You In Christ and Christ in You
Mike Doyle · Sep 6, 2009
You in Christ & Christ in You, No. 36
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492614233368

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

Lesson 24 might be a little bit difficult as we go through because there wasn't any syllabus to work off of, but you're up to the task, I'm sure. Would you say that the prescription for conduct under grace is more demanding than living under the law of Moses?

Would you say that's true? How many, raise your hand, how many think yeah it probably is? I've got one that says yeah, two that says yeah. So the rest of you don't think so. You think it's, you think it's just as difficult to live under the law of Moses than it is to live under grace? What do you think? Yes. Didn't he give us a commandment we can't keep? So if the Jews couldn't keep them, do you think grace is even more stringent?

No. Do you think it's easier? Well, you get it to you without being warranted. Let's say that again? You get it for nothing. I mean, you get it if you believe it's a gift. That's right. You get the grace, but how about living under it? You didn't use the word stringent, you used the word demanding. I think it is more demanding because it requires that you not rely on yourself. Self is out of the equation.

How about what's coming, the Kingdom Law? Anybody know what the Kingdom Law is? You know the famous Sermon on the Mount? That's the Kingdom Law. That's what Jews are going to be living under when Christ comes to rule and reign. I'll repeat the question and see if I can get you all engaged. Would you say that the prescription for conduct under grace is more demanding than living under the Mosaic Law or Kingdom Law?

I think everybody said, yeah. And then I said, give me three examples. Give me one example. The reason I ask you about that question about the Old Testament, and this probably is off the wall, but is it because we have one nature warring against the other so it's more difficult to maintain our walk? Does that make any sense?

I would say that the law was given to the unrighteous man. The guy with one nature. The man in Adam, specifically the Jewish man in Adam. And was the law given so that they could become righteous? No. Why was the law given to the Jews? What was the real reason God gave? They asked for it, and he said okay. And he gave it to them. What was the real reason that God gave them the law? It's in Romans chapter 5, verse 19 or 20. The law came in so that sin might abound. I thought the law was to keep us in the box so that sin wouldn't abound. But the law came in so that sin might abound. The best example I know of that is your grandson is upstairs, right? How old is he? Almost one year. If you tell him not to touch whatever's on the table, what will he do? He'll touch it. Why will he?

Because the law makes sin abound. It's built in. Whenever the Adamic sin nature gets a command from God, it instantly goes against it. Any of you who have teenage kids understand what I'm talking about. The minute you tell them I don't want you to, or you're not going, or whatever, you're going to get instant pushback. Now, the kingdom law, according to Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Hebrews, the law is going to be written on the Jew's heart.

Kind of cool, huh? I'm going to write it right there. They're not going to have to teach anybody, each other, about God, or about the things of God. They won't need Bibles, because they'll all know Him. They'll all have that Mosaic Law written, or the Kingdom Law, or the Sermon on the Mount written on their hearts.

So, guess what? It's going to be a wonderful performance. There really will be, in a Jewish, you know. But, again, they'll be able to do it. Because it's written in him. Understand that? There isn't a Jew alive from Moses till today that's ever kept the law. Ever.

Well, will they still have an old sin nature? Yeah, they will. But Satan will be bound, so he won't be picking on them. And the law, they will walk in God's statutes. Now, is that more demanding than living under grace? Understanding and they'll be able to perform it. Yeah, they will choose it. It'll be part of what they are. And the king will be living in Jerusalem with them.

No, I don't. Oh, yes, they will. Yeah, it says that I pour my spirit upon all flesh. Absolutely. Well, are those the Jews that are now believers? No. Are you talking about those? No. Those are Jews who are going to be Jews in the Millennial Kingdom. Saved Jews.

No. Because in this stewardship, you're either outside of Christ or in Christ. There isn't any other distinction. The Word of God says that in Christ Jesus there's neither what? Republican or Democrat, right? Francophane or not. No, there's neither Jew or Gentile, bond or free, Scythian, male or female, all are one in Christ. That's today. Yes it is. Yes it is. But only the believer is under grace. Only the Christian in Christ is under grace. No other creature is or ever has been.

