Sanctified - conformed transformed and growing toward maturity

Okay, Jim had proceeded with talking about the subject of being sanctified. What we wanted to do here, we've actually after today only got five Sundays left in this elective, but what we wanted to do today was to kind of pull sanctified, conform, transform, maturing and growing and pull that together and actually revisit some things that we covered the second week. And the idea is we've covered a lot of topics.

Now we want to kind of bring them together and look at what's God doing? What part of us is he doing it in? And what is he not doing? What is he not changing? And look at how sanctified, conformed, transformed, maturing, and growing kind of fit together. for Christians.

The truth is, a lot of these words that we've spent basically a month at a time defining and trying to clarify, they're things that frankly a lot of Christians never do come to clarity of understanding. What we're studying in here and the way we're going about it is actually a bit rare. Most Christians don't get that much clarity on these words. And so we're looking at something that I think is valuable to look at, but most Christians overlook it rather than gain the insights.

One of the things we do is we draw from a diagram at the top of your handout here. It's one we presented actually the second week of our study together. And let's revisit that just so we have some clarity here. We have on the left side of the diagram, in Adam, the old man. The old man is referenced in a few different New Testament books. Romans, Ephesians, Colossians are some of those. The old man is all of who you were, all of who the unbeliever is, in Adam.

The sin nature is the natural inclination of the old man inclined to be independent of God and to carry out and think of sin. For the unbeliever, does it do any good to tell them not to sin? Essentially, part of the problem we have in society is we've got various laws and rules and whatnot, and probably the majority of the people making those laws have the same problem as the people that are trying to control. And what's that? They've got a sin nature. They are all of who they are in Adam. The old man, that's all they've got. That's all they've got to work with.

So if you go to a motivational seminar, who are you motivating? If you go and say, we're going to take this guy and reform him, make him better, what have you got to work with? My second son, Ed, is and has been a prison guard in the state of Nevada. He just recently changed positions and by that I don't mean spiritually, I mean in his job. He was taking care of Nevada's worst of the worst.

These are guys that were so bad, are so bad, guys that are so bad that they don't even let them out of their cell. You can't. You simply cannot let them out of their cell. You don't. And so that was his assignment. And he says, these guys are just vile beyond imagination. So they're so bad that they stay continuously locked away? Yeah.

So now he recently changed to transporting prisoners. And they have things like, okay, this guy served for his crime here, now I have to take him to another state. Recently took a guy to North or South Dakota. and then came back. He even came through Denver but couldn't leave the airport. So you'll have situations like that. Can those guys be made spiritually better by anything that man can do? The answer is no. Their position is their condition. Their position is their condition. Okay, now.

Then we have the person who comes to believe in Christ. And one of the points we've been making is the person who believes that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again, God does things positionally with that person who believes that they don't understand yet. Isn't that interesting? Things have happened they don't understand yet. They are spiritually born again. But let's think about it this way.

When a baby is born, does a baby understand all that's taken place? No, they don't. They don't understand all that's taken place. They don't know very much about who their parents are or when I was born and who are these people who just helped give birth to me. Oh, and by the way, you've got a birth certificate and you're a citizen of this state and country and all those things they know nothing about. They have the foggiest idea. They're not born and all of a sudden, okay, I'm going to do this and go there and this has happened to me. There's a lot they just don't understand. So what do they do? They're spending a lifetime essentially catching up with what happened at birth. Isn't that what Christians are in a position of doing?

We are spending the time since we were born spiritually learning about what took place then. Exploring it. Working out the salvation that has already taken place. And by that, working out the new birth. Has birth already happened? Yeah. The birth has already happened.

But how that works out and discovering what it is and what it means, that's all a new discovery. The believer is now positionally no longer in Adam, he is in Christ. The new man is all of who he is in Christ. And that new man has a new nature. See that? So this is what we talked about months ago, but we want to revisit it here for the sake of what we're looking at. Now, for the first time, once that person comes to believe, a battle, a tension is there that never existed before. This person is in Christ. The new man is all of who they are in Christ. That person has new nature and a new history. A new history. And how much of that do they know when they're first born spiritually?

