Major Bible Themes

All right, we are on chapter 11. And I should have changed this. It says for chapter 9 next week. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Chapter 12, the questions you should look at are 1, 3, 7, and 9. That's what we'll focus on next week. So for chapter 11, or 12, excuse me, 1, 3, 7, and 9 for next week. So, we will get started here. Chapter 11 is on the Ascension. This is on Christ's Ascension. There are four reasons that they lay out in Chapter 11 for Christ's Ascension. These are the four reasons.

1. Christ had finished his earthly work.

2. It was God's purpose and plan. It was to glorify Christ and to return him home. Those were all the reasons for the ascension. part, get into one of my favorite chapters, John 17, which is that intimacy between God the Father and God the Son. And you see that the beautiful part about that is the relationship you see between the Father and the Son. You then put yourself in it because He brings us into it, because He prays specifically for us in that one, that those who would believe And that's us.

And when you realize that you're placed into that, the we, the us, the unity, the love, the sharing of glory, all these things, and you're a part of that, that's one of my favorite chapters. So anyway, the reasons for Christ's ascension, again, He finished His earthly work, this was the plan, it was to glorify Christ, and it was to return Him home to the right hand of the Father.

We're learning a new system here, so I'm with the presenter side. You know, the thing is, you know, the brand new PowerPoint 210 or whatever, and I got a new computer, so learning all these new things, but I did all my notes and I have all these colors and all these other stuff, you know, where I wrote them all out. I hadn't practiced with the presenter view, which I get to see my notes here, you don't get to see them. But they all are just like a black and white monitor, you know, all the same font, everything.

Why did I put them in all these color? Because I have certain things like for reading a question, I have them in a green color. It's worked right on map. I'm leaning that way. Just making a comment. While this is off topic, my computer. I ordered this fancy, new, wonderful, I won't mention the brand name on the internet. Ordered it. Fairly expensive computer. It's a workstation. It's a heavy duty deal. I get it. Turn it on. Well, that was nice.

Played with it for like three days, and it was just messed up, so I had to get a whole brand new one sent to me after lots of calls, the support and all that, so I got a brand new one. I'm leaning towards the fruit But yeah, I've been so frustrated and most of those don't have problems. But then you've got to get all new software for every application. And unfortunately, being an engineer, it's awfully hard to get some of those apps to go, but they have now processors that do it.

We digress. So this is the new one? Yeah, this is the brand new one. First time using the PresenterView, which is, like I said, I did it all and I had all these nice, you know, my notes. But when it pulls it up on my side up here now, all those colors, all the things that I do to help They're gone. It's just black and white now.

Anyway, the question was, had Christ finished his work on earth? We can look at these verses on the slide. If you want to look at John 17, again, one of my favorite chapters, John 17, verses 1 and 4. And again, this is why the ascension? Because he had finished his work. It was done.

So if you look at John 17, 1, Jesus spoke these things, and I read from the New American Standard, Jesus 17.1, Jesus spoke these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. And then 17.4, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Okay, so he had accomplished it.

He was done. Was there anything else needed to be done? Not according to him. His work was finished. Can you think of other verses that signify Christ's work was finished? His earthly ministry was done? Can you think of any other verses? It is finished. It is finished. That was what, you know, when I was looking at some of these notes, it was like, well, yeah, I think that one came up first and foremost. Yeah, it was finished. Well, it's John 19, 28 and 30. I do have it here. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, To fulfill scripture said, I am thirsty. And this is John 19, 28-30. A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. And therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Again, what he said was, knowing that all things had already been accomplished on earth, It's finished. It was done. He was done. There is that time between the resurrection and the ascension that he appeared several times. There are 17 different instances, I think, where it explains where Christ was seen after the resurrection and by hundreds and hundreds of people. So there is a time in between there, but his ministry was finished. all his earthly things that the Father wanted him to do was done. It's accomplished. And I did the same thing. It's finished. What more could you say? He's on the cross. It's finished. He bowed his head and that was it. So, you know, so his work on the cross was done. And then the other part was Christ fulfills his part of the eternal covenant.

