Great Doctrines of Salvation
Mike Doyle · Dec 5, 2010
Great Doctrines of Salvation, No. 49
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492622137868

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

We're doing lesson 10 today. We finally have reached the point where there's something for you to do. Up until this point, all you were given was positional information. So when you get to Romans 6.11, here comes some instructions based on which you supposedly already know. So, my first question was now that we arrive, we now arrive at our part in God's plan for freedom from the power of the sin nature, what does the word reckon mean? Is it anywhere you want as long as you clean up after? Yeah, I don't want to mess anything up. verse 11. Romans 6 chapter 11.

Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Okay, we're to reckon on two things. One, I'm dead to sin. Two, that I'm alive to God. So, what does reckon mean? To rely upon. Okay. Count it to be so. Count it to be true.

How is that different than faith? What's that? How is reckon different than faith? That's a great question. How is it different than faith? Because reckon and faith are not the same word. In the Greek the word for faith is phistos. The word for reckon is logizimai.

They're different words and they do mean different things. And so how are they different? would be based on the conditions up to this point in time, you can agree with what's been said. OK. I understand. So you're saying it's no. Well, that's the first part. But the question is, what do you do with the facts? Well, you believe the facts.

But this is, I think, has to do with more than believing. It's you can say that this is an accounting word and you can also say it's a courtroom word from an accounting standpoint. If I ask you to add up a column of numbers and they added up to 27, you would say, I reckon that the sum is 27. And the reason you would say that is because the sum is 27. You see that? If you're doing somebody's tax return, when you get down to the bottom line and it says UOX, you reckon that that number is true because you've done all of the prep work necessary to arrive at that conclusion.

And it is more than just faith, it has been proven out to you through the information given that what you are reckoning on is in fact true. Does reckoning have more experience or feelings involved in it? Because it's not based on feelings, it's based on facts. I would say it's not so much as feelings as it is attitude.

Do you understand that? But don't you have to reckon something before God's going to work it out in your life? Not the other way around. Oh, interesting question. Do you need to reckon a truth in the Word of God before God will work it into your life? I mean, I'm not saying that it's not true, because everything's... It is true. Whatever you've learned is true. But does God wait for you to reckon? No. Does He wait for you to do anything? No. What do you think? Yeah, I think he waits for you to believe him. I think if you don't believe him, it doesn't get worked into you.

So faith is the key, but reckoning is as a result of your faith, maybe, and the facts. You know, I would just kind of from personal experience, it seems like some things were already being done before I believed, And then it's one of those cases again where you look back and you go like, oh, that's what was going on. That's a good way to look at it because you got the information and it was clear that your old man was crucified with Christ and you believed him. And then sometime later you went, oh yeah, I see what that, that has to be true. I reckon it so. Yeah. Maybe not. So maybe not till, till you believe. do you see it? I think you see it first. I think the Spirit of God shows it to you, and not from an experiential standpoint, just from an objective, positional point of view.

Your old man was crucified. Wow, what incredible information, if it's true. And God says, well, why don't you just believe me about that? And then when you do, he begins to work it into your life. And as the work is going on, you start to reckon. In other words, if sin shows up in your life, your sin nature is being proactive, how do you deal with it?

Pay really close attention, because that's an important point. And we all make the mistake that we reckon it did. Who died? I did. It didn't die. I did. Listen to the words. Reckon yourself dead unto sin. It does not say that sin died. It says that you died to it. Right, because we have this sin nature forever until we die. Until we leave, that's right. But when the word comes down that our old man was crucified and we were separated from it, then God says reckon that to be so, because it is so. Watchman Nee uses an example of reckoning, if you've ever read his Normal Christian Life.

In Corinth, on one side of where the town was, It was a big shipping port because it was a real narrow isthmus there, I don't know, six miles. And the merchants would come in there with their ships and they'd unload them, or they'd take the whole ship and they'd haul it across that isthmus to the other side, which would save them months of sailing. So you can tell that Corinth was a very wealthy place because all the ships were showing up there. Well, if they took all the cargo out of a ship and there was a guy there like Bruce counting it, when he got done, He reckoned there's so much on that boat. Why? Because he actually counted every one. See?

So he put up experience involved in it, just proving to you that what he said is true. You'll notice though, that up until this time in the Word, you've just been given positional truth. There's no experience. asked for or given. It just says reckon yourself dead unto sin and at the same time alive unto God.