None. Zip. Nada. They don't know it, but so what are we doing here in this class? We're catching up to, just like that baby that is born here in this world, we're catching up to what's already happened. That's one of the reasons we're here. It's not the only reason, but it's one of the reasons we're here. We're catching up to what's already taking place. We're trying to understand what took place in that new birth.

And that new birth can take place, well, in my dad's mom, my grandmother. She was in her late 80s, and it happened in the last three weeks of her life. She became a believer just right towards the end. So amazingly, this new birth here, it can happen at different stages of life. I was four and a half. My grandmother was about 87. It can happen in a different state, but it's new birth spiritually, not in any relationship to the physical birth, which might have been fairly recent or a long time ago.

Why is it that the believer has this sin nature thing still in the picture? That's the only part of the old man that we actually have any continuing dealings with. If the old man is all of who you are in Christ, excuse me, all of who you are in Adam, the old man is all of who you are in Adam, are you in Adam in any degree anymore? No. No. You're not an atom in any degree. It's not like you're an atom a little bit here and there. The only thing that remains from that in-atom position in the believer is this sin nature.

We've been separated from it, but it's still attached to this body as long as we're here on this planet. When will that sin nature be gotten rid of? In other words, we will get a new body to which the sin nature is not attached. As scripture says, God condemned the sin nature in this flesh. The sin nature is terminal. The sin nature is terminal. Is it around still? Yeah. Has it got any future? No. It's not getting off the planet.

It's your wars. Yes, and so that's the thing, but as long as Christians understand this isn't my identity, I'm not dealing with the old man, I am dealing with the sin nature. But God even tells us how to deal with the sin nature. and he has separated us from it in terms of, before the sin nature used to call the shots, the sin nature was the only choice we had, now our identity which goes on into eternity includes the new nature. This sin nature is certainly at battle with the new nature, but The sin nature is terminal. The new nature isn't.

Now, let's take a look at the text. We've got one more thing. Continuity of person or continuing person, we could put it that way, that is the part of us, the one part of us that's changing. Our new nature isn't changing. Our new man is not changing, because that's all of who we are in Christ. So the one part of us that is changing is this continuing person, the identity that we have, that allowed, for example, the Apostle Paul, when he was talking as a believer, having been a believer for years, Acts 22, Acts 26, what does he do? He recounts his life before he believed.

And he could say, I was and I did. Not because he's still in Adam. Not because that old man is present at all. But, he could say it. Why? Because there was a continuing person, not a positional person, a continuing person called Paul. Now, let's take a look at the first paragraph. The processes that God is carrying out on the believer are being sanctified. And what did Jim say sanctified was? That's good, and he used another word too. He used set apart and separated. We are separated and set apart, and that's our being sanctified. Our being sanctified, conformed, transformed, and mature are all based on who we are in our position. At the point that we believe by God's doing we are in Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1. Our new man with a new nature is all of who we are in Christ. That new man with a new nature and a new history does not need any process of change. The new nature doesn't need to be changed. The new man doesn't need to be changed. What's our new history?

Somebody recount that for us? We've been identified with Christ, so we've been crucified. What else? And buried, and raised, ascended, and seated. So those five things. If you've got five fingers, it's easier to remember than you can count them, right?

So we have a new history, and does that history need to be tweaked and kind of adjusted? No. What happens is our continuing person needs to grow into that new history. When Nancy and I sit down with somebody and do some counseling, one of the things we're doing in our counseling is helping them to catch up with their new history. When you sit down with a counselor that is basically a secular or worldly counselor, or a poorly trained Christian counselor, what will they do? They will pore over what is your personal history, your earthly history, which really has more to do with Adam.

And one of the things that Hal pointed out, because at one point when he was having heart trouble, roomed with a fellow who is a professor of psychology from the University of New Mexico. And Hal said to this fellow, you know, you really have the human being figured out, don't you? And the guy said, yeah. And Hal said, but you guys really don't have any answers, do you? And the guy said, no, we don't. Isn't that interesting?

