ONE SON - LESSON 1
                        GOD'S PLAN - ONE SON 
                                by J W LUMAN 

We are dealing with the work of the Son.  The Son who is bringing
a house together, bringing His Body together in the fullness of Him
for the purpose of manifesting Him in all the earth.

I want to deal specifically in these sessions with that SON
HIMSELF. In your New Testament alone, I think it is something like
two hundred and thirty-seven times, there is a term mentioned. That
term is "in Christ". It is like "in whom", "in the beloved", "in
Him". But over two hundred times the Scriptures speak of the
Believer having their very life in Christ Jesus, "in whom we live
and move and have our very being."  This Son, this many-membered
Son, that is brought about by the very death and resurrection and
the ascension of Christ, this many-membered Son that we are in Him.
I want to deal with that Son.  
                         
                       THE VIEW OF THE FATHER

You and I must come to understand that Son after the view of the
Father. In other words, that we begin to relate to Him in the
understanding that God gives. We must begin to see what it means
very clearly, what it means to be "in Christ".  Not that we just
accept the fact that we are there, but that we come to understand
what it means. What does it mean to be "in Christ"? And for that
matter, what does it mean to be "born-again"? We will look at that.
Probably if I asked each one of you, what does it mean to be born
again, we would have many answers. Because most of us, when you say
what does it mean to be born again, relate that to something that
we came out of. We do not relate it to Him. We relate it to
something we came out of. What it means to be "born-again'?  Well,
I used to be an alcoholic but I don't drink any more. Well, that's
wonderful. But that's not what it means to be born-again. That is
something you are delivered from by being born-again.  Well, I used
to do this and I used to do that and on and on... Now I don't do it
anymore so I am born-again. No. That is not what it means. 
    
Most of us would relate the new birth to something we used to be
rather than to CHRIST HIMSELF. I want us, in these sessions, to see
Him in a view that perhaps we have never seen Him before.  I want
us to see Him in such a view that the Holy Spirit may cause us to
understand that we are one with Him. As we see Him, so He is made
unto us. As He is, so He is in us. As He is, so we are in Him;
because He is made unto us everything that He is. The Scriptures
say in I Corinthians 1:30, "But of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who
is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and
redemption." In the general meaning of those four terms the whole
plan of God is wrapped up. Christ is made unto us everything that
He is. But what is your view of Him? What is your understanding of
Him? What does it mean to you to be "born-again"? What does it mean
to you to be baptized into the Body of Christ? What does it mean to
you to be raised up and to be seated in Heavenly places? What does
it mean to you? Is that just a wonderful teaching? Are those just
wonderful words? Or is that in actually a life that we are to live?
  
                    THE SON'S FINISHED WORK
  
Well, I want us to just see this Son that we are. Let's first look
at this and lay a background in the Scripture. We are going to be
looking at this in a three-fold manner. In relating to this Son, we
are going to be seeing His finished work. You and I constitute His
finished work. You have to agree with me that He is not coming back
to be crucified again. He finished it. You have to agree with me
that He is not going to be raised from the dead again. He finished
it. You have to agree with me that He is not, in the form that He
had, ascending to the Father, again. He finished that. He is now
coming forth in a people in the fullness of all that He is. That
finished work is a three-fold work. It is a work of, number one,
FORGIVENESS. It is a work, number two, of RESTORATION. And number
three, it is a work of RECONCILIATION. In Christ, we have
forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation. The Son that we are
is a forgiven Son, a restored Son, and a reconciled Son.  All of
that finds its fullness in Christ Jesus. That is what, by the grace
of God, I want us to look at together in these sessions.
    
                       GOD'S ETERNAL PLAN

Let's begin in Ephesians. I am going to just deal with something
for just a moment, just set it out in front of you, so that we can
begin to deal with this Son that we are. We need to see salvation
in the light of God's eternal plan. Not in the light of the fall,
not in the light of sin; but to see salvation in the light of God's
eternal plan. And to understand that we are not just saved from
something, we are saved into something. Salvation is more than just
not sinning, salvation is actually growing up into the fullness of
Jesus Christ.
    
