Lesson 38c

Alright, well I am up for just the last question on Lesson 38. And again, the verses we're going over, I'll just read them again. Romans 8, 31-33. This is Lesson 38. So, 31-33. What then should we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with him free to give us all things. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies." Again, a lot of comforting words and things in these verses. Again, if God is for us, who is against us? Pretty much all you need to say right there. So, let me get down to the question here. And because you're holding my feet to the fire, at least Jim was. I know he said he was going to make sure I covered this one. So, question 7.

Who are gods alike? From verse 33. Who will bring charge against gods alike? God is the one who justifies. So I asked who is being spoken of here, and that's us. And then I was asking the question, how are we elected? And what does that mean? From Newell, he says, �It is God�s elect whom the passage concerned.

God�s elect not only believe, but are confident, for there can be no charge laid against them. They boldly challenge any and every foe concerning any possible charge against them for God. It is not that those triumphing are without fault in themselves. They know that. But God is for them. They are His elect. And we know from the next chapter that the purpose of God�s that the purpose of God, according to election, is not of works, but on the contrary, of him that calleth."

Romans 9.11.

So, the big question that comes up here is, and I said that last week, is how does free will and election fit? This is one in the Brethren church, Brethren, this was a huge factor in the church and between the free will and the elect. And there's a lot between John MacArthur and others and it comes up as a very divisive thing. And I think sometimes it's just because the words and how people take them, I guess.

Question is, how can we be the elect of God and still have free will? Because free will was always there, and election is next. Election is next. Yeah, like after you're saved, then you're elect. Why don't we try to define what free will is? Okay. What is free will? I can do anything I want. Right? Free will?

You are strangely all quiet on this one. I shouldn't have said that it divided the church because now you guys are not going to say a word. Is it free to choose? Free to choose. With the ability to carry out your choices. Do you hear that? With the ability to carry out your choices. So, we're not robots. We're not puppets.

So, the other thing I want to say, when we have this word elect So people, and you can see this also, this comes up a lot in Calvinism and Arminianism. This is a big division too, between Calvinists and Arminians, and those different ones where Calvinism is God is sovereign, God does everything, man is dead, can't do anything, he's got to be elect, he's got to have God enact that salvation in him. that it's all pre-programmed. Arminianism is more in, I think, 90% of what free will, man has a choice. God brings him to that point where he either chooses or not chooses.

The negative part of Arminianism is the fact that in that philosophy or theology is that you can lose your salvation. from all of our identification, all that, you cannot lose your salvation. And that it's all emotional. They have their spiritual antennas out. I don't know about that. The premise of the Armenian viewpoint is that if I have free will to choose salvation, then at some point in the future I can exercise my free will to not be saved. Right. You have a choice. It's not permanent. Yeah, the free will is that you have the choice.

But the only thing in Arminianism is that they allow you to lose your salvation, which is not anything once saved. And that's why I like identification. I think before really knowing the identification, as I've told you many times, I've thought about, you know, I had my anchor verse, John 10, 28, I'm in God's hand and He can't take, you know, this kind of stuff. But after identification, you're dead. You've been crucified and you have a new life. How do I jump back through that hoop? You can't.

And so ever since identification, I've never worried about that ever since, that there's no way of losing your salvation. Because if you know the proper, through identification in Romans 6, and again Romans 6, 7, and 8, and how critical they are to the Christian, is that through identification, your co-crucifixion, the old man was judicially put away. Done. And so now you have a new life in Christ. I don't know how you go back through that." And so, for now, I've never had that doubt. I can't lose my salvation. And how do I get out of Christ if He's my very life?

So, again, from the Armenian side, when you know the identification truth. So, one of the other things I wanted to come up with, going through these battles in the Old Plymouth Brethren Church too, the other one that comes up is, and we saw this in Romans 8, 29 and 30, we just went through this. The other word that comes up is predestined. So, if we're predestined to be believers, that's what we're predestined.

So, in chapters 8, 29, and 34, those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be firstborn among many brethren. And these whom He predestined, He also called. And these whom He called, He also justified. And these whom He justified, He also glorified. See this also in Ephesians 1, end of 4 and 5. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.

Or if you go to Ephesians 1.10, in Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having being predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will. So these come up in Calvinism, Arminianism, Brethren, all sorts of stuff.