The problem with our earthly history is that while we can all of us recount it in various ways, I did this, I did that, I didn't do this, I didn't do that, this was done to me, this wasn't done to me, we can go through all that. But the problem is, there's no answers in it. Can we understand it and analyze it and figure out, you know, according to the psychological models, yeah, we can do all that. Any answers? Nope.

The answer when we get down to counsel, the answer when we deal with the issues of life is not in our earthly history. The answer is in our new history. And we will grow out of the problems that we have as we grow into and towards our new history, as we grow into Christ. That's the answer.

Now, some of us may even have had some traumatic things happen to us, and possibly even while we were Christians. I've been a Christian since four and a half, I'm now 59, so something like 55 years I've been a Christian. But, there are still traumatic things in the past that affected me. How do I deal with those?

It's in growing into who I am in Christ. It's in growing into my new history, not recounting my earthly history. So with Nancy and I Council, we're very happy to talk with people about their earthly history, but we also recognize there's no answers in it. Is there understanding? Why did this happen? Why do you feel this way? Are there answers in it? No. The answers are all in where we're growing, where we're going, in being sanctified, in being conformed, in being transformed. That is where the answers are.

And that's the one reason why I would not want to be a secular counselor. I would not want to be a Christian counselor who was trying to deal with things from a secular mentality. But I delight in being a counselor who has the resources from Scripture to work with. Because then there are answers. And then there is hope. And hope that makes a difference forever. That is a huge contrast. That's a massive contrast. Okay. I'm in the middle of The first paragraph there, there is no variation nor need for variation in who I am in Christ.

Christ is the ultimate definition of the character God has desired for us. So in order for us to have that character, God accomplished what he desired by placing us in Christ. In Christ is the position that God used to pull this off. In our position we are 100% sanctified, conformed, transformed and mature. In who we are in Christ, in the new man with a new nature and a new history, there is no need for any adjustment, no variation, nothing to get rid of, nothing to add to. And Christ is the definition of each one of these. In the believer's position, there is no variation or diminishing of our having been totally sanctified, conformed, transformed, and made mature.

So why is it that we need any ongoing process at all? Why is there any change in anything at all after we believe? Why isn't our position in Christ the end of any spiritual changes or variation? Isn't it all done? Why do we need to learn and know anything at all if our position in Christ is not varied and is already accomplished permanently by God? Why isn't the Christian life completely free of choices, decisions, understandings, etc.? Why aren't we hardwired to just do the right thing? out of our changeless, eternal God-accomplished position. Why do Christians have any struggle with sin?

How come? I'll go over it later, but position and condition, that distinction that you just brought up, is what I spent a fair amount of time talking to the guys in Uganda about. And they'd never heard of it. Why do we have to grow? Why do we get conformed? Why is God changing anything? Why do I have to know anything? How come if I'm in Christ that just doesn't settle it, then all struggles are ended?

So now, that's the questions. Let's take a look at the first part of page 2 there. Positional person, continuing person. The old man is the positional person of the unbeliever. 100% in Adam. Is there any point at which the unbeliever is only some percentage less than 100 in Adam? No. The unbeliever is 100% in Adam.

Period. That's it. End of story. You can't make him better. I mean, self-improvement programs, I have no idea how many millions of dollars are spent on self-improvement, motivational speakers. Let's get them pumped up. The new man is the positional person of the believer, 100% in Christ. Just as you are in Christ 100% and permanently, since you are a believer, you have 0% nothing to do with the old Adam. the old man any longer, and you are never again any percentage in Adam. One way to put it in modern terms is binary. It's either this or this, nothing in between.

Nor can Adam or the old man, the positional person, show up. Does the sin nature show up? Yep. Does the old man show up? Nope. You see the distinction there? Okay, that's fine. We are completely in Christ. And do we have any of the old man remaining? If the old man is all of who we were in Adam, are we in any percentage in Adam anymore? None at all? The sin nature continues to be attached to this body. We are no longer, however, beholden to the sin nature.

