ONE SON - LESSON 3
                               by J W LUMAN

                       THE NEW SON - FORGIVEN

                        CHOSEN US IN CHRIST

As we begin, turn to Ephesians 1 and verse 3 & 4. "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 before Him in love." Let's read
that again and pay particular attention to this verse. In verse 3,
Paul makes a particular statement concerning your relationship to
Christ. And He makes this statement over two hundred times in your
Bible; I think it is around 237 times, but nonetheless a large
number of times. Paul declares the Believer's union with Christ -
the Believer's position. I hate to say the word position, because
that sounds so theological. It sounds so judicial. The Believer's
relationship with Christ is one of being IN CHRIST. In whom, in the
beloved, in Him, in Christ Jesus. All of these terms point to the
same relationship. So in verse three, Paul has made a tremendous
statement with regard to the Believer's relationship with Christ.
He has said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings." That is
translated in your Greek Bible - all spiritual fullness. In
Colossians, it is said of Him, "In Him it pleased the Father that
all fullness should dwell." It is also said of Him in the second
chapter, "that in Him dwelleth all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge." It is also said of Him in the second chapter of
Colossians, "In Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily."
It is also said in Colossians the second chapter, "you are complete
in Him."
    
Now that is what Paul is talking about here when he says, "hath
blessed us with all spiritual fullness where? In Heavenly places,
where? - in Christ Jesus. Verse 3 is speaking of a relationship
that you and I have with Christ, in reality, that very few
Believers comprehend to any degree of fullness, by the Spirit. It
is true. "Oh no, brother, I comprehend. I understand all that. I
have got all that down." Then I would ask the same question of you
and I that Paul asked of the Colossians, of the people at Colossia.
"If ye then be risen with Christ..." I mean, if we have such great
comprehension that we are dwelling in Him. "If ye then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is
seated upon the right hand of God. Set your affection on things
above and not on things in the earth. For you are dead and your
life is hid with Christ in God." Now that brings us into a little
different perspective doesn't it? 

Folks, we hear about this, but so few of us have this understanding
of Christ Jesus. Verse 3 is declaring a relationship that is ours
with Christ, in Christ, through Christ; that is ours with the
Father in Christ and through Christ. Few of us have begun to
comprehend and basically it is that relationship we are talking
about. In verse 4 he says something with regard to that
relationship. He says that relationship is according to a plan that
existed in God before the foundation of the world. He says, you are
there accordingly as He hath chosen you in Him from before the
foundation of the world. So he is saying, you are in Christ. Then
he says, why are you in Christ? You are in Christ, because that is
where God chose you from before the foundation of the world. In
other words, the Father has placed you where He chose you. He
didn't choose you one place and put you in another place.
                        
                       GOD'S PLAN - ONE SON
    
Now we have been looking at it like this: "In the beginning God."
God had and formulated this plan that He would have one Son and in
that Son, He would have many sons, bring many sons unto glory. Yet
each of those sons are none other than the One Son. And Paul gets
a hold of that and writes it this way: "For we being many are one
body in Christ Jesus, each one member one of another". That is the
Son that God saw and purposed and planned and set out to receive
before the foundation of the world. From the beginning, God has
purposed and planned and desired such a son - a many membered son,
yet One Son. Absolutely one, not two.
    
That Son, we talked about in the last session, is one seed, one
kind and one glory. The absoluteness of God's plan, His desire is
to bring forth One Son who will manifest His glory in all the
earth; as the waters cover the sea. That is what He saw from the
beginning. I don't think He is going to be satisfied with anything
else. I don't really think salvation has brought about anything
less than that. It is just that you and I, sometimes, view
salvation as being so much less than that.
    
                      MANY SONS UNTO GLORY

So we found that because this is the plan of the Father, that
Christ came forth to accomplish that plan. Hebrews has told us that
He is made a little lower than the angels for the purpose of
suffering death. "Crowned with glory and honor, that He may suffer
death for every man that he may bring many sons unto glory." Not
just get many people out of Hell, not just get many people out of
sin. But rather that He might bring many sons unto glory. So, if
you and I find ourselves born-again, raised up together, made to be
seated together in Heavenly places in Christ; are finding that we
in fact are that One Son, by virtue of being in Christ, by virtue
of Christ being in us, by virtue of the operation of the Spirit of
God; we are the One Son that God saw from the beginning. But our
problem is, we don't seemingly see the same son God sees. He sees
as we are in Christ and we see as we are in the flesh.
    