So do these verses mean that God chooses us no matter if we believe or not about Christ? Does it mean regardless, whether we choose or not? I don't think so. Well, he did die for everyone's transgressions. And that's another thing on the Calvinists. Calvinists only believe he died for only the elect. That's another kind of quirk of the Calvinists.

Yeah. So you're saying he died for everybody. regardless so he was not willing that anyone should perish I think you have to start with the premise that the issue of sin from God's perspective and sin being an insult to his holiness and his righteousness there has to be a reconciliation about that well he Christ died now he only died for the elect Well, what's interesting is that his substitutionary death, to put it this way, his death paid the penalty for the entire sins of the whole world. Not according to Calvin, but... Yeah, I know. But according to 1 John 2, he did. Oh, I know. The sin issue is really between God and Christ. That's really what it's between.

So just because a man sins have been paid for, why does he still go to hell? Well, in Calvin's view, he died only for your sins, which are wrong. There are several ones that you can point to that he died for all sins. So the covenant was to pay for all sins. Salvation is by grace. Salvation was an offer after the payment has been made. the sin was taken care of by the covenant of the status before any of us were created. And then graciously he offers us salvation through faith.

My question was, is that, if, if, pick on the guy that looks like he's building a group. I know, you can't use that guy in the White House. He's totally modified it. We're going to have to pick another house here. So his sins have been paid for. We're assuming he's not sinning. You have to allow that the penalty for his sins have been paid for. Again, not if you're Calvin, and that's the point.

But if he never in his life believes in the personal work of Christ, when he leaves here, why does he go to hell? Well, see, the flip side to that is If you believe the Calvinist view, and predestined means elect, that means it doesn't matter whether you believe or not. Well, yeah, because the Calvinist says that you get regenerated in order that you might believe. But if I don't believe, I'm still predestined. Well, the point is that God is going to regenerate you so you will believe. It has a lot of holes in this thing, which is what we're trying to point out.

If you take that view that elect means you're pre-elected, or you're predestined, it doesn't matter what you do. God already chose you, and it's done. One is subjective, the other is objective, right? Like Arminianism is objective, where grace is subjective, where grace is objective. I'll have to think about that one, whether that fits or not. But I guess the point being is that I think Calvinism or that view that elect means you're predisposed, pre-chosen, predestined, that didn't matter.

Before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the world. I remember in some of the One of the brethren guys was saying, if that was true, and if you were a believer and you had a yellow stripe down your back, this is in old England, he said, you know, I'd go through England and lifting up the coattails of everybody to see who has the yellow stripe, if you're predetermined. If everybody he knew who was predetermined, he'd want to go and find those people. I was looking up the definitions of these terms. And do you agree with this that predestination speaks of the predetermined destiny of the saints of God? Yeah. Yeah, and what that means is, it's predestined what we are as believers.

But that's after the fact. And Mike said it at the beginning, is that the elect part is after you've believed. And then you're predestined. Everything is true. It's predestined what's going to happen to us about who we are in Christ. Right, but did He predestine you to that? That's the question. No. It's like Mike says, you know, predestination speaks of our history in Christ. Yeah, it's after, like Mike said, you are placed into Christ now. All that's true. You're predestined. What's all that's true about Christ and us in Christ? But once you make that, and God knows about it since time is immaterial to Him, He knows all time at all points, so He knows.

But what the people who have the elect, I think it's MacArthur, is it MacArthur? I think he's about that, Calvinist. And so, he spouts off a lot of that stuff. And again, that you're pre-selected, you're pre-chosen. Well, yeah, in Christ. I have a lot of... well, go ahead. Well, let's address the issue of individual believers or non-believers sitting there.

You know, at some point, once he's saved, we can say, well, he was one of the called. But he didn't know that. So what does God do when he pursues a person like that so that that person will exercise his will without coercion you know, without extended favor to him that he wouldn't extend to one who isn't called. How does that work? Yeah, I mean there are all these questions that come up.

