Condition VS Position

Condition VS Position

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Condition VS Position

~Focusing On Who You Are In Christ, Not Your Sinful Flesh!~

As we are escaping Babylon, it is an effective trick of the devil to get us focused on our condition. He does this because he knows that if we focus on our position in Christ, he will lose control over us. It will be worthwhile to accurately discuss the difference. As we become more informed on the difference between the two, my hope is that we can be on guard and spot this type of attack from Satan. When our minds drift to the struggles of the flesh, may we then focus on who we are in Christ Jesus and tell that silver-tongued serpent the truth.

1 Peter 5:6-11 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;  (7)  casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.  (8)  Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  (9)  Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.  (10)  But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.  (11)  To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”

Condition VS Position

Condition -VS- Position: Thoughts

Ephesians 2:6 says, “And (God) has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”

So, if I asked you: “where am I at right now?”  Where would you say I am? Physically, I am here on the earth. This is my condition. Yet, this Bible verse tells me that my position is with God in Heaven, thanks to Jesus Christ.

Allow me to break it down a little more for you.

1.   Condition is how we are in our sinful flesh.

2.   Position is who we are in the love of our Father.

1.   Condition-oriented people focus solely on their behavior.

2.   Position-oriented people focus on who they are in Christ.

1.   Condition-oriented people fail to know who they are in Christ.

2.   Position-oriented people rely on and live by who they are in Christ.

1.   Your Condition can never make you a better person.

2.   Your Position is your only hope for a better life.

1.   Your Condition will destroy you.

2.   Your Position will change you.

Condition VS Position

Comparison Check

The word saint in the Greek language means “Holy Ones”!

Saint: G40 – ἅγιος – hagios – hag’-ee-os

“From ἅγος hagos (an awful thing) compare G53, [H2282]; sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated): – (most) holy (one, thing), saint.” Total KJV occurrences: 229

Sinner: G268 – ἁμαρτωλός -hamartōlos – ham-ar-to-los’

“From G264; sinful, that is, a sinner: – sinful, sinner.” Total KJV occurrences: 47

(Saint) Occurrences: 229 N.T.

(Sinner) Occurrences: 47 N.T.

We can clearly see that the focus of the New Testament is not upon the sinner, but the saint. For a ratio of 4.8 to 1!

Condition VS Position

Condition -VS- Position: Verses

When we submit to God and throw off our rebellion: God does not deal with us according to our sinful condition. He addresses us in light of our position, which we now have thanks to the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. A position-focused relationship!

• Condition: How I Am

Romans 7:18-21 “For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.  (19)  For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.  (20)  But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.  (21)  I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.”   

-VS-

• Position: Who I Am

Ephesians 1:3-9  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;  (4)  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love;  (5)  having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,  (6)  to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved,  (7)  in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,  (8)  which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,  (9)  making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him.”     

Condition VS Position

• Condition: Old Man Crucified

Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.”

Romans 6:6  “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.”

-VS-

• Position: New Man Resurrected

Romans 6:4 “We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life… (22)  But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life.

Romans 12:1-2  “Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.  (2)  Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Condition VS Position

• Condition: Temporary & Seen

2 Corinthians 4:18a (edit) “while we don’t look at the things which are seen,… For the things which are seen are temporary, …”

-VS-

• Position: Eternal  & Unseen

2 Corinthians 4:18b (edit) “while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. …but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

• Full Verse

2 Corinthians 4:18 “while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Condition VS Position

• Condition: Physical- Sinful Flesh

Romans 7:17 “So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.”

-VS-

• Position: Spiritual- Sanctified Spirit

1 Corinthians 1:2  “to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:”

Sanctified: G37 – ἁγιάζω – hagiazō -hag-ee-ad’-zo

From G40; to make holy, that is, (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate: – hallow, be holy, sanctify.

Condition VS Position

• Condition: False Self

Romans 7:24 “What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?”

-VS-

• Position: True Self

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.”

Condition VS Position

• Condition: Outer Man

2 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.”

-VS-

• Position: Inner Man

Ephesians 3:14-19  “For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  (15)  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,  (16)  that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;  (17)  that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  (18)  may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,  (19)  and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Condition VS Position

• Condition: Weak

Matthew 26:41a “Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation. …….., but the flesh is weak.”

-VS-

• Position: Willing

Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Condition VS Position

• Condition: Without profit

John 6:63b “…The flesh profits nothing.”

-VS-

• Position: Life

John 6:63a “It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.

Condition VS Position

• Condition: Sold to Sin

Romans 7:14 “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.”

-VS-

• Position: Redeemed (Purchased Back To God)

1 Peter 1:17-19 “If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:  (18)  knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,  (19)  but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ;”

Condition VS Position

Paul’s Discussion On The Matter

Romans 7:12-25 “Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.  (13)  Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.  (14)  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.  (15)  For I don’t know what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.  (16)  But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.  (17)  So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.  (18)  For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.  (19)  For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.  (20)  But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.  (21)  I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.  (22)  For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,  (23)  but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.  (24)  What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?  (25)  I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, the sin’s law.”

