Identification Truths

I have all these cool books in my library, thanks to my buddy, Miles Stanford. Some of them are really old. This one is a compilation of it's called Gleanings from the Bookshelf. And I found something here that I thought I'd read a few paragraphs to you.

And here's why I'm doing it. This is a class on identification. and we've been at the point and will continue through the next few months to talk about who we are in Christ. We spent a lot of time on our identity with Adam and the means by which God disconnected us from Adam and reconnected us or recreated us in Christ. One of the amazing things that you find when you know these truths and you start to enter into them, is how little other believers know them, and if they know them, how little they really buy them. You know what I mean by that?

Where it is their frame of reference, it is the way they view things, it's the way they are. so that their condition is beginning to line up with their position. I've got a couple of paragraphs here that address that, so I thought I'd read them to you to start with if you don't mind my monotone deal.

It's called Possession or the Other Side of Jordan. Do you understand what the other side of Jordan means? In Joshua 5 and 6, is when the Jews crossed the Jordan River and actually took possession of the promised land. The parallel or the type of that is us actually resurrected, taking possession of who we are in Christ.

It was the power of God that the people of Israel were brought into the land. The only way for them out of Egypt to Canaan was by the blood of the Lamb. and by the mighty power of God bringing them through death and judgment, as set forth in the Red Sea and Jordan.

Their feet are now in the land where God's eyes and God's blessings always are. All is of God. They now possess what they had so long desired. They did not hope to be in the land, for they were there, and every inch they stood upon was for their own enjoyment.

This is the truth of the Christian position as presented in the epistle to the Ephesians, where we are looked at as now made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ. This is beyond being dead and risen. It is ascension truth. We are in Christ, which is in the heavenlies. This is where the grace of God has set every believer.

We may not know it, but He is accepted in the Beloved, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and sitting in heavenly places in Christ. To know this as a divine reality gives true rest of soul. We are then as to spiritual life and standing in Christ in heavenly places or according to the type in the land now. To know it as a doctrine of Scripture is one thing, for our souls so to believe it, as to enter into the holiest, inside the rent veil, and thus joyfully possess the good lands, so to speak, is quite another thing. but we fall short of the blessings God would have us now embrace if we do not enter upon, possess, and enjoy this blessed nearness to God now. For he who is ascended into heaven and sitting at God's right hand, being our life, righteousness, and sanctification, we are alive forevermore, righteous as he is righteous, as near to God as he is, because of the abundant grace and power of God towards us in Christ." Isn't that cool? This is volume 67. The article goes on for four pages like that. I'll read one more paragraph.

When consciously near, entering where God has set us, we do not try to get near and strive to be there, but rejoice that he has set us there. It is all his own doing, by his almighty power and the exceeding riches of his grace. There is no effort in this. We see Jesus our Lord, our head, our life, our righteousness, and rejoice that we are in him there, yea, filled to the full in him, who is the head of all principality and power. So near, so very near to God, nearer I cannot be, for in the person of his Son I am so near as he. So dear, so very dear to God, more dearer I cannot be, the love wherewith he loves his Such is his love to me."

Isn't that cool? So anyway, I was reading that and I thought, yeah, that's kind of what we're trying to talk about. Does everybody get that? Or is it kind of... What's cool? What's cool about that is that when you start to think about it, that's exactly, as that writer can describe it, that's exactly what God intends for every one of us to function out from. Do you understand what I mean by that?

Not only to know it, but it to be our frame of reference, that that's where we live from, not to. And so as we study our these 32 things that we're talking about, you'll find that they're all possessions that we all have. I wanted to back up a little bit, just for a minute from last week, and try to make one point, and then we'll move on.

We were talking about, in Romans 3.22, we're talking about righteousness.

Romans 3.22, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there's no distinction."

1 Corinthians 1.30, but by his doing you are in Christ who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

And then 2 Corinthians 5.21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Here's the point I wanted to make. The normal viewpoint for the believer to understand righteousness or the right standing before God is that God somehow is over there and I'm here and He is imputing to me righteousness. He's sort of moving it over, some of His righteousness to me. Isn't that kind of the concept you have? That's not right, I don't think.