One of the ways that I think is consistent with Romans chapter 6 is this. One of the ways of understanding it is this. The sin nature was a monarch. The sin nature absolutely called the shots. Now, once we are believers, the sin nature is not taken away as long as we are in this body. It's associated with this body. One reason we sell the sin nature is because it's associated with this body and the only way that God could deal with it is to just kill us. Right? Because it's still associated with this body. However, it is a deposed monarch.

When I went to Uganda, one of the things that I could use as an example that they would readily understand, and that is from 71 to 79, Idi Amin was this horrible, monstrous dictator. Slaughtered hundreds of thousands of the Ugandans. And one of the places they did that was right near where I was.

He was a horrible man. He was essentially a monarch. They made a movie, called him the last king of Scotland. He was a horrible man. But he was deposed. And after he was deposed, he went to Saudi Arabia. And until he died in 2003, he could have called up the old guys there in Uganda and said, hey, remember me, your old buddy?

Hey, let's get some things going here. Did the people that he would call up have any reason to respond positively to his phone calls? No. Could they? Yeah, they could. But it wouldn't make any sense, would it? He was a deposed monarch, still around, having the history of having called the shots, but no longer able to do so. Can I take this just a little bit further? Wonderful. Please do.

It would be to say that if he had a son or a daughter and totally didn't agree with him at all, then he would be kind of still related to him. Well, he would be totally different from him, but yet he was physically born from him. And so that would be his nature of just having been physically born from him. I think your analogy, we want to be careful about applying it too literally, but I think it gets your point.

In other words, there's still a connection, isn't there? There's still a connection there, but there's no right. There's no right for this old nasty old monarch to call the shots anymore. Is he still around? Yeah. Will it be around forever? No. Idi Amin's gone now. 2003 he died in Saudi Arabia and that's the last you're going to hear of him. And when I talk to people in Uganda, they know who I'm talking about, but it's just like, you know, good riddance. Horrible, horrible dictator. But that's the character of the sin nature. Is the sin nature still around? Yeah. Can the sin nature still, you know, make contacts and try to call the shots? Yeah. Does the sin nature have any right to do so? Nope.

And that's the position we're in. God said God said, essentially, look, this monarch is a former monarch. He's going to be around for a little while, but he'll have absolutely no rights to call any shots. He won't have any rights to persuade or say, hey, remember this old familiar voice? None of that will have any claim to us. Can it still make a lot of noise?

Yep. Now see the old man. Okay, this is the sin nature. Let's think about if the old man is all of who we are in Adam, it'll be the nature of the old man. That's about the best way to put it. The nature of the old man. Because the old man is all of who we were in Adam, and we're not in Adam even any percentage, we have no further dealings with our old man. None. Yes?

I'm not sure how to phrase the question, but can we understand the idea that our sin nature is connected to this flesh? by going back to the fall and the consequences, because the whole world is under this curse. And so I think it's better to understand the context of, the signature is attached to this flesh because this whole world is doomed.

Yeah, let's understand, you bring up an excellent point. Let's understand in terms of something I brought up, I think about three weeks ago, and that's this. This world is going to have an ending point. Everything we see, all that we see around us, there's going to be a day when it's all going to wrap up. And it could be as close as 1,007 years from now. It wasn't yesterday. No. But Harold Camping is crazier than a coot. That was the second time he blew it. Anyway.

The world could end as soon as 1,007 years from now, could well be a lot longer, who knows. But, there is going to be an end of this world and there will be a new heavens and a new earth, a new creation of an entirely different character. When did, does, or will the new creation begin? After the millennial reign and towards He's saying it's time for a new heaven and earth. In that, there will be a new physical heaven and earth.

Yes. Now, what do you believe? You're close. You're close. You're on to a really good thing. But it's actually sooner than that. Earlier than that. Yes. In Christ. Christ is the beginning of the new creation. And so, Christ is the beginning of the new creation.

