Who You Are In Christ - Spiritual Blessing Perspective
Kurt Katzorke · Sep 28, 2008
Who You Are in Christ, No. 39
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926112486587

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so the first one that we'll look at this morning is forgiven all trespasses. And we may whiz through these ones a little bit quicker because they're lighter topics than the first four that we looked at there. But what do you guys think? And this is just kind of a round table. Please feel free to give any input that you want to. But what do you guys think? past, present, and future outlook on forgiving all trespasses. Do you think that's a position or a possession? It's a position, certainly.

Actually, I was just going to clarify one thing that you said and I think hopefully you'll agree. These are true only of believers. You know, and like so many wonderful truths in scripture, there's a past aspect, actually like this, you know, if you take trespasses and big sins, and we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. So I mean there's, so each truth has a, was accomplished at the moment of salvation for us, there's a present aspect, like we're being saved, and then we're going to be with the Lord. So I just want to kind of clarify that whole aspect. Yeah, yeah, but I mean on some of these it'll be good to look at more of who you were in Adam and who you are now in Christ.

So all of them are very good perspectives to look at, absolutely. So actually, I forgot what the word, you know, we studied this, what the word trespass, you know, what that is, you know, in relation to, you know, I would think Trespass sounds like sins to me. Yeah, absolutely. It's a J.M.A.R. Yeah. Well, that's so yeah, that's the word. Miss the miss the mark. And the other one is E.A.R.A.B.E.O.M.A. The lapse or deviation. Right.

And then, so Declaration of Colossians 2.13, having forgiven you all trespasses. So it covers all trespasses, past, present, and future. So God is taking care of all of them. So on this one, that's actually really neat. He didn't just take care of some of them. All of your trespasses are taken care of. And sin, we can put sin in place of trespass. Past, present, and future. dead and trespasses and sins. They're distinct. They're two different words. They're not the same. You find that in Romans 5 where all three words are used.

Transgression, trespass and sins. So Christ died for our sins of course but died for trespasses and transgressions. Adam committed all three. Okay. And so the reason why we can't trespass and the transgression isn't here in Ephesians 2 is because we can't do that anymore. Because that relationship to the law.

But when it comes to trespasses and sins we can still do those. And so one of the words describes the, in the original language The word trespass has a ma ending to it. And the ma ending means a result of an action of the mind. In other words, you can trespass in your mind, but you can't sin in your mind. See, a lot of people think you can sin in your mind. You can't. But you can trespass.

But God says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of all of our sins and all unrighteousness. In other words, trespass is unrighteous. But when we confess our sins, not our trespasses, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. That's why sins is so important to understand the distinction between the trespass.

You don't confess your thoughts in the same way because in order to be tempted you have to have evil thoughts. So the temptation is not a sin. What you do with the temptation determines what it's going to turn into. That would be the sin. You see, that's what you carry out. That's why, walk by me in the spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. It doesn't say you won't have the desires of the flesh, but you won't carry them out.

And so a lot of people think that when you walk through a Christian life, every time you have an evil thought, you're over there confessing your guilt and everything, You haven't done anything yet. And so what you do is you think on your position to separate yourself from the flesh.

In other words, you think on this one. So what were the three words that you had? Trust, Caste, Transgression, and Sins. And they're all three are different. In Romans 5 it tells you that. Romans 5? If you want to look at it. Sure, yeah, let's look at it.

That's really neat because it's going to give some really interesting perspective. Yeah, and the problem that people have, they don't understand that forgiveness involves unrighteousness is all. In other words, everything is unrighteous. But not everything is sin. You know what I mean? And so God uses different words. He uses iniquity. He uses wickedness. He uses trespass. He uses sins. He uses transgression. All of these words in the original language define something different and distinct so that the Christian life is free When you live the Christian life, you're free of all this guilt that comes into your mind. For instance, a lot of times when we pray and we confess something to God, no sooner did we say Amen, we never let it go. I mean, we still carry the burden. Why? Because of the mental guilt. Sure.