If you look at these verses, these three verses, especially 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, it says that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So, from a positional standpoint, from an identification standpoint, where are we? We're in Christ. So, would you say that there is a righteousness peculiar to God between the Father and the Son that's unique to them?

Wouldn't you say there is? Or not? That we don't have? No, that they have. We're not there that far yet. There's a righteousness between the Holy Spirit and the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that's unique to them, right? Is it different than what you have? That's right. It is no different.

So with that statement, how would you define those peculiarities? What peculiarities? Because they're holy, righteous and good, they're a deity, and they're persons, which means they're separate persons, but one God, they have a relationship with each other.

And each one of them is totally fulfilled by the other. Do you understand what I mean by that? And totally acceptable. There isn't anything about any of them that's not satisfying to the others. Do you know what I mean? and they glorify each other and they fulfill each other continually and constantly.

If you say that God's glory is the sum total of his intrinsic attributes that are manifested, so each person of the Godhead is God and they are these incredible attributes and they are manifested in glory all the time. and all three of them have them, and they're radiating back and forth all the time in a righteousness that is perfect because they're perfect. That's the best I can describe it, I think. Well, when the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17, He said to Him, Father, glorify me as a man, with the glory that we had before the world began. And then later on he says, and the glory which you have given me, I've given them.

Not going to give them, I already gave it to them. So here's the deal. Seldom do I disagree with Vern, but I'll show you where I do disagree with him. Do you remember some months ago, he drew on the board this like this. And this was the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Remember when He did that and then He did this? And He said, this is us. Remember that?

I think this is a mistake. You know where this belongs? Right here. So, here's where we are. Right here. We're in Christ, so we're right here. See? So what God has done to us as members of his body is put us into this intimacy that the three of them have had for all eternity. The only thing we don't have is deity. But this flow of glory and righteousness, we're in the stream. We're not a bunch of Jews over here or a church out here. We're here. John chapter 1 says that the Lord Jesus came out from the bosom of the Father.

To do what? To get you and me and take us back there. Do you see that? That's what identification really means. What's cool about that is that the Spirit of God, all three of these persons function independently. depended on each other. Like it says the resurrection of Christ was an accomplishment of all three. So maybe you overlapped the circles. Oh, yeah, that'd be okay. That's okay with me. Sure. However you see it. I might bother on one. Yeah. So the astounding fact is that you're in here. You're not in heaven. You're in here. Do you see that? Yeah, all of these typologies that you see. Hebrews talks about entering into the Holy of Holies. The Old Testament, like I just read, talks about the Jews entering into the land and owning it. That was a type of what was coming for us.

So when the Word of God says, He who made him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, and here's why, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. You see that? It's God's righteousness that we have. It isn't imputed to us. He takes us and places us in Christ, and there isn't anything about Christ other than His deity that you don't have. Isn't that something?

You're blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. What are you missing? Nothing that I can think of. It's too bad you can't create. Tough. So, I wanted to make that point because 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, but by his doing you are in Christ Jesus. who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification and redemption." See, all of those things are true of us because they're true of Christ and because we're in Him. It isn't like belonging to the Elks Club or your college fraternity or the Army. It's not like that.

It's a union of life. which is the innocent, the holy. Aren't you explaining more of the relationship? But see, that's what I think righteousness is. I think righteousness is a relationship word. It has to do with the nature. Well, you define righteousness as right standing. Well, okay, but what kind of standing does the son have with the father? Didn't it say that he imputed his righteousness to us? I don't think it says imputed. Where would it say that? In Romans 5, maybe? No, it says it in Romans 3. And I think Ewell says that shouldn't be there. But Darby says it should be there.

So there's a controversy with that. But most people think it should be imputed doesn't practically mean imparted. Yeah, and Lewis Barry Chafer makes an issue about that too, that what is actually imputed isn't imparted. The deal is this, that I think he can impute righteousness, but there is no imputation outside of Christ.

Do you understand what I mean by that? If you center around John 17 where he talks about, Father, that they may be one as we are one, does that mean we all have the same lapel pin? What does it mean? It means that we're one just like the resurrected Christ is unique. You're unique in Him. You have all of His attributes, all of them, because you share His very life. That goes to the new creation.