See that? It would be nice if we got new names or something. You do get a new name. You just don't know it yet. Oh, okay. The Lord Jesus has a special name just for you. Oh, I didn't know that. For all eternity. You've already had it for a very long time. It's amazing when you think about it. How could God know what the entire world is thinking? Because He created them all. He has all knowledge in play right now. Of everybody. Everybody. Right now. It's almost unthinkable. It is unthinkable from my mind. Yeah, me too.

Paul uses this word as a court word when he accounts a believer righteous. When he accounted Abraham righteous because of his faith, that word account is Logitimai. He reckoned Abraham righteous because he was. So if you look in Romans 4, this word Logitimai is used 11 times in that chapter 3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,22,23,24.

And in there, the attitude or the expression of belief, of an attitude and view of that belief, is included in this word. Reckoning, I think, is a really important word for the believer's walk. And the reason I say that is because when you find yourself in a position where sin is trying to make inroads into your life Your attitude should not be, I've got to fight this off. Your attitude should be right here. Oh, wait a minute. The Word of God says that I died to that. I did. I don't have to mess with that. That's what reckoning does. I don't have to do that. I'm free. I am dead to sin. And at the same time, I'm alive to God.

You see that? It's an attitude that you have about things. I heard something or watched something And they said that even though the apostles saw Jesus's miracles, that when they were on the boat and there was a storm, and Jesus walked across the water, they were like, oh, what's that? A ghost. It seems like not kind of forgetting, I guess, of all the things that all Those are personal experiences. Well, the Lord Jesus told them that he would send the comforter and the comforter would remind them of all the things that he taught them.

So what the Spirit of God does is open up your understanding so that you begin to enter into what he has said is true. You own it. It's part of who you are. Am I alive under God? Yeah, I am. Well, I found out about that by reading the Word. It was cemented into my heart by the work of the Holy Spirit.

He does those things. So if you want to know what the Holy Spirit's up to, this is right where what he's up to. He's persuading you that the truths that you know are in fact true. So that then as you walk around every day in your life, you will walk by faith and reckon things to be as God says they are, not what the world tries to convince you they are. See that? Okay. Is the word reckon a command? Are you commanded to do this? No. I have a no. Do I have a yes? Sure.

God doesn't command me. No, because you have free will. You can do whatever. I don't have free will. Who has free will? You have, okay, wrong word, choice. I have ability to choose. Right. So when he says to me, reckon, If I don't reckon... It's your choice. I'm sinning. Yeah. Which it shows to you. It's a command, but isn't reckoning kind of like faith? Because it's in your believing in what he says. Let me give you an example. I reckon that this chair is on top of that one. Now you can choose not to believe it, but it's true. So God says, reckon it so. And you say, well, I'm not going to reckon. I will. I can do what I want. The problem is... Well, that's an act. You just performed an act.

That's exactly what God did. He crucified his son on the cross and crucified you and says, believe it and reckon it to be so. Because it is so. Right, but I saw what you just did. He just looked Christ in the face. So the point is, is that your will enters into it only in so far as that you're going to agree with what God says.

But it is a command. And it's a command in view of the facts. See that? If I said I command you to reckon this chair to be on top of this chair, what would I be commanding you to do? To agree with something that's true. happened. You're dead to sin and alive to God because of all the facts laid out in Romans 6, 1-10. So he says, now, because those facts are true, I command you to reckon them to be so, in light of all the truths. You see that?

Does that make sense? That makes it a gracious command. It doesn't make it a legal command because your reckoning is to be so, doesn't make it so. It's not a law. It's not a law. It's in your best interest. I'm sorry? It's in your best interest to understand it. Yeah. You know, it's for your sake.

I'm going down the street and the cop gets me on radar doing 50 in a 30. And he stops me and says, I reckon you were doing 50. I said, I don't believe you. He said, I don't care. You're getting the ticket. Because you were doing 50. God says, I don't care what you think. Reckon yourself dead unto sin and alive unto me. Because it's true. Your reckoning doesn't make it true. Your reckoning allows you to enter into it by grace.

Isn't that how many people come to faith? Because I think back to myself, it was only after going to Israel and starting to line up the facts as I witnessed them with what was said in this Bible, and asking questions, that then the Holy Spirit started to work on me. Sure. I think the Holy Spirit comes to a person and gives them undeniable evidence that what he says in this word is true. Undeniable evidence. And you really have to stretch the rubber band not to believe it.

