See Yourself in Christ - Reckoning — Peter Brandon

Reckoning Our Identity in Christ

Now we're going to look at the subject of reckoning, and if I have time tonight, I want to talk to you about the subject of yielding. Now firstly, why have I chosen this subject for this weekend? Because a year ago, or just over, I had a terrible shock.

I was invited to speak in one of the largest nightclubs in the north of England. And I went in about half past twelve at night, and I was rather surprised to see that in this particular nightclub, the furnishings were absolutely luxurious.

Some of the best meals I've ever seen were being served three o 'clock in the morning. And I stood up to speak, and then I was called over to the various tables. The friend that I took in with me was very heavily engaged in conversation, and then I was called over.

The Church's Need for Genuine Peace, Joy, and Revival

And this was the man's problem. He said for two years, he had been seeking for God. And he went to a number of churches, and many of them were evangelical churches. This was his finding. He says, you know, you evangelicals, you talk about peace.

You sing about peace. But a very few of you have got it. You talk about joy. You sing about joy. You preach about joy. He says, you evangelicals, you talk about power. You sing about power. You pretend that you've got power.

But a very few of you have got it. And then he started to outline his experience. He said what was so true, feeling that we had been utterly shaken. The man that was taking me home was very talkative, but I noticed that he was silent.

Three o 'clock in the morning, he said this. Now he was a hard man. He was a businessman. And he just said that I need revival. Unless we see revival in the church, we shall never make any impact upon society today.

And may I really flesh this out with you. This weekend, without being touched by God, it's going to be a pity. Face to face with God. Square up to the challenge that God is giving to us in these last minutes.

And that's what a tremendous impact this time will have upon us. Calculation. Continuous committing. Calculation. Secondly, complete confidence. Continuous committing. To add up correctly. I suppose that's where our word accountancy came from.

Reckoning Spiritual Facts in Christ

The root meaning of this in the Greek. And the idea simply means this. Get to know your spiritual facts. See your position in Christ. And immediately you're able to calculate your position, then the inevitable will follow.

That's why in all Paul's epistles you will notice that he is constantly praying that they might be filled with all knowledge. He wanted them to calculate correctly. Get to know the facts. Now what are the facts?

They're in Christ. What are the facts again? That we cannot improve the old man, no matter what we might do. And God has condemned the old man. Put the old man to death in the death of Jesus Christ. God is concerned there's only one life in us, and that's the life of the Lord Jesus.

Now the more we can see ourselves in Christ, and the more we can see our position in Christ, the more we shall find that we are moving in the direction of real holiness. The second idea of this word is complete confidence.

Faith as Complete Confidence in Christ

Fortunately, many people have been told that faith is like sitting on a chair. It's like boarding a bus. It's like getting on an aeroplane and putting confidence in the driver. Now when I sit on a chair, instead of Christ being the object, instead of the chair being the object, Christ is the object.

Instead of putting my faith and confidence in the driver, it's Christ. So that Christ is the object of our faith. Now that basically is not New Testament faith. Sitting on a chair, boarding a bus, getting on an aeroplane, in the realm of logic, is called mathematical probability.

Sitting on a chair instinctively because I have learned by mathematical probability that it will take my weight. The time you sit down, it's not faith. You are putting your faith in the law of mathematical probability.

That's what is New Testament faith of nature. The boat is being tossed by the waves. Jesus Christ comes near. And he says, come. Now the law of nature said, Peter, it is absolutely impossible. The law of faith says all things are possible.

Peter stepped out and crossed the law of gravity, put his faith in the law of faith, walked upon the water and did the impossible. Now you can see it's a vastly different thing between sitting on a chair and stepping on the waves.

Mathematical probability, the other is faith. Now when Paul wanted to give to us a real outline on faith, he throws us right back to the fourth chapter. He gives us two pictures, one of David and the other Abraham.

I'm not going to talk to you about David, but I will talk to you a little about Abraham. Seventy-five years old, when God said to him, Abraham, I want you to quit the earth of the Chaldees and I want you to wander in the wilderness.