We are the same of like character. In the old Jewish system there was the wave offering or the offering of the first fruit. And what did the first fruits indicate? That the whole crop was going to be like the first one. So we're like the Lord Jesus. We're even called the first fruit.

The oneness that we have in Christ is the most difficult thing to think about. because being individual human beings, individual persons, and with individual bodies, everybody sitting in an individual chair with an individual this and an individual that, and having a sin nature that says, I'm different than you, so when the Lord comes and says, you're one in me, it's like, what does he mean? You see?

There's a oneness of life and a oneness, in the Godhead, like described there, that we must learn about as we grow spiritually. As whoever wrote what I was just reading, about being in and possessing what is ours. Do you think it's any different than some of these other religions where you're in something that those others strike as more mythological or something? It's more practical or real?

It's a union of life. What's interesting about... and I think God even started in the garden to try to explain it with the principle of like begets like. Adam begat Cain and Abel after him and Seth and they were just like him. Not only did they have physical bodies and that kind of thing, but they also had his nature. And they were separate.

But even Adam, were interesting in that God made Adam out of the dust of the ground and he breathed in him and he became a living soul. How did he make Eve? Did he make another dusty body, take a rib out of Adam and make Eve? No, he took all of Eve out of Adam.

So she's just like him. Again, think about being in Christ. You're a unique person, but you're totally one with Him. I know, your mind goes tilt. I don't know what that is. But that's right. We are absolutely before the Father, in Christ, united to Him, in union with Him, and when the Father sees Christ, He sees you in Him. See that? He's totally satisfied with the Lord Jesus. And you do, because you're in Him. Mike? A lot of times I think of experience. You know, like, oh, if I could just sense whether He's there.

But, you know, it's the way we're reckoning. That's the wrong way of reckoning. Because we reckon from, not to. And a lot of times I'll just catch myself, well boy, I sure was on cloud nine yesterday, what's going on today? Right. See, and it's all, that's improper thinking, you know, improper reckoning. Right. You know, you have to first start from who you are in Him, and then the life naturally flows. Yeah, you have to know. You have to know what's going on. God is very careful and very eager for us to know what He's done.

Philippians 3, 9 and that, we may be found in Him, not having righteousness. I'm still trying to figure out righteousness. I look back at my notes on the righteous. It's equitable in character by implication, innocent, holy, absolute, relative. I think that's where the foundation is because righteousness had to do with the cross and the work of the cross. And until a person gets that thoroughly convinced in his mind that it was God, it was God's proclamation, of His righteousness, that we're going to stumble with our righteousness.

We don't have any. Right. Right. I understand the struggle because you're trying to enter into an eternal concept with a finite mind. And that's a little tough. But on the other side of that coin, we have the Spirit and we have the mind of Christ. And I think the Spirit begins as He shows us these things and then persuades us that they're true, that by faith we know them to be true. And we're way beyond salvation here. We're not talking about being saved.

We're talking about having... God said back in the Garden of Eden, I'm going to make man in my own image after my own likeness. Why would He want to do something like that? Because He desired to have a creature who could who was a person like he was a person, who had the same sort of make-up that he had, who could interact with him and could appreciate who he was. The more I think about things, the more the foundation has to be true. Everything stems from that.

Unless you believe that Christ was God, and that he's having this proclamation foretold. I think one of the biggest struggles with Christians is, especially in a class like this where we're talking, we're going through 32 things that if we really, really try hard might be true of us. No. We're talking about 32 things that are true of us because of our union with Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection, especially His resurrection. Not going to be true when we die. Not going to be true if we really work hard and be good Christians.

Not going to be true if you give me 40 bucks each one of you. No. They were true of you now. Here's the problem. Do you believe God about them? If He says it, do you buy it? And the next time your sin nature says, it ain't going so good today, is it? Your reaction is, well, no, it doesn't matter.

Here's who I am. You see yourself in Christ only and no other place. Do you see that? It changes the perspective and that's why it's really important. It's really important. The other part of that is that God is about moving us in his direction, which is the position that we enjoy. He's not about chasing rabbits like you. Your mind wants to do all the time. That's why I always thought of hitting the mark. Where is the mark?