Ephesians 1, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
to the saints that are at Ephesus, to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
Heavenly places in Christ. According as He hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame in Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of sons, by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of His grace
through which He hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace." Well, you go on down through
that in verse 11, "In whom we have obtained an inheritance..."
Verse 13, "in whom you also trusted after that ye heard..." On
through that chapter and in that epistle, time and time again, Paul
speaks of this work of God in Christ Jesus.
    
I want us to look at this in the light of God's eternal plan. The
Scriptures tell, "In the beginning, God..." Genesis 1:1. The name
given to God in the beginning, Elohim, says something about God.
The word Elohim means: absolutely one God who is plural in His
being. Secondly, Elohim means: God as one who stands in covenant.
What we see from that and from the Scriptures I just read to you
and some others is that in the beginning God had an eternal plan
and an eternal purpose, an eternal will, an eternal covenant.
    
                        GOD SAW ONE SON

In the beginning, there is a union in God. There is a fellowship
that few of us have ever contemplated, that few of us have ever
thought about. But, in the beginning, there is a union, there is a
plan, there is a fellowship, there is a relationship within God
that God purposed to bring many sons into. To bring those sons into
it, He must first have them. So God's eternal plan, spanning the
ages, is that God, in the beginning, saw one Son. Thus Paul comes
along in seeing this and begins to talk about you and I being IN
CHRIST.  Because the Son that God saw is a unique Son, an unusual
Son, in that this Son is an increase of Himself. We will look at 
three words as we go along. This Son is the seed of only one.  He
is one seed. The whole word here is one, one meaning "unity".  Do
you understand that? Just as you and I are many, yet one Body in
Christ Jesus. That came right out from the nature of God, which is
called Elohim; absolutely one God, yet plural in His being. This
God desiring, because His nature is to be in covenant, His nature
is to walk in covenant relationship. And out from this God then
came this plan.

You will see it clearly in the Scripture, that He would have an
increase of Himself. One Son who is one seed, and not only that,
this Son is only one kind. Paul says, "unto Abraham and to his seed
were the promises made; not seeds as of many, but as of one, and to
thy seed, which is Christ."

But there is a mystery about that seed. That's Galatians 3:16.
Verse 29 says, "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed."
Not seeds, not many - one seed!! There is a mystery that I want us
to see in these sessions in reality, not just in theology. One
seed, one kind, and one glory. The seed of one, the kind of one,
the glory of one. This one Son is to be the absolute expression of
the fullness of the eternal plan of God. This Son is to give the
Father absolute and complete and total expression. This Son is to
fill up the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God as the
waters cover the sea. That's what you are in Christ for. That's
what it is all about.  You are not there to miss hell. You are not
there to get out of this or get out of that.  You are in Him that
you may be a part of the manifestation of God's glory in all the
earth.  That is why you are in Christ. All this other stuff just
comes in the package. The purpose is the glory of God. This Son is
predestinated unto the glory of the Father. Read it! We just read
this thing, "...to the praise of the glory of His grace..." - Verse
6. Verse 14, "Who is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchase possession unto the praise of His
glory." This Son that the Father sees, this Son that the eternal
plan of God encompasses, is a Son that shall bring Him glory in all
the earth and manifest His fullness in all the earth.  This Son is
planned in the bosom of the Father and is set forth unto the praise
of His glory. That is the purpose of this Son. The mystery
concerning this Son is that though He is one Son and that Son is
Christ, "unto thy seed which is Christ", the mystery of it is, that
one Son is made up of many. But the mystery goes beyond that.
Though He is made up of many Sons, we being many, are in fact One
Son. The mystery of this is, that each of these sons and all of
these sons are not other than that One Son Himself.
    
Now how did that come into being? How do you and I get from here,
in the mind and in the heart and in the plan of God, to 
here - actually dwelling in Christ Jesus, actually being in union
with Him, by being born of one seed. By being through that seed,
one kind, being neither male nor female, neither bond nor free,
neither Jew nor Greek; but rather one kind unto the glory of God.
How do we get from the planning stage to the fulfilling stage? How
do we get from the mind and the heart of God to the very fullness
of Jesus Christ? How did we get there? This is where we now dwell -
in Christ Jesus. What does it mean to be there? That is what I want
to look at. This Son is what the Scriptures say is "Christ all and
in all". Colossians 3, verse 9-11. You have read, that if any man
be where? - in Christ Jesus. I am telling you, that is a REALITY.
It is more real than you being in a building. You might walk out of
a building, but you are not going to walk out of Him. I can be in
Dallas, or I can be in Tennessee, or I can be in Timbuctoo, but I
am there in Christ Jesus. In fact, I am to be there as a
manifestation of Him. This is a tremendous thing!
                 