But that's not sin. If you can understand that's not sin, you think on things above instead of thinking on this thing that you're thinking that you will carry out if you eventually complete it. That's why James 1 says, in chapter 1 verse 12 and following, it says, sin, he says, man is tempted. God cannot be tempted, but man can. And when we're tempted, we're enticed. Well, that enticing is not sin. He tells you a process. It keeps going and sin becomes, I mean finally the desire becomes fulfilled and sin, it brings forth death. Sin and then death. Well there's a process before sin ever takes place.

Scripture says that for sins he's faithful just to forgive you that entire process. And that's the thing that we need to understand the freedom of the Christian when it comes to forgiveness. It involves You confess your sins, God cleanses you from everything.

That's what's amazing. But look at the words in Romans, if you want, just real quick. Sure, what verse are we on? Chapter 5, Romans 5, beginning at verse 14. Well, he tells you about sin in verse 12. If we're by one man's sin into the world, notice sin, not trespass. Sin and trespass, but God holds us accountable for sin. For 2,000 years God did not hold man accountable for his personal acts of sin, but he said nature he held him accountable for. He tells you that in Adam. He says, and then he says, it goes on now beginning at verse 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned, after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come, but not as the offense, the trespass.

So as the free gift. In other words, all three, the word offense in the original language in verse 15 is trespass. Or transgression and trespass, yeah. And so you have three words used in relationship to being an Adam. And in Adam, we actually committed all of them. But the one that we can't do today is transgression because there's no law. Right.

What version is that Bill? This is King James. Bill King James or King James? And it lists all three of them there? Because mine doesn't. Yeah, in the original text, all three, even in other texts, it's listed. Right. I'm sorry, I don't understand the distinction. What is the difference between a sin and a trespass? What is a trespass? Okay, a trespass is a mental act. Okay, and you're saying that that can't be sin, but... You completed it.

I guess you kind of disagree, because I can hate someone in my mind and that's still sin, and I might not even have contact with that person, but if I hate them, that's sin. Yeah, but you haven't murdered though. You haven't literally murdered anybody.

But it's a step towards it. Right. But you can curb that step. But you can't curb that. Sure, but I guess what she's saying is if you have a mindset that is sinful... No, it's trespass. Sure. But does God... That's unrighteous. Okay, it's still unrighteous. Yes, absolutely. That's going to lead to the sin. And you've missed the mark, which is the definition of sin. Right, yeah. In other words, if you continue that thought, complete it in your mind, chances are you'll carry it out. Sure. You see what I mean? You're tempted to that point.

In other words, God sees you, but now he says, and Paul comes along and says this, Colossians 3. He says, think on things above, if you're risen. Okay, these are the things we think about. He tells you in verse 5 now, put to death therefore, adultery, fornication. Well, what in the world would he say that for? I mean, if you're not thinking it. You can't do it until you think it. You see what I mean? But it's not sin until you do it.

That's why in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul says every sin is committed outside of the body. That's what it says in written language. It's committed outside. It's not in, it's outside. It's an act. It's something that you actually do. You want to murder, you murder somebody. You commit fornication, sexual, you think in adultery. You look at that verse, when Jesus says in Matthew 5 and in Matthew 15, he talks about adultery. A man commits in his heart. Notice the word in and out. What goes in does not defile you. What comes out does. And when you understand the distinctions, you see the incredible grace involved.

So Bill, you're saying, like in Matthew 5.20, it says, For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

21. You have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. angry with his brother shall be not liable, but guilty before the court. And whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing, shall be guilty, not liable, guilty before the Supreme Court. And whoever says, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell.

So he is designating there differences between guilty and liable. You have to, because there's a difference. For instance, give me an example. Let's look at this real seriously and practice this. If murder, if I murder, in my mind, is the same as committing the act, your court of law then, I mean, our whole court of law system is, you know, out the tube, because you must have that. But that's not the point. What I want to get at is, when you read 1st and 2nd Timothy and the qualifications of an elder, that he should be a husband and one wife, and that his mind should be clear on the acts of fornication and immorality. Who's free? Who's pure? Show me a man that's pure. I mean, after he's saved, he has thoughts that come into his mind. He sees things, he acts, but he's not acting, he's not carrying it out.

That's why it says in Galatians 5, The one who walks by means of the Spirit will in no way carry out the lust of the flesh. It doesn't say you won't have the lust, you won't carry it out. And that's the difference today in grace. And back in the Old Testament it was not. Under law, it was different. But under grace, God changed that so that now you can have the freedom to think on things above, to curb the thoughts that are tempting.