In other words, here is Christ, the beginning of the new creation, that so far as our earth time and calendar and clock, it's not started yet, because we've still got all this stuff here, right? But spiritually speaking, He's the beginning of the new creation. The spiritual part of us is also of the new creation. Why? Because we are in Christ, who is the beginning of the new creation. So Christ is the beginning of the new creation. You believers here in this room are the next part because you've been placed in Christ. And what's the only thing of you, what is the only part of you that needs to be taken care of so that you are entirely of the new creation?

This body. That's it. This body is still of this earth. I can tell when I went to Uganda. Boy, a whole bunch of things weren't quite right. But anyway, we still have this body that's related to this earth, that is related to all that's been cursed. But it's going to be replaced. Yes. Otherwise, I think once we believe, our body will become immortal. We wouldn't get sick or anything. But what happens is two-stage.

And so the part is first, we have a spiritual change that takes place. The being sanctified, the growing, all these things are the transition for our continuing person. There was a time when I was an unbeliever, right? But the transition in my continuing person from when I was an unbeliever to who I am now. That transition, that part of me that is not positional, is undergoing change. And what's the change? The change is toward the new man. The change is toward the new nature. The change is toward my new history.

But there will come a time when I will be through with this body, the changes that God is carrying out now will have been brought to instant completion. I will have a new body and Christ, who is the beginning of the new creation, will be the one I see face to face. And when I see Him face to face, what will happen? First John. We will be like Him. We will see Him as He is. That day, our bodies will then be a part of the new creation.

Will the new creation in the full sense have come about yet? No. Christ is the beginning of the new creation. We are in Christ. and yet there will still be things happening on this present earth until God winds this present earth up and there is entirely the new creation. So spiritually speaking now, you are a part, I would say, a leading part of the new creation.

Yes? I'm wondering, you say the same, Let's talk about this. When God said, let there be light, did he already have in mind the new creation? He did. Isn't that amazing? So before God said, let there be light, He already knew that there was going to be this new creation, and he already had in place things in preparation for Christ being the firstborn of the new creation.

And he wasn't thinking, this will happen, this will happen, this will happen, because he sees it all the same. That's right. From our standpoint, these things are We talk in a time perspective. We use words like before and after and all that. But the reality is God doesn't look at things that way. Before Abraham was born, I am. From eternity to eternity, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. God's perspective is not that way. But as we see it, using words that we understand, even before God said, let there be light about this present earth, The new creation was already on God's mind, and so were you. Right? So were you. You were already on God's mind.

And God's not stuck in this time tunnel, where he has kind of vague visibility about what's happening in the future. Instead, he sees it as clearly as we see something in front of us right now. So there is right now, what we're talking about in this class, there is right now, we're wanting to get this eternal perspective. God wants us to have this eternal perspective. He wants us to understand how He sees things. He wants us to be able to take confidence in that He's got everything in hand.

You know, when something bad happens, come down with some terrible disease, we just got in a car wreck and, you know, oh no, this took place. All those things happen. God's not pacing the floor of heaven wringing his hands and, oh no, what am I going to do now? You know? Health conditions, financial catastrophes, you know. All the things that we get all wrapped around the axle about here, this is all a part of the big picture. And what is God doing?

I encounter Christians who get mad at God about things. And it's like, look, you don't understand. Is there anything happening that is thwarting these processes that God is carrying out? As a matter of fact, what's happening to you that you're mad at God about is probably a part of one of these. As a matter of fact, probably isn't maybe the best way to say it. It's one or more of these things right here. And probably if it's a circumstance, it's being conformed. God has this in your life in order that you be conformed to the image of his Son.

When I was over in Uganda, there were a couple of guys that were Christians. One of the guys lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, and they're up there singing about the Lord. I couldn't understand a thing they said, but they were singing about the Lord. Was it a bad thing that happened to him? I suppose you could say so, but the guy was smiling. Why? God's got this in hand. Would I sign up to lose my leg? No, I probably wouldn't. But God's got this in hand.