                  UNDERSTANDING THAT ONE SON

You have read, that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new, and
all things are of God. Where? IN CHRIST JESUS. Who hath done what?
Who hath given unto us the Word, the knowledge, the reality, the
truth of reconciliation. That is the Son, that Son that you are in
Him. That Son that He is made unto you. That Son that we are
because we are in Him and because we are one with Him, because we
are in union with Him, because He lives in us, because we have no
life but Him. That Son is the Son I want us to look at, because
that Son is your salvation. That is what it means to be "born-
again". That is what it means to be raised up together and made to
be seated together in Heavenly places. That is what it means to be
baptized into Christ.  It means that you are part of the Son that
God saw from the beginning. It doesn't just mean that you are saved
out of hell. It means that you are in Christ Jesus and that He is
made unto you everything that He is! It doesn't mean that you are
just walking along trying to make it day by day, holding on to make
it. That is not what it is all about. 
    
It is a glorious Son.  It is a glorious salvation. You and I may as
well begin to come to the understanding of the fullness of it and
begin to manifest that fullness in the earth. "Ye shall know the
Truth and the Truth will make you free." It is that Son that I want
to look at. I want you to turn with me now to Romans 5. We need to
see that we started out in the mind and heart of God and we end up
in the fullness of Jesus Christ. That is where you now are, and
having pointed you to the Scripture 237 times declaring that this
is where you are, I want us to begin to look at it together and see
if we can allow the Spirit of God to enlighten the eyes of our
understanding that we may know, according to Ephesians 1:17-20,
that we may know what is the hope of His calling.  That we may know
what is His inheritance in the saints. That we may know what is the
exceeding greatness of His power, which he wrought in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand.
That we may know that we are raised up together and made to be
seated together in Christ in Heavenly places. Oh, that the Spirit
would give unto us the spirit of wisdom and knowledge in the
revelation of Him, that during these times together we would come
to a new view, to a new vision, to a new understanding of this Son
that we are in Christ and begin to live according to that
understanding. It is time to grow up in Him, who is the Head. It is
time to grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head. It is time
that the Body begin to live as His Body. 

                   ADAM WAS NEVER THIS SON
    
Romans 5, begin with verse 12.  "Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in the
world, but sin was not imputed (recognized, set forth, brought
forth) when there was no law; nevertheless death reigned from Adam
to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of
Adam's transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come."
Something happened. Man sinned. Now, we can call that a fall; as
long as we understand that he didn't fall from God's glory, because
he never had God's glory.
    
God made man out of what? - a body. Then He breathed into man and
he became a living soul, right?  Now I am not arguing Bible
doctrines with you or theology with you, I am just trying to show
you something here. I am trying to show you that Adam never was
what God wanted. Adam was never this One Son. He didn't fall out of
glory. He never was in glory. He fell short of the glory of God.
Man fell short, man didn't fall out of. There is only One Son that
ever left glory. That is the same Son that goes back into glory
taking with Him many sons unto glory. He is the only one that ever
came out of glory. He didn't fall out, He laid it down and came
out. So we say fall, man's fall. That is alright if we want to
understand man's fall was a falling short. He sinned and he fell
short.
    
So many times we think in modern theology; we say - 'and man fell'.
So we think salvation is man getting back to where he was. He never
was anywhere. He was never in glory, he was just in innocence. If
you want to look at it literally or spiritually or any way you want
to look at it; he dwelt in a garden and the serpent dwelt there
too. I am telling you, there is no serpent in Christ Jesus. I am
telling you, the prince of darkness hath no place in Him. Call him
whatever you want to call him and recognize him however you want to
recognize him. I am telling you whatever he is to you, he is not in
Christ Jesus.
    