Right there. But I see a big bullseye on the cross. Yeah, and the gun was fired and it hit the bullseye. Yeah, and that was me. You're toast. But if you aren't thoroughly convinced of that, you can't be convinced of where you are now. Yeah, that's true. So we can move on. What you find, I think, in your Christian life when you are presented the Gospel, you are exhorted to just believe the Gospel, right? That's it. The problem with learning the rest of it is that no one ever says to you, hey, you need to believe this too.

This is true of you too. This is true. The difference too is that when you believe the Gospel, you become saved. When you believe truths, There are things that are already true of you. And I don't need the book of Mark. No, you don't. You don't need anything.

And that's what the Word of God does. The Word of God is all about telling you who you are. That's really what it's about. And showing you the principles about how God is going to lead you into possessing, like the Jews, crossing the Jordan River, putting your feet on the ground, and it's mine. This is my land. Because God gave it to me. But that's why birth is so important. A correct birth, I agree. You have to learn the grace. Yeah, I mean, you think about it.

If you study the Jews in the Promised Land, as long as they believed God about what he said, they possessed it without a lot of hassle. They'd win the battles and they kept possessing more and more land. When they decided that they didn't believe God about something, what happened? They started losing ground. See? So it's all based on faith.

How does that do what you remember when Moses was sitting and as long as they held his hands up they won the battle, but the minute... So they propped up rock on... Yeah, they propped his arms up so he wouldn't get tired. Okay, so that's a point I wanted to make about righteousness in terms of position. So let's go to what we're doing today. We're going to talk about forgiveness of sins, and this is a subject that actually around here for a couple of years there's been some controversy about, and we might as well jump right into it.

The verses, I had five or six verses, or the outline did, Colossians 1.14, so let's, let me see, let's read some.

Colossians 1.14, 2.13, 3.13, and Ephesians 1.7 and 4.32. So, who's ever ready, start.

Colossians 1.14. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, that he quickens together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

And Colossians 3.13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man hath a quarrel against any, even as Christ obeyed him, so also did he. Okay, good. Ephesians 1-7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Okay. And Ephesians 4-32.

So, what does forgiveness mean? Oh, never mind. To cause to stand away. So, would you say that there's a difference between human forgiveness and God's forgiveness? Yeah, isn't it interesting that when God forgives you, He... I'll put it this way. Go back to man.

If you offend somebody, or you violate a law, punch somebody in the nose, or whatever you do, there's always a penalty, or a charge, or a fee for that, right? And so, if you commit a sin by driving 30 in a 20, you know, they'll forgive you, but it's going to cost you. I have a friend who just got 8 and a half years yesterday for a sin.

And he's an American hero. So you don't buy yourself out of it, so to speak. Yeah. So, let me quote from Lewis Barry Chafer. Thus it is learned that while human forgiveness only remits a penalty or a charge, divine forgiveness requires complete satisfaction for the demands of God's outraged holiness first of all. And I think that's why I see it as our first step was our last step into the glory. Yeah. So when God forgives, God just doesn't forgive because he's big-hearted.

Right? I'm looking around the room. I was down in Parker about five years ago. That's when I first met Courtney. Maybe it's longer than that now. Ladies Bible Fellowship or what? Community Bible Study down there. And we were talking about forgiveness and I said to the ladies, I said, Does God forgive you because you're sorry for your sins? Let me have a show of hands. About two-thirds of the group put their hands up, right?

So I said, being a little cocky like I am, God doesn't care a whit how sorry you are. And I said, do you mean to tell me that if you're more sorry than you are, your sins get forgiven and you're still working on yours? Is that why he forgave you? And he says to you, you've got to be sorry in order for me to forgive you. Isn't that what the world says? I mean, that's my son John. Dad, I'm really sorry.

So why does God forgive you? Why does he forgive you? Well, it isn't because he accepts for us what he did. He forgives us based solely on what He did. Now it's interesting. When Adam and Eve sinned, God came to them and gave them skins to cover them. Did He forgive their sins then? How about the whole Jewish system of sacrifice? Were their sins forgiven?