Last lesson we dealt with the fact that, these who are in Christ
must begin to come to the view of the Father, must begin to see
themselves as being in Christ; rather than as being in Adam. We
found that our problem is that although we are in Him, we see
ourselves as being somewhere else. Oh, we see ourselves as being
saved, but in our understanding, salvation just deals with sins or
our sinning, not the person. In God's understanding, salvation
deals with the person. In fact, it deals with the whole of the
creation. In fact, salvation is a New Creature and a New Creation
in Christ Jesus. It is not the old one just learning good things to
do. 
                       THIS IS A FINISHED WORK

What we are dealing with primarily, this Son is a three-fold Son.
He is the result, not only of the plan and the purpose and the will
of God, but because of that, He is the result of the finished work
of Christ on the cross. This Son is not half baked and turned
loose. He is the result of a complete work; a work that Christ has
completed, a work that Christ has finished. When you are born-again
and raised up by the Spirit of God and placed in Christ Jesus, you
are placed in a finished work and you are complete in Him. Then
what is the ministry of the Holy Spirit? Well, precisely the
ministry of the Holy Spirit is to work that out in your heart, to
work that out in you, to work that which Christ is in you. Christ
is a finished work! He is not going to come back and die again. He
isn't going to do it all over again. He did it right the first
time. When we sit in Him, we sit in a finished work; one which must
be by the Spirit of God, worked out in us, revealed in us. "Ye
shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free." So now,
you and I, being in Christ, now we must grow up in Him.
    
Paul says, that you would comprehend what is the length and the
depth and the height and the fullness. Paul says, that you would
grow up in Him in all things, who is the Head. It is one of growing
up in a finished work. It is one who is growing up in  the fullness
of that which Christ is, because in Him we live and move and have
our being.
    
So the work of the Holy Spirit is not to add to what Christ has
done, but to reveal what He has done and to work it out in you. So
this Son is a result of a finished work. The three things that this
Son is, that the Scriptures declare Him to be. That is what we are
looking at.

                  A FORGIVEN, RESTORED, RECONCILED SON
  
There are three things the Scriptures declare this Son, the Son
that God saw from the beginning, the Son that the finished work of
the cross has brought forth. Three things: He is a forgiven Son and
that forgiveness is absolute; He is a restored Son and that
restoration is complete; He is a reconciled Son and that
reconciliation is without exception a finished work. We are dealing
with then, what does it mean when we are forgiven? I have found
that most of us have not really come to the understanding of
forgiveness. Most of us think that the cross, where Christ came -
Romans 5, by one man sin entered and through one man is the gift of
God, the gift of eternal life. So we have found that the plan of
God deals basically with two men: Adam and Christ. And that God
either sees you in Adam or He sees you in Christ because you are
either in Adam or in Christ. You are not out here somewhere, you
and I, floating around on our own, with our own little thing going
with God. That is not it. We are either summed up in Adam unto
death, or  we are summed up in Christ unto life.
    
                     THE OLD MAN WAS CRUCIFIED

As far as the plan of God is concerned, as far as salvation, as far
as life and death is concerned; it doesn't really make any
difference what I did. S I N S is not really the issue, being in
Adam is the issue. We will have to think about that a little while
because we are all so sin conscious, it is spooky. We label them
and number them and we got big ones and little ones and bad ones
and good ones and those we can forgive and those we can't forgive.
I am not talking about society, I am talking about the cross. I am
not arguing with you over whether it is better to rob an old woman
or better to rob a rich banker. We are not discussing crimes
against society, we are talking about sinning and sins. We are
talking about life and death. The cross is not dealing with SINS,
the cross is dealing with the sinner. You have got to understand
that. Darling, Jesus never committed a sin. He never sinned. He
never did sins, but He became the sinner. He became the old man out
of which all these things proceed. Not only murderers and rapists
and adulterers, but liars, thieves, slanderers, hatred, strife,
jealousies. There is too many to mention. There is too many to
name. He didn't make a list of sins and nail it to the cross and
say there, they are paid for. He took upon Himself the old man and
He took him to the cross and He crucified him. 