So, I would say that the prescription for grace is much higher than either the Mosaic Law or the Law of the Kingdom. It's immeasurably more difficult to maintain than that prescribed by either the Law of Moses or the Law of the Kingdom. It's much higher. It's as much higher as the heavens are from the earth. Okay? Example. Higher versus demanding. Higher. Demanding. Demanding.

Okay, here's a prescription for life under grace. And if you're pulling this one off, raise your hand. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. How are you doing with that one? How come nobody's hand went up? Always giving thanks. Always. Not Fridays. Always.

Ephesians 4.1.

Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. What's your vocation? What are you right now? We're in Christ. You're in Christ. Which means that you're no longer an earthly man. You are now a heavenly man. Right? You have in your position in Christ the very resurrected life of Christ. So when Paul says You need to walk worthy of that position. How are you doing with that one? So I'm disagreeing with the question.

The prescription is easy. If you read, what would you say? The prescription for conduct. The prescription is easy. All we have to do is receive it. Prescription for conduct. Yeah, the prescription for conduct is Live like who you are. It's an easy one. Just say thank you. It's the Spirit's work, not ours. Okay. And our definition of grace, unmerited. How much are we doing there? We're receiving. Yeah.

And unlimited. I look at that and the prescription is easier under the Mosaic Law, which they could not do. There's no possibility of it for the Mosaic Law. It's an impossible one. So I'm looking at that as the prescription of grace is easy. Now whether we receive it or do it, but the prescription... The prescription for conduct, behavior. Yeah, the prescription is easy. Well, the prescription for the Mosaic Law is easy. Just read them. It doesn't mean you do them. You understand? Read the Sermon on the Mount. Nice and easy. I understand, but let me see you do it.

Read Ephesians 4.1 or 5.20. I want to see you do it. I want you to rejoice always. Call me this afternoon and tell me how it's going. You understand what I'm saying?

The requirements for life under grace supersede the requirements of the Mosaic or the Kingdom Law as far as the heavens are from the earth. You think the mosaic law is unkeepable? Living under grace is totally impossible. Why? Why is it? Well, God's going to come along and write grace in our hearts. Why is it impossible? Because it's supernatural. It's the life of God himself.

Do you see that? Yeah, but I'm not afraid of the grace. No. No. There's no fear in it at all. But if I was living under the Mosaic Law, I'd be terrified. That's right. And under the Mosaic Law, you don't have any support. When God gave the law to Moses, he didn't say, oh yeah, we're going to have 15 guys show up to help you keep it. No, there was no provision given to keep the Mosaic system at all. None.

And under grace, I know that God is going to do it for me. That's right. That's exactly right. So I don't worry about how can I give thanks all the time. I go and I say, Lord, I can't give you thanks. Please help me to learn how to do it. Yeah. Well, is it that, is it the Lord help me to learn how to do it? Well, teach me. Enable me. Let's talk about that for a minute. It's conforming.

I say the prescription comes with the Holy Spirit. where in the mosaic you didn't have that. There was no possibility. Under the... It didn't seem to slow them down any. Well, no. Yeah, but under the mosaic you had no choice. You couldn't do it. There's no...

But with our prescription, we get a new creature and the Holy Spirit with that prescription. Yes, we do. One more and then we'll tackle the whys and the why nots. Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, is that true? Everybody in this room been raised with Christ? Here's what you gotta do. Keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth.

There's nothing like that in the kingdom law, nothing like that in the mosaic law. So the best example I know of is the command to love. God has commanded his creatures to love from Adam forward, right? Under the Mosaic Law, what's the love principle?

I'm to love my neighbor as myself, right? Isn't that it? Isn't that the standards? So if you're like me and you grew up in the religion I grew up in, the focus was on loving yourself, of course. And once you loved yourself, then you'd be free to love your neighbor. Boy, the psychologists love that. So, in the kingdom, here's what the kingdom ups the ante a little bit.

In Matthew 5.43, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That's the Mosaic principle.

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven, for he causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same. So now you're supposed to love, under the kingdom law, you're supposed to love your enemy and you're supposed to pray for him. Now let's take it up to grace.

John 13.34. The Lord Jesus says, A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. Do you see where the standard just went up infinitely? Because now what's the standard? What's the standard now? Christ is the standard. He's the standard.