Whatever it is. As Nancy and I counsel, we encounter people who have been through all sorts of horrible things. The usual list is the things I did, the things I didn't do, the things that were done to me, the things that weren't done to me. Those are the nasty four. And people go through all sorts of things. And sometimes when we listen to them, we have to cry with them. Sometimes it's awful.

But in the midst of all of it, in the eternal perspective, God's not going to let anything miss. God's not wondering, oh boy, how am I going to handle this? In view of what Vern did, how on earth can I fix this, right? No. The Lord is dealing with things in our lives. Everything is on purpose. And things happen in this world that are just foul and unjust, but in the eternal perspective, there is absolutely no injustice.

And just for us to be able to get a perspective on that, God knows what he's doing. He knew what he was doing before he said, let there be light. He knew what he was doing before, you know, he took Adam and said, here, here's the garden, take care of it. He knew all this, and he knew how it was going to turn out, and he knew about you, and he knew about the things you were going to do and not do, and he knew about the things that were going to happen in your life and not happen. And he knew about all that. And there will come a day in the new creation when there will be no more mourning, sorrow, crying, or pain.

And we will go, oh, of course. Now it makes sense. But we're a whole lot better off if we begin to say, now it makes sense, now. Right? Not get wrangled and wrapped around the axle about things when in the big perspective, God's got it all covered. Now, I could tell you about traumas in my life, things that have happened. Some of them you probably wouldn't want to hear. But you know what? God's got it all in hand. God's got it all in hand.

There is no injustice that I have done or that's been done to me that he hasn't got resolved in the eternal picture. I told the people in the class at the school I was teaching, because they, you know, they heard the stories. Some of them were around when Idi Amin was there. I said, every injustice that he carried out, and he carried out an unimaginable load of injustices, will all be resolved in eternity. Every single one, not one exception. Every injustice is dealt with in three places.

It's dealt with on the cross. sometimes in life, and what we get all wrapped around the axle and wrinkled about is when justice isn't served in this life. Don't worry about it. Because if it isn't covered in one place or the other, it will be covered in eternity.

Are there things that get upsetting? Yeah, there are horrible things that happen in this life. I've been through some of them. Awful things can happen, but God's got things in hand. He's got a purpose for everything that's going on, including the awful things. And that's why as we go through this, it's important for us to keep in mind, yeah, these are the processes that God's doing, but He's got a purpose in all of it. And then behind it, He loves us. His grace is so amazing, it's going to take forever to show it to us.

And so this isn't just all academic. This is a matter of being able to have peace when there are terrible things happening, when bad things have happened in your past. Again, it's the, you know, what I did, what I didn't do, what was done to me, and what wasn't done to me. Those are the four things that people get all upset about.

God's got it in hand. And we can trust Him in these things. We can rest in these things. There is no injustice that's outside of what God has already dealt with or has a perfect plan for dealing with. None. The injustice that happened to you or somebody that you know that may even have not been dealt with justly on this earth, Christ died for every one of those. The secret things.

And even the person who says, I got away with this or I got away with that. No, you didn't. What did Christ tell the Jewish leaders? Unless you believe, you will die in your sins. And what does that mean? Because you wouldn't accept Christ's payment, you're going to pay.

There is no injustice that God hasn't ultimately dealt with. in the past, in the present, or in the future. And it's understanding these things, and they're centered now, and what we're looking at is what's God doing. Understanding these things is a tremendous position of peace, and it's a tremendous position in the middle of things that are disruptive and catastrophic. You know, how can you You know, find peace in this world when awful things happen. It's amazing.

About a year ago, there was a guy that did some awful things to me when I was in high school. About a year ago, he tried to friend me on Facebook. And he said, if you don't want to be friends, I quite understand. But I said, well, tell me your story. And he says, I've come to know Jesus Christ. And this man is a cool guy. The Lord has changed him. The Lord has changed him. Okay. Let's take a look at, while we have a little bit of time, let's take a look at some of the questions On page 3, middle of page 3, some questions to ponder.

So what if a person doesn't recognize the difference between position and condition? What will be said of a person who doesn't live like he or she is saved? If you don't understand the difference between position and condition, what are you going to say about yourself and other people if you do something wrong? Pardon?