Where Adam was, the serpent was; but where you and I are, there is
no serpent. It is Christ all and in all. That is the reason Paul
gets all strung out here in Romans and he says much more. The
salvation is much greater than the sin. The answer is much greater
than the problem. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
Much more, much more!! You cannot compare salvation to sin. Do you
understand what I am saying? Your salvation is more than just not
sinning. It is much more than that. It is living in the fullness of
the life of Jesus Christ. If you had never sinned after the
similitude of Adam, without Christ you still have no life! Death
reigned.
                         THE LAST ADAM

Do you understand what Paul is trying to tell us here? He is trying
to say, man never was worth anything. He is trying to tell us, man
never did achieve the glory of God. That is only set forth in
Christ Jesus. When He created man, He created him out of dirt as a
body and He breathed into him a soul.  I Corinthians 15. I have no
new doctrines I am introducing to you, I am just trying to show you
something here, to make a point. I Corinthians 15:45, I want to
show you there is no place in the eternal plan of God for man to
glory. Not now, not ever, nor shall there ever be. We are not a
made over old creation. Salvation is not Adam going back to the
garden and starting over again. It is a New Creation, something we
have never ever been before and a life man has never had before. A
NEW MAN!! The Son that God saw from the beginning and that you and
I are, not by the first birth, by any means; but by the new birth.
    
"And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul,
the last Adam was made a life-giving (a quickening) spirit." When
we are born-again, we are complete. Until then we are not complete.
Man has never been complete and will never be complete outside of
Christ. For it is Christ who is made a life-giving spirit. It is
Christ in you the hope of glory. Man never did have that. If he had
had that, Christ wouldn't have had to come. He didn't have that to
lose it, he never had it.
    
              SPIRITUAL LIFE IS SUMMED UP IN THE SON

He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit - all baptized into one
body, all made to drink into one spirit. Outside of Him, you never
have had spiritual life. Spiritual life is summed up in the Son
Himself. Peter talks about the salvation of the soul as being the
"fullness of faith". He calls it the "end of faith" and it is
translated the "fullness of faith". As the Son is revealed in us
and as the light of His life fills our soul, as the faith of God
fills up our soul, as the living Word of God is written in our
soul, as He comes light upon light until the dawning of the perfect
day from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord; we are
changed into His same image. That is the salvation of the soul!
Receiving the end of our faith, that is the revelation of Jesus
Christ, even the salvation of your soul - as Peter says.
    
What is the salvation of your soul?  It is not being born-again.
Here is being born-again - when Christ is birthed in you, when
Christ is born in you, when you are born of the Spirit of God, when
you are born from above.  That is the new birth. The salvation of
the soul is when you and I begin to grow up in Him and the soul by
the living Word of God begins to be transformed, taking on His
nature, His character, His image, receiving the end of our faith.
Who is Christ? He is the beginning and the end. He is the author
and the finisher of our faith. Receiving the end of our faith, even
the salvation, that is, even the transfiguration of your soul. What
it means is receiving the mind of Christ - GROWING UP IN HIM. 
    
Man's fall was not from glory, it was into sin. That man that fell
is Adam. "For by one man sin..." And in Adam, every one of us had
our being. Every one of us were in Him. You say, not me. Then you
have no part of the cross. If you have no part of the cross, you
have no part of the resurrection. Because Jesus didn't become the
last J W, He became the last Adam. Why? Because I am in Adam. I am
there. You are there.

                    ONE MAN .... ONE MAN....
    