So the cross doesn't just have to do with what J W Luman did, the
cross has to do with J W Luman himself! Not just my badness and my
goodness. Not just my sinning, my living. My very existence is
brought to focus in the cross. You have got to see this or your
salvation isn't worth a plug nickel. No, wait a minute, your idea
of salvation isn't worth a plug nickel. If you and I think that the
cross just dealt with sins and not the man, we have never come into
the liberty of Christ. What we are doing is this, we are still
seeing ourselves here as man in man, as Adam in Adam - with some
sins forgiven. That is not the true picture. That is not what
forgiveness is. 
                    THE CROSS DEALS WITH THE SINNER

We have forgiveness of sins, yes; but that is through the cross.
That is through the finished work. We are not dealing with all of
the things we have, we are dealing with the finished work itself.
We are dealing with the absoluteness of what it means to be
forgiven. And it goes beyond just some sins done away. To
understand what it means to be forgiven, we must see that at the
cross, not only are sins dealt with - the sinner, the old man is
dealt with. For years, I have and you have too, heard people say,
'Oh brother, I don't need God. I am just as good as Joe down the
street.' Now see, that is not an issue. So what! I am just as good
as you are. That isn't the issue. So what! 'Oh well, I have never
done this and I have never done that, and I have never done
something else.' That doesn't make any difference. The fact is: you
are either in Adam or you are in Christ. That is the only thing
that the cross is interested in. The law dealt with sins and
sinning and all it could rule the man. There was a sacrifice for
everything you did. They all had a different way you did it. But we
read previously, in Hebrews Jesus said, "Sacrifices and offerings
thou wouldest not, neither hast thou pleasure in them. But I came
to do thy will oh God. I came to take away the first and establish
the second." That is exactly what he did because the first man is
after the earth, earthy. And the second man is the Lord from
heaven. Your Bible states that. The first man is made a living soul
and the last man is made a life-giving spirit. As we have born the
image of the earthy, so we also bear the image of the heavenly. I
come to take away the first and establish the second. That is
exactly what He did at the cross! He didn't just pay for some sins,
He took Adam to the cross and there He crucified him.
    
You and I have got to come to that understanding and we have got to
see ourselves in Christ, as Paul understood himself to be. "I am
crucified in Christ, nevertheless I live, but not I, Christ liveth
in me." Forgiven, because I am crucified.  I made a little example
in the last session. You have been to funerals and I have too. This
person laid out there, dead. I have known people with whom that
person was in great difficulties. Not over two weeks ago they were
having all out wars. But that very person will stand there and give
a eulogy. And to hear him talk now, this person never did anything
wrong. Why, he was the saint of saints. Two weeks ago they weren't
speaking. Two weeks ago, he was a dirty old reprobate because of
what he did to me fifteen years ago and I'll never forget it. I am
not talking about sinners, I am talking about Christians. It is a
Christian funeral I am describing.
    
What is the difference? Now, he is dead. That is the difference. 
We have to finally admit it, that he was the issue all along. It
wasn't what he did, he was the issue all along, because what he
did, it is still done. But now he is dead and all is forgiven. You
know that is true. The hypocrisy of it slaps you right in the face,
but you know it is true. I have gotten to where I don't even like
to go around Christian funerals, because of all the hypocrisy that
was there. I have been around them and I have been involved in them
personally where the hypocrisy was so much I wanted to just go in
the bathroom and vomit. Because I would hear the comments of people
that two weeks ago was lying and criticizing and talking about that
person, hated that person. They wouldn't even come in their house.
I stood there and shook hands with people like that who walked
through a reception line... My God! What is the difference? The
offender is dead. I am telling you, we have got to see the offender
dead, because you are never going to forgive what he did until you
see him dead! You will never forgive yourself.
          
                      THE WORK OF THE CROSS
    
I couldn't tell you how many saints of God I have talked to and
they would say, "Yes, I am saved and I am on my way to heaven" and
all of that. Man, in the midst of a crisis in the midnight hour,
when things seem to be falling through; all these things they did
begin to come up and torment and to haunt them. The question comes
up, "maybe God's getting back. Maybe this, maybe that." They never
see themselves forgiven. You cannot and will not until you see you
are dead! Because the cross is not dealing with sins, it is dealing
with the sinner. It dealt with the sinner in this, that our old man
is crucified with Him. He that is dead is freed from sin. Brethren
we will not find that liberty even though we are in Christ, until
the cross gets off Golgotha and gets into my heart. Until the cross
is not something done back in history, but is a present work of
God, the present wisdom and power of God that Paul says it is in I
Corinthians 1. "For the preaching of the cross is the power and
wisdom of God." Thereby there is no Jew, there is no Gentile, there
is no male, there is no female, there is no bond, no free, no
circumcised, no uncircumcised. Why? Because it all stops at the
cross. So in Christ, none of it gets found, because none of it gets
by the cross. None of the old man - good, bad, or indifferent gets
by the cross. The Son that comes forth from the cross is forgiven,
because He comes as Life out of death.
    