Seventy-five years of age when he quit it. Sixteen, a particular master telling me that Abraham never did live, Chaldees never existed. Abraham was a fictitious figure and the earth of Chaldees was a fictitious place.

It came from Hebrew folklore. You would never say such a thing today. According to the finding of the recent Dead Sea Scrolls, that Abraham was a fact. Chaldees was quite a large people and the average house had ten rooms.

In fact there was a library there that had a thousand volumes in that day. So we can see that the book of Genesis is becoming alive even through archaeological research. One more thing. Many people who thought that Abraham was fictitious have given up the idea.

Nation in the world. Based back its genealogy to the first person. The only nation. Natural nation, why? Because they had a supernatural birth. Originates in the principle of faith. And God called that man out.

And he came out. But he was a halfway Christian. Christian here. From far behind if I pointed. Halfway Christian. Father died. Father died. He left. He moved right out. My dear friend. Until you understand that the old man has been crucified with Christ.

You will constantly become a halfway Christian. Father died. He moved right into Canaan. He came into Canaan. I want you to look up. And he looked up and the heavens were filled with stars. Abraham I want you to look down.

And he knew that he was treading on millions of grains of sand. Abraham he said. Your seed is going to be so multitudinous. That it's going to be like the stars of heaven. On the sand of the sea shore.

And he had not a chance. And he was 85 at that time. And what did he do? God said it. He believed it. When he was 99. Now you think of it. God said to him. I am almighty God. El Shaddai God. That's where this chap has got the mushroom theory from.

That little word El Shaddai. And quite frankly. It's absolutely off beat. And now I quote from Professor Wiseman. It does not mean. Just the God of fertility. That means. The God of holy productivity.

And there's a vast difference. The correct root means. Mother breasted God. God of the male. The female. And this is what God was saying to him. I've got to camouflage my words just a little. In order to help.

You're physically withered. Yes. Physically dead. Yes. All her productive organs are dead. Yes. Fertility. Perform a miracle. When they were nearly 100. It's fantastic. Israel's history is fantastic. Why?

Comes from a supernatural origin. And this is what the Bible says. I could not at the promises of God through unbelief. But with strong faith. Means two things. Faith and confidence in God. In the promises of God.

Can I say that again? Faith in God. And implicit faith in the promises of God. And he stood upon them. You know. Lots of us. We stand on the premises. But we don't stand on the promises. And there's all the difference in the world.

Reckoning Ourselves Dead to Sin and Alive to God

And there comes a moment in your experience. And what a moment it is. When you say Lord. You have said. My old man is crucified with Christ. I understand it. One thing I know it's in the word. God tells me that my old man was crucified with Christ.

I'm going to stand upon it. I'm going to accept it. And I'm going to reckon myself now to be dead indeed unto sin. And alive unto God. Now that's faith. And therefore it was a step of faith that saved you.

And it's going to be the life of faith that's going to bring you into holiness. And someone sends me a cheque for 75 ,000 pounds. I hope someone doesn't do that. Because I think that would spoil any full time worker.

This cheque for 75 ,000 pounds. Imagine it's my Aunt Anne that sends me this cheque. Imagine someone going to see my Aunt Anne and she says, Oh how's Peter getting on? Oh wonderful. Wonderful. Oh the last time I met him he was living in one of the slums of London.

And he was in a terrible state. On the floor and there wasn't even a tablecloth on the table. He was in a terrible condition. Not now. Oh swell. How's he living? Oh he's living in a mansion. Let me show you something more.

I suppose he's got a couple of cars. I suppose he's got a salon. Well I'll tell you. About two years ago I sent him a cheque for 75 ,000 pounds. Oh I must go and see him. This will be wonderful. I've got the address and I'm shocked.

I'm speaking now on behalf of these large old Victorian houses. There's this wing-wong and in the middle floor there's Perioski. And right at the top there's my name. Peter couldn't possibly live here.

