Identification Truths

Next week's stuff is actually two pages and the reason it is is because I put, we're up to number 17 in terms of the 32 things. We're going to slow down from now on as we go and try to concentrate on maybe one or two a week. The things are so rich that we could probably spend the next six months just going through those.

And with that in mind, again as a point of review, this class is called Identification. And what does identification mean? Now you have to answer because Brian is in here for the first time and don't embarrass me. Whatever is true of Christ is true of us as believers. like-mindedness. When we talked about the first two months of this class about being identified with Adam, what did that mean?

We were in big trouble. Yeah, we were in big trouble. Bless you. What? Gesundheit? I don't know. Well, it's like that saying, you know, shall we sin that grace may abound? Shall we sneeze that we might be blessed? Identification, what's a synonym for identification? Give me a good one. Yeah, that's a good one. What else? How about the word union? We are united, we're united with Adam, and everything that's true about that dog is true about you. So, to put it as simply as I can, what God's intent was, is to un-unite you from Adam, and reunite you in the resurrected glorified Christ.

That's what identification is. So we spent two plus months learning what a wonderful thing it was to be identified with Adam. All of his sinfulness and that kind of thing. And then we spent a couple of months looking at Romans 6 and the actual mechanics about how God got us out of Adam. and placed us in the resurrected Christ through being united or identified with his death, burial, and resurrection, ascension, and seeding. Now, so over the last month or so we've been going through things that are true of us now that we are identified with the resurrected, glorified Christ.

And really what spiritual growth is, is growing into the fullness of what you already are positionally. So many of these, especially Brethren writers that I like to read, say pretty much the same thing, and that is that a mature believer sees themselves in Christ only, sees themselves and rests in the facts of who they are. who they really are from God's viewpoint, and discount the whole system they came from, the world, the flesh, the devil, the law. And what I find interesting is that even though the Lord repeatedly talks about separation from your sin nature, separation from the world, separation from any legal system, and separation from any influence of Satan and his minions, unless God uses them for you to grow. There's the nodding of the head, but, you know, let something in the world happen to you. Let sin be an issue, and boy, you immediately don't function out of who you are in Christ. Am I right about that? So, how do you get to function out of Christ? You pay your dues at Holly Hills, right?

Study the Word. Study the Word. Who said reckoning? Reckoning? Yeah. So, the first thing is to know what's up, right? The first thing by studying the Word, you find out this information, right? Once you kind of have a handle on the information, it's reasonably clear to you, or I'll put it this way, that the concept is clear. The Lord says that your old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be put out of business, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Well, that's not tough to understand, is it? It's tough to believe, but it isn't tough to understand.

So you believe God about that, right? Isn't that the next thing you do? Whatever God says to you through his word, you assent to it, you believe it. Then what happens? Now you got it, right? You're done. We can all close the book and go to the movies, right? Now what happens?

The Holy Spirit takes you through things. That's right. The Holy Spirit now begins to implement into your life the truths that you believe. So, one of the real problems everybody in this room has is that now they know you're going. You understand? Now that you know and believe about who you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit is going to take over and begin to implement that in your life.

And he's going to do it in a way where you reckon yourself indeed dead unto sin and alive unto God. That you become holy. Holiness means that you hate the evil and love the good. That you begin to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus. and abide and rest in Him.

So, no fair coming to me later and saying this is too tough. It ain't too tough, because it isn't you doing it. But my point is that one of the real dangers of knowing things is that hang on to your chair, because once you know and believe them, you're going for a ride. You really are.

No more warm, fuzzy Christianity. The Spirit intends to conform you to the image of the resurrected, glorified Christ, that you are what you say, and that His life is lived out through you as designed positionally to be. So we had arrived at... We were talking last week about forgiveness. Yeah, Donna.

I was just thinking, isn't there an aspect of that also? that you do manifest the life of the Lord when you're going through those issues to others. You know, if you have nothing... I mean, if your life is totally wonderful, someone observing you is not going to notice much of anything, but if you go through rough things and you still... you know, the life of the Lord is keeping you at rest, others notice that as well.