                      THE SON THAT COMES FORTH

There is so much more to say, that I just pray God will open our
eyes and give us some understanding. Because the Son I am talking
about is nothing other than the Son of God Himself. You don't come
forth, except you come forth in Him. The Word says in Romans the
6th chapter, verse 4, "Whereby we are buried with Him through
baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up. Not J W,
like as Christ was raised up from among the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so, we should walk in newness of life." But I want
to tell you that the Son that comes forth is nothing other than the
Son of God. And we come forth in Him and by Him and are raised up
together as one with him and are made to sit together in Heavenly
places in Christ. It is not us having our own little resurrection.
We come forth in Him. Therefore, I am as forgiven as He is
forgiven. I have no resurrection of my own. It is His death and His
resurrection. Here I die, here He lives. I have no life here but
Christ. My first birth don't count here, only the new birth is
counted here. Here it is not I but Christ living in me. Here it is
you and I, His Body; but HE living in His Body. Here it is because
I live, He says, you shall live also. It is not the other way
around.
                          THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS

We have got to see this! Who is forgiven? This Son that fell short
or this Son that comes unto glory. What about the one that fell
short? He is crucified.

This is a complete work. This is a total work. The truth of the
cross, not only says that you are dead; the truth of the cross says
that you are done away. The truth of the cross says, it is as
though you never were. That is how vital and complete the death of
the cross is - became obedient unto death. Yes, we can all die, but
the death of the cross is more than a physical death. The death of
the cross deals with the Adamic man. It deals with the fallen
creature. It deals with the fallen creation. He didn't just die as
somebody else would die. "He became obedient unto death, but even
the death of the cross." That is the death that you and I are
joined with Him in. Even while we live in this body, we undergo an
experience - the death of the cross.
    
When the cross becomes the truth and the wisdom and the knowledge,
and the power of God declaring in me; 'you have no life, but
Christ.' The work that He did - you have come forth in the life of
another. You have no life but Christ. To what degree? To the
degree, it is as though you never existed! To that degree. No! Not
to the degree that it is as if you never did anything wrong. More
than that! It is as though you never did exist to do anything
wrong.
    
Years ago in old Bible college, an old Bible professor told us
preacher boys, "Justification". He said, "Write it down. Just as
though you never sinned." That sounded good to me. I tried to
preach that two or three times. I never could understand it, but it
sounded good. But when the Father began to reveal His Son in me, I
began to relate to Him at the cross. I remembered the words of that
old professor. In my spirit and in my heart, I was crying, ole
brother, God's got you one better. It is not just as though you
never sinned, it is just as though you never lived, because you
come forth in newness of life - birthed by the Spirit, born from
above, New Creature and creation in Christ Jesus, old things passed
away. Behold all things become new and all things are of God.
Where? In Christ Jesus. It is just as though you had never lived. 

                       ONE SON IN NEWNESS OF LIFE
    
He came forth as a Son who was never cursed. He came forth the
forgiven Son. Of what? What do you mean He came forth forgiven?
Have we forgotten that He bore our transgressions. Have we
forgotten the chastisement of our peace was upon Him? Have we
forgotten He became the cursed thing of God, for cursed is
everything that hangeth upon a tree.  But, all that He became DIED.
Nothing, not one hair of that which He became made it past the
cross. It all died! And He came forth The Resurrection, The Truth,
The Way. Paul got a hold of this in I Corinthians 15, talking about
the resurrection. He bases the whole thing upon Christ. Chapter 15,
verse 14, "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching in
vain and your faith is in vain also." The whole thing revolves
around, "if Christ be not risen." Why? Because He is presenting a
New Man, a New Creature, a New Creation here. Verse 17, "And if
Christ be not raised, then your faith is in vain and you are yet in
your sin." See, he is not arguing with him about resurrection of
the dead. Resurrection of the dead is not an argument here that
Paul is getting into. He is talking about The Resurrection Himself.
He is talking about Christ coming forth. We read in the Bible that
when He came forth, that there were a lot of saints that came out
of the graves and appeared to different people. Paul isn't arguing
about a resurrection from the dead, he is talking about The
Resurrection out from death unto life. And he says that is Christ,
the basis of that is Christ. If Christ be not raised, then our
preaching is in vain. Why? Because we preach Him raised up, and we
preach you raised up in Him. We preach Him at the right hand of the
Father and we preach you in Him at the right hand of the Father. If
He be not raised up, then is our preaching in vain and it says, you
are still in your sins.
    
