Hold Your Position in
CHRIST JESUS
Spiritual Building-Stone No. 170
Ecclesiastes
10:4, “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not
thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.”
Hold your position in Christ, your confession. Hold fast your confession in
Christ
(Eph. 4:15). [1]
Now, healing
is not something that you just say, "Well, I believe it. I believe it."
Now, that's all right. If that's the best you can do, just mentally, or just
say, "Well,... Yes, I see it. I believe that; I accept it." Then
if you accept it on those basis, keep saying it over and over. Say it out
loud. Say it over and over; just keep saying, "I'm healed. I'm healed."
(1 Peter 2:24). Say it until actually you believe it. And when you believe
it, then it's going to take place. Don't have a negative testimony. Every
time when you confess, "Well, I still feel bad today. I guess I..."
you go right straight back in the same rut that you was in the beginning.
There's not a man or woman in here that is baptized with Holy Spirit but what
would start your confession, "I believe I've lost the Holy Spirit. I
believe It's gone from me. I believe I..." you'll go right down; you'll
never... Listen close. You'll never live above your confession. Jesus is the
High Priest of our confession (Is that right? Now, Hebrews 3:1, 14-16, now
any scholar knows that same word "profession" is "confession"
too, same translated.), now setting at the right hand of the Father to make
intercessions upon what? Our confession. He can't do nothing for you until
first you confess He's done it. See? When you accepted... Now, I wasn't saved...
I'm not saved tonight because I get happy and shout. That isn't it. I'm not
saved because the gift of God works through me. I'm saved because I have met
the conditions that Jesus Christ required from me. I'm saved according to
the Bible. See? Is that right? See? And not because I feel like I'm saved.
Satan can whip you around a stump on your feelings, but he can't when it's
THUS SAITH THE LORD. See? He can't do that. He can't wade across that; that'll
defeat him.
Now, when you believed you were saved, setting in your seat, wherever you
was, you accepted it and begin to confess and tell people you were saved.
Well, you kept on saying, "I'm saved." (Mark 16:16). The people
said, "They ain't no difference in you," but you believed there
was. Is that right? And you kept with your confession and after while it worked
righteousness. All your neighbors and everybody knows you're saved now, because
you believed it, you confessed it. Why, what happened? What changed you? He's
the High Priest of your confession, setting at the right hand of the Father,
making good what you're confessing (Romans 8:33-34). Now, that's the same
thing it is by healing. You accept Him as your Healer, renounce your feelings.
It's not by feelings; it's by faith (Eph. 2:8-9). Say you're healed; believe
you're healed; act like you're healed; associate with those who believe in
healing; and God will bring you right out to a perfect soundness of health:
will not fail. [2]
And if He promised, then He has to do it; because He has to keep His Word.
And He promised you the same thing, that is, "If you could believe that
it would happen..." If you can't believe it, it just won't happen (James
1:6-7). Now, I can't make you believe; neither can you make yourself believe.
God's got to give it to you. It's a gift of God to believe. Not your faith,
God's faith (Gal. 2:19-20). Your intellectual faith might believe it fine,
but unless the faith of God is down in your heart... See, your intellectual
faith can accept it; to do that. And just keep believing it with all your
heart until God does reveal it to you. See? Just keep believing it until God
does reveal it (Matth. 11:25). But until He reveals it... [3]
The new birth is Christ, is a revelation. God has revealed to you this great
mystery, and that's the new birth. Now, what are you going to do when you
get all that group together, where the revelation is perfectly in harmony,
and God expressing it through His Word by the same actions, the same things
that He did, making the Word manifest? Oh, if the Church only knew its position.
It will one day. Then, the rapture will go when it knows what it is. [4]
Now, watch. Now, and He said to us, "If ye abide in Me, and My Word in
you, you can ask what you will, it'll be done." (John 15:7). Then recognize
your position in the Scripture as a believer. See? You've got to recognize
your position as He recognized His position (Luke 24:25-27,44). [5]
In forty days of temptation, by God's Word He (our Lord JESUS) overcome. I
want to stress something here just for a few minutes. Satan made three major
assaults upon Him in that temptation. Watch, it's always in them three's.
Don't forget these. He made three major assaults from the highest to the lowest.
He tried his best to conquer Him, but He was the Word. Amen. What did He use?
Himself, the Word. Satan's three major attacks, or assaults upon Him, but
He met it with the Word. Every attack, he could make it with the Word (Watch
this now.) from the highest to the lowest. (Matth. 4:1-11).