And if you look at those verses, somebody want to read Hebrews 13 20? Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord. Yeah. So we'll look at this eternal covenant. Did you all know what the eternal covenant is? Yes. No, no. You said yes. What is the Eternal Covenant? It's the agreement that Christ would lay down his life for the sinners and God would raise them up. Perfect. And we'll look at that in the next slide. So, that's the Eternal Covenant. And we'll look at what that means as we come up. So, he fulfills his part of the Eternal Covenant, which was forgive man's sins, as we see on the slide.

1 John 2.2 My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if everyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the, and here's the big word, propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. So, propitiation, what does that mean? 25 cent word. In place of. What? In place of. if God is propitiated. Satisfied. Let me make it easier for you. Go ahead. Satisfied.

He himself is the satisfying God for the sin. He is the propitiation for our sins. He is the one who paid in the eternal covenant. He paid the sins. God the Father accepted it and raised him. Then he condemns the sin nature in Romans 8.1 through 4. So he not only pays for the sins, But you understand, he condemned the sin nature, and that's in Romans 8, 1-4.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. You know, when you read these things, I love that. This is right after Romans 7, where Paul basically, I think, shows perfect self-effort leads you to frustration. And at the end, who is it that gets Christ? Not I. Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. And now, for what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." So again, He condemns the sin nature. He condemns sin in the flesh.

So, He had done all this. It was done at the resurrection. It was accepted by God. So, Christ finished His work by what? His work on the cross, which fulfilled His part of the eternal covenant, which for forgives man's sins and condemns his sin nature. With that accomplished, Christ's work was finished and he could ascend to the Father's right hand on God's throne. So it was done. So now, there wasn't anything more to do. It was time to go back, restore his glory, and be with the Father. Okay, we'll look at this one now, the Eternal Covenant. And probably should let you do the Greek on this.

It's to cut or place between two, an agreement. From Strong's it basically says, properly a disposition, i.e. especially a contract, especially a divisory will. So it's basically an agreement, a contract, if you will, between two people. And then Eternal, it's the I am neos, Close enough. From or for all eternity means, you know, from Zodiac, is it ever meaning forever or always? So this is a covenant that's been since before we were even created.

And this is one that is between two people. And who are the two people? The Father and the Son. The Father and the Son. Are we in this covenant? Yes. No. No. We have not any yeses out there? Because there's an agreement between those two. Right. Yeah, we had nothing. We get the benefit of this contract. Right.

But it's not, it was between the father and the son. And so that's important because you know a lot of times when we get in ourself and what we have to do and all this, this gets this whole thing about where we are in this, you know, and what our efforts and what we have It goes almost to the grace where it's unmerited. And as salvation, what do we have in salvation? What is our part?

Acceptance. Believe. Believe. Faith. Faith. Non-meritorious act. All we have to do is believe. They've done everything. We just have to believe. So, again, our part is just believe. That's it. This covenant was between them. We received that benefit. All the sin was placed on who? Christ. All of our sin, past, present, future, and as the verse we read, it's for the whole world. I'm going to use somebody else, not the guy across the street there. We're going to go across the street this way to this house over here, not the guy in the White House. He's been abused a lot over here. The house over here.

Their sin's been paid for? Yeah. It didn't say just for believers. It said for everyone. The sins of the whole earth. Right, and you have the choice. Yeah, it's been paid for. That's why this covenant, it's been God the Father and God the Son. Yeah. All the work's been done. You just have to believe. That's the only requirement. That you believe what Christ did on the cross.

Yeah, it's such a gift I don't get why people wouldn't believe it. I mean, it's really ridiculous. You know, when you really put it out, it is. But there are a lot of things that we do that I think are ridiculous. Why don't we believe all these things that Christ has done and what we have in Christ? You know, there's 34 things that Schaefer put together that are true of us the moment we believe. I still, as we teach that in grace class, I still think if you just grab a hold of one or two of those things, That changes you.

I mean, we're fully vested adopted sons. You know, we have intimacy with Christ. You have intimacy with God of the universe. I mean, do you believe that? You know, when you read Ephesians, that you've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Do you believe that? I mean, yes, but that... Go ahead. Well, you know, it's because then you think about your sin, your sinful nature and you think, look, grief, he's giving me all this and shame on me for having done, thought and did whatever once upon a time and still today, you know, I screw up left and right. You know, that's the beauty of the gift when you think about it.