But when you believe, are you reckoning too? Sometimes you are. Sometimes you are not. When you believed in the person and work of Christ for your salvation, you were reckoning his work to be of value to you personally. So you were believing and reckoning. Most of us it was a bet. I hope it's right. So God never gives a believer a command based on your making it so. The commands are always based on something he's already accomplished.

So when he says reckon yourself dead and deed unto sin, it's because you already are. You reckon yourself to be alive unto God. Why? Because you already are. That makes it gracious. It doesn't make it legal. Because whether you reckon at it or not, it's still true. If it was a legal system, your reckoning would be the thing that made it true. Or not. Well, that's when you begin to find out that everything that God tells you is for your gracious benefit. He never asks you to do anything or enter into anything that isn't for your spiritual good. Nothing.

So why is your relationship to sin exactly the same relationship that Christ has to sin? Now think about what we talked about the last two or three weeks. Why would Christ's relationship to sin be exactly the same as yours? Or your relationship to sin is?

Can I go back on your last example? Sure you can. No, that's good. I don't want to ever get ahead. I was thinking about your example about the speeding ticket. So I guess it would mean if you then didn't reckon that the speed limit was 30 and you continued to go 50 and kept getting tickets, you'd be like, I don't understand. Well you'd be a person who doesn't live by faith.

Yeah. You know? My son John got a ticket for parking in a handicapped spot. Uh oh. Burn him! At his apartment complex, they assured him that when he rented the apartment, there would be ample parking spaces. Well, they lied. So he keeps coming home from school at night, and there's no place to park. He figures out that in the building he lives in, there's only one handicapped person in the whole building, and two handicapped parking spots, so what the heck? You see his reckoning?

So he parks there, and he gets a ticket. 150 bucks. The back of the ticket says, if you pay this on time, the fine will be $150. If you don't pay it on time, the fine will double. So he doesn't pay it on time. See where his reckoning is getting him? So he calls, Dad, what am I going to do? I said, how much money do you have? I said, write a letter to the principals down there explaining why you parked there and all your complaints.

And by the virtue of the fact that you did that, you do that, they'll cut the fine down. But make sure you get it in on time. He doesn't. They get the letter, you know, they send it back and they say, OK, Mr. Doyle, thank you for the letter. We've reduced your fine from 300 to 150. What reckoning should he have done? He should have believed what was on the ticket and he should have done what they said because they're saying to him, this is what is true.

And it doesn't really if you want to comply, this is what it'll cost you. If you don't want to comply, this is what it will cost you. God says, reckon yourself indeed dead unto sin. You say, well, I don't want to comply. Now where are you going? More than doubled, you're going to be stuck in sin. And he says, and reckon yourself alive unto me. I'm commanding you to do that. Oh, I can't do that. I'm not really alive unto you. Think of the consequences of not doing that. there are consequences.

So that's why reckoning is such a cool word. It can be an accounting word and it's also a courtroom word. My son just figured out what reckoning meant from a courtroom standpoint. Why is my relationship to sin exactly the same as Christ's relationship to sin?

Because we were crucified with him. How did you find that out? I reckoned the facts. What did we find out in the first ten verses? One, that we were united to Christ, that we changed Adams, from Adam the first to Adam the last, and that his act of death unto sin involved all those who were connected with him. We found out that information, didn't we?

So now that you have that information, what do you do with it? Yeah, you just believe it. So his death and all of Christ's connections with sin was broken and ended forever. Not only did he no longer bear sin, but he died into sin. And when he was raised, it was as one who lived unto God in an endless life, which sin had nothing to do, resurrection life, newness of life. Now we would really say, oh yeah, that's what happened to Christ, right? But how many of us would say, oh yeah, that's what happened to me too? How many of us?

No, because we always go to God and say, well, I'm, you know, I'm driving by this, I think it's now called the Heritage Christian Center or something. It's over here off of Dayton and Florida. And there used to be a big sign on the side of the church. This is a huge mega church. Sinners welcome here. And I drive by there and I think, God, they don't have any believers in that case.

Because what does the work of God tell me about my position as a sinner? I'm not one anymore. I am not a sinner. Do you realize that if I said to you that if you're a Christian you're not a safe sinner, you'd all disagree with me, but that's really true. If you're connected and united with Christ, resurrected, are you a sinner positionally anymore? Answer, no, you're not. But I do sin. But you do sin.

Okay, so what was he looking for on the billboard? He was looking for people that were maybe not Christians and never heard of Christ. He wants money. And he figured sinners welcome here, he'd have a bigger crowd. He wouldn't dare say non-sinners welcome here. Nobody would come. Because everybody, even Christians, view themselves as sinners.