Condition VS Position

The Conclusion & Fulfillment Of The Matter

John 3:5-7 “Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.  (6)  That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  (7)  Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’”

Flesh And Blood: NEVER

1 Corinthians 15:50 “Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.”

The Great Exchange

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,  (52)  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.  (53)  For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.  (54)  But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”  (55)  “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”  (56)  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  (57)  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  (58)  Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Condition VS Position

Now We Can Fully Understand

The Battle that rages within us is real. Yet, we can defeat the flesh through the spirit of God. We must choose our position to live in, not stay in our condition.

Romans 6:12-14 “Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.  (13)  Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  (14)  For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.”

Romans 8:1-17 “There is, then, now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit;  (2)  for the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus did set me free from the law of the sin and of the death;  (3)  for what the law was not able to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, His own Son having sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, did condemn the sin in the flesh,  (4)  that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  (5)  For those who are according to the flesh, the things of the flesh do mind; and those according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit;  (6)  for the mind of the flesh is death, and the mind of the Spirit—life and peace;  (7)  because the mind of the flesh is enmity to God, for to the law of God it doth not subject itself,  (8)  for neither is it able; and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.  (9)  And ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God doth dwell in you; and if any one hath not the Spirit of Christ—this one is not His;  (10)  and if Christ is in you, the body, indeed, is dead because of sin, and the Spirit is life because of righteousness,  (11)  and if the Spirit of Him who did raise up Jesus out of the dead doth dwell in you, He who did raise up the Christ out of the dead shall quicken also your dying bodies, through His Spirit dwelling in you.  (12)  So, then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh;  (13)  for if according to the flesh ye do live, ye are about to die; and if, by the Spirit, the deeds of the body ye put to death, ye shall live;  (14)  for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God;  (15)  for ye did not receive a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye did receive a spirit of adoption in which we cry, ‘Abba—Father.’  (16)  The Spirit himself doth testify with our spirit, that we are children of God;  (17)  and if children, also heirs, heirs, indeed, of God, and heirs together of Christ—if, indeed, we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 “But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.  (8)  We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;  (9)  pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;  (10)  always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  (11)  For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.  (12)  So then death works in us, but life in you.”

Condition VS Position

A Final Thought

Galatians 5:25  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Our failures in life often determine who we become. We are forced to make a decision on how we react to the circumstances that we have helped to bring about. Do we move on and shrug it off, trying to do better next time? Or do we do what most people do, crumble under the crushing guilt and get stuck in a cycle? The difference between the two groups of people is that the second group is stuck in their condition, never believing they are something much greater than just their actions. The first group knows that though they have failed, their failure does not determine who they are. Someone greater than they are, their Father in Heaven has told them, “you might sin but you are not a sinner. You are my child and I have made you a saint.”

Now, are you ready to act like one? Our actions matter, have no doubt about that. Yet, if we have thrown off rebelling against God and have submitted to His will, then God no longer sees us or our sinful flesh, He see Jesus and His righteousness. This provides the cover we need to grow in His mercy and grace. Allowing us the time and opportunity to learn to subdue the flesh and become just like Jesus.

Colossians 3:1-10 “If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.  (2)  Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.  (3)  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  (4)  When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.  (5)  Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;  (6)  for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.  (7)  You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;  (8)  but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.  (9)  Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,  (10)  and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,”

Condition VS Position

Jesus Our Example!

1 Peter 2:21-22  “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,  (22)  who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

1 Peter 3:18 “Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

Philippians 2:5-8  “Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,  (6)  who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,  (7)  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.  (8)  And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.”

Condition VS Position

How did He do it?

Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Condition VS Position

He kept His focus on Position- not Condition.

John 8:23 “He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.”

John 18:36 “Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”

Condition VS Position

How we are to do it.

• Put no confidence to your flesh.

Philippians 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;”

Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.”

• Realize that you can have your flesh destroyed and your spirit saved.

1 Corinthians 5:5 “are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

• Understand that you can defile both your flesh and your spirit.

2 Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

• You have the power to walk according to the Spirit and deny the flesh.

Galatians 5:16-18 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.  (17)  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.  (18)  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

• Whatever you invest in, God will reward you justly the same.

Galatians 6:7-8 “Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  (8)  For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

• Indulge your inward man with the love of God and by obeying Him.

Romans 7:22a “For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,”

Psalms 119:174-175 “I have longed for your salvation, Yahweh. Your law is my delight.  (175)  Let my soul live, that I may praise you. Let your ordinances help me.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.”

Condition VS Position

Forsake Your “Condition”

Focus On Your “Position”

Condition VS Position

Condition VS Position

Condition VS Position