You know, the question I have is, if they were true about pre-selection and you're elected and it doesn't matter, why are there evangelists? I mean, it's called out as a, you know, why would you have an evangelist? That's the modern twist of it. Why would you have an evangelist if it's all pre-selected? It doesn't logically make any sense, and it's called out evangelist. It's not we make up that term, they're our evangelist. I know John MacArthur's Calvinism, and he would say to that question, We don't know who God chose. So we have to evangelize to get everyone God called into the fold. It doesn't matter. That makes no sense. Well, it doesn't, but it does to them. I know, to them. But it doesn't make any sense.

Why? Why would you worry about it? They still want people to get saved. diligent evangelists in the whole world. Oh, I know, but they put the pressure on about that. And again, it's kind of an odd twist about saving people, but if it's already pre-selected, why do you bother with it? You're commanded to preach the Word. So they're obeying God's command to preach the Word.

But it doesn't make sense. Why would you have an evangelist if it's already pre-selected? It makes no sense at all. The subjective part? Not subjective, but objective. I'll still have to contemplate that one. So again, why would you have evangelists? It doesn't make sense. Just to get the message out. Yeah, the message. But if you're already pre-selected, it doesn't make any sense. It does if it fits in with the plan that God put in place. Yeah, it fits perfectly. And he gave gifted evangelists. It says they're gifted evangelists. Why would you have them if there's any question? It doesn't make any sense.

The other is, and I think Carol brought it up, the ones that I bring, what about John 3.16? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. So whoever believes in Him, if you're pre-selected, and He loved the world, His desire is that none shall perish. Well, if it's a question, what did he mess up in the selection and predestination of people? The Calvinists would say he's still using people to save people.

Can't. Can't under that theology. Doesn't matter. If it's preselected, that you are dead, impossible, you cannot be Their philosophy is that you're completely dead. You cannot receive Christ. You cannot have salvation because you're dead. You're sinful. You're dead.

So God has chosen you. So, again, if He's chosen you, how does He say His desires are not so apparent? Well, so He decided you are, but you're not. You're out of here. That's where John MacArthur differs. He says God predestines somebody, but there's no double predestination in his plan. Double? What does that mean? A double predestination means he's predestined you for hell. And John says that is not true. A lot of Calvinists believe that. Yes, they do. John MacArthur does not.

Oh, about your predestined hell? So how do you meld that? He says in Romans 9 that God puts up with the unrighteous. God endures the unrighteous. But it's still, how do you, you know, all these things, and I have other ones. You never know, that's why you keep persevering. Yeah, I mean, you're persevering, but if it's already a select bunch, it just doesn't make sense to me. That's not, if you're talking about a God of love, who sent some to eternal life and some to damnation. Well, you know, it's not fair, you know. I mean, that's their... I'm talking, you know, where's love? Right. God's love. Well...

I mean, if he does that, Yes, I mean another one, whoever wills may come. So if he's already selected, what does that mean? He sways your will to make that decision. But you still make the decision. So you still make the decision. That's the whole dividing line. You know, the free will, the only thing free will that I've argued is, the only reason free will and the only thing is to make that choice. Everything else is garbage. All our other choices, all our other things. He's given us free will for that one decision. Do you believe or not? That's it. Everything else is immaterial. I would argue that we don't have free will. And the reason I argue that is that we're a slave to sin. So if you're a slave, how much free will do you have? I can will all I want, but if I'm a slave, I'm stuck. Sin controls me totally.

And the one thing that the Calvinists get right is that the total depravity of man. But that doesn't discount the fact that God can, through the Spirit, give him the understanding of the salvation message, and he can exercise his will to believe. And that also goes along with the fact that, what's my will for? That's why I said, as I just said, everything else is immaterial. I had to be rescued. You had to have the Holy Spirit working on you, through evangelists, through people, through the Word, through all of that, to bring you to a point where you said, okay, I believe.

And that's the one choice you have, the free will. I agree. You think you have free will while you're a sinner, but the only thing you can do is sin. Well, we only know of two people that had free will and both of them blew it. Adam. And I find it interesting that in God's economy, every creature that's a sentient being, someone he's given will to, has a test. They have to choose. And we were just Wednesday night studying Noah. Noah built the ark. God looked on the earth and he said, I'm going to wipe them all out.

And he finds one righteous man. And according to the numbers we were looking at, at the point in which he says that, there are probably two and a half billion people on the earth. And he only finds one righteous guy? Only one? That's what he says. Well, what that convinces me of is the strength in which sin dominates humanity.