And that's what you're doing right now. These things here are the things that we reflect on when Paul says, think on things above. Sure. Every one of them are above. Yeah. Your position. Yeah. But you know, also, I guess I credit a little bit with the fact that God talks about our faith, you know, that we're to be walking with him moment by moment in faith.

And he says, whatever faith, whatever is not a faith is sin. So by that verse you would define everything including trespasses as being sin. I mean there's a distinction. Either you're walking with him in faith and that means your thoughts are pure too.

So it seems like, I don't know, I'm not quite sure I quite see. Well I think the idea is this quality. When you have a definite article in front of a word like founder of Ephesians or Romans 6, This sin, the sin, the sin in the original language identifies sin nature. Well, when you have no definite article, it's the quality. So that means trespassing sin has the quality of being unrighteous.

But they're not the same. They're like a synonym. It's not like a synonym, but in the original language it's very different. What Becky was saying about being hateful towards someone in your heart is still sin. You're still missing the mark, and your mind is not on things above. No, I would say it's unrighteous. You missed the mental attitude. What's the difference between unrighteousness and sin? The quality. Sin is unrighteous. It has the quality of being unrighteous. Everything is unrighteous. It comes under unrighteousness. But not everything is sin. OK? Trespass is not sin. is just not. Transgression is not sin. Otherwise you would be redundant. Wouldn't it be something the Holy Spirit says, He forgave you, you were dead in trespasses and trespasses.

Or trespasses and if the sin is the same, then why would He use the same word? I mean a different word. Why would the Holy Spirit, why would we as grammarians and Greek scholars look at a word and say, well that word is the same as that word. Then why did the Holy Spirit not just use it once? The point is that when he died, he died for all of it. The quality as well as the acts.

Right. The sin nature itself and the sins that comes from that nature. Sure. The source. The source of sin is the flesh. So the only designation you an unrighteous condition or quality, but you would for an act. You would confess it. Which is what you're saying. Right, yeah, and you're not asking for it. You're very much admitting that it's wrong. Right, right, right.

And that's why he says confess your sins, he cleanses you from everything. The condition makes us unrighteous. The position makes us righteous. So, in other words, Christ died for the position. But we know that we're going to have unclean thoughts and Yes, you change your thought pattern.

In other words, remember it says in 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3-6, that if any thought rises above the knowledge of God, that you put it into captivity? Remember that's what it says? To capture it? Well, how do you capture it? It doesn't say confess it. It says to capture the thought. Well, how do you capture the thought? You capture it by thinking on things about. You change the thought pattern.

In other words, If I have a temptation to hate my brother and all of a sudden I carry it out and my acts, my attitude toward him completely changes, what does the scripture say? Love the brother, change your thought pattern toward the brother, think on things above and see him as in Christ.

In other words, when I look at Stan, let's say we get in an argument and we did fail. They say we did sin. Well, I confess it to him, he confesses, we did it right. But before God, the thing that motivated me to do that was the love for Him, the love that Christ has. So when I look at, stand positionally, I see Him in Christ, and I see Christ in Him, and He sees me the same way. So that means when we see each other positionally, that's the basis by which we're forgiven. You see what I mean? It's not like you gotta, it's like you already, in other words, According to what Kurt has here. You're Kurt, right?

Right. This is really what's saying is that we are already what we will be. Right. Absolutely. In other words, when we look at this, I see we are already what we will be. It's just that in time, from God's standpoint, He sees us complete in Christ. Right. Sinless. He sees us seated. You could be seated in the heavenlies if you weren't sinless. See, positional.

But now, he says in time, this must be worked out. In other words, you live your position. And you grow toward it. And so when I look at a brother and a sister, whether we agree or disagree, I love them in Christ because I must see them in Christ. You see the difference? I mean, it's not like him doing something for me or I'm doing something for you. It's a position.

I see Roger in Christ. And that's why I love Roger. Not because Bill Louie is something great. It's because Christ loved him and Christ loved me and what Christ did on the cross and what the Holy Spirit did positioned us in Christ. I must see each believer in Christ.