The first he made his attack upon, to use His great power. Which He knowed
He was the Word; He knowed His position. You believe He did? "I am the
Son of man." (Matth. 16:13). He knowed His position. And Satan come and
wanted Him to use His own power on hisself to feed Him. He wanted Him to feed
Hisself; He was hungry. A man gets hungry, he can do almost anything. He'll
steal, rob, beg, borrow, anything. See, He had that appetite. And Satan used
his first great major assault upon Him to take His power that He had been
given to overcome with and use it on Himself. He didn't use it on Himself.
No, He used it on others. That's right. He used it on others, not Himself;
it wasn't for Him. Though He could've done it, He certainly could've done
it. But see how the devil gets? The devil wants you to mind him. He minded
only what the Father said do. That's right. But Satan said, "It's written,
he'll give the angels charge to..." He said, "Yes, but it's also
written." There you are. See, He knew who He was. Satan did... The thought
runs deeper than what is wrote. See, it's inspiration. The kernel's on the
inside of it (You see?), what it really is. Though He could've done it, He
didn't do it. But He never paid heed to Satan's propositions. Now, here's
a good thing. See, sometimes Satan can take you, and when you think that you're
doing the will of God, and can make you a proposition, you'll fall for it.
Yes, sir. He sure can. [6]
A real Christian fights for his position. He has to stand alone, him and God,
and he fights every inch of ground, so you don't have to baby them around
(Joshua 1:3). [7]
Whatever it is, that's what we want. And I believe it was David said, "I'd
rather be a doormat at the house of the Lord, than to dwell in tents with
the wicked." (Psalms 84:11). You see? No matter what it is, "take
my place." Sometimes you have to separate from everything that's dear
on earth to you to take your position that God has called you to. I'm sure
you can read between the lines, what I'm saying. See? Sometimes the very dearest
person on earth, you have to shake hands with them to take your position in
Christ to where God has called you. See? But what's God doing? Transforming
you from what you was. Maybe a daughter or a son, or whatever it is, from
a lovely family sometimes, He places you somewhere else. Because it's His
way of doing it, by the renewing of your mind to obey the Word of God (Romans
12:2), regardless of what the price is. See? These things don't come... It
didn't call... [8]
It is threefold: First, to express Himself completely: God in Christ. Second,
to have the preeminences by this in His Church (which is His Body, Bride).
He could have the preeminence to express Himself through them. All right.
And thirdly, to restore the Kingdom to its rightly position that fell by sin
by the first Adam, back to where He walked in the cool of the evening with
His people, talked with them, fellowshipped with them. And now sin and death
had separated them from His Presence and His entire expression. Do you read
it? Before the foundation of the world to express all of His attributes, what
He was...
And now, the Christ in the Church is just being made known. The whole thing
is the revelation of God to take Eve back to her right position again with
her husband (notice), and God is the Husband of the Church, and the Church
is His Bride. [9] The Bride is a part of the Husband. And the only place that
you'll ever recognize it, is recognize what part of that Husband, that Word,
you are, or you can't recognize being the Bride. How many sees that? See,
see? You have to recognize your position. You can't recognize somebody else's.
There's one Bride, not a dozen denominations, but one Bride; that's the Elected
out of the earth, that's been predestinated to this, the ones who can recognize
their place in the Kingdom. [10]
We are in great expectation for the outpouring of the Quickening power of
God to bring us into recognition of our position and place and our responsibility
as being a called people, separated from the world, dedicated to God. [11]
The church has not recognized her day, like Israel back in her promised land.
She don't know how she got back there. She was just automatically put back
there. Why? National force put her in her place. Now, I'm going to say something.
National force put Israel in her homeland. National force will put the church
in the World Council of Churches. But the power of God will put the people
in the Bride. The world forces this way, and the world forces that way, but
God forces upward, the Spirit of God, which is the Word of God ("My Word
is Spirit and Life (John 6:63) will put the Bride in her place, 'cause she'll
recognize her position in the Word; then she's in Christ.") will put
her in her place. No national force will do it. But the national force did
drive Israel to the homeland. The national forces of the council of churches
will drive every organization into it, but the power of God will raise the
Bride into glory (Romans 8:11), out of it.