And if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit and His work. And the other thing is, is that He pursues non-believers too. He doesn't let them flounder around. He projects what He is doing. See, and that's the point, I think, between the Calvinist or the predestined one, is that He is, until the last breath, He's trying to bring you to that point of decision. And he's never given up. And so that's the point of it, is that he's constantly pursuing you to get you to make that decision. He's not going to make it for you. Or he has not predetermined that decision for you.

And that's the key. And that's the free will part. That's the only thing, and that's why I said it before, the only reason for free will is to make that choice. That's it. The rest of the free will, now when I'm a believer, I make stupid decisions, and I make ones in accordance with God's will. Think about what a miracle it is that even anybody gets saved. If you really are a slave to sin, and the gospel is presented to you, even with the A guy said to me one time, the last act of the old man is to believe in Christ. Once he does that, he's toast. Yeah, and he's going to fight everything tooth and nail until that point. He's going to fight because he knows that's the last act. He's done as far as total control of you. He's done.

There's another one. We were talking about this also. If it's predetermined, why would Paul do this in Romans 10? We'll see this in Romans 10. 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. Why would he say that if they're already predetermined? Why would he pray that? It doesn't make sense to have it predetermined.

There are so many things that will point you in a direction that is contrary to that God's already made the decision. You, you. No, not you. You, you, you. What was said earlier, the elect, only God knows. God knows everybody. Yeah, but only God knows. The Calvinists believe that they don't know. What do you mean, they don't know? They don't know who's predestined.

Yeah, right. The elect is only on God's side that he knows who's predestined. The other part of the Calvinism Theology is the perseverance of the saints. You've got to make it all the way to the end. Right. Otherwise you weren't one of the chosen ones. Right. And so it puts the onus, just like in Arminianism, it puts the onus back on you to be performing. Right. So that you can demonstrate at the end of the day, I was one of the chosen ones.

Yeah, a lot of pressure. And that takes away the grace. Yeah, and works, pressure, that peace, rest, all that stuff, you know. predestination only applies to a believer. It doesn't apply to a non-believer. Right, and the point being is all the predestined, the elect means, and after you believe, you're now placed in Christ.

Well, how long had God known Christ? Since before we were even a thought. So, we're now predestined for all these things he's talked to about us. All that's predestined for us. Are we going to have life in Christ? Are we going to be the bride of Christ? I can go through all the 33 things of Lewis Perry Chafer. That's all true now. Those are all the things that are predestined for us when we believe. And the elect are the ones who have received. Now he's talking about us. So we used to have this one, elect is electos, chosen out ones.

We are chosen because in free will we believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, which paid for all our sins, judicially crucified the old man us into Christ. If we are in Christ, we are chosen of God. So when you say, how are we elected, is that the same thing as predestination? It happens after salvation? Yeah, we are elected because we are chosen of God. Chosen ones of God. Because we have been placed into Christ, we're now chosen. We have a history all the way back to Christ. All the way back to Christ. And that's the beautiful part.

I always think about the salvation, the identification truths, like to a prisoner or somebody who has just a tough past. I think the salvation message, the identification message at a prison or somebody who's gone through just a really rough life, the identification truths are probably the best thing you could ever hear of. I think for a prisoner or somebody who's been abused or just horrible, the identification says, that's all gone.

It's gone. Totally, you're now new in Christ. That is all gone. Tell the judge that. The greatest judge said you were free. I don't care about that. Even in prison or whatever, they now have freedom. All that burden and all the things that they did, the things that they may have done, horrible things. God's erased those. God's taken them with the old man and crucified them. You now have a new life in Christ. How freeing is that to somebody?

Or somebody who's been abused or something like that. At camp we went on this Adventure Bound thing and I was just supporting them. But the message and some of these kids and what they'd gone through, divorces and different things and hard stuff. And I just kept thinking about that message that all that stuff you've been through and all the things that you're carrying around, the burdens and all those things, in the identification, those can be gone. Well, your body isn't created new, but your spirit is. You're a brand new person. You're a brand new person, but all those things are gone.

Judicially paid for by Christ. Done. So, election has never spoken of somebody before they were saved. Right. It's always after. It's always after. It's always after. It's the same as the predestination. Right. Yep. It's always after. Good. We'll see if you've figured it out. It took 20 years of the Brethren to not even figure it out. They're still struggling over that. So, Mike, you're up.