Man fell short of the glory of God. Look at it here again back in
Romans where we were. "But not as the offense, so is the free gift.
For if through the offense of one, many are dead; much more the
grace of God and the gift of grace, which is by one man." I am in
verse 15 of Romans 5. "If by one man sin entered, by one man the
grace..." You see, God's plan is only dealing with two - Adam and
Christ. It isn't dealing with fifty million, it is dealing with two
- Adam and Christ. He deals with you in Adam, He deals with you in
Christ. That is the only way He deals with you. For years I have
heard people who were in Adam, in sin say, "well I am just as good
as anybody else." That doesn't make any difference. It doesn't make
any difference how good you are. That is not the problem, whether
you are good, bad, big, little, or indifferent. The problem is, you
have no life outside of Christ. The problem is, in Adam, all are
dead. In Adam, all have sinned. Don't tell me how good you are. I
have heard that, "well I am just as good as ole so and so down
there in the church." That is nothing to toot your horn about.
God's plan isn't built on your goodness or so and so's. If you are
in Adam, you are dead to God and you are in sin and that's the size
of it. One man! The answer to the dilemma is also ONE MAN. It is
not J W doing better. It is not J W straightening up. The answer is
One Man. The problem is one man and the answer is ONE MAN. You are
dealt with in One Man. You are dealt with in Adam and you are dealt
with in Christ. God sees you in one of the two - you are either in
Adam or you are in Christ Jesus. There is no middle man.  There is
no third ground. There is nothing in between.

          THE ONE SON COMES FORTH FROM AMONG THE DEAD
    
By your first birth you are in Adam and by your new birth you are
in Christ. We will see this a little clearer as we go along. I want
to show you that the Son that God sees over here in the end is not
the one that fell. It is the one that comes forth from the dead.
The Son that God sees - the Son of His plan, the Son of His
pleasure, the Son that you are in Christ is not the one who fell.
He is not the one who abides in death. He is the One that came
forth from among the dead and abides in the bosom of the Father. So
why do we, who are in Christ, still live like we are in Adam? You
say brother, I don't sin. I am not talking about your sinning, I am
talking about you living like you are still in Adam. 

What is Adam? Adam is many. Adam is seeds. Adam is nations. Adam is
kinds. Adam is colors. Adam is races. Right on down, all of that is
Adam. He was that from the beginning. What does your Bible say?
"And God created man, male and female created he them. And he
called their name Adam." But in Christ, there is neither male nor
female. So in Him, it is not by your natural birth. In Him, you are
not born a male or a female. In Him, you are not born black or
white. In Him you are not born Jew or Greek, rich or poor, big or
little. It is the new birth, that has nothing to do with the fallen
man. And yet you and I who claim to be saved, and are, say Amen to
the fact that we are in Him, and we are; still see ourselves not
after that image, not after that view, but after this one. Here is
how we see ourselves and here is how we try to serve God. Here is
how we try to love each other. Here is how we try to get along.
Here is how we try to find our unity. And there isn't any in Adam
and there never has been.
    
                       

                           A NEW VIEW OF HIM

"Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth will make you free". Free
from who? Free from all the old. For you see, if any man be in
Christ Jesus, old things are passed away, all things are become
new. Yes, except in the imaginations of my darkened understanding,
where I still see myself as being what Adam is, rather than being
who Christ is made unto.
    
Paul comes along who is walking in this understanding of reality
and says, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh, nor do we
know Christ as what He became after the flesh." It is a new view of
Him! "For if any man be in Christ Jesus..." You see what he is
saying to us, and yet you and I are still stumbling along thinking
that the only thing it means to be saved is that our sins are dealt
with. No, you are dealt with. I am dealt with. Not just my sins, I
am dealt with. You are dealt with. The man is dealt with. No where
in your Bible does it even come close to implying that sins were
crucified. No. The old man was crucified. The sinner was crucified.
I offended a lot of people at one time by saying that in a Bible
conference. I am glad to say that it liberated others. I seem to
have offended some by saying that the cross does not deal with
sins, the cross dealt with the sinner. Since I was teaching along
this same line, I will probably say that again several times in
these sessions.
    
                       THE ANSWER IS THE CROSS

Because this man fell and Christ came, the answer to this man is
the cross. That is the only answer. You have to see that. The
Scriptures right here teach that. You just go on down in verse 17,
"For if by one man's offense, death reigned by one, much more they
who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, shall
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." Verse 19. "For as by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One
shall many by made righteous."  "By the obedience of One..." What
is that talking about? What was he obedient to? Philippians chapter
2, verse 8; "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. God's answer to this old man is the cross. Yet you and I
think that the cross just dealt with sins, not so. We will say,
yes, we are raised up and I am in Christ. But what we are really
saying and what we are meaning by that is that my sins are
forgiven. Well, is that not so? Yes! But our sins are forgiven,
based upon the finished work of the cross. The finished work of the
cross is not just dealing with sins, it is dealing with the sinner. 
    