That is, when you appreciate the gift so much more and what their covenant means to you, all those sins that you did, you didn't pay for. We got crucified on the cross with them, when you look at Romans 6 and that, our co-crucifixion. But all the sins were laid on Him. And all those things that you did and do and will do were put on Him. How much more special is that gift to you? And what do we get out of it? Eternal life with Him. His very life. When you just start going through it, I do, how do you not just thank Him continually?

And for those who are not believers, it's so intuitive and obvious to us, but as you said, the carnal mind, can they understand this? So it's the Holy Spirit working on us, and finally in simple faith, believing. And then, your eyes are opened up, you're a new creature in Christ, you're now able to see all this with a different eye. You know, and now I look at it and it just makes so much sense. You know, but before, it's, ah, those crazy Christians, what are they doing? You know, you just, you can't see it. But once you have the indwelling Spirit in His life, you're a new creature in Christ, I mean, it's not just yacking at the walls. I mean, you have intimacy with the God of the universe. I mean, just start picking up some of those things.

Yeah. Hal, when he used to teach this at work, he would talk about knowing, and the Greek words were like gnosis and epic gnosis. Yeah. And he'd say that the gnosis part is like, you know, we have all But you kind of hear that, and it's just knowledge, but epignosis is when it kind of goes, wow, so as those 34 things sink into you, that it's really true. Yeah. And that's what I think, you know, 2 Peter 3, 18, where it's growing into the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus. That's that growing. As you start to understand these things, believe them.

You know, Monique, when you say about your sins, a lot of times I think about this, where people keep beating themselves up for sins and you don't feel worthy. What more do you have to do now to feel worthy? What do you have to do to make yourself worthy enough to be where you are positionally? Well, I can do nothing except believe. See, and that's, you know, the whole point is that, you know, people who, you know, beat themselves up for sin or whatever, why you, I mean, the first John 1, 9, confess it. I'm not acting like I should be. I'm not acting like the new creature in Christ. God, that's my confession. I'm not doing it.

That's the only thing it requires. He's already paid for the sins. He's already dealt with it. Why aren't you done with it? You know, and I see people get beat up because they, you know, gee, I'm not that right person. I should be, I should be, you know, and God knows exactly where you're at. God knows all those sins that you did and paid for it. He's done with it.

You know, resting your new life, your new creation, your new life, you know, and that's, as you do that, we become conformed to his Okay, the covenant was between God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. The covenant was that Jesus agreed to come and shed his blood for the sins of the world. The other half of the covenant was God would accept the payment for mankind's sin, he would be propitiated, and would raise Christ from the dead, signifying his acceptance of the payment for the sins.

Why did there need to be a blood sacrifice? We had to give Christ blood. Why did there have to be a blood sacrifice? Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Hebrews 9.22. And according to the law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood. And without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

You know, this goes all the way back to Cain and Abel. Abel offered the firstlings of his flock. That goes back in Genesis 4, 2-8. And was God happy with the fruits of the land or the flock or the blood offering? The blood offering. And actually, I think it says back in there that God was angry or I can't remember. Let me look at that. Genesis 4, 2-8. I think he was, did it say he was angry? I think about Cain bringing the first fruits. It's something he says in there. Anyway, and that frustrated Abel, or Cain, excuse me. And so Cain then took it upon himself to kill his brother. So, from the very beginning, God has required blood as an offering, as a covering of sins, or a payment for sins. And the Hebrews 920, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. What about also in the Passover? What happened on the Passover? Blood on the threshold. Blood on the threshold. And that was anyone who had the blood on the doorway got passed over. Other than that, the firstborn were all killed.

But each and every one of those circumstances, it was directions. that were not followed, that resulted in separation. Oh yeah, well, from Adam we've had separation. And the blood was always just a covering. It was not payment for, but it was where there had to be a blood sacrifice for covering or payment for sins. And that was all pointing to the ultimate one, which was Christ's blood, which was payment for all sins.

It's cruel though. It's cruel with this blood thing. I mean look at now today everybody gets murdered and you know it's so barbaric even then. Why would God want that? You know mainly I think and I have to look it up you know life is in the blood and that was the payment for that was blood. And, you know, if you look back even in Adam and the Garden, did Adam have control of all creation? No. So, you know, he was over the animals, he was over all that, you know, are we to worship animals? You know, so I mean, even though, you know, the sacrifices were And it usually had, you know, it pointed all to Christ when I think about it.

