Litzman The In-Christ Position

Book 2 of the Fundamentals of the Christ-Life Bible Study Series
1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9969905-9-2
Verlag: WRLitzman Grace Media, Inc.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 244 Seiten

The In-Christ Position, Book 2 of The Fundamentals of the Christ-life Bible Study Series, follows The Joy of Knowing Who I Am, Book 1, to help born-again believers discover their new life in Christ! Understanding your new spiritual reality is key to truly experiencing your relationship with God as your Father and living the Christ-life. The instant a person receives Christ, he has a new life, a new identity, and a new position before God. In spirit, he is immediately a complete, re-birthed child of God with the Spirit of Christ indwelling him. He is a true son, fully redeemed, immediately infused with Christ's life and nature, with His righteousness, wisdom, and love. The old is gone, and the Christian now stands before God in Christ Jesus. When born-again Christians discover their in-Christ position and all that includes, they find security, sustaining rest, joy, and peace which allow them to stand firm in any storm this earthly life delivers. These lessons build from the ground up, guiding students, both new and seasoned, through key foundational truths to advanced concepts in later lessons. Students should begin with Book 1 of The Fundamentals of the Christ-life Bible Study Series, working through these lessons and the following workbooks in their proper order.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Litzman, Warren

Leseproben

Lesson 11 Rightly Dividing “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15) To truly understand God’s Word, the born-again believer must learn to rightly divide the Scriptures. All Scripture is profitable to the Christian, but not all Scripture is addressed to the born-again believer saved by God’s grace after the Cross. So, let’s start these lessons by looking at six critical distinctions in the Bible and learn how to apply them to properly understand the Scriptures. 1. Time As we study Scripture, it is important to recognize the timeframe and order of events. For example, Adam and Eve were completely innocent before their great sin. We can’t read their story as if they had Moses’ Law or our understanding. They didn’t even recognize their nakedness. It wasn’t a problem until after they received knowledge of good and evil. So, we can’t read it as if their nakedness was wrong when it was the way God made them naturally, without the knowledge that made it wrong. Many Christians are unaware of several pivotal events in the Bible. Failing to apply them in Bible studies often results in misinterpretation and confusion. Those who aim to read the Bible from front to back or focus on the Old Testament will struggle in their understanding if they aren’t first aware of these critical changes. Let’s look at a few of these critical turning points in the Scriptures. For instance, there was no Israel before Abraham; and, prior to Moses, they didn’t have Moses’ Law. The law and the prophets were for a period of time, until John the Baptist, when the kingdom of God began to be preached (Luke 16:16). Here are a few more important points. The Father and the Son Before the Son of God was born as Jesus of Nazareth, people generally didn’t know God as Father, nor the Word as the Son of God. They didn’t see the Father-Son relationship, nor did they realize that relationship was extended to believers; so, they couldn’t experience that level of intimacy with God, which is now our relationship with God. So, we must be aware of the fact that the Old Testament saints had a completely different understanding of, and relationship with, God than we have. The Holy Spirit Before the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was with men; after the Day of Pentecost, He would dwell in men forever (John 14:16–17). So, the Holy Spirit deals with us differently than with those prior to the Day of Pentecost. Christ specified what would be the Holy Spirit’s mission for believers (to teach us of Christ) when He introduced the coming of the Holy Spirit in John chapters 14 through 16. The Mystery Also, Paul taught several times about a “mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Eph. 3:9). This mystery was revealed to Paul after the Cross and pertains to our life as children born of God. So, you won’t find it in the Old Testament; those saints knew nothing about it. Jews, Gentiles, Law, and Faith The Cross is the pivotal point in time for both Jews and Gentiles, as well as for both the law and faith for justification. Before the Cross, God dealt solely with Israel. The majority of Jesus’ earthly ministry was to teach exclusively to the Jews (with a few exceptions). “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:5–6). “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). The Gentiles were brought into the gospel of salvation after the Cross, during the Acts-era of the early church. The Cross also cancelled out God’s expectation of man living according to the law for justification. Faith in Christ alone became the only requisite for salvation after the Cross; Paul and Peter both declared that works cannot save. Paul said the ordinances which men were formerly forced to live by were nailed to the cross with Christ, that Christ fulfilled the law and was the end of the law. Christians reading through Moses’ books, especially the laws in Leviticus, need to know and understand what happened at the Cross, or else they will try to live Old Testament law. Can you see how critical it is to understand these distinctions? 2. The Trinity Christians largely accept the Biblical references of the Trinity, that God is triune, one God expressed as three persons. This teaching is very much supported throughout the Scriptures, but mostly in the New Testament. In the days of the Old Testament, God had not yet revealed His Fatherhood, His Sonship, nor His Holy Spirit, distinctly. He was known as God, the Creator, Elohim, El Shaddai, the Lord God, the I AM, and other names; but His Trinity was generally not known until He began to reveal Himself in the era of the New Testament. “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” (1 John 5:7) Amazingly, many Christians gloss over this distinction in the Scriptures and don’t properly understand the persons of the godhead, their roles, and how they affect our lives. The Father The Father is the head of the godhead. “My Father, …, is greater than all” (John 10:29, see also John 14:28). He is the planner and director of His grand plan. He is over all. “The head of Christ is God” (1 Cor. 11:3). “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send” (John 14:26). He sent His Son, the Word (John 1:1–2), and gives His Son instructions. “The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.” (John 5:36–37; see also John 6:38–40; 8:42; 12:49) The Word (AKA Christ, the Son of God, the Lord) The Word was from the beginning and all things were made by Him (John 1:1–3). “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (v. 14). After the birth of Jesus Christ, the world knew the Word as Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God, the Son, is our Savior, our Redeemer, and our righteousness. The Son is life. “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:11–12). The only way we have spiritual life is by receiving and containing Christ, the Son, in our spirit. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). The Son obeys the Father and fulfills the Father’s plan to produce sons. “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). The Son is the only path to the Father. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). To know the Father, we must learn Christ, the Son. “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also … he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; … Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.” (John 14:7–11) The Father has given the Son preeminence over all. “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Col. 1:18). The Son is the Father’s Lamb sacrificed to redeem us. The Holy Ghost (AKA the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth) God, the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of Truth and the Comforter, according to Christ when He foretold of the coming of the Holy Spirit at the Day of Pentecost. “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). Christ said the Holy Spirit “dwelleth with you, and shall be in you,” referring to the Day of Pentecost, when believers would actually receive the Holy Spirit to live inside them forever. Prior to that, throughout the history of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit moved upon men. The Holy Spirit deals with the world by reproving (convicting) them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8–11). To believers, the Holy Spirit is our teacher. “He will guide you into all...