retroactive means something that began in the past and has present results that benefit the believer whereas current positional truth refers to the truth one is living in presently.
When our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, the sins of the old sin nature were poured out on Him and judged, however, human good was not judged, it was rejected.
JOH 1:29, The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
The payment for sin is called death, that is spiritual death;
ROM 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Who was this gift offered to?
It was offered to all members of the human race because of ROM 3:10-20.
When did our Lord die for us; Rom 5:6?
What were we like, when He loved us?
When we believe in Christ as Savior, we also enter into union with Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the Father; EPH 2:6.
When was positional truth related to the believer according to the book of Romans?
In ROM 6, we are identified with Christ in His death, we are identified with Christ in His resurrection, ascension, and session.
The implications of positional truth have to do with the fact that we share what Christ has.
Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, we share everything that Christ has and is.
- Christ is eternal life;
1JO 5:11-12.
2. Christ is absolute righteousness (+R);
2CO 5:21. - Christ is elected, we share His election; EPH 1:4.
4. Christ has a destiny; we share His destiny; EPH 1:5. - Christ is the Son, we are in union with Christ, we share His sonship; 2TI 2:1.
6. Christ is the heir; we share His heirship;
ROM 8:16-17. - Christ is sanctified, we share His sanctification; 1CO 1:2.
8. Christ is a King; we share His kingdom; 2PE 1:11. - Christ is a Royal priest; we share His priesthood; HEB 10:10-14.
10. Christ is an ambassador; we share His ambassadorship; 2CO 5:20.
No fruit (or production) can be any better than the vine that produces it.
Because of positional sanctification (our union with Christ) and the grace provision of the filling of the Spirit, it is possible for the believer to produce divine good.
The phrase “in Me” is a reference to the believer in union with Christ.
We were born slaves to the O.S.N. and the only time that we will ever be free from slavery to the O.S.N. is not at salvation but when we enter into PMA of B.D.
We all have a legitimate desire to please the Lord, and this desire even increases as we increase our intake of doctrine.
These good intentions are hindered by the overtime work of the O.S.N. with its trends toward good and evil.
If I keep on doing what I do not want to do then I realize that the law is good because it does reveal my helplessness.
Because he has received the Lord Jesus Christ that he is no longer the one alive, but Christ is living in him.
Because the nature of God cannot sin, and Christ is in him, Paul has learned to separate the two natures.
What made Paul such a great apostle is the fact that he realized that his sins had been paid for and totally forgiven.
Before any believer can appreciate the divine solutions to the indwelling problems of the O.S.N. and the magnificent grace of God, the believer must be brought to the end of himself.
The effects of sin are guilt and condemnation, and therefore there is no place for any guilt and condemnation in the life of the believer.
As you grow in the knowledge of doctrine, there can arise a tremendous conflict in the soul, not from the temptation of the old sin nature, but from the evil and the inherent weaknesses which are there.
All it truly says is NO CONDEMNATION!