But from a positional standpoint, are you? Are you? Which is true, your experience of sinning, or the word of God telling you you're not a sinner anymore? The word of God. Sure, so that's why reckoning is so important. Depends on whether the emphasis is on me or his testimony. His testimony. Wow, isn't that weird?

The sons of God shall live by faith. No kidding. In every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I reckon yourself alive under God. Could you be alive under God and still be a sinner? No way. No way. You have to be severed from your total relationship to Adam and united to Christ to be alive under God. That has to be true of you, otherwise you're not welcome. Okay? Alright with that? I know, I know what you're thinking.

Yeah, but I'm sinning. Well, it's like a contradiction. Because you're sinning, but at the same time you're not. At the same time, your sins have, well, what? Forgiven or no? Well, in one job, which those guys are going to teach the epistles of John. And one John, John says both, he said, if you say that you have not sinned, you call God a liar. But then in a few verses later, he says, if you, those that are, I'm paraphrasing, those that are in Christ cannot sin.

Well, how do you reconcile those two? Position and condition. Yeah, it's your position versus your condition. The only reason we sin is because we don't reckon. You with me with that? The only reason we sin is because we don't reckon. Now we may not reckon due to ignorance, we may not reckon due to reliance on ourselves, but does a believer need to continue in sin? No. He doesn't. She doesn't. Why?

Because you think differently. You have the Holy Spirit in you. Because you intrinsically are different. You're united to a new creature who is Christ himself. I shouldn't say creature. A new person who is Christ himself. And he doesn't sin. That's why identification is so important.

Is Romans 6.11 a matter of feelings or fact? Yeah, it's a total matter of fact.

The truth about believers is that they are dead to sin and are alive to God, being in Christ. And they hear it said by God, and they're asked to reckon it so. Their path of faith is plain. Grace motivates one to respond in faith. I mean, I have to tell you, you want to exercise your will, you have to decide whether God is telling you the truth or not. You have to make that decision. That's where your will comes in. Is God telling me the truth? Or is my experience the truth? Which is it? Well, your whole life is based on your experience being the truth, right?

But now you have this thing called the Word of God, and it is truth itself, and it sets things to you, and you have to decide. Because you're either going to believe your experience, your feelings, your emotions, and all your experiences from day one, Or you're going to believe what God tells you.

That's where your will comes in. See, people love to bang you about your free will and your ability and you need to use your will to live the Christian life. No you don't. You use your will to believe, not to implement. Everybody understand what I just said? You use your will to believe? But not to implement. But not to implement your will? The Christian life. I use my will to recognize self dead in sin and alive under God. I don't use my will to implement those facts to be true because they already are. Okay, long question.

There are two words signifying death in this passage. The word for dead, necros, is in verse 11 and does not refer to the act or the process of dying, but to the state or effect produced by death. Understand that? In other words, we're not talking about my dying, we're talking about the fact that I'm already dead. It's the effect of my dying. The effect is that I'm dead. See, when somebody dies and they put them in a coffin in a funeral home, that is in fact the product of their dying. That's the effect of their dying. They died. They're dead.

The other word is, like, fensko, I think, signifies the act and occurs in verses 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10. and is used when Christ dying, or are dying with him, or in him, is set forth. Which word best describes your relationship to sin? Which one? That cross. The cross. Sure. That's right. It's the effect of your already having died. It all depends on whether I'm in the hospital or at the funeral. Your body. Yeah, that's right. Am I in the hospital sick? Or am I down there and they're giving me the embalming fluid? If I'm getting a fluid, I'm dead already.

It is the effect produced by death. And you know why this question is so important? You will talk to believers and say, hey, how's it going? And you know what they'll say to you? I'm dying to self. You'll say, no, that's the wrong word. The word should be necros. And they'll say, well, what does that mean? Say, you're already dead. you already are dead.

Because if you don't believe you're already dead to sin, then it's essentially saying that you don't believe that Christ took care of it. Well, you may believe that Christ took care of the penalty for your sins, but you do not have the freedom to live alive unto God in freedom because you don't believe that you belong. How many believers do you know that spend most of their Christian life trying to prove to God that they are acceptable to Him, that they're worthy of His grace, that they're thankful that He saved them, and they're really working hard so that they can put themselves in a more favorable position before God, right?