That's exactly right. Yeah. and I know this is a big issue with Courtney, rest is a really huge thing for the believer to manifest in your life. And you know why? You can't fake rest. You can't fake it. You can fake religiosity and Christendom and going to church and taking a shower and looking cool, wearing a cross around your neck and a bumper sticker on your car, but you cannot fake rest. You either have it or you don't. And when the Lord Jesus says, come unto me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls, people see that. Because you get the same torpedoes that the lost get, sometimes a lot more, and the rest is what they see.

Somebody like Wayne Blackney, the people that are around him, what are they observing? Steve and I go visit our buddy Strawn. What do we see in that guy? Lymphatic cancer. The Lord is probably going to take him home. Who knows? But there's a rest in that man, and you can see it. Hal Molloy. If we could see him today, even though he couldn't talk, there'd be a rest about him. That can't be faked. And it's visible to people because it's his life. So, from a practical standpoint, I think that the Lord must put us in situations where we, in the past, have not been restful.

We've squirmed like everybody else, complained, yet through that we learn to rest. And I think that's a key, and trust me, once you start looking for rest in yourself, you lose it. You understand what I mean? So, as we have studied now, think about, if you entered into just the elements of what we've studied about the 32 things so far, in terms of what kind of rest would this give me?

I'm foreknown, I'm an elect of God, I'm predestined, I'm chosen, and I'm called. I'm reconciled, I'm redeemed, There's no condemnation. None. I'm related to God through propitiation. All sins have been removed by the blood of Christ. I'm vitally joined together with Christ for the judgment of the old self unto a new walk. I'm free from the law. All law principle. And I'm a child of God. I'm born of God. I'm adopted in the true sense of the word. I'm acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, and I've been justified, I've been made close, I'm delivered from the powers of darkness, translated into His kingdom, and I'm on the rock, Jesus Christ.

So, half of the things, and we're not down that far yet, because we're talking about forgiveness of sins, half of those things, if you lived from that perspective, the rest you would have would be monumental. It would be totally Maybe ask it in a negative way. How many people who live in the world who aren't believers own this?

Ever met one? I never have either. And if you think about it, if you look around in the world and people you know that don't know the Lord, no matter what their status is in life, what their fame or fortune is, they don't have rest. That's the one thing the earth doesn't have. I don't know anybody outside of Christ that rests, no matter who they are. Do any of you? I know people have pretty cool temperaments, but there's no rest.

And the reason, other than observing it, the reason I know they don't have it is because it's the offer that Christ makes to the world. He offers them the one thing they can't get themselves. You come unto me and I will give you rest for your souls. If they could get it anywhere else, trust me, they'd go there and get it. Wouldn't you? I wouldn't have to come to Christ.

So what I wanted to spend a little time with today is talking about, and we went at this last week, but I want this to be clear because from a gracious standpoint, if you understand this, one, you'll be challenged about it, but two, it'll be very restful to you when dealing with sins. Question, did Christ's death, burial, and resurrection forgive the sins of every person whether they believe in Christ or not? How many think it did? How many think it didn't? Oh, I got some chickens. I got several. How many are too chicken to raise their hand?

If you examine scriptures, you'll find that it indicates that forgiveness of sins is independent of believing. Okay? So let's look at the proof. Get your Bibles out today because we're going to look at some verses. Acts 531. I better get my own Bible out. Where are you on that? I'm probably between question 3 and 4. It's a little bit of a detour but not too bad.

Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things, so it is also the Holy Spirit whom God hath given to them that obey Him. Verse 31 talks about forgiveness of sins without any reference to believing. Do you see that? The repentance to Israel, yet future during the Millennial Kingdom. He's the Savior to give forgiveness of sins that there's no qualification that one must believe in order for that to be true.

Let's go to Acts 13.38. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. The announcement. What's the announcement to all mankind? The forgiveness of sins.

Observe, there's no qualification that one must believe, and it's to all men. See that? But justification in 39, that one must believe in Christ, His person and work, in order to be justified. Right? Is being justified and having your sins forgiven the same thing? It's not, is it? What is justification? Justification is by faith and not by works. What is justification? Simple. God justifies you. What has He done? He just declares you to be righteous. He does it. So, in 1338, the forgiveness of sins is announced to all men.

So like you've heard me say, I can go across the street, and I'm sorry I didn't check this week to see if he was a believer or not. I can go across the street and say to my unbelieving friend over here, your sins are forgiven. Would I be telling him a lie? Now I might say it another way. I might say to him that the penalty for your sins have been paid for.