It is all based on Him coming forth out of death. Now, on the basis
of that in verse 35, "But some men will say, how are the dead
raised up and with what body do they come forth? Thou fool, that
which thou sowest is not made alive, except it die. And that which
thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but a bare
grain. It may chance of wheat or of some other grain, but God
giveth it a body as it pleases Him and every seed his own body."
    
                   NEW BODY TO THE RESURRECTED SON

God didn't give an old body to His resurrected Son! Do you
understand that? He died as this body - the fallen man, the Adamic
creature. But when he came forth, God gave him a new body. You are
that body, a new vessel. Because you don't put new wine in an old
vessel. He lives in a new body, which body you are; by the newness
of His Life! You are neither male nor female, not in that
association.
    
There is another Son that comes forth. A new Son, not only as
though he never sinned, but as though he never lived; because he
didn't live. His life is Christ. It is a New Creation, it is a new
birth, it is a new Son. He is forgiven!
    
Until you and I begin to see ourselves that way; then it is no
trouble to minister forgiveness. A forgiven One can minister
forgiveness! One who does not see himself forgiven to this degree
cannot minister forgiveness. Because you will look at deeds and
things every time. How many times have I heard people say, I love
him but, or I love her but, I just never can forgive what they did.
You just don't know what they did to me.
I know that sounds comical, but that is an infectious sore. "I just
can't forget it!" Chances are there are things in you that you
can't forget either, because you have never in truth come to the
cross. If you had, you would understand that is where you must see
that person, or you don't see them at all. I would rather hear
somebody say, "no, I don't believe they are born-again. I don't
believe they are in Christ, they are still in their sins." Than to
hear, "Oh, yes I understand. It is all of God. They are saved. I
realize that. But I just cannot forgive them." Now, you are
approaching the cross, now you are approaching the blood. Now your
blaspheming is aimed toward the Only Son who is forgiven and that
is Christ Himself. Because you are saying that one in Him, one who
is one with Him, one who has sat there for the learning and
expression of His Life...  Isn't that what I am talking about? It
takes more than hearing a sermon on this; more than hearing a
teaching on this. It takes the Holy Spirit, ministering in the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge of Him. The Holy
Spirit bringing the cross... The cross is not two sticks of wood,
the cross is the power and wisdom of God. It takes the Holy Spirit,
revealing Christ, crucified. When I do that, I am released, and for
the first time, I can release others.
    
I have been baptized in the Holy Spirit since I was five or six
years old and started preaching as a teenager and I have walked in
the message of Christ, the revelation of Christ since 1963. But
just a few years ago, this Truth was birthed in my spirit. I
thought I understood what it was to be dead. I can show you
magazines and tapes that I ministered that in '64 and '65, but it
was just four or five years ago when this that I am sharing with
you... it is still being birthed in me. 

                     HE THAT IS DEAD IS FREED

I was in Chicago Illinois, in a Bible conference. I was there by
myself. It was snowing and five below zero, so I couldn't go out.
I was just in a room between services and the Lord began to do a
thing in me that I cannot yet bring into clear theology or
verbalization. But, I began to see the cross as never before, and
I began to see in a reality the finished work of it; I have never
been so released, because I was done away with. He that is dead, is
freed. Do you understand what I am saying? He is not looked over,
he is not excused, he is freed. What I am preaching to you is not
the excusing of sin. That is not what we are talking about. It is
the death of the sinner. This understanding does not release you to
live after the flesh, it releases you into the fullness of Christ.
If it is just a sermon perhaps; but if it is really Truth in you,
it doesn't release you to go do what you want to do. It releases
you to the living of only His life. Then with you, it is not even
what is good and what is bad. It is just what's Christ and what is
not Christ.
    