So I'm just going to ring the bell when through the keyhole there's a reeking smell of parapets. 5 ,000 pounds and living in a dump like this. What's wrong with the man? All of a sudden I open the door and I can't even fold a proper tie and collar.

I've just got one of those shirts without a collar you know where the stud sticks out a mile. And uh. Oh it's you. Come in. And when I walk in there's not a piece of lino on the floor. There's not even a tablecloth on the table.

Just the news of the world. And there's a kind of plate and you can see it's the good old bread and cheese. If any money is to tell it. You received a cheque for 75 ,000 pounds didn't you the other day?

The other day? No. 75 ,000 pounds. Whoever told you that? Aunt Anne said to me that you would be living in a mansion and you would have two cars. And you would be really living swell. 75 ,000 pounds. Hmm.

Since when? Well she said that she put the cheque in an envelope. About two years ago but I haven't got time to look at it. Don't match. Get out the envelope. There is the covering will. In the covering will.

There's a green cheque from Barclay. I didn't notice that. 75 ,000 pounds. Yes. Arsenal supporter. I've got to go there in a few minutes. Don't you keep me too long. Listen now. Don't worry about being an Arsenal supporter.

Get your nose in that will. And she walks out disgusted. 70 ,000 pounds. 5 ,000 pounds. I'm living like a pauper. And he's got the television in the corner. And he's constantly got his eyes glued to the goggle box.

And he's constantly mad about this football team. And 75 ,000 pounds and never used a penny. What a mad man he is. Six months ago I go back. He's living there. And I walk in and this time I'm absolutely filled up on the wall.

You test me all about that cheque. Test me. I know everything about it. I know all the numbers. Just test me. Everything in detail about that cheque. And then in my rage I go up and I learn the cheque off by heart.

That's not the point of it. Go and cash it now. You say, Mr. Brandon, aren't you carrying it too far? Oh, no. God's made us all infinitely rich. And we're all living like paupers. Christ in the heavenlies.

We've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in high places. Christian, we are multi-millionaires. Hundreds and hundreds and thousands. Living like paupers in Great Britain. Do you know why? Can you take it?

To the telly. And we are far more in the world than in Christ. Christian, you might as well give up. You're a leader and you're worldly. Emanating from your life. What you're trying to teach. If you're trying to help in the club and you're not radiating Christ.

Those fellows can see through you like a piece of glass. And we need people today not living like people today who are living in Christ. God's will. Cashing God's cheques. Reckoning themselves to be dead indeed to sin and alive unto God.

Daily Death, Burial, and Resurrection in Christ

A small group of Christians are living that type of life. You'll see them multiplying and multiplying and multiplying. Self-continuous commitment. Come into the good of this spiritual truth. Have each morning a death, burial and resurrection service without flowers.

You say, what do you mean? Each morning before I face the world. This is my own practical devotion. Tell the Lord each morning that I've died to sin. Each morning that I'm alive to God. This thought survives my psychology.

Creating the whole of my being. To sin. Why? Because Christ, my baptism, has expressed it. And my baptism is an evidence of a grace right. Baptism and the Lord's Supper to the actual institution of it.

That leads me right the way back to the cross. Saying that I'm dead. I have died. Why? Because Christ has died. And sin comes. It comes at me in two ways. Now listen. Sin can come at me inside me. We call that the inward attack.

Sin can come at me from outside of me. The external attack. Sin coming to me in two ways. Get in through the new nature. Get at me through the old nature. Now what's my attitude to it? Now I wonder, would you just stand up?

Now I'm going to imagine these three people to be the agents of the... Now lust comes from me, from within. From within and without. Christ is within and without. Now what's my attitude? I stand for God as it's coming at me and says, Oh God, help me now.

And there's help immediately. Why? To my subconscious being. This itself and this. What's my action? And says I think, The children were small. They were fighting. Proud of one another. And what's my attitude?

And it again. And it again. I'm alive to go, Oh God, help me. And it again. The Adamic life to reign. When I allow temper to conquer. It's just allowing the Adamic life to reign. And friends, I could be moved to tears with this Adamic life.