I mean there are worker bees all over the place. I used to do that too. You instinctively do it until you find out that you died. You know? And then you realize that wait a minute, there's nothing for me to do, I'm dead. I'm alive under God. And when we get to the next few verses, it will explain what you do. You know, you present, which we'll deal with that in a minute. But there is something for you to do. There is a new life, a resurrected life that functions in a certain way. But it never functions based on you trying to improve your position before God. Because you can't.

It's already perfect because you're in Christ. Because, you know, I talked to my mother and she'll say, I said, you know, if you have faith, you will go to heaven. She says, well, I don't know. And if you believe, I said, Yes, you will. Because your sins will have been forgiven.

She has a hard time with that. Because of the guilt. Yeah. And the fact that she's old enough and sinned enough that she doesn't deserve the grace. Yeah. She wants to know what to do to sort of make it right. Right. So the Catholics came up with purgatory. Isn't that right?

I mean, if you buy into the legal system, You certainly can't pay for all your sins while you're on the earth. So when you die, if you're going to go to heaven, there's got to be some atonement somewhere. Which means Christ didn't do enough on the cross. His work was not adequate. If you believe this, it's going to take an awful lot of pastors out of business because they won't be able to keep you under their thumb. I know. I know. Well, it will take you out from under them. That's what it'll do. Yeah, well, there are less people that buy this than buy that.

You can't get away from the fact that God has placed you in Christ and that everything that is true of Christ is now true of you. Everything. So whatever his standing is before the Father is yours. A guy said to me early on in my Christian life, he said, now when you're reading the Word of God and you read all this wonderful stuff about Christ, Put your name in there, because you're reading about you. It's who you are, too. Put your new name.

Put Mike in there. I do that a lot in the Bible. I'm reading down through the Bible. I stick my name in there. It makes it personal. Hey Mike, you're dead unto sin. Mike, you're alive unto God. Try that. It's really cool. So, everybody okay with the...

What's that? Maybe that's what her mother needs. Who's mother? Your mother. Oh, yes. Does she have a Bible? Uh-huh. You might give her the page number and have her take a look at it. There's nothing like the Word of God to be persuasive way more than you're going to be. Yeah. I mean, I've gotten better in talking to her. So that's a good thing. Yeah. She's improving.

But you know, yeah, she never used to, she was always busy. God was on the back burner, even though her father was a complete fanatic with his faith. And she was always busy. She had to worship, this, that, whatever. And you know, you kind of, when you're raised that way, you say, well, you know, I'm too busy. I'll think about it tomorrow. But you know, it's not a good thing.

Have you ever read that little thing called the Hound of Heaven? No. It's really, it's an old, like a hundred years older. It's about a guy's awareness that the Spirit of God was hounding him, and chasing him, and caught him. He was really busy, running as fast as he could go, and the Hound of Heaven was after him, and finally got him. Isn't that a great book? Who wrote it? I don't know, it's really old. I'll find it for you. You can Google it. The Hound of Heaven.

Is that the author? It might be a poem. That's a wonderful book. Is it a book? By what you said, I don't know. It may just be a poem. I think it might just be a poem. A book that applied to so many people. Yeah. That's wonderful. What's that? Well, the Hound of Heaven technically is the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is. It's a colloquialism for the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Sure. If you're a beginner, then the Hound sounds better than the Holy Spirit. Yeah, sure.

I mean, whoever wrote that probably was a bird hunter and had a retriever who was finding you no matter where. If you've ever been pheasant hunting, pheasants... I was walking through Cherry Creek Reservoir yesterday and two pheasants got up and flew off and a red-tailed hawk was right after them. And he tried to nail them and they got away. But it's like, if you've ever hunted behind a really good bird dog, they find those birds, you know? It's like the hound of heaven, he'll find you, no matter where you go and no matter how fast you run.

Okay. Do you think there's any other way to establish your soul in rest than this declaration from God? And the declaration is, reckon yourself deep dead unassumed but alive unto God. There is no other path to rest. There is none. Those who refuse or neglect to reckon themselves dead to sin as God commands, I press the question, how are you able to believe that Christ really bore the guilt of your sins and that you will not meet them on judgment day? How are you able to believe that? Are you all convinced that you're not going to run into your sins? That when you get to the throne of judgment, God's going to say, Carol, I've got a couple of issues here I want to talk to you about.