Forgiven. Kirk, what did Schaeffer, what was his intent with this? In no other way, well, he's talking about having been forgiven all trespasses, covering all trespasses past, present, and future. In no other way than to be wholly absolute before God, could a Christian be an abiding peace with God, or could he be, as he is, justified forever?

So his intent is focusing more on that it's all taken care of. Right, that's kind of what I, yeah. It's almost like he's lumping in everything, the whole, and that's, and I think that's, you know, and what Bill's, he's going to, you're just making a distinction between the, which I think is true, which is, and that's valid. I think Schaeffer's intent may have been the whole enchilada, so to speak. Right.

All unrighteousness. Yeah, that's why Romans chapter 1 and 2 covers that. because it tells you the unrighteousness of men. And it just lists, I mean, all of that whole thing. So the difference is, there's a difference between unrighteousness, and you see that in 1 John 1, 9. If you confess your sins, God is faithful just to forgive you of your sins, and all unrighteousness. See, all unrighteousness is not the same.

It can't be the same. You see, so that's why when Stan said, You confess your sins, they act. You committed against a brother. Can you imagine what it would be like if you went to church and you said confess your sins one to another like James? And you had a television. I always taught this when I told people. Let's say everybody that walked in the church had a television hooked up to a monitor that represented their thoughts when they walked in the church.

You know what it would be like? You know what it would be like? It would be a mess. I'd be thinking about dinner, I'd be thinking about this, I'd be thinking the guy's preaching up there, and I'd say, why'd that guy hurry up? You guys messed up, this guy's this and that. I'm thinking about a war zone over here, or somebody I hate over here, or somebody I don't like over here, or my dinner, or I wish the guy would hurry up because my meals were overcooked or something. Can you imagine every time you walked in that church, your thoughts were projected in that television screen for everybody to see?

No, that's not sin. You haven't committed anything. It's a bad mental attitude that you committed. But the thing is that you need to change that attitude, because when you change that attitude by thinking of things above, by looking at the brethren the way Christ looks at us, then it changes that thought pattern. But you haven't done anything. In other words, I might be angry at Roger, but it says be angry, but sin not. You can be angry, but if you allow that anger to fester, and continue, it will carry out in some act.

It's incredible how God and His grace is just one. That's fine. That's an excellent point. But it seems like also that sometimes the word sin, like when I was mentioning it, whatever faith whatever is not a faith is sin, in that case that might be more encompassing than just... Yeah, I would say the quality is no different or not equal. Exactly.

So I think we have to be careful sometimes, and I think that's what Becky was saying too, that sometimes you look at that and the Lord is saying, you know, I'm looking at the entire aspect, you know, you've fallen short of my, you know, who you are in Christ and that And so that's, and you have made the, it doesn't distinguish there which one it is. Yeah, the thought pattern is what you're saying. So your thought pattern toward the brethren is off base. You're missing the mark as to who we are in Christ. And when you begin, can you imagine a church that someday we're going to be thinking on things above perfectly?

I mean, we'll never be tempted to be drawn away from that. That's what's so wonderful. No, I agree. Absolutely. No more sin in nature. So I think that part of the struggle is that sometimes a word can be the entire aspect of all unrighteousness and other times it's distinguished between transgressions and sins and there's a distinction there. So once again you have to be careful as you go through there. See that only makes sense biologically too because your thoughts are what connect you to your actions.

Absolutely. Absolutely. If we can carry out, like Bill said, if we can carry out every single thought, I mean, those thoughts, I mean, say, you know, like the, you see in the Star Wars things, you can think things and they just happen. Well, if that could really happen, this world would be a disaster or something.

I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. Absolutely. Along the rest of it. I'm sure that's what, you know, that whole thing is what counters study and do, so that when people come in that they can project and basically change their thought process. But isn't it interesting the counselors, the non-Christian, or even Christian counselors sometimes, they say, well let's go back and examine all that filth that was in your life. And you're thinking, why do I want to do that? Why do I want to look at that? Terrible. I want to look at who, like Bill said, I want to look at who I am. And that's what's kind of sad.

Until you realize that we're to think, think the thoughts of God, think, you know, abide with him. The reason they do that is because those circumstances, as I understand, are being played over and over in your mind as past states. So I recognize that this process is happening. It's hard to get beyond it. But again, it still comes which Paul spends a lot of time talking about. If you look up the word mind in Pauline letters, it occurs a lot. Well yeah, and he speaks of several times of being with the same mind.