What were we supposed to bring? A gnarly little sheep that was the runt of the litter? What were we supposed to bring? The best. The best. The unblemished. You know, so it was always pointed, and that was pointing to what? Christ. As the Lamb of God. You know, so, I don't know if it's barbaric. It's the way God put it together. Represents our death. Yes. In our birth. Yeah, well, yeah. And Christ. Yeah, the death part. I mean, death was our death. In Adam. In Adam.

Okay, moving on, what is the significance of the resurrection? We learned that last week. You can look better than last week. What's the significance of the resurrection? It was kind of a fun thing? No, that God took him back up. Just because? Well, I wasn't here last week. If you look at last week's chapter, I think the very first sentence of last week's chapter will give you the answer.

I think that's what it is. Is that worth it? Oh, yes. So what is it? Of all men. The doctrine of resurrection of all men as well as the resurrection of Christ is taught in the Old Testament. The doctrine appears as early as blah, blah, blah. But that doesn't tell me anything. That's the first sentence of the last one? Yep. Oops. Oh, I thought it was that one. Anyway, it is one of the cornerstones. Yeah, that all men will ultimately be raised is taught in John. The resurrection is the cornerstone of our belief.

Because without the resurrection, and we'll get to that, in 1 Corinthians 15, 12, and I'll go 12-17, so you can get the context. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection from the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then what? Our preaching is in vain. Your faith is also in vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testify against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. And what? You are still in your sins. Pretty much the cornerstone of our faith. If Christ hasn't been raised, what does that signify? Then we won't be raised. We won't be raised? It's in vain.

And what does that say about this eternal covenant? Has never been fulfilled. Wouldn't have been fulfilled? What's that say about God's acceptance of the payment for sins? We're eternally damned. He's not accepting of that payment because the covenant said He will agree to shed His blood and as payment for that, for the sins, God would be propitiated and He would raise Him. So, pretty strong words by Paul in this one, in the Corinthians one, that if there is no resurrection, your faith is worthless and more importantly, you're still in your sins. Pretty harsh words.

That's the cornerstone. The resurrection also proved that God was satisfied with Christ's work on the earth. When you look at 1 Corinthians 1 1 Corinthians 15 1-4 says, Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast to the word which I preached to you, unless you believe in vain. For I delivered to you of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Again, the importance of the resurrection.

It fulfilled the covenant, God was satisfied, and we're not in our sins. We are placed into Christ. The endemic life was crucified on the cross. We're now identified with Christ. So, again, the resurrection, what we learned last week, is a cornerstone of our faith. If there is no resurrection, we're doomed.

The good part about that was, again, when you look at scripture, again, there are like 17 different references to his appearance after resurrection, or after he was resurrected. I think there are 17 different scriptures that identify where he was seen You know, we have with the disciples in Doubting Thomas, we have all those. There was one instance where he was seen by 500 or more, you know, and on the shore. There's 70 different references to where he was seen. So this wasn't just a happenstance that, you know, one person saw him and he was resurrected. I mean, we have 17 different instances where it shows that he was resurrected.

A lot of proof. And then the ascension, which we'll see next. several saw Him ascend. So, again, a lot of proof, a lot of things that back up the resurrection of Christ. Alright, the second one, why the ascension? It was God's purpose and plan. Christ fulfills God's eternal purpose of sharing His glory.

And this is, you know, we get into a lot of the ones now, we're starting to get into the John 17 verses and I just can't tell you enough just to read that every so often just to see the intimacy between Christ and God and put yourself in that same intimacy. And that's one of those ones I think just blows your mind when you really start grasping what he says in those verses about the intimacy that they have and then he puts us in there. I just can't say enough that when you read that how much that means to to me as far as, you know, I see their intimacy and I can enter into that same intimacy.

He wants to share His glory. He wants to have the same unity that they have and put us in that same mix. It's mind-blowing to me. So, we'll look at His eternal plan. If you look, John 17, 22, The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as we are one. Okay? Sharing His glory. which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one." You know the intimacy between God the Father and God the Son? And He just said, I'm going to be one with them and I'm going to give them the glory which you've given me.