I began to see! Man, I thought I had wings. For the first time I
understood what Jesus said, "And I'll give to you the keys to the
Kingdom of God. I'll unlock the mysteries." Here is the way it is
written in the original, it says, "And whatsoever it loosed in the
heavens, ye shall loose in the earth. And whatsoever is bound in
the heavens, ye shall bind in the earth." That is exactly the
original translation. I began to see what was loosed in the
Heavens. I began to see in the Heavens that I was loosed unto the
fullness of His Life, because it is not I but Christ. At the same
time I saw that there were those that I knew and they are with me
that I had not loosed on the earth. I still in an unforgiving heart
kept them bound up. 
    
First time they saw me, they saw nothing but condemnation, because
they knew how I felt. There were certain brethren, three of them,
that had done a thing to me. It was a legitimate thing or God
wouldn't have dealt with me about it. The Lord spoke to me during
those days. He said, you are to go loose them. You are to go
forgive them. This time when he said forgive them, I understood
what he meant. He didn't say, go deal with them in their offenses
towards you. He was telling me, you go deal with them as though
there has never been an offense. You go deal with them as though
they had never known you in the flesh. You go embrace them, as they
are in need, and you go and minister to them the flow of
forgiveness; as I have ministered unto you. Jesus puts it this way,
"Do unto others..." That is too simple for us. But when it comes by
the Spirit of God, it is not just a command, it is a nature and a
character being worked in us. I could do no less to those brethren,
than what I saw He had done to me. I could see those brethren no
less than I knew He had seen me.
    
I couldn't hardly wait to go back home to find them. I don't know
yet whether they understood what I did. It doesn't make any
difference, I understood it. But the Lord told me, yes they wronged
you. Yes, they did that. Except you release them from it, they will
not be released. Because the offense was unto you as unto Me. As I
have released you, you release them or they will not be released.
We have got to see this thing as real! This is the keys that He has
given to you and I. 

But you know, when I went to those brethren and released them, I
remember to one of them I just walked around behind his desk. He
stood up, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him on both
cheeks. I just looked him right in the eye and said brother, "you
owe me nothing, you have no debt toward me, you are not a debtor to
me, nor have you ever been. It is as though I have never known you.
And I know you now only in the fullness of His Life." I put my
hands on his head, I prayed for him, I prayed for his congregation.
I blessed him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and turned
around and left. You know who got released, don't you? I got
released. You forgive your debtors, you don't have any, and you are
released.
                   FORGIVENESS MUST BE WORKED IN US
    
But it has got to be worked in us before we can do it. You have got
to understand, you are forgiven. You are not looked over. Now,
don't misunderstand me. See, I hear minds clicking and wheels
whirling. He's talking about excusing sin and letting people just
live ... No, no, no. The cross didn't excuse you. The cross
crucified you. I am talking about dealing with those who are in
Christ. I am talking about dealing with that brother and that
sister that you confess to be in Christ and still hate. That you
and I confess to be in Christ and still hold grudges. I am not
talking about looking over sin, we are talking about the reality of
forgiveness.
    
Forgiven and forgiveness: the word forgiven - let's look at two
scriptures just for a moment, because I want to bring them in the
light. Ephesians 1, verse 6 &7, "To the praise of the glory of His
grace, through which He hath made us accepted in the beloved." You
can't just jump into verse 7. Now, "in whom..." First you see
through whom he has 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." Where do we have the
forgiveness of sins? In Him, we have the forgiveness of sins. Based
upon what? Based upon the finished work which doesn't just deal
with sins, but dealt with me. Why do I in Christ have forgiveness
of sins? Because it is not I but Christ. I have forgiveness of sins
in Whom we have redemption. But why? Because the work is finished.
Because it is not I, it is Christ.  Do you see that? Do you see
what it is saying there? Yes, forgiveness of sins, but why? Because
we are accepted in the beloved. Why? Because we came by way of the
cross. The finished work has not just dealt with sins or sinning,
but it has dealt with me.
    