The definition that Don is talking about being put away No, they were covered over. What was he waiting for? The cross of Christ. Yeah, that's exactly right. But, you know, it's interesting, what's leaked into our Christian mentality is that our sins are being covered. No, they're not. No, they're not. So, they are being totally... obliterated out of God's mind. Now, if that's true, let's talk about the work of Christ on the cross.

God forgives someone based on the discharge or the acquittal of the sins totally. Remember the two goats on the Day of Atonement? One goat, what happened to the first goat? It was sacrificed and the blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled around. Okay? Because God demands a blood sacrifice for sin. What about the other goat? Called the scapegoat. What happened? The high priest put his hands on the head of the goat and transferred the sins of the people to the goat and then they took him out to the wilderness and let him go. I thought there was three or four or five or six goats. Two. Just two. And you know what? That goat never came back. Symbolizing what? Yeah, sins are gone. Trouble is they were back there next year.

Now, let's talk about when we already started. The difference between forgiving someone and the forgiveness of sins of someone or dismissing the sins of someone. To forgive someone is to express the discharge or acquittal of an accused because either with or without the judicial sentence the charge falls to the ground, or the punishment is remitted, or the guilty person is dealt with as if he were innocent. This is the case of an accused person standing before a judge and the judge says, okay, I find you innocent.

I have a great personal experience of this. When I was first a believer, the first few years I worked on the weekends and on Wednesdays at a mission down on Larimer Street. a storefront mission, and it was really kind of a cool place to be. I didn't like suburban church, you know. These guys were really dirty, you know.

Well, this guy named Alfonso Nieto, who was a heroin dealer, an addict, came to the Lord one day, and God cured him of heroin addiction just like that. And then about a month later, his wife, who was a heroin addict and a prostitute, came to the Lord, same thing happened to her. Well, we found out later that Nieto had a case against him, and he was going to trial for his fourth felony conviction. Now, if you know anything about the law, if you're a four-time loser, I mean, goodbye, you're done, hello, you're an habitual criminal, life in your toes, right?

Yeah, strike three. And they got this guy receiving stolen goods. You know, he was stealing stuff to pay for his habit. So he fenced it at the cops' sting. They got him on tape. They got to videotape him bringing the tires in, getting the money for him. And then they were stolen because they had the numbers on them, right?

So he goes to trial. And you know, trial doesn't last very long, like a day. And guess what? He got convicted, right? But the judge, interesting judge, he was Flanagan, he was known as the hanging judge. He was a black man, a really neat guy. Two, three weeks later we go to the sentencing hearing, right? And so they have witnesses on both sides and stuff. And the judge says, are we done? Everybody, lawyers, you're done? Yeah, okay. Stand up, Nieto.

And the judge says, the court is aware of the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. It's the first thing he says. And in essence, he says, you're guilty, I sentence you to life imprisonment, and I commute the sentence. You're free to go. Everybody in the courtroom went, what? And out the door he goes. Guilty? Absolutely. What did the judge say? I find you guilty. and I sentence you to life imprisonment but I commute the sentence. Goodbye. Did Flanagan still have his job?

Absolutely he did. I mean he warned him. He said don't ever come back in front of me again. But he somehow knew. I went to see Flanagan like six months later because I was on jury duty and I went into his chambers and he remembered. You know what he told me?

He said that his whole court were believers. The clerk and the secretary and everybody. And he didn't know what to do, because we'd sent him letters. So his whole group prayed that morning that God would give him the wisdom of what to do with this guy.

And he let him go. This is a four-time felon. I'm laughing because Nieto had two Jewish attorneys, and he kept telling them he wasn't going to jail. He was a young, cocky Christian. He loved the Lord. It was interesting. So, was he forgiven? No. He was found guilty. And he was given a sentence, but the judge let him go.

So, it's like the second case, the remitting of sins of someone. We exclude the possibility of actual innocence. There isn't any possibility that the person is in it. They are guilty. If they were not guilty, there wouldn't be any sins to remit. All the sins of the world, everybody's guilty. There are sins to remit.