Do you understand that or believe that? My little finite mind just can't grasp that. It's unbelievable. So, how does he do this? By first giving man eternal life to all who believe in Christ's work on the cross. Look at John 17, 1-5. How many of you want to read that? I've been reading a lot. When Jesus had finished saying all these things, He looked up to heaven and said, Father, the time has come. Glorify your son so he can give glory back to you. For you have given him authority over everyone and all the earth. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life, to know you, the only true God. and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to the earth.

Which, how far did I go? Through five. Oh, okay. I brought glory to you here on the earth by doing everything you told me to do. And now, Father, bring me into the glory you shared before the world began. So, in verse two, what does he state? You have given him authority over everyone on all the earth.

And? Oh, and he gives eternal life to each one you have given. Yeah. Oh, I see. He's given eternal life. Right. Okay? And so, by giving eternal life, so again, following this topic, we're eternal life, all who believe. And then we look at eternal life as Christ's life positionally and then knowing experientially and intimately God the Father and Jesus Christ. So what positionally is eternal life? What does that mean? Present with the Lord. What? Present with the Lord. Present with the Lord. Any other thoughts?

Yeah, if we look at 1 John 5, 11 and 12, and the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is where? In His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life. These things I have written to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Again, the position is, where is it? The life is where? In Christ. In His Son. In Christ. So, eternal life is in Christ. Is Christ an eternal being? Yeah. Where are we? In Him. In Him.

So, if we're in Him, again, in the intimacy we say, He's given us eternal life. were in Him, Christ fulfills God's eternal purpose of sharing His glory. He now shares His glory by putting us in Christ, where He said before that He's going to share His glory with us, fulfilling God's eternal purpose. I was going to also do a Colossians 3, 1-4 been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things of earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory." Wow. You have died and your life is hidden.

Whose life is it that we live now? Christ's life. Fortunately, we have two natures right now, which kind of gets that bumpy road that we have in life. But positionally, where are we? Where's Christ right now? In us. In heaven. Seated at the right hand. And if we're in Him, positionally, where are we? With Him. Right there. Positionally. Conditionally is a whole other thing. We're stuck here.

What was it for Christ's ascension? It was the eternal covenant between the Father and the Son. Also, Christ foretold of it in John 16, 28. He said, I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. I'm leaving the world again and going to the Father. I'm out of here. My work is done. John 16, 28. Was this accomplished? Was the ascension accomplished? Yes. Acts 1 9-11 And after he had said these things, he was lifted up.

And while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight, and as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, Man of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. But as he went, they're watching as he ascends. Again, witnesses of this. They watched it. It happened. It's reality. Quickly, since I'm way behind, as normal.

Why the ascension? It was to glorify Christ. By the restoration of its visible glory. That's who he was. to glorify Christ and to return the glory that he had before he stepped out of heaven to become a man. You know, he couldn't have his full glory exposed to us. Can we handle that? His full glory here?

No. No. This is clearly seen in John 17, 5, where the restoration. Now, Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. This is in John 17, right before his return, his ascension, or his crucifixion. In that ascension, he was saying, Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had before the world was. It's the restoration of his glory. The ascension marks the return of Christ's manifested glory. It was still hidden after his resurrection and during his ascension.

We can't see his full glory. We're incapable. The beauty of it is, when we step into eternity, Will we see his full glory? Yes. How mind-blowing is that? Wow. You know, when we finally get to see his full glory revealed, and get, we'll be in his life, he's the first of the new creation. Wow. That's, yeah, to me it's amazing here. Alright, why the ascension? To return home.

Earth is not his home. And if you look at John 14-17 verses 14-16. I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. They are not of the world even as... I doubled it up. In 16 actually then it says, they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. He said it twice. Was he part of this world? No. Earth was not his home. He didn't come from the world, but to the world. He's a heavenly man out of heaven. He was returning home. This was not his home.

That's why we're sojourners. Exactly. That's where some of the verses we'll get into. Where's our citizenship? You know, and this is for us political junkies, Monique, we don't have all those politics in heaven. We don't have all this crud that goes on down here that we get so wrapped up in.