But I could take him to Acts 13.38 and say to him, I'm announcing to you the forgiveness of sins by Christ. I'm telling you that that's true. Acts 26, 18.

To open their eyes and to turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in me." Now, the Lord Jesus gives to Paul a ministry to the Gentiles. The first thing is that their eyes would be opened, right? And the second thing is that they would turn from darkness to Christ, or light. To turn them from the power or the authority of Satan to God, their spiritual Father, okay? for them to receive what is already accomplished for them, the forgiveness of sins. See that? Make sense? No?

Observe the words by faith, do not modify the words the forgiveness of sins. So, forgiveness of sins is independent of believing. You with me? You grammar geeks? So, for them to receive what has already been given, an inheritance among them who are sanctified or set apart to God by faith in Christ, his person and work observed, by faith modifies the ones who are sanctified. Do you see that? Does that make sense?

Do you understand what words modifying other words mean? Maybe the best example is in Ephesians where it says that you are saved by grace through faith, that not of yourself, it is a gift of God. What's the word it modify? By grace through faith? It modifies salvation. So here, that faith modifies the ones who are sanctified. not the forgiveness of sins. Do you see that?

John 1.29 The next day, John sees Jesus coming unto him and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. So the Spirit of God reveals to John the Baptist what? That this Jesus Christ is the sacrificial lamb who is to come to take away the sin of the world. Had any sin been taken away yet?

Let me say it this way. Sin here is singular and refers to the totality of the world's sin, all of it. This isn't sins, it's sin. It is a package deal for the sins of the whole world. So, I mean, these verses, by the way, if you ever find yourself in a discussion with a covenant person who says that, believes in a limited atonement, where the death of Christ paid the penalty for the sins of only the saved, just remember these verses and they'll refute everything they have to say.

Yeah? Could you say then that people, everybody's The reason that they are going to hell is not because their sins aren't forgiven, it's because they didn't believe God. Believe God about what? Dying on the cross. Yeah, that's the issue. Because most people believe that the unbelievers are going to hell because of their sins.

That's exactly right. But technically it's already been paid for. Not technically, really. Yeah, yeah, really. Yeah, that's exactly right. And you think about it. This is an incredibly gracious thing, is it not? To go to somebody who is lost and say, you know, in your mind, you're maybe thinking that your sinfulness is what's going to condemn you. I'm here to tell you it isn't. That all of your sinfulness has been taken care of by God. Well, sure it is, because here is God, in all of his grace, saying to a lost man, I've handled it.

If you believe me, I'll save you. And what does the man think? Wait a minute, there's nothing for me to do but believe. And even by believing, I don't contribute, because the value is in what I believe, not my faith. See that? Well, to an egocentric, Adamic, identified man, That's the scariest thing he ever faces. I think so. It's the same thing in a sense. Maybe look at it this way.

When a human being sins, who does he sin against? He sins against God. So God is the one Hallelujah! So the sin issue is something that man has done in an offense to God, right? Well, we've discovered that man can't really make up the difference. What can he do? So God takes it upon himself. last week and the week before about the issue of propitiation. What does propitiation mean? From whose side? From God's side.

So the Lord Jesus Christ, with his death on the cross, satisfies God about the entire sin issue. Does he not? So there isn't any left over for God not to be satisfied about. Do you see that? And the reason is that the work of Christ is independent of you. He didn't die because you needed it. The eternal covenant is between the Father and the Son.

Where are you? You're nowhere to be found in there, are you? The Father said, if you'll become a man and die for the sins of the world, I'll raise you up. Where are you? Nowhere. The only contribution you had to that covenant is you were responsible for it, by your sinning. Do you see that?

But God, because He is the kind of God that He is, offers, once He's propitiated, He's a loving God, He offers it to mankind, based solely on the fact that they do something they can't get credit for. I really like the plan. So, the sin issue, from God's perspective, has been totally taken care of. It may not be taken care of from your perspective, but that's the whole issue. The issue is, can I reasonably and biblically and solidly say to a man, your sins are taken care of before God? Yeah, I can. Because it's something they did. Now, you may say back to me, well, okay, how do I enter into the benefits of what God has done. How do you do that? By believing that He did. Right? Does that answer your question?