Well, I know it's an awards ceremony. That's what it is. But I don't know whether I'm going to get any awards or not. You will, because you didn't determine them. Oh, that's cool. I know I get to be there. When you go up there, wherever you go, I thought that there was going to be somebody that was going to lay out everything that you ever did. And of course that's all wiped away because you believed. The Bema Judgment is for your behavior from the time you became a believer to the time you left the planet. And it's all designed to come up with as many rewards as possible. and things that anything that was not rewardable gets burned up. So at the end of the day, what's left? You, rewards, and nothing else, and Christ, and that's it. Okay, but what do you have to do to get a reward? I mean, you believe, what's left?

The Holy Spirit does serve you. Yeah. Is it also too, like, you know, choosing not to park in the handicapped space? Is it saying like, oh you know, I'm not supposed to choose parking in the handicapped space and you know I don't want to. I don't know. No, I understand what you're saying.

I think it's along the lines of whatever the resurrected life of Christ via the Holy Spirit is able to accomplish through you while you're a believer gets rewarded. And the great thing about that is that who gets the credit for that? He does. He gets the glory. Anything you did out of the flesh goes on the fire. We get rewards for what he did. That's right. Does that fit the grace principle? Isn't that perfect for the grace principle? That we get rewarded for what he did. I love it. There can be things that you may be rewarded for that you don't know that God even I agree with that. I agree with that. And there's going to be a lot of things you really thought you were putting those jewels in the crown that are going to just increase the fire and turn up the gas on that.

The great thing about the beam of judgment is that everything that is not of the Lord Jesus Christ that was in your life, and the great thing about God is that he never sweeps anything under the carpet. Everything gets exposed, which you want. Then it gets burned up, and then what happens?

At the end of the day, here you stand, in a glorified body, beholding the Lord Jesus Christ, with no memory of any of that crap, and neither does he, and from there, where do you go? You go to the wedding feast of the Lamb. Perfectly white, clothed and ready and fitted out to be the bride of the Lamb of God. You know that all through all eternity you're never going to remember your sins, or your transgressions, or your inadequacies, nothing. Because that would just take away from beholding Christ. It would be a self-thought.

You see that? That's the cool thing about it. Well it takes away from that now. It does, that's right Carol, that's exactly what it does. It's amazing really because all you have to do then is believe. And everything is wiped away and it's bad? What's interesting is, it is only God's word that tells you Christ bore your sins in his body on the tree, right? That's the only place that tells you. It doesn't tell you anywhere else.

And it is that same word that tells you that you, as connected with Adam, died with Christ. That your old man was crucified and that since you are in Christ, you shared his death and his sin. and are thus to reckon their present relation to sin and Christ as one who is dead to it and alive to God. I don't know if you recognize what grace we're talking about here.

The fact that God intends us to be practically, experientially, moment by moment, walking around free from sin. Do you think that's what he intends? The answer is yes. Is that just over-the-top grace? based on you guys being rotten sinners like you are? Yeah. See that? The fact that Christ says, the Spirit of God says to you, reckon yourself dead unto sin and alive unto God, and you can be, and when we get to a couple more verses, He makes these astounding pronouncements. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Why? Because you're not under law anymore, you're under grace. What grace is that? What grace is Romans 6, 1 through 11, 12? The grace is over the top.

I know you're kidding, but you just call us sinners. So what else would we be besides sinners? Oh, great. What would you call yourself? You dare not call yourself a saint, right? I believe that. Now we're saints. You are saints. You're a saint. You're a believer. You're resurrected. You're a saint. Acts insane every once in a while. That's not who you are. Yeah. I mean, you remember when Burns first showed up?

He'd write these emails to people and he'd say, Dear Saint Bruce. And you'd look at that and say, Saint? Yeah, that's what you are. You're now a saint. That's like putting your name in when you read the Bible. Sure. It's like taking your assignment as an ambassador. Yeah, that's exactly right. Well, if somebody had called me a saint a couple of years ago, I would have laughed and thought you were joking. Sure.

You could say that you're a son. Now you women, that might be a little tough, but you're a fully orbed inheritor of the God of the universe in a joint heir with Christ. That's who you are. You're an adult son. You're um... You know, men, women probably have a harder time with... a less hard time with son than men do with bride, date bride.

There's a guy that used to come to church here. What's that? There's a guy that used to come to church here. He doesn't anymore. I think he's still alive. But we would talk about in Christ Jesus there's neither male or female, bond or free. He'd say, I don't like that. I want to be a man for all eternity. We're just going to be spirits, right? No, we're human beings. You'll have a body. Okay. Let's close.

Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace. We ask that you would continue to open up our understanding more and more of our position in your Son and the things that have been freely given us of you, that we might rest in them and abide in them, Father. We thank you. We pray in the Son's precious name. Amen.