Identification Truths Plus 2012

I think we got through a whopping part of question three, and I wanted to kind of keep going on that just a little bit. So question three, explain in what sense did Christ sanctify himself in verse 19? Remember that sanctification means to be set apart. This is where we talked about a lot of things where he pulled, what did it mean to be sanctified? Was he a man only? Was he God? What did that sanctification mean, that set apart?

We looked up Colossians 2.9, where it's, For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. So, he was fully man, fully God.

Also in Colossians 1.19, For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him.

Do you have the question too? No, you can go ahead and that's fine. I have scribblings on the back of that one. Alright, the interesting part about this verse too, if we read John 17, verse 19. For their sakes I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. So what does it mean in verse 19 when he says, for their sakes I sanctify myself? And what does he mean that they may be sanctified? I kind of talked a little bit about that. So it's kind of interesting for their sake he sanctified himself. That they what may be sanctified in the truth.

Can you explain what it means for him to sanctify himself? That's the question. That he set himself apart from where he was to be here. Yeah, he pulled all the way. He stepped out of the fellowship, the one-on-one fellowship he had from all eternity past, to what? Come here? Be born of a man? Totally separate.

Still had that intimacy with him. He could communicate and do all that. He did the Father's will. It was just like breathing for him. But he pulled away, set himself apart from that relationship that he had. That intimate relationship he had for eternity. So he set himself apart for that. I had kind of a good quote. It's from Marcus Rainsford. And it says, that kind of actually explains this a little bit. There's a depth and fullness here which can never be fully expressed.

Observe, our Lord not only lays the foundation of His people's sanctification in the reality of His own, but He also estimates the fullness and completeness of it by the same standard. So, I mean, His sanctification is based on what He did, and that's what ours is based on too. So is that, I mean, being set apart, the rock solidness of us being set apart into Him is based on who?

Him. And it's this setting apart to realize that Jesus is saying for their sake, basically for ours, at the time he's talking to the disciples there, for their sake and for ours, that he is dedicating, consecrating, or setting apart his whole self, his person, Godhead, manhood, soul, body, so that we may be set apart and sanctified. So, he's doing a lot. For who? Remember, as I said in John 17, keep reading that just for the intimacy and