So someone's got to pay the price for that sin. Obviously, the propitiation or the atonement or the price paid by somebody else must satisfy the judge, right? If he's not satisfied, the penalty is still incurred. Isn't that true? Okay, so the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, paid for the sins of just those that are saved, for the whole world. We talked about that when we were talking about propitiation. Why does it have to be like that? Because sin is not the issue. Well, it is with God. It was with God because of the outrage to His holiness. But not now. Not now, it's not. So you have to ask the question, did Christ's death, burial, and resurrection forgive the sins of every person, whether they believed in Christ or not? Did it or didn't? I agree with you. Let me give you some verses.

Let's go to Acts 5.31. Somebody read that.

And hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Isn't that interesting? When is he going to give repentance to Israel? I mean, at the point that this was written, it's at least 2,000 years in the future. Do you know that the sins that Christ paid for on the cross were future then?

You're going to hear. So, and the forgiveness of sins. Observe here that there's no qualification for one to believe, it's just announced that the sins of men are forgiven, right? Acts 13, 38 and 39. Okay, so here's an announcement unto mankind of what? The forgiveness of sins. And the unbelieving Gentiles and the unbelieving Jews, that their sins are already paid for, right?

Isn't that what Peter is saying? I've got John 16, 9 next to that. It says, "...of sin, because they believe not on me." Okay, now, so let's talk about that for just a second. What is the issue now between man and God? If the sins are paid for, and the sins are forgiven, what's the issue now? I mean, why is my buddy over here going to go to hell if he doesn't believe in Christ? Guilt? No. Believing. Believing what? Believing that you are justified in all things. Close. Remember in John 14, This is John 14 or 15, the Lord talks about the Holy Spirit.

It's John 16, 7. Nevertheless, I say to you, the truth is expedient for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him. Now here's the issue, verse 8. And when he's come, he will what?

Reprove. Convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Verse 9, of sin, for what reason? Because they believe not on me. That's the only issue left. That's it. Of righteousness, here's that word again, why? Because I go to my Father. And of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. So here's the issue. So we've got to answer this question. I'm going to pick on my buddy across the street here. Huh?

No, I better go see if he saved me. That might be the guy next door to him. If this is true, that Christ paid the penalty for the sins of the whole world and they're forgiven, why is that guy going to hell if he doesn't believe? He's in the wrong man. Do you see that? That's what this whole class is about. He's in the wrong man.

So if you look at Romans 8.3, it says, what the law could not do. What couldn't the law do? Make a man righteous. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, what did he do? He condemned sin in the flesh.

So the problem that that man has is that the old man that he's identified with is condemned. So when he leaves the planet, if he's identified with that condemned old man, where's he going? Where it's going. That's the only thing I had a difficulty with on that Macaulay tape was he said that guilt and punishment and sin go together.

Which they do, but I think it is Romans 8.3 that he condemned it. Sin, not a matter of our guilt, but what God has done. Well, and the word there is singular, sin. It's a sin nature. So, this guy over here, when he leaves the planet, He's attached to his sin nature and all of the sins that he committed go with him, even though they're paid for.

But he's going to suffer eternal damnation because he's identified in union with the first Adam. See that? So that's the kicker. That's why identification is so critical for the believer to understand. Because, you've heard me say this a hundred times, there's no such thing as a forgiven sinner.

Right? Did God forgive the old man? No. He forgave the sins, but not the man. What did he do with the old man? Jungle. That's right. That's the amazing thing about the law. I forget what it says, but the law revealed the sin, but it didn't get the solution. Or the power. The law condemned him. The judge set it free. That's right. That's exactly right.

So, here you have, in John 1.29, the Spirit of God reveals about when John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. All of it. He didn't say, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world to those who believe. He didn't say that. How do I say this? By the way, are we over time? On my last statement, hopefully.

Our job as believers is to tell the lost world that God is now satisfied about the sins issue. Our job is not to go to this guy and say, you're okay because your sins are forgiven. They must believe that God did this, otherwise they're going to die in their sins Do you see that? Because they're going to die in that sin nature.

But God has been satisfied about them. He's fine. But He gives you a requirement. He gives man a requirement. You must believe in the person and work of my Son. The news is way too good. It's way too easy. What's that? The old man somehow knows that if he goes for this, he gets lax. Let's close. Our dear Father, how we thank you for your glorious work and your grace extended towards us. Father, that we might enter into the fullness of who we are in your Son and rest in him there. We pray in his precious name. Amen.