So you'd notice on lesson 38, lesson 38, did all of your handouts have question 8 and 9 on it? Yes. Right. Well, question 8 and 9 goes along with the beginning questions in 39, question 2 and 3. So what I want to do is talk a little bit about Question 8 on my list, which the one I mailed out may have been different than the one that you got, or maybe it didn't. Does everybody have question 8 and 9 on lesson 38? Who doesn't have it? Everybody does have it.

So, question 8 was, can God accuse and justify at the same time? Is that the question you have? And why should verse 33 end with it is God that justifies? And if you go to lesson 39, you'll look at question 2 says verse 33 and 34 should go together. Can you see why? So let's look at the verses.

Because without one you can't add the other, right? Well, yes and no. It actually was kind of confusing for me for a while because And I thought, well, my class is really smart. I'll ask them. They'll figure it out. And then I'll read some of the stuff that I put down, which may help us understand.

But if you look at 33 and 34, now watch. 33 is, who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies, 34. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes rather, who is raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

So the point being, I can tell you what Newell says. Note that the last statement of 33, which is God is the one who justifies, is connected with the opening verse of 34, who is the one who condemns? The verse division is unfortunate, he says, we'll see, and clouds the meaning. The second sentence of 34, Christ Jesus is the one that died, etc., is entirely separate from and advanced upon the preceding verses. So what Newell is saying is that he would have put the verse division At the end of he'd had 33 run all the way to who is the one who condemns you see that I Make any sense yet Okay Further some would rather would render the answer to question 33 who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect is entirely in the question form Shall God that justifies shall Christ that died and We have not yielded to rendering to this. This is our boy Newell.

I love his language. We have not yielded to rendering to this. For this question, form does not fit the bold challenge here. For this whole passage is governed by the great word, who shall lay anything to charge to God's elect. So I think the first thing we've got to decide is, is verse 33 Just a question. Is Paul just asking a question? No. I don't think he is either. He's clarifying it. How about this idea? What if it was a challenge? What if he's challenging people? He's standing up there saying, okay guys, bring it on. Bring it on. Who can lay anything to... Who can lay a charge to God's elect? Who can do it?

Let me see it. See, it's way more than just a question of inquiring. He's saying, he's assuming you can't. You can't lay anything to the charge of God's elect, so he's putting out the challenge. Bring it to me if you can do it. You see that? So it's more than just informative, and I think if he says who can bring a charge against God's elect and then he says God is the one who justifies you get that he's saying and then he says who is the one who condemns so that should go together he's saying who can bring anything who's the one that's going to condemn it isn't God because he's the one who did the justifying so I'm listening you know who can bring a charge so it's really cool because Paul is saying, I'm standing here and I'm waiting for your challenge. Let me see it.

I wonder if there is somebody who could bring a charge against God's elect that would be verifiable. I think he's using logical reasoning here. If God's going to justify, who's going to say anything against God? That's exactly right. So with that in mind, question one of lesson 39 says, what are God's elect confident about? God's trustworthiness. Isn't that interesting? God's elect, who this passage concerns, they not only believe, but they're confident about what they believe. They're not dancing around. They're not hoping.

They're confident about this, that every foe concerning any possible charge against them can't be verified before God. It establishes our faith in Christ. The point is there aren't any charges. Now we'll amplify on that as we go along. But the salvation that we have, especially in light of the identification truths, I hate to ask your hands because you probably won't put your hand up.

Anybody sin already today? One guy. One honest guy in the back. So if you sinned, is somebody going to accuse you about that? Just myself. So you're accusing yourself. Well, judge yourself. Yeah, that's fine. So gee whiz, I'm looking at my circumstances and the fact that I sinned. Maybe these verses aren't true. There's a charge against me now. And oh, guess what? I did it, so it really did happen. So where's the confidence come from? God has already paid for the sins of the world.

See, that's the deal. The deal is that I may operate out of the sin nature. But there is no, you know, Romans 12 is real simple. There's no condemnation for those that are in Christ. Can't be. And God's very patient. And he's starting to lay out, well, he started way back in chapter 6 to lay out very carefully why there can't be.