And people come and they can see nothing. That's the Adamic life. Why? Because we are not reckoning. Not reckoning. Lust. Lie. Temper. And all the other besetting sins. Whatever your sin might be. Reckoning yourself to be dead indeed unto sin.

And alive unto God. Now let's look at the idea of yielding. Verse 13. Yielding your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Yield yourself unto God as those that are alive from the dead. Unto God.

Yielding Our Members as Instruments of Righteousness

For examination. Presentation of your members to God. Manifestation of the light of Christ. Manifestation. This at least. Comes from the idea of one of the Imperial soldiers that stands on parade. They have to stand on parade, as some of you might well know, that no one could be a centurion in the Roman army until he spent 18 months in the Imperial Guard.

Centurion that used to examine them would be watching for convicts. Secondly, that they wore it in the Navy during the war. We had to wear the uniform. The top part of our uniform was like a bathing costume.

When you weren't used to it. Pulled it on and the trousers used to flop around your shoes and trip yourself up. It was an awful uniform. And we used to have a commodore. I shall never forget this. He was hardly sober and he had a terrific raso, you know I know.

And he used to pass us. And he could hardly see and he would just stare at us in a very vacant way. And there he was trying to see in his drunken stupor that we were wearing all the uniform and we were wearing it correctly.

Now God expects every Christian to go on parade every morning. That you might put off the old man and put on the new man. Now that's mentioned three times in the Pauline Epistle. Putting off and putting on.

Every Christian should have put off the old man. A little slogan perhaps you might like to put into practice in your own respective homes. It's S .C. And sin raises its head and that means home with the rats.

Just say that. You men when you come home if there's a black look before anything said say don't forget S .C. dear. And it's a wonderful way how it works. Of course when you have children they learn it very quickly.

And if you're just going to blow your top one of them can say don't forget Dad S .C. And it's a wonderful thing to bring into a fellowship. I mean you just imagine in some of our meetings especially Bible reading when someone's going red around the neck and he's really going to come out with a clanger.

If someone said S .C. brother wouldn't it save a lot of trouble. This right into the fellowship S .C. And when you see it raising its head S .C. We can see that first of all it means standing on parade presenting for examination.

It means the presentation of your members. Now there's a difference between the consecration in Romans 6 and the consecration in Romans 12. We shall talk about this on another occasion. In Romans 6 it's a localized consecration.

In Romans 10 it's an entire consecration. In Romans 6 it's the yielding up of your members. In Romans 12 it's the consecration of the body. Now what does this mean about yielding up your members? Now many young people have said this to me.

Consecrating the New Life Rather Than the Old Man

Mr. Brando I find that my consecration has been a fake. What do you mean? Three times I've consecrated myself to the Lord. Oh yes. Back on the thing that I told the Lord I'd never do. And it hasn't worked.

Well it doesn't work in my life. Millions of Christians are afraid to consecrate themselves to the Lord. Why? Because their initial consecration didn't work. Three percent of the cases where there's failure we have offered up and consecrated the old man.

If you're really going to go places with God we must remember this. That God doesn't want the old man. God doesn't want you to try to present the old life. And that's why Paul says presenting our members as those that are alive from the dead.

Once you have learned that there is nothing that you can do to make better your old man. And once you have learned that Jesus Christ wants to relive his life in you. And he wants to take over in your life.

Then you yield up your members to him as instruments. Or if you like the word that's mentioned here as members that are alive from the dead. Now how do you do this? First of all you make a covenant with your eyes.

And you say Lord consecrating my eyes to the Lord. How do you do that? You know if you have consecrated vision. Consecration of your ears to the Lord. And that means any slander you might hear about a person you have to turn a deaf ear to it.

Consecrate your ears to the Lord. Means the consecration of your lips. Your hands. Two years or three years of the way. Age of sixteen to nearly nineteen. Christ and the world. Afterwards it was jokingly Christianity was a positive thought.

Far more attractive. You'll never forget a Sunday afternoon. When Mr. King came in. There was a match presented in the world and Christ was for the last time. And this is what he said. And if you're not fully committed to the Lord.