Well, I guess what I'm trying to get to is, where is He taking sin away to? Does that mean that He's incorporating sin into the fact that He went onto the cross, basically absorbed sin into Himself, and took sin It's the death part. Maybe the best way to look at it is this.

God told Adam, when he gave him the law, don't eat of the fruit, that the soul that sins, it will surely die. And death means separation, right? So Adam sins, and he's sure enough, He dies spiritually, and then later he dies physically. So if God is going to effectuate a penalty for sins to be paid, a death must take place, because those are the rules of the game, right? If you sin, you die.

But the big problem is that there isn't anybody... I'm not saying that. The big problem is that if God set it up that way, there must be a death somewhere, and it must be a death that is equal to the person of God. So the only one that can satisfy God is God himself.

You can't, and I can't, angels can't, so hence the Lord Jesus becomes a man. and the sin is put on him. Not only are the sins paid for by his death, but the sin nature is put on him. And so when he dies, what happens? If death means separation, he separates from that whole thing. The fact that he died alone, paying the penalty, is the part that satisfies God about the sins of the world. You see that? And the reason you know that that's true is that he wouldn't have been raised from the dead if he wasn't satisfied. Because none of those bulls and goats ever got raised. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah, into death. Right.

And God has a capacity, and I don't know how he does this, but if you sinned against me, I could forgive you, but I might not forget about it for a while. God seems to be able to, because of the work of Christ, forget. He never looks at you as a sinner anymore. He sees you only in Christ.

Isn't that something? We Christians go to God and beg Him for forgiveness of sins. He must be going, Huh? Who's doing the talking here? It's like John coming to me and saying, Oh, Dad, change my diapers. I'm saying, He's 14. We don't do that anymore. Or, Dad, send me to school. Well, he already is in school. Or, Dad, I want to be a teenager. I already are a teenager.

You know? Father, forgive me. Forgive what? What is he there to forgive? If you look at 1 John 1.9, which is the famous, if you sin, do you see the word forgiveness, ask God for forgiveness in there anywhere?

Do you? Why not? Because it's already done. The sin that you committed this morning, assuming you did one, has already been forgiven. from God's perspective. Do you see that? Because when Christ died on the cross 2,000 years ago, all the sins of everybody in this room were all future, were they not? Except for Art Lather, he was there. They were all future, weren't they? Were they paid for? Absolutely.

And you know what? You're asking for forgiveness isn't a criteria under which they are forgiven. Why does God forgive you your sins? Why did he? Just because he was big-hearted? Think about it. Why does he actually say, okay, you're forgiven? Because he's satisfied about it because of what Christ did. That's exactly right.

Nobody gets to be near God without this event taking place. You know, all the Old Testament saints, their being declared righteous is based on the work of Christ in the future. Without that, nobody gets saved. Nobody! If the Redeemer isn't promised in the garden, there's no salvation for any human being. None.

See? I know this half of the room thinks they deserve it, but they don't. Donna. Well, I was thinking that for the forgiveness part, it seems like we always fall back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We ask for forgiveness for the bad things, but it has nothing to do with a relationship with Christ or walking in the Spirit.

Everybody understand about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? It's very critical. What was the tree that Adam ate from? The knowledge of good and evil. So, a couple of questions. Did Adam know what evil was before he ate? Did he know what good was before he ate? No, he didn't. He was innocent.

Now, here's what happens. Somebody comes to Christ because somebody tells them they need to receive Jesus into their heart. But they believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, and in their mind, what have they done? They've left the evil branches and moved right across the tree into the good ones. Now they're good. What was the name of the other tree that was in the garden? Tree of Life. So the issue is, down the trunk, walk down the garden, get up in the tree of life. You know what's interesting about the tree of life?

There's no contrast between good and evil there. None. It's life and it's holiness. But here we are, as Christians, thinking good and evil all the time. That's how we think. Good and evil, good and evil. I was good today, evil yesterday. God has got to forgive my evil and reward me for being good.

That's nonsense. That's spiritual idiocy, because you're thinking out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Does that make sense? If you're in the tree of life, is there any sin in the tree of life? Zero, nada, not one. And that's where you are. If you could see yourself in this tree of life, sin would not be an issue.