That is the reason so many Believers, would rather think the cross
has just dealt with my sins and sinning, but left the rest of me
alone. Now, I can go on and live as a man, walk as men; but still
I don't sin. My sins are forgiven. I still have a life of my own.
I am talking about in relationship to salvation. I am still male,
female, black, white, brown, yellow, Jew, Greek; all of that, but
I am a Christian. Therefore, I have yellow Christian brethren and
brown Christians brethren? No I don't! There isn't any such thing
in Christ. I don't even have white Christian brethren. There isn't
any white in Him.
    
Nothing of the first birth is found there. None of it is our basis
of relationship with God or one another in Christ Jesus. No wonder
we would rather have the cross deal with our sins and leave us
alone. That doesn't work in a crises, does it? To know our sins are
dealt with, that is true; but that is not the fullness of it. In a
crises, what we have tried to forget seems to come back on us. If
it doesn't come back on us, then it comes up before us. In a
crises, only the Truth matters, only the understanding that I am
the one being dealt with. I am crucified. Thank God, Christ is made
unto me. We are going to be dealing with that in the Restoration
Son. 

When we finally view ourselves at the cross, then we are ready to
view ourselves as being in Him. But to try to view ourselves as
being in Him before we come to the cross, it just puffs up and
exalts the flesh. When the cross gets through with you, then you
are ready to see what He is made unto you. "No flesh shall glory in
His presence. But as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord." Now, I am not talking about sermons, I am talking
about the Holy Spirit doing this work in our hearts. 
    
                      THIS SON IS NONE OF THE FIRST

What am I saying? I am saying that there is a Son that God has seen
from the beginning, that He is one seed, one kind, one glory. He is
forgiven, restored, and reconciled. He is none of the first, He is
totally of the second; and that's why he is forgiven and restored
and reconciled. Because he is Christ all and in all and they who
are in Him have no life but Christ and He is made unto them all
things. But you cannot walk in the understanding, He is made unto
you all that He is, and still retain the understanding of your
first birth. It is not Jesus and me. It is Christ in me.  It is you
and I in Him.
    
Colossians 1:13 & 14. I hope you can see this order here; in every
case position is spoken of before forgiveness of sins. "Who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into
the kingdom of His dear Son. He made us to sit together in Heavenly
places, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the
forgiveness of sins." But where is all of that? In Him. And why are
we there? Because of this finished work.
    
                              FORGIVEN

In the Greek translation of your Bible the word 'forgiven' or
'forgiveness' is pronounced 'aphema'. It is beautiful. It means
completely canceled. We have taken that Greek word, that
translation, "completely canceled", and we have applied it to sins.
But the Word applies it to the sinner, to the old man, to the
Adamic creature. Not just to something he did, but to he himself -
"completely canceled".
    
Ephesians 2:14-18, "For He is our peace, who hath made us one."
How? Broken down the middle wall of partition between us; abolished
that which was at enmity with the commandments and slew it in his
body. What did He do? He took the Jew and the Gentile, he made them
one in the body of His flesh, and he slew the thing on the cross,
and He came forth one New Man at peace with God. He didn't come
forth a Jew. He didn't come forth a Greek. He didn't come forth a
Gentile. He came forth neither/nor - He came forth one New Man at
peace with God and at peace with himself = "completely canceled".
But I looked a little deeper into that in the Greek, in the root
words and I just got thrilled. Because here is what it says: not
only the remission of the punishment, but the complete removal of
the cause of the offense!!  
    
                     THE REMOVAL OF THE CAUSE

The word 'forgiven' in your Bible is not dealing with the offense,
it is dealing in all cases with the cause of it = the removal of
the cause. When you and I are removed out of each other's heart,
and He is there, when the cause of the offense is removed, all is
forgiven. You know that, in the natural. When the cause is removed,
the offense just doesn't matter any more.
    
What does the Truth do? The Truth removes the cause. So we come
into a new judgment concerning each other. That new judgment is in
II Corinthians 5:14, "We thus judge that if One died for all, then
all died with Him." The cause is dealt with and when the cause is
gone, the offense is forgotten. We have got to come to this view,
not only of ourselves; but of one another."For we being many are
one body in Christ, each one member one of another. Neither having
any life, but Christ." So when offense arises, in Him there is
forgiveness. Because we minister Life one to another. In Him there
is forgiveness, when the cause is removed in our heart. There is
ministry of Life, rather than judgmental criticism and
condemnation.
    
                      THE FORGIVEN SON FORGIVES

The forgiven Son forgives and ministers forgiveness based upon the
finished work of Christ.