You're not saved. And frankly, there's two different ways that they say that. Either one, you've lost your salvation, right? Or secondly, you actually never were saved. So the one that says you lost your salvation, that's called Arminianism. And the one who says you never were saved, that's the Calvinist. And so those are Those are a couple of the answers that people come to. Why? Because they don't understand the difference between our position, which is unchangeable and permanent.

You are in Christ by God's doing. By whose doing are you taken out of Christ? It doesn't happen. There are a whole bunch of verses that talk about being in Christ. There isn't one that says you've been taken out of Him. You've been seated in the heavenlies. Can you find one that says you've been unseated? Right? They aren't there.

So, position and condition are extraordinarily important to understand in order that we have assurance, but at the same time, it also gives a good explanation and understanding of what happens when the believer sins. Yes? I'm probably going on a rabbit trail here. Just for the first question, if a person doesn't recognize the difference, I've heard that when they don't recognize, understand their position and their foregone. It's self-focused, really. They notice that a lot.

If a believer sins, what's the cause? His will, he did it. Okay, but I think there's more to it. I'm saying he did not continually yield. The question is, where did the sin come from? The sin nature is the origin of sin in the believer. And what's the future of the new man? Is that temporary or eternal? Eternal. What is the future of the sin nature? It's terminal, right? So what happens is that action came out of a terminal aspect of this believer. But that doesn't change the eternal and an unchangeable new man.

So it is not a loss of salvation, it is a loss of fellowship, it is a loss of reward. Which is another consequence of not understanding our position and condition. It's losing on that fellow. So what happens if I don't understand the position and condition difference, I'm afraid I've lost my salvation. Or I'm worrying about was I ever saved. Or I'm trying to stay saved. It ends up being works and what does the focus instead of me beholding the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore being transformed, I'm beholding me. It goes back to your statement that God doesn't really care about sin. Yeah. Ultimately, it's not that God's obsessed with sin. Does sin matter?

Yeah, but only because He wants it out of the way. Why? Because He wants fellowship with us. That's why. He wants fellowship with us. I've heard the buzzer twice now. I see a face getting... He's turned away. Anyway, we probably better wrap it up here. That was a good rabbit trail though.

Do I make my point here? We can rest in what the Lord's doing. We don't need to get all twisted up and wrinkled and hassled inside. What's God doing? I want this. God's doing that. This isn't what I want. God's not carrying on the Christian life in you so that everything in this earth ends up looking like a pretty package. We're not seeing the pattern side. It's like these rugs and different things that you see. We're not seeing the pattern side. We're seeing the side with all the tattered ends. But this isn't the final story.

Everything that God is doing has a purpose. There will be no unanswered issues of justice. It doesn't matter how awful the thing was. God's got it all in hand. He's going to deal with it. And what He's doing, He's doing on purpose. One way I've heard it said is, we need what's happening to us. We need what is happening to us. We need it because God has a purpose for things. So when people get all mad at God and all upset, or if that's the way God is, I don't believe in Him, or I don't like Him, or I'm mad, or whatever it is, It's a lack of understanding and what we're trying to come to here, we've only got about a month left, is an understanding of what is God doing and why is he doing it.

One way to look at it, we studied some months ago being conformed. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. That tap might be a tap on our bumper. That tap might be a knock on the door by somebody. That tap might be a call from the doctor. All these things, those are the little tap, tap, taps that are there to conform us.

But God's got everything in hand. We don't need to get wrinkled and wrapped around the axle. In the end, what bothers us now won't even be remembered. We will, however, remember forever, He's the Lamb. He paid the price. We have His history. We'll remember that.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for what you are doing. We thank you for what you have done and what we can count on you to do in the future. Thank you for the rest that we can have, even in the midst of different situations, knowing that you have it all in hand, knowing that your character is changeless, that your love, your grace, your mercy, your justice, Lord, those are eternal and changeless. Thank you for that. Thank you. Certainly our circumstances will change. You do not. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.