You know, again, as I say, the politics that we look at, it's like a football game. You cheer, you sit on the sideline, you cheer, you do all this stuff, you get ran right, but in the end, it means absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. You know, so as much as we get wound up into all these things, Think of all the politics and la la la la la. I constantly have to remind myself, my citizenship is not here. Amen. You know, when we were in Florida, we met up with friends of ours and actually they were supposedly Christians.

And he's now taking a back step. It's so killing me. Because he says everything, like what did he say? Everything's okay. You can't take the Bible literally. Yeah, it just makes you cry. You know, there are a lot, you know, a lot of people, uh, we've been talking with, uh, who's that?

Either you or David, one of you guys, about some, you know, some people who do it and falling away and not, um, you know, the thing is, if they were saved, they're eternally saved, no matter what, the minute you make in simple faith, that conversion, you can't go back If you understand the Roman 6, the co-crucifixion, you can't climb back up on the cross, jump back into Adam, and get back into the old life. Once that transaction is done, it doesn't matter what they're doing now, if that transaction was done. That transaction was done for him, by him, however, he's been fed on milk for the last 20 years. You know, there are believers that are in the nursery and will stay in the nursery forever. I think mainly because of the lack of knowledge of the identification. You know, without that foundation of knowing, what are you always trying to do?

Fix yourself. Yeah, but wouldn't you think you'd open the Bible and read and get moving? You know, I spent 20 years My flat forehead is due to running into the walls. I'm a type A, go get her done. What can I do? Until I learned the identification truths, you know, my growth was hammering walls with my forehead.

You know, what's the next program? What's the next thing I can do to make myself better? To make myself, to make God smile a little bit better because I'm doing this that makes him proud of me. How stupid is that? That's why I say, how much more can we do? What effort that we can do to make us more acceptable to Christ, to God?

Well, the guy is now into material crap. It's pathetic. You know, and we've got to get going, but you know, there's a lot to this. Does God know about that? Oh, oops, he missed that. Is he in control? You know, it may take him 20 years of material things before, like Nebuchadnezzar, eating with the beast of the field before it raises its head and looks up. You know, I spent 20 years doing things and probably, you know, thinking I'm great and wonderful and knowing scripture and this and that and la, la, la, la, la, until I realized the old Adamic man was crucified. I can't fix him. I can't make him better. God condemned him. Crucified him.

That was the best thing that ever happened to me. Once you realize that, you stop trying to work to get better. Then, you can start growing. Until then, you're worried about all these other things. You know, and I always think, you know, even when you sin, did God know about that?

Yeah. He let me do it. It's an awfully hard concept to think of sometimes. God lets you do this sometimes. And he knows he's in control, he's sovereignly in control. He allowed me to do stupid things. Don't we allow our children to do the same thing unless it's life threatening?

I can't say that right now because one's sitting in the front row. And on top of that, he's our advocate. He knows our weaknesses, and we confess our sins, and He's there 24-7 taking care of us. Why are we beating ourselves up for? You know, it's the first job. I'm not acting like I should be. That's not the way. I'm in Christ. Why didn't I do that? You're right, God. I'm not acting like I should be. Duh. It's not, oh, it lures me in. I've got to do 59 things to pay for my sin. What am I doing?

Anyway, we had a close. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. Father, we thank you for any time that we can just delve into your word. We thank you for that access that we have to you, that intimacy that we have. We thank you that you're sovereignly in control. We rest in that fact. That's where we get that rest, that peace that surpasses all understanding, is knowing that you're in control.

We are so thankful that you have provided all things. You have paid for all of our sins. And Father, that we are a new creature in Christ, and that as we grow, we manifest that new nature, that new creation, and we realize that the old Adamic nature has been crucified by you. So Father, we thank you for all these truths that we have.

We thank you that we can rest in you and all the circumstances that go on. You're sovereignly in control, and the purpose is what? To glorify you, to get that intimacy, to share the glory that you have with us. circumstances are for that same purpose. We don't understand it a lot of times, but that's your purpose. And we rest in that fact. So Father, we just pray in advance for Vern, provide the word upstairs. We just pray for him to clearly give us the word and prepare our hearts to receive it. Father, we do all these things in Jesus' name.