We are going to find as we go along; your sins are forgiven because
you are crucified. We think that salvation just deals with S-I-N-S;
so if I have come to the Lord and I am saved, all it means to me is
that my sins are forgiven. It doesn't mean that I have no life of
my own. It doesn't mean that I am now in Christ Jesus. It doesn't
mean that I am neither male nor female, bond or free, rich or poor,
black or white. It doesn't mean that I am a new creature; it just
means that my sins are forgiven. What I am doing is I am still
seeing myself in Adam, saved. You are not saved in him (Adam). You
are saved in Him. You are saved in Christ and to be in Christ, you
came there by way of the cross. And the cross deals with more than
sinning, it deals with the sinner!
    
No where does Paul imply, that if any man be in Christ, he is free
from sinning, just that and nothing more. No. "If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature (creation)." Your Greek translation
will say creation. I am going to tell you something, this old man
that fell, Adam, Adam is not so much  the name of an individual as
it is mankind. Paul there named Adam. Man = Adam. Mankind, the
first creation, is a threefold creation. It is time, place, and
state of being. I am not trying to be academic with you. I am just
saying that the whole creation is made up of time, place, and state
of being. Time that is measured by sun, moon, and stars. That is
the reason that in Christ, all of that falls; and He is the light,
and He is the measure, the fullness of time. The old creation
serves time; that's the reason we try to give God an hour a day or
fifteen minutes a day. Honey, if you could ever get a hold of this,
it will liberate you!
    
We are trying to live in Christ with the mind of Adam. We are
trying to live in a New Creation applying old creation principles.
We are trying to say we are in Christ, so I'll give God fifteen
minutes. That is back here in Adam. That is this old creation life.
The time of this life is measured in days and years and months and
minutes and seconds. There is no such time in Christ. We have begun
an eternal life. Here, there is just Christ being preeminent in all
things. He fills up all seconds and fills them up. He fills up all
minutes, all hours, all days, all weeks, all months, all years, and
swallows them up. They do not give him significance, He gives them
significance.
    
                      NEW CREATION LIFE

The first creation is time, place, and state of being and the New
Creation is time, place, and state of being. It is a new time, a
new place, and new state of being. "If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation." Honey, he is not just an old man with some sins
forgiven; I am telling you, he is a New Creation. He is in Christ
Jesus, where all things are of God, and all things are now just
waiting to be manifested by faith. He is not in the old realm. He
is taken out, delivered from the power of darkness, and translated
in the kingdom of the Son. He is taken out of Adam and placed into
Christ. He is taken out of the world and placed in the Heavenlies.
Don't you see, there is a translation that is taking place. It is
a new creation. It is a new place - Heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. The New Creation is a new state of being; neither, nor, but
Christ all and in all. Neither this nor that. Paul lists everything
that the old man is. He is either male or female. He is either Jew
or Greek. He is either bond or free. He is either rich or poor. He
is either circumcised or uncircumcised. Paul says, none of it is
found in Christ, because the old man is not found there. The first
birth is not found there in Him.  I don't think any of us have ever
truly contemplated what a miracle salvation is! We have never truly
contemplated what it means that the living Christ of God dwells in
me! We have never contemplated what it means to be born from above
by the seed of the eternal God Himself. We have just reduced it
down to God's dealing with some sins in our lives. And if we are
faithful, maybe we will make it. That is not what it is all about.
All of that is dealt with, but so much more, much more.
    
That is what Paul is saying; you cannot compare this son (Adam) to
this Son (Christ), because this Son is much more than this son
could ever be. I am not telling you some place you ought to be, I
am telling you where you are. Yet our problem is, though we are
here, our minds are there in the old. That shouldn't surprise us,
because that is the problem throughout the whole word of God. So I
am going to ask you something; was the deliverance of Israel out of
Egypt complete? Did God take them out of Egypt? Did He take them
out with a mighty hand? Did He bear them out on eagles' wings? Did
He part the Red Sea? Did He slay the Egyptians?  Wasn't it
complete? "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness." Is it
complete? Did He deliver you from the power of darkness, or did
Jesus fail? But Israel died. They didn't die because they weren't
delivered. They didn't die because God fell down on the job. They
died in unbelief because they wouldn't enter in. Not because they
wouldn't get out, but because they wouldn't go in.
                  