It's no longer, I can't get by with loving my neighbor. I can't get by with loving and praying for my enemy. I have to love, we have to love one another as Christ loves us. John 15-12, this is my commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. Now, how did he prove it? He died. Okay? Alright, line up on the wall. You know the great joke?

The big church, 500 people in the church, and right before the services to begin, five guys in black hoods and submachine guns come in and they start spraying bullets all around the place, and everybody hits the floor. And the leader of them yells out, all those of you Those of you who want the opportunity to leave and not stay for the church service, go now. And everybody empties. The choir goes first. And he shoots his gun again and says, OK, everybody who is not willing to give their life for their religion, you can leave now. They got it down to about 15 people and the guy took off his mask and said, OK, we can start the service now. The point is that it's like the command of a husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. The standard for love under grace is totally sacrificial. Totally. There is no if. Do you understand that?

Now, this is probably the best example to show Moses' Law, what the Kingdom Law will be, and then what it is living under grace. You know, if you as a husband, on your own, can love your wife as Christ loved the Church, raise your hand, because I'm going to give you the microphone. Can't do it. But you're right, you know, the discussion is about, we've been given the Holy Spirit, to enable that life to be lived through us.

Next question. Does God supply any help for man to live under any of the systems he institutes? And as we mentioned, there is no help given to the Jews under the Mosaic system. None. No help. Wouldn't that scare you to death? I mean, if you were serious and you kind of started to read the Mosaic Law, all 600 plus of them, and you keep looking for the footnote that says, oh, I'm going to be there to help you, you know, or it's like when the Jews wouldn't walk in God's statues, right? And when it came time for them to go up to Kadesh Barnea the second time and to go in the Promised Land, you know, God gave them the gave them the rules of what they were supposed to do and how they were supposed to do it. But you know what he said to them? I'm not going with you. I'm not going with you. I don't think any of them understood what a devastating statement that is. I'm not going with you. You go, but I'm not going with you. That would be scary to me.

And I think that's one of the problems of any of you who have grown up in a a legalistic Christian church. I mean, at some point in your existence you have to wake up someday and say, I can't do this. Am I right? Everybody had that understanding at some point? When you look at it and you say, I can't do this, I guess God is just going to fry me. Or, I must not be a believer. Or, I don't know, the guy sitting next to me seems to pull it off, I can't. That kind of thing.

A supernatural power is provided for the execution of a superhuman rule of life under grace. It isn't just you've got more human energy, it's a supernatural power. I think Lewis Barry Chafer says that this is the most vital teaching there is under grace. that a supernatural power has been given to everybody in order to carry out the principles of grace. So what does that make you, if you want to perform? Supernatural.

No, that's not what I'm asking. It doesn't make you anything. It makes you dependent. If the standard is way up here, and you couldn't meet these two down here, and God gives you the spirit of, as one man said, the divine enablement for the body of Christ is none other than the infinite power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And you and the Spirit are not in a co-op. This isn't a deal where he's helping you to do anything.

Right? You're absolutely dependent on him to carry out the principles of grace. Totally. Not a little bit. 97.3, 100%. Lewis Perry Chaffer said that God has given us a prescription for life that is totally impossible for us to live, yet he expects us to live it. That doesn't make any sense, does it? How are we going to pull it off? Because he wants us to depend on him as you just stated. He wants us to depend on his spirit to live that life through us.

In the Millennial Kingdom, just to repeat myself, in Hebrews 8, 8-12, the writer of Hebrews talks about what God is going to do and what provision He is going to make in the Millennial Kingdom. For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel, not with the church. After those days, What are after those days? What days? Church age. After we're out of here and Israel's back in focus, I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them in their hearts and I will be their God. Kind of cool.

And they shall be my people and they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen and everyone his brother saying know the Lord for all will know me from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

That's what God promises to the Jews in the millennium. I think when the millennium starts, the only Jews left on the planet are believers, believing Jews. There aren't very many left, but they're all believers because God deals with them as a nation. So when it comes to the enabling power of the Spirit in the lives of the individual children of the kingdom, it will be seen that the Spirit has come upon all flesh and the individual will prophesy dreams and see visions.

Joel 2.28 talks about that. So the Spirit of God will be there, but He won't be... Can you tell me the difference between the Spirit of God being in the nation of Israel and in the Jews and what He is in us? What's the difference? Is there a difference? Yes or no? How many say, yeah, there is? How many say, I don't think there is a difference?