I think that again is where there is no rest or peace. It's always the conflict between that. That's right. It's tension. You keep going back and forth. All the time. That's right. You're good. The Lord's going to bless me today because I'm good. Well, I did bad. I'm going back and forth.

That's right. There's no peace in that. Oh, that's Whipsaw City. Yeah. You're trying to clean up that man that God's finished with. Yeah. Until you're thoroughly convinced what God's done with him, you can't enter into the rest. That's right. Steve? So, way back, weeks and weeks ago, when we were all younger... Now, be careful.

We started talking about the principle of sin. Yeah. So, now we're up here to this verse, so he's taking sin, the principle of sin. The whole sin issue. Yeah, yeah. What's that? Cut down that tree of good and evil. Oh yeah. What's interesting, let's talk about Wayne Blackney, or our buddy Bob.

When they finally check out of the planet and they leave, what is their status? What happens to them? First of all, where are they? They're in Christ, to be absent from the bodies to be at home with the Lord. They're face to face with the glorious Christ in the presence of the Father as a fully orbed Son. Any sin around anywhere? Nope. Any sin nature around anywhere? Nope.

Are they holy? Are they righteous? Are they everything that the resurrected Christ is? Yeah, they are. Well, how'd they get to be that way? Yeah, but my point is this, is that yeah, they believed in order for them to enter in, but that was already finished in Christ. And when we talk from an identification standpoint, that you're taken out of Adam and placed into Christ, you got it all right then. Right then. If you read Romans 8, 28 and 29 somewhere, and it says, called, he justified, and knows he justified, he glorified.

How come sanctification isn't in there? Because it's positional. You go from justification to glorification, bingo! Positionally, in Christ, identified with Christ, there's nothing to be added to you. You see that? So, in order for that to be true, the sins and the sin issue must be resolved. and God can't make it subjective. He has to do it objectively, because He's the one who's been offended. You can't walk into His presence unless He's satisfied about it. See that? And so that's why the sins of the world have been forgiven.

Want to go on? I've got more verses. Maybe it'll enlighten you more. You okay? Let's look at John 16, 8 and 9. She's my wife, I shouldn't call her ma'am. Oh, go ahead. We're about to find out why. This is the verse that will tell you why. Somebody else read John 16, 8 and 9. And when He has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on Me. Okay. The Lord promises the Holy Spirit here. And when He's coming, He's going to convict the world of sin. What sin? Unbelief. Unbelief about what? Christ's work. That's right. That's it.

You mean He's not going to convict the world about being murderers and bank robbers and all of that? No. There's one issue here, and that's Christ. So, the Holy Spirit is not convicting the world of sins because they are forgiven. He's convicting them about what? Unbelief, when it comes to Christ. Okay, now. Read, Donna, read that 10. of righteousness because I go to my father and he sees me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. What's interesting is that the work of Christ on the cross effectuated all three of those things, and judgment is coming because of that.

But the bottom line issue, and the only issue for every individual in the world, is this man. Who is this man? And if you read in Acts about Peter and his first sermon at Pentecost, what is the crux of his sermon? You Jews need to repent about who this man is. Not about your sins. About who this man is. That was the whole issue of his sermon. This is not Jesus of Nazareth. This is the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God who died for your sins.

You need to change your mind about that. See, that's the only issue. So here's what's interesting. The unforgivable sin is no faith. But it's specific to this issue. It's not no faith in whether the trains are going to run, or Courtney's well is going to come in. It's not about that. It's about one single issue, and it's Christ. I'm tracking where he says, a sin because they don't believe in me, and judgment because of the ruler of the world.

He's a man, right? Remember we talked a couple of weeks ago when I asked you, I said, what did God get out of the resurrection? What did the Father get out of the resurrection? What benefit was it to Him? He got a man who glorified Him, verse 1. And that man is Jesus Christ. And so now He deals with all mankind from that man who has been glorified.

So the Lord Jesus says, I'm going to my Father, because I can. Do you see that? And I am now totally accepted as a human being to my Father. And that's a righteousness that we talked about two weeks ago, the very righteousness of God in Christ. Christ has a right standing as a man before God. That's God's very own righteousness. If you don't have that, you're not there. See that? So everything centers in Him. Everything. Okay? Alright?