Have the same mind of that which Christ had. He uses it a lot. Curt and the idea of mind, which is really important, you have the mind of the flesh, which is enmity toward God. You have the desires of the flesh, which is enmity toward God, and you have the works of the flesh. All three words are used to show you that you can think it, you can, you know, desire it, and you can do it.

But the point is, don't do it. Don't fulfill it. Don't carry it out. But how do we do that? Walk by means of the Spirit, and we will in no way, double negative in the Greek is incredibly powerful. You will in no way ever fulfill or carry out the lust of the flesh. See we walk with the lust of the flesh all day long. It's 24-7 man, believe me.

You wake up in the morning, you wake up with your sin nature alive. And as soon as you wake up, the sin nature wants to say, well what will I do today? Me, my and I. Mine. And then You begin to self-satisfy yourself. That's what the sin nature is. It's me, my, and I. Who cares about the next guy? I mean, me first. The whole world advertises that. Look what you can do. You earned it. You deserve it. Right? Okay? So the guy goes out there and he fulfills it. He doesn't matter what's in front of him to do it.

You run over a brother and you kill somebody, you'll do it. But the scripture says, uh-uh. You're gonna have that desire as long as you're on this earth. You're gonna have some sort of desire that's gonna haunt you or be a weakness or something, but if you walk by means of the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of that desire. Right. They say you won't have the desire, it says you won't carry it out. And so a lot of people feel guilty because they have a bad desire, is what I'm trying to say. Sure. You see? But if you don't carry it out and meditate on it, I mean Stop the process by captivating it, by putting that thought into captivity.

Let's look at cojoning to Christ for judgment of the old man. Violate cojoning to Christ for the judgment of the old man unto a new lot. The essential doctrine of the union to Christ appears to be the basis of many of the riches of divine grace. In the present aspect of truth, only that which has to do with the death of Christ unto sin is in view, and the central passage which declares this in Romans 6, 1-10. Basically what we're looking at here is being placed into Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, which is dealing with the old man.

When Christ died on the cross, you were with him. You were baptized. You were placed into his death, burial, and resurrection. And so your old man died on the cross. Christ as well. Now the flesh, the flesh is still there, the death is a symbol that the old man was put to death, but that's basically what the cojourning for Christ's judgment of the old man is dealing with.

Yes? Yeah, and that cojourning is like in a Roman him you're in union with him now right in the class we said can join first Corinthians 617 but he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit right and what Schaefer is saying is the the manner in which that happens is the like you were talking about there in Romans 6 is the Well, that's actually over in 611. It says we're to reckon or consider yourself dead. So you're going to count upon that truth that's been laid out in the previous verses in Romans 6 there.

So so for this one, we're definitely looking at this as a positioner. Which one is a position or possession? Well, I think it's position, certainly. Yeah. A lot of these are going to be viewed as positions. Yeah. But then you get down farther in there, you get it. We're going to count upon it and reckon that in verse 11 there. Yeah, and it's very easy to do that with all of these. You can say that this is my position, but I also possess the knowledge or the understanding that my old man is dead.

Right, and that's what Bill was alluding to in all of these. That truth we remember and count upon that truth so that we can live the Christian life. That's what's wonderful about these riches. Hopefully they're in our minds and our hearts as we walk by faith of all these wonderful things we have. Yeah. So our past perspective on this is that, you know, I mean one point in time obviously we weren't co-joined with Christ. And it is by His work on the cross and our faith in that that we are. That's the present tense.

And in the future, I mean, we always end up in the second Corinthians So I mean, let's try and whiz through a couple of them like that and not focus too much on the small stuff. Let's just give perspective on these. Would everyone agree with what I said there? So the next one is free from the law. Now we've already talked about this a little bit this morning. And here's what Schaefer says.

As now considered, the law is no more than a code or set of rules for governing conduct. Too often it is thought that to be free from the law is to be excused from doing the things that the law prescribes. But because the law is wholly just and good, it is difficult for many to accept the New Testament teaching that the law is not prescribed as a rule of life for the believer. What we teach in this church is you're free from the law. It's not about what the Bible teaches.