Oh, people, recognize your day, as Jesus warned you, the sign of Sodom, and
the church's conditions of this day (Luke 17:26-36). [12]
Uzziah, how he
was a great man, an example before Isaiah (II Chron. 26:1-21). But when he
got lifted up, then he tried to take the place of a priest, a minister. And
in doing so, God smote him with leprosy. And it was a great lesson to Isaiah
to know not to trust in anything but God (Isaiah 6:1-8). Then he was in the
temple, and saw the place. And that’s what I told the businessmen. I
asked my brethren, don't try to take the place of nothing but a businessman,
whatever God's called you to do. Don't try to be preachers or to take a preachers
place, 'cause we have a hard enough time keeping straight anyhow, and you
get it mixed up. So let's just stay what God calls us to be. [13] You stay
right where you're at. See? You do your work, what God told you. If you're
a finger, you can never be an ear. If you're an ear, you'd never be a nose,
nose or eye. See? You stay in your position. [14]
And I think to the laity, it's a good thing for us to try to remain... Don't
try to impersonate somebody else. See? Be just what you are. We'd all like
to be a Billy Graham, an Oral Roberts. We'd all like to be that. But remember,
in the Kingdom of God and His great economy, if we'll be the doormat, if that's
our place we'll be just as much as they are. See? But you must maintain your
position of where Christ has placed you. [15]
Did you ever think why a man would do wrong? It's because he's trying to satisfy
a thirst that God put in his heart to thirst after Him. (John 7:37-39). And
then he tries to satisfy it with the things of the world. And it'll never
be satisfied until it's quenched by God Himself, till He can come in and satisfy
that great longing and thirst in the human heart (Ps. 42:1-3). There's just
so much of a man that won't fill up. Nothing else can take its place until
God takes His right position in the human heart. [16]
David anointed king, all the people shouting and screaming it was right, but
he never consulted God's prophet. (I Chron. 13). And a man died, and the whole
thing was marred. Don't try to do God a favor. You wait till it's God's term.
Let it come in His way of doing it. "I'll start this big thing; it'll
do this." Be careful, brother. [17] And watch. The ark in the Bible always
is a type of the Word to us, because it was the Word of God in the ark. Notice
the ark that they brought up, look how they did it. It was not put in its
original God-ordained position. Now, God said back here in the laws that it
must--how it must be done, how this ark must be moved, and who it must be
moved by. But David, under his anointing... My brethren, don't you miss this.
And my sisters, don't you miss this. No matter how much your anointing is,
you've got to get in God's provided position. David's anointing was all right,
but in doing it he got enthused and stepped over the boundary line. What did
he do? He stepped over the boundary line. Instead of putting the ark in its
original position, he carried it on a new cart and not over the hearts of
the Levites. It was supposed to be carried on the shoulder of the Levites,
which is over the heart (Numbers 4:1-6). The Word is not in the mind; It's
in the heart, not on a new cart. What was that? Represented something new
David did there: spoke of every denomination there'd ever be. God's Word is
not to be carried by state presbyters or bishops, and so forth, of denominations.
It's the baptism of the Holy Ghost in the heart of man, and not in some ecclesiastical
move. The Holy Spirit is a treasure of God's love in the heart of men and
women to obey (Romans 5:3-5). [18]
That's the way. Live so, that if God would want to use you, He knows right
where to come get you. You're in a position, living a life clean before God;
your words are honest; your life is true. That's the kind of a place that
Angels come. Look at Elisabeth and Zechariah, an honest upright, walking in
all the commandments of the Lord. (Luke 1:5-25, 57-79). That's the way we
want to live, so when God gets ready to use us, He say, "This is My people.
I can do with this church what I want to. They believe Me. They stand on My
Word." See, that's the way you want to do; live the life. [19]
Watch the church as it's come, as it move. Just take it in your own mind,
you historians, that studies history. Look at the Lutheran church under justification,
coming just so freshly from Catholicism; look at it moving. Then look at Wesley
coming a little closer, into sanctification, weaving into the Scriptures.
Look at right in between, the Wesley. Then the next thing come in was the
Pentecostal age, and the Pentecostal age with the restoration of the gifts,
the spiritual gifts. Now, look at the age coming now right up to the Headstone.
See what I mean? The coming of the Lord, the made known. God and all creations
is waiting for the church to positionally find its place. [20]
But, see, it's like the church has to pass through the hall of critics. We
go through. You're going to be called "holy-roller," you're going
to be called everything. But if you could only hold your position in Christ,
then someday He'll take us to the hall of fame. But first we've got to stand
criticism. There's where the littleness of us stands; there's where it shows.