                     WE HAVE BEEN BROUGHT IN

You and I are down here running around in circles, playing church,
playing religion, trying to figure out whether I want to be a Son
of God or not. Not because we are not delivered, but because we do
not understand and by faith see ourselves as having been brought
in. You ask me if I have been delivered of sin, I will tell you, oh
yes. But begin to deal with me concerning being in Christ Jesus, in
heavenly places in union with Him. I am not so sure about all that.
Not only has He delivered us from the power of darkness; he has
translated us through the resurrection and ascension of the Lord,
bringing many sons. "I am the resurrection", He says.  He has
translated us. He has lifted us into the Heavenlies. Not only are
we delivered, we are translated.
    
Israel could never see themselves in Canaan, so they died. At least
the bunch that kept seeing themselves in Egypt died, and there came
out of their loins a seed that did not see themselves in Egypt, but
rather saw themselves in Canaan and they crossed in. We have got to
bring forth a generation that sees themselves in Christ and they
will live like it! What we are doing, we have got a generation that
says, yes we are saved, but we still see ourselves in Adam. So we
are down here working ourselves to death trying to teach them how
to love and how to get along and how to serve God and how to give
God fifteen minutes, how to read a scripture everyday, when they
are just as ignorant as a stump. I am talking about you and I. God
love us, I am talking about us. Because it is that thing - we just
can't see it. The minute we begin to see ourselves being in Christ,
that falls away. It liberates us. We are liberated by truth.
    
You say, 'Explain that.' Well, I can't explain that, no more than
I can explain how that we turn these lights out and we sit in
darkness. I don't have to come in here and chase the darkness out
before I can turn on the light. I just turn on the light and the
darkness flees. I am telling you, "Ye shall know the Truth and the
Truth shall make you free." I am telling you, when God begins to
reveal His Son in you, all of a sudden you begin to come to a new
realization of a new time, a new place, a new state of being. You
begin to see that, I am not in Adam, I AM IN CHRIST. You begin to
realize, He didn't just deal with sin, He dealt with me! We begin
to live in a new understanding, just exactly like you begin to walk
in the light and you don't trip and fall over the pew feeling your
way around. You walk in the light, when the light is come!

                     THIS IS A FINISHED SON

I want us to take this man to the cross in the next session. I want
us to see the finished work. This is a finished Son. This is a Son
that comes forth fully forgiven, fully restored, and fully
reconciled. This is a Son that is fully dead, fully buried, and
fully forgotten. It is a finished work. That work by the Spirit of
God, has got to take place in our hearts. Then we will live like we
believe it. You live according to your knowing. You do that in the
natural and you did it in the spiritual.
    
What is God's controversy in Hosea the fourth chapter, with Israel
and with the Church? What is His controversy? You have got a
controversy with you. They rejected knowledge. "Therefore I shall
reject them, for my people perish for lack of knowledge." That
knowledge is not academic. That knowledge is the revealing of the
Lord. That knowledge which only comes as God reveals His Son. They
resisted, but "ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free. And if the Son hath made you free, ye shall be free indeed."
The Truth and the Son are synonymous. Jesus says, "I AM THE TRUTH."
    
It is not a historical view of Jesus. It is not a religious view of
Jesus. It is the Father's view of Him. It is the Father revealing
His Son in you, causing you and I to understand the Son that we
are. Then we begin to walk in understanding. When I was a child, I
thought as a child. I spoke as a child, acted like a child; but
when I become a man, I put away childish things. So Paul says,
"Even so, when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part
is done away. Now we see, the darkness, the death as face to face."
Why? "For God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness,
hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?" When shall we see
'face to face'? When God reveals His Son and the light of His life
begins to fill our understanding. And we begin to live in the Son
that we are. Not the Son we are suppose to be, but the Son that we
are. Not the Son that we are going to be, but the Son we are, by
virtue of who HE NOW IS.