I can't go on ministering to wars. Wasn't a joke. Afternoon. I remember going home and I can see the room now. I knelt across that bed. And I said for the first time in my life. Myself to God. And although there was defeat.

He started to use me in a simple way. And the whole group came into blessing. Doug Diggins who's now serving the Lord in Canada. He was consecrated. Fred Ennings. Who preaches the gospel in London. Another young man.

Don Smith who's an Anglican minister. A chap called Wolf that was a Hebrew Christian. Gave himself to the Lord that day. But he was taken when he was just twenty six. That moment we had a new beginning in our spiritual life.

Christ Living His Life Through the Believer

May it be we'll consecrate themselves to the Lord. But then you might say to me. Well Mr. Branson. What's the purpose of this? That Christ might be formed in you. Jesus Christ wants to take over. Christ wants to relive his life in you.

And that's why he saved you. That Jesus Christ might relive himself in your body. And that's what that chorus is all about. It's no longer I that lives. But Christ that lives in me. And you know I saw this.

Surrendering Control So Christ Can Be Manifested

So beautifully expressed. When Mr. Hall knelt to me. And she grabbed hold of the awe. Deep control of that little girl. You know a friend of mine. Was literally hopeless at that time. He went into the art class.

It was like a nightmare. And this time they had to paint him. So he went in. Somewhere near the back. And of course when he started he was wrong. He would grab hold of the paint brush. Just like a crazy thing to paint.

Tremendous amount of determination. And there he was. He was really having a go. But somehow there was no rose coming. And there was paint all around his mouth. Paint all over the desk. But paint in the wrong place.

And then he moved a bit with his hand. And smudged it. And of course at last he looked at it. And it was like Genesis. The world in its chaotic state. You remember it was without form and void. And darkness was upon the face of the beast.

And there he was painting. Fast he got into such a mental turmoil. That he was literally perspiring. Threw down his paint brush. Almost in a sense of fatigue. And said I'm finished. But was watching the pantomime behind him.

And when he was completely finished. He slapped him on the shoulder. I'm going to give him another name. And he said Johnson. You're absolutely hopeless. And he agreed. When there comes a time in your life.

When you say Lord as a Christian. I'm hopeless. Take over. Right he said. That piece of paper. Put it in the tightest bull that he could find. And then threw it in the waste paper basket. Almost shutting up.

Say thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. But if you've come to that point. In your spiritual experience. Where you realize that you're absolutely defeated. It can mean everything. And he did. And cleaned it all away.

And Johnson was saying. My word isn't he fluffy. No, no, no, no. Look at that. Clean your paints properly Johnson. And he made him absolutely clean everything. Knew he knew unto you. And then he said.

No he said. I couldn't believe it. He thought a miracle had happened. Let your hand go limp laddie. Johnson was amazed. What was happening at last. Let your hand go limp. Let it go like a piece of wet fish.

Well he knew that then. Resolvedly over to the outmaster. And said. Could I take that home. Yes he said. Mother was out working. They're doing it through him. Of course it hit her straight in the eye.

Out of the door. And she looked. And he of course was afraid to look up. He was doing his homework. And there was no movement from him. And she looked at the painting. And then she went right close. And saw his name underneath.

And she looked at him. But he wouldn't budge. And she just nudged him. For she was a typical cockney. And she said. Liar. He says. I painted that. That the days of miracles are not over. That then. Begins to relive.

His life in you. He sees through your eye. He speaks with your lips. Through your heart. With your feet. And Christ is magnified. And then we close. Twenty-four young people. Handed themselves. These young Chinese.

Are handing themselves over to Lenin and Engels. Twenty-four miraculous beginnings of revival. Oh may God. Christ for a moment. And we see that. We shall never make better the old nature. God will never forgive it.

His condemned it. Be dead indeed unto sin. And alive unto God. As God said. For examination. Putting the old. Leave new man on. Members of instruments of righteousness. Unto God. Presenting your members to him.