Lots of you guys are chickens. Well, raise your hand. There's a hand. Well, I thought we would all be the same. If we believe, then Gentiles, Jews, whoever, we would all be the same. Right now, in this time frame? Right. How about in the Millennial Kingdom? Well why would you change then? Because the church is going to be gone. So they would be a preference? You are a preference, they're not.

You're a member of the body of Christ. You're going to be the bride of Christ. That's never said about Israel. Never. Even those that believe? Those that believe now are no longer Jews, they're now members of the body of Christ, the church. In the Millennial Kingdom, the church is going to be ruling and reigning with Christ, but there will be Jews and Gentiles living on the earth. The Jews will have this going on in their hearts, and they'll be living here. They'll be living in Palestine. And they will have the law written in their hearts and in their minds. They'll have the Spirit poured out on them, all flesh. We will be ruling and reigning with Christ. We won't be under this.

So what's the difference in terms of my relationship with the Spirit of God and say a Jew in the Millennial Kingdom? What's the difference between the indwelling Spirit and the outpouring of the Spirit which they will have in the Millennial Kingdom? Do you understand the question? Everybody hear the question? The indwelling of the Spirit, when the Spirit comes and takes up this abode in you, what happens to you in your position? You become a new creature in Christ. You have a position in Christ. The pouring out of the Spirit is poured out on all flesh to enable the flesh to walk in God's statues. That's a different thing than being placed into Christ by the baptism of the Spirit.

Do you understand what I mean by that? I don't think we appreciate who we are. Do you understand what I mean by that? The spirit will be poured out upon them. I don't have any doubt that the spirit will be in them in the sense that he will enable them to do things, just like when he indwelt the Old Testament believers. But he isn't permanent. How do I say this? They are not going to have the resurrected life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's unique to us. Let's talk about that for a minute.

Where is heaven? Where is it? East of Aurora. Where is heaven? It's wherever God is, right? Heaven is a place. Now, God made a promise to Abraham that he was going to create the Jewish nation and that he was going to give them land. Do you think that promise ever goes away? No. So where are the Jews going to live for all eternity? Land, someplace, right? The land is going to be in the recreated earth. That's going to be heaven on earth. Where is the church going to be? The bride of Christ? The New Jerusalem. Wherever Christ is, is where we're going to be. We are not earthly people anymore. We are heavenly people. We've bought into this idea that heaven is like Disneyland and it's got to be a place where we all go. That's not what heaven is. Heaven is wherever the Lord is.

Just trying to get it straight. You were talking about the spirit is going to be poured out on them. Our motivations are different. Our motivation is doing things because we love the Lord. And theirs is not. They're just following the law. They're following the principles. They will know the Lord and I think they'll love Him.

On Wednesday night we spent a whole class on what it is, and we talked about this last week, what it means to be the righteousness of God in Christ. Anybody here for that class? What does it mean? What's the difference, and you tell me, what's the difference between Abraham being accounted righteous and Courtney being the righteousness of God in Christ. What's the difference in those two? There is a huge difference. Abraham was, what's the word, imputed righteousness. So that he was righteous before God, right? Because of his faith. It was God's imputed righteousness that made Abraham acceptable before God.

Now how about the statement that Courtney is the very righteousness of God in Christ. Is that the same thing? Whose righteousness is Courtney? Christ. That means that nothing of Christ has been imputed to Courtney. Courtney is now in Christ and all that Christ is is what Courtney is.

He's intrinsically changed. Abraham wasn't intrinsically changed. He's a new creature. And being a new creature doesn't mean he ceases to be a caterpillar and now he's a butterfly. That's not what it means. It means that he used to be from and of Adam. He now is from and of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's God himself. God's righteousness is infinite. So is his. His standing before God is the same standing God has before himself. Make sense? Yes.

When you talk about how in the past people looked towards the cross and you looked backwards too, I have, not to be misunderstood, but Abraham is like the father of faith. I thought he was important because he gave them the same benefit that I did. It gave him the benefit in terms of God accounting him righteous. And men were counted righteous no matter where they were in history if they believed the revelation that God gave them. The revelation to Abraham is minuscule compared to the revelation to me. My faith is in facts that are already accomplished. His were in something God was going to do in the future. His position doesn't change like ours does. The body of Christ, the church, is an entirely new thing.