It's not about following a bunch of rules or a set of code or conduct. It's about living by grace, moment by moment, like you're talking about. You deal with the temptation, or whatever it is, your flesh, your sin nature that's conjuring up a sinful attitude, and you deal with that not by going to the law, but by understanding God's grace So not, I'm feeling tempted to do one thing or another, what does the law say I should do? It's, I'm feeling tempted to do something, where's my focus? And my focus is on God's grace and who He's made me. Can't we include in that we're free from the penalty of the law? Free from the penalty of the law.

Yes, because seven or eight of the law demanded the death penalty. I mean, we'd be all dead today. I mean, if we did, if we committed, if it's the same, in my mind, of committing an act, we're all dead. If you're in Christ, you're free from the penalty of sin, quite frankly. You can still do it. You can still sin, but you are free from the penalty of it because Christ took it upon himself. So absolutely, yes.

But we're not free from the consequences. For instance, if you are an alcoholic, and you just keep on a-drinkin' and keep on a-drinkin' and pretty soon your liver goes to pot. You become a Christian, or maybe you are a Christian, it's not going to cure your liver. And so sin has its consequences, and you find that in Galatians 6 where it's actually talking about the law, but the one who orders his life spiritually will have life everlasting, and the one who Or is this life after the flesh?

Well, it's really death. It's going to... Some sort of death. It's going to be a separation of some kind. You see, you're going to be... God's going to take you home because you're bad. Or physically, you're not carrying out your position. You're not living it. So you're, you know, in the determinate counsel of God, He knew that. And He knew that being a bad boy or a bad girl, time to come home. And so He takes you home. But the thing is that as long as you're still alive, on this earth, God has reason for it, and so we can still serve Him and glorify Him.

Penalty, power, and presence. We deal with the power that's been broken, but we still deal with that power on a daily basis, right? Because he was talking about the penalty of law. Well, isn't there the... No, never mind. That's a sin. Disregard what I said. It doesn't apply here. My mistake. That's all right. Yeah, and I understand where you're going with that, actually. Yeah. Different topic. Yeah, different topic.

But I mean, it's a brand new, and I mean, Paul and, I mean, the New Testament writers really had to deal with this because they're dealing with people who have been under the law for a long time, thousands of years, and they don't want to go away from it. They still think that this is the way that we operate. And what the New Testament writers had to deal with is, no, it's not.

We're not under law anymore, we're under a new principle and it's a principle of grace. It's a principle, I mean because under the law... It means you could lose your salvation, what that means. If the penalty of the law is still in existence, then in essence you could lose your salvation. But if you have the position through the reckoning with Christ, then it has to become a list of codes and rules, etc. Because it has no power.

It doesn't. I mean, that makes me think that I said something wrong, but it's got to be true. I'm, you know, racially legalistic, and the law is so important that it's hard for me to say that it's true. It can't only be codes. Well, and it's not the way that God intends a Christian to live either. No, right. Are you considering the law, the Mosaic Law? Right. That's what you're considering? Yes. Yeah.

Well, we still do some of the things. We're not free from that. We still do some of the things. Hey, we have certain rules and regulations. Which is law? Well, we have rules. But we're free from the penalty of it. Right. Sure. Which law are you speaking to? Any law. Any law. Any law. Yeah. We bow our head to pray. What's that? We bow our head to pray. Is that a law?

No. I keep my eyes open most of the time. You keep your eyes open. Especially if you're driving. Yeah, if you're driving. You better keep your eyes open. It's like a mosaic. Do, do, do this and do that and do that. But we're free from the penalty of that if we do it. That's what I'm saying.

Well at that point I think they become more based on tradition or something like that rather than law. Yeah, there are several institutions, I mean the Catholic churches The way that the Catholic Church operates is not what God had in mind. Because it's still a law-based system, and God, for the Christian, has in mind a grace-based system, where we're doing the things that we talked about earlier, where your focus is on things above, your focus is on who you are in Christ, not how much you need to do a code. The thing that's beautiful is that I think in Romans 8 it talks about there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ.

And the law, the whole context is talking about the law, the condemnation of the law. And then he goes on, the law has never been something that, I think a lot of people mistake something. They say the law no longer is applicable in the sense that it don't exist. No, the law exists, it's just that somebody who lives in it fulfills it.