Maybe you could say it this way. I can be accused of all kinds of things before God, can't I? I mean, every day. If I had to go stand before the Lord before I went to bed at night and there was accusations that were verified, I'd make it about one night. Satan's the accuser of the brethren. That's right. Because there's no question that we did it. And we'll talk about it in the last question. But the point is that believers, this challenge says to a believer, you need to be confident here. that there isn't any charge that can be laid against you, especially the ones you accuse yourself about.

A good example, I was talking to a friend of Regan's one day. She was over and they were, I forget what they were talking about, but she's one of those people that's had a pretty tough upbringing. Her dad was not a really nice man. And she was making some comment about she's going to Al-Anon meetings because her dad was an alcoholic. She said, you know, I'm really trying hard to forgive myself about my sins. And I said to her, I said, why are you doing that? She said, well, I think I have to do it. Otherwise, I'm going to be enmeshed in them forever. I said, well, how about this thought that God already forgave you? He's done.

How come you're not? And it was one of those questions you ask somebody and they blink and they don't have an answer for, because that thought's never entered their mind. Yeah, God's done with sin, how come we're not? Yeah. So it brings into question, what does 1 John 1-9 mean then?

If I confess my sins, God is faithful and just to forgive my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Why is he asking me to confess? That's for fellowship. Well, you have to divine confess. I'm sorry? You have to define confess. Yeah, that's right. What does confess mean? Reiterating all the sins that I did in my life, or is it just agreeing with God that I am the sinner? Well, agreeing with God that, number one, you crucified me. You buried me. You resurrected me. I'm now in Christ. I'm an entirely new creation.

And what I did, I agree with you that that was something I did acting out of my own sin nature, which you've condemned. So I confess you're right. I'm wrong because I commit a sin because I think it's reality, and it's something that's going to benefit me, when in fact it doesn't. For someone to say that sin for a Christian is spiritual insanity, they're right.

It's doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Come on! Sinning is not ordinary for Christians, and that's what this confidence is about. I think some of the question in 1.9 also, He's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It seems like that if we do it, He's going to do that. And it's already taking place. That's I think the rub that most people have. If I do it, it's going to make me better. I'm going to function better. He's going to cleanse me of this nastiness. I think if you look at the verb tenses there, it says that.

Yeah, but doesn't that have to do with our fellowship with the Spirit? Well, that's the consequence. If I sin, there's a consequence for my sin. What is it? I lose fellowship. Well, that presupposes that I have fellowship to start with, right? Now I would present to you that if you live under a law system, like Reformed theology or even Arminian, that you don't ever have fellowship because you're always under the law. And what does law cause you to do?

Only think about you and how I'm doing. It does not allow you to think about the Lord Jesus Christ. Because always judging and operating based on how I'm performing rather than resting in what God has already done. So if I'm walking in the Spirit, if I am resting by grace in the Lord Jesus and I do sin, I'm sensitive to it. I really am sensitive. But if I'm under a law system, I probably don't even record half of what's going on because I don't have that sensibility.

That's why teaching positional truth and intimacy with Christ is so critical for us as growing believers. There has to be that fellowship What the heck is fellowship? What is it? It's hanging out with the Lord. So I'm hanging out with Donna all the time, right?

Like we hung out all day yesterday. She says to me in the middle of the day, made some comment about the fact that she didn't think I was treating her right. Guess what? She was totally right. And I thought, oh brother. But it didn't affect my standing with her. But it might affect my relationship with her, my fellowship with her. See that? But it isn't going to affect anything in terms of who we are together. Does that make sense? Because you're married. Because we're married, yeah. Well, I'm not only married to Christ, but I'm united to Him.

I share His very life. I'm positioned in Him. I ought to be able to say, well, I have to some degree I kind of know who he is. I kind of have a, you know, I understand without people even putting it in words. I know what it's like, you know, because I spend time with him. Because he woos me. He loves me.

Is that the second bell? So, actually next week we'll just pick up with question one and rock through it from there. Okay, I hope I didn't leave anything hanging. Well, if I did, see me afterwards. Let's pray. Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace. We thank you that especially that everything that has ever been or ever will be between you and me and you and us has already been taken care of. And so we are confident. We are confident of our position in your son standing before you. And we pray in your son's precious name. Amen.