Not even talked about in the Old Testament. It's called in Hebrews and in Colossians and in Ephesians, the mystery. Not revealed before. And who was the guy who got the information on the mystery? Was it Christ? Who was the guy that reveals the mystery to us?

It's Paul the Apostle. Peter, James, and John don't know anything about it. They very seldom... John will kind of refer to it, but to understand what John is saying, you've got to read Paul. Paul is the guy who God gave this information about the body of Christ to. Position, identification, Son of God, Bride of Christ, that's all new stuff.

Never talked about in the Old Testament, ever. Never referred to. all these predictions about the Millennial Kingdom and the Jews and all of that is there, but not the Church. Boy, we are rocking along today. There is no revelation to effect that this will be the abiding principle in ministries.

Oh, I jumped ahead. In Joel chapter 2 verse 30, Joel says, I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape. As the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. What we're talking about here is the day of the Lord. What's the difference between the day of the Lord for you and me, and this day of the Lord? This is the day right before the Lord shows up to take over, where there's been what we call the week of Daniel. Lots of wonders and signs in nature. Wouldn't we love that? We don't want to live by faith, we want wonders and signs, right?

So to whom are the tenants of grace directed to? Who are they for? To whom are the tenants of grace directed to? Who are they addressed to? Democrats. Who? No. I think I read it in my favorite books. They are addressed to the supernatural man who is born of the Spirit and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. You hear that? That's the right answer. Only those in Christ, only those in Christ live under grace. Now, salvation is offered to all men, right? But the actual living in and under grace is only believers.

Are you alright with that? Is there an aspect in which grace is in effect in the sense that God has reformed his wrath? Oh, I see what you're saying. That's a good question. Everybody understand the question? Is there a sense in which the whole world is kind of living under grace now because God is withholding his wrath and lots of people say, well, God probably isn't going to do anything. Boy, if he hasn't done it by now, he probably won't. Yeah, I think so. But I think that the world functions under a law principle, don't you?

Only the body of Christ functions under this operating system of grace. I can't overemphasize that grace is not a commodity. It's not super unleaded. Again, I guess I'm wondering, it seems like grace is being poured out in abundance everywhere, but the leaders are the only ones who have receptors that can live hundreds, or avail themselves of it, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, I agree with that. I would say this though, that the grace of God has been... God is standing there with His grace to all men today, and He's saying to every man, if you will believe, that's all He's saying, if you will believe, then what? You get it all, with no impediments at all. if you will believe. There's no legal requirement for you to do anything religious. As a matter of fact, you've got to abandon your religion in order to believe.

So if you have believers that you're giving an operating system of grace, and they are interacting with non-believers, Do the non-believers recognize the grace of God? Some. Some. Obviously that's not the motive for the believer, but so that they recognize it.

The believer lives by his focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. Hopefully his life demonstrates to those outside of Christ and draws all men to him. The problem that you run into is that most of the time the reverse happens. All you have to do is study the life of the Apostle Paul. When he went into a town, he goes up to the synagogue, he gets a couple of free weeks, because he's a Pharisee, that was the deal, he got the floor, and he starts to explain through the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. In every town there were a few who believed, but most of them didn't. When we're studying Thessalonians on Tuesday now, Paul makes it very clear that when he was in Thessalonica, his conduct was commensurate with who he was in Christ.

He never did anything that was outside of the realm of who he was as a minister of the gospel. Never. Yet he was persecuted all the time. You have to understand that the life of the resurrected Christ that every one of us has, and grace, grace is the most hated thing there is. There's nothing more hated than grace. Why?

It keeps self out of the picture. That's right, it keeps self. What is there for self to do in grace? I mean self, does self get a little partnership going? A little recognition? No, he gets nothing, so he hates it, because it doesn't give him an opportunity to express himself. Do you see that?

That's the one thing that the sin nature won't do, is not do. It's striving all the time to express its life. The flesh has strong desires against the spirit, and the spirit has strong desires against the flesh, so that we're not able to do the thing that we would do. The sin nature wants to express. It wants to put those desires into action. The Spirit of God has strong desires to manifest the life of Christ through you.