In other words, it's Christ who could fulfill it. In other words, when you love, love is the key, a new commandment. See, there was a new commandment that the Lord gave that was not law. It is found in John chapter 13. It's a new commandment that I give to you.

That you love one another as I love you. When that's fulfilled by the Holy Spirit, who you're walking by, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, you're going to fulfill everything about the law. You're not going to commit adultery, you're not going to hate, you're going to kill, you're not going to murder, you know, you're not going to do some of these things that you're going to carry out. Under the law, it said if you carry them out, it's a death penalty. Right.

You see? But today, because there's no condemnation in your position, you don't have that same, you don't have that penalty or that judgment anymore. dumb. Why are you doing this? And Christ is God, so he's saying this is not of me, this don't heal on the Sabbath or don't, you know, things like that. You know, he came in and said that some of these things of the law that you guys made up are, what are you doing?

So it's the love of your brother that directs that particular action. Prevents you. Right, exactly. Love. See, the focus again, is exactly what he's saying, is that love will allow you to live through these processes without having them. That's excellent.

So our past look on us on being free from the laws, well at one point in time people were. And then a present, obviously we just don't have to worry about it. It's a love and a grace based system, not a law based system and it's going to stay that way in the future. I don't see anything in scripture that says he's going to go back to law. See, the Old Testament was unique in the sense that they gave you a law.

The law says to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Did you know there's not one human being that ever loved their neighbor like they loved themselves? Well, they can't do it. They can't do it. I mean, let alone the new commandment which love one another as I love you. Because only Christ can do that to you. I can only love you and you can only love me as Christ is the one that lives through me. And that's the point. The point is we can't do it.

What the law could not do, because Holy Spirit, Christ came and He did something for us. And I tell you what, He fulfilled the law. And so when you're walking by means of the Spirit, you're going to fulfill the law in terms of love. It's incredible. I'm really grateful that I'm not under the law, because all you experience under the law is failure. Condemnation. Judgment. And we really like bacon. And you wonder where the rock is going to go. When the first stone hits you. So, Kurt, I'm going to change the subject. Tell us about what's coming up next week. Oh, next week we will be starting how to study the Bible. in this class.

What other electives are there? We have the John, let's see, there's two other electives. There's the one that Mike Doyle and Courtney are doing is the Gospel of John. They're in about, I think they're in John 17 right now, which is a fabulous place to be. I mean, it's a wonderful place. Yeah. And then the other class, Vern and, who's helping over there? I had forgotten. Vern and others. Is it Jeremy? Jeremy, thank you. Jeremy Jones.

They're doing kind of a counseling class. Biblical counseling. Biblical counseling, I think. But that's been going on. So if you jump in there. So those two are a continuation of what's going on. A continuation of what's going on. And then we're going to start here, how to study the Bible. And actually Vern's going to help out here. Vern will be helping out here. So you get the, you know. Yeah, myself, Randy, Vern, and Bob. up in here next week.

And actually, you know, there's so much in that. Even though we spent, you know, 36, 39 weeks. Yeah, 39 weeks we spent on these Witches of God's Grace. You can see, we just, we opened the door and there, you know, you can go back and spend another 39 weeks. I mean, it just, it's marvelous what God has done for us. And that's where, as we talk about a lot today, that's where our focus is to be. That's what the Christian life is about. What Christ has done, you know, on our behalf. and who we are in Him. In any other place, it's going to be the wrong focus. You've got to focus on yourself, the law, and who knows what else.

Alright, well I guess we'll wrap up here and head on out. So I'll just finish with a quick little prayer and we'll go. Lord, we thank you for our time together this morning. Thank you that we can look at, just again, who we were, who you've made us, and what we're going to be in you forever, and all these wonderful positions and possessions that you've given us. Basically, they're all in you, and that's where the focus is to be, as we've just said. It's not about anything else. The temptation is definitely there for the focus to be on ourselves, or something of us, our job, or whatever it may be. political party who knows but really the focus is you it's nothing else and that is that is how you would you want us to live is with our focus on you knowing that knowing that these things are true of us because of you and you are the one who's going to live them out through us and pray that you keep growing us in that and more and more we become more and more just of you. Thank you for your time. Amen.