He that cannot stand chastisement is a illegitimate child and not a child
of God (Hebr. 12:4-11). No matter how much he's joined church, and whatever
he's done, he's still, if he cannot stand chastisement, he's a illegitimate,
and he's not a real child of God. But a real, genuine child of God don't care
what the world says; everything else is secondary. He's got his mind on Christ,
and that settles it. Yes. Whatever Christ says do, he'll do it. Wherever the
Lamb goes, they're with Him, wherever. And then you see His appearing, His
Presence, and what He does. He's always with His people, His Bride. He's courting
her. Someday there's going to be a wedding supper. [21]
Think of it. God, on the day of Pentecost, that Pillar of Fire separated and
tongues of fire set upon each of them, God separating Himself in--dividing
Himself, amongst His people (Acts 2:1-4). We become God's own Life in us.
Then we are dead to the things of the world, (Col. 3:2-4) and have risen with
Christ and setting in heavenly places, (Eph. 2:4-7) looking back to where
we come from. It's enough that we could think of that. And it lets off the
pressure, takes the pressure away when we recognize the position that we now
hold in Christ by receiving the Holy Spirit--God's own Life (The Greek word
"Zoe" which means God's own Life.) dwelling in you (John 5:24).
And you can no more die than God can die. We're eternal with the eternal (Amen.),
waiting for that glorious time of redemption of the body. (Romans 8:22-23).
And now we are already dead, and our lives are hid in God through Christ and
sealed by the Holy Spirit. The devil is out of the picture altogether. And
when we set together like this in heavenly places with Christ, in Him, then
we can certainly let off pressure. [22]
What is heavenly places? Heavenly places is the believers' position in Christ,
where the believer stands in Christ, in heavenly places. [23]
As long as you're
in Christ, you are in the Bible; you're in Him in the Bible. See? As long
as you are in Christ, then you are in the fullness of the Bible. See? You
are in your full position when you're in Christ. All understand that? [24]
Bible teaching is usually a little treacherous, a little, you know, kind of
walking out on the thin ice, we call it. But we just feel that maybe, at this
point and at this time, it might be good to kind of bring the church to what
I think, to a complete understanding, positionally, of what we are in Christ
Jesus. And sometimes I think that preaching is a wonderful thing, but I believe
sometimes, that teaching goes beyond that, and kind of especially to the church.
Now, preaching usually catches the sinner, brings him under condemnation by
the Word. But teaching places a man positionally what he is. And we can never
rightly be able to have faith until positionally we know what we are. [25]
References:
[1] PERSEVERANCE 63-1116E, par. 199 b
[2] WORKS.I.DO.BEAR.WITNESS 53-0216, par. E-9 - E-11
[3] WORKS.IS.FAITH.EXPRESSED 65-1126, par. 326 b-327
[4] CHRIST.IS.THE.MYSTERY 63-0728, par. 37-4
[5] PERFECT.FAITH 63-0825E, par. 94
[6] HOW.CAN.I.OVERCOME 63-0825M, par. 114-119
[7] PERSEVERANT 64-0305, par. 94
[8] POWER.OF.TRANSFORMATION 65-1031M, par. 76-77
[9] CHRIST.IS.THE.MYSTERY 63-0728, par. 24-5; 25-1;36-1
[10] FUTURE.HOME 64-0802, par. 38-1 b; 57-3
[11] DOES.GOD.CHANGE.HIS.MIND 65-0418E, par. 1
[12] RECOGNIZING.YOUR.DAY 64-0726M, par. 192-193
[13] INVESTMENTS 63-0126, par. E-15 a
[14] RAPTURE.THE 65-1204, par. 186 b
[15] INVESTMENTS 63-0126, par. E-15 b
[16] JESUS.CHRIST.THE.SAME 63-0604, par. E-20
[17] RAPTURE.THE 65-1204, par. 187
[18] TRYING.TO.DO.GOD.A.SERVICE 65-1127B, par. 231-232
[19] JEHOVAH.JIREH.PART.2 62-0706, par. 109
[20] ADOPTION JEFF.IN AD.PT.4 60-0522E, par. 36
[21] DOORS.IN.DOOR 65-0206, par. 119
[22] LETTING.OFF.THE.PRESSURE 62-0622B, par. E-29
[23] CHRIST.IS.THE.MYSTERY 63-0728, par. 29-1 b
[24] QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS 64-0830M, par. 1104-Q-347 b
[25] ADOPTION PART I, par. 6