Where are you in that equation? Are you the flesh? No, you're not. The flesh is in you, but you're not in it, in the flesh anymore. Are you the Spirit of God? No. So where are you? Are you the victim? No. The issue is how do you learn to live in dependence upon the Spirit of God unless God takes away everything for you to do other than to be dependent? To live by faith. Faith is the one thing you do that you don't get credit for. Faith demonstrates your dependence. Faith shows that you believe God when he tells you. You alright with that? What are we saying? Yes? I've just got a pretty basic question because I'm pretty new to all this.

Does God choose who believers are or is it a choice that you make yourself? Probably the best way to answer that question is my buddy Miles Stanford used to say that all believers as they walk up, all human beings as they walk up to the gates of heaven, there's a big sign over the gate that says, whosoever will may come. Once they believe and walk through the gate, there's a sign on the back of the gate that says, chosen from the foundations of eternity.

The problem is that if I say, yeah you are chosen, then it sounds like God isn't fair, that he doesn't offer salvation to all men. If God's only attribute was fairness, everybody goes to hell. God has the right, because of the work of Christ, to choose.

But what we're going to find at the end, in the end game, is that everybody was offered the opportunity, the whole world has been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, because he says in John 14, that's what I'm doing. He said, I'm going to convict the world of sin because they don't believe in me.

Not just Americans, the world. I don't know how he does it. The salvation supplied by God because of the work of Christ goes out to all men. But there certainly, it seems to me, there certainly are men that haven't heard the name of Christ. I do know that in Romans 1, Paul says that if any man will acknowledge God as God because he's revealed in their conscience and in the creation, and if they're thankful, I'm sure he'll get the gospel to them. But most people, every person has that revelation.

Agree with that? The reason you know that is because he tells you in Romans 1. You know that because he said so. You may not see evidence of it, but that's not necessarily salvation. But God demands and requires that every one of his creatures acknowledge him as God and be thankful. And if they will, I think you'll get the gospel to them. Number two, if they won't, and he says right there, you're without excuse. I've given you the tools.

We know people that claim to be atheists. Well, at some point in their life, they weren't. At some point, they rejected God. Because they had the will to do it. So, I'm of the mind that God does choose, but I don't know who they are. And so I pray for any and everybody.

I know he has the right to do it, and it has nothing to do with being fair, because salvation is a grace thing. Nobody earns it. If there was one modicum of earning, it wouldn't be grace. Does that make sense? But if God chooses, if you're a believer, you wouldn't have to choose your growing up.

Well, what you read about, like predestination, you see that word. When you study that word in the New Testament, what you find out is that predestination only has to do with believers. It never says that a lost man is predestined to salvation, but it does say that believers have been predestined to certain things, to be conformed to the image of Christ.

That's why I like the door or whatever it is. See, you and I differ. I mean, mine's more that it doesn't seem like we come to some point by the Holy Spirit where we believe in the end of a meritorious act. But once we do that, then all the predestination comes because our life is His life as Christmen. meritorious belief that we're not selected, preselected.

All those preselections that I looked up, they're always in him. It's always associated with in him. There's never a time where it's predestined before the in him. So all the predestination statements are the in him, which makes sense as far as And that's fine.

It's God's wish that none should perish. That's His will that none should perish. Did the second bell go off? But His righteousness and holiness, and I'm going to talk about that at the Lord's table this morning, actually demanded the death of Christ. Demanded it. So it's really interesting what God does.

He takes care of all of the issues that have to do with Him. Because He knows man, His creature, can't live up to Him. Could never satisfy His holiness and His righteousness. So He takes care of them. And then He comes to man and says, OK, I'm satisfied. If you'll just believe me, you get it all. And man says, no, I think there's a couple of things I should do. You know, don't I have to do two spiritual push-ups and write five checks? No. All you have to do is...

It's the testimony of God about Christ. If you believe that, He will save you for all eternity. And I don't know, is there anybody in the United States that's never heard of the name of Jesus? If they are, I don't know who they are. Especially here. Well, we've run through three whole questions today. Father, how we thank you for your grace, and how we thank you that you are so patient as we learn your grace and learn of you. And we thank you that we continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of your dear son, and we pray in his precious name. Amen.