When unbelievers are before God at the judgment, will He say, since you thought it was about sins, good and evil, then show me your... show me how... Show me your goodness, and does it add up to Christ? Basically, can you save yourself? Compare your good deeds and bad deeds? And there's no question, there are verses that talk about that you'll be judged based on your works and what you did. But first of all, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will be the judge.

And the issue will be Him, not you. Not your sins. How about me? Because it's about the sin of unbelief. So say, alright, since you don't believe, show me what you have that can save you. Well, he's only going to ask him one question. Me. And you know what's interesting?

I used to think for a long time that You know, at the Great White Throne Judgment, there'll be a lot of non-believers there who'll look at the glory of Christ and all of that, and look at the alternative, and look at Christ and say, can you give me another chance? I don't think that's true now.

I think they're going to look at Him in all His glory, and look at hell and say, see ya, show me the door. Because in John 4, The Lord Jesus specifically says that they agape, they love the darkness more than they love the light. So here they are in the light of the glory of God, and if they love the darkness, it's what being from Adam is about. Home is where the heart is. If you love the darkness, you're going home to darkness.

I'm trying to get through a couple of issues here before we close. Hebrews 2.9, quickly. I want to make my point before the bell rings. Somebody get there before me and read it. 2.9? Yeah.

What we do see is the rule is made for a little while longer than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he might take death for everyone. Jesus Christ's death was for every man. No man has been excluded. His death was substitutionary. He took their place for the punishment of their sins. It is a fact and it is reality. Believing it or not does not change the fact that it is reality.

Do you see that? Now, let's go to 2 Corinthians 5.14. Somebody tell me when I'm totally out of time. Am I totally out of time now? Better read fast then. 14, 15, and 19.

For the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then all were dead. And that he died for all, that they who live should henceforth not live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. Down to 19. To wit, that God was in Christ. reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." Okay? Jesus died for all. Not one person was excluded. The purpose of his death was to reconcile or to bring into harmony man to God.

Man turned away from God because of his sins and needed to be brought back. The means of this reconciliation was by God not imputing or putting to their account their trespasses or their sins. So, the sins of the world were put on Christ instead of us.

This is describing universal forgiveness of sins. Proof, Matthew 25, 31 through 46, which you can read yourself. When Christ judges the nations at the end of the tribulation period, He judges them on belief or unbelief and not on their sins because their sins are forgiven. Revelation 20, 11 through 15, when Christ judges the unbelieving dead from all ages at the end of the millennial kingdom on earth, they are not judged for their sins, but for their unbelief in Christ, proven by their names not being found in the book of life. And I've got a bunch of other scriptures that indicate everyone's sins are forgiven. You want to write them down quickly?

Romans 5.8?

2 Corinthians 5.21, Colossians 2.13-14, 1 Timothy 2.6, 1 Timothy 4.10, Titus 2.11, Hebrews 9.28, 1 Peter 3.18, 2 Peter 2.1, 1 John 2.2. So here's the issue to sum up. The issue is between God and man. Right? And for the unbeliever, it's not about his sins, but it's about Christ. Right? Okay? Look at all this. If you didn't get all this down, come see me afterwards.

What's the issue with the believer? It's not about his sin nature. What's it about? Same thing. It's about Christ. The issue between you, us as believers, and God is Christ. It's not about your sins anymore. Do you understand that? It's so freeing and restful to understand that your sins are not between you and God anymore. So if you commit a sin, who breaks the fellowship? You do. Did God go anywhere? No. The issue is to confess. In other words, to say the same thing God says about you. What does He say? Who are you? If you're not a dirty dog sinner anymore, then what are you? What are you?

You're a son. Now, you may not have been acting like a son, which caused fellowship to be broken, but not acting like a son doesn't make you Not a son, maybe is the best way to put it. Does that make sense? You're a son forever, like it or not. Sorry, it's too late. You should have thought about that when you got saved. That's right. I mean, once you believe, you're toast. You're in, you know. You're going to be a glorified son of God whether you like it or not.

Any questions? We'll pick up next week with question four. Father Howie, thank you. It's so freeing and restful to realize that all that was ever required or ever will be required by us to be near you and to be your son was accomplished by your son. We're thankful for that, Father, and we, by your Spirit, look forward to entering in and resting in the fullness of who we are in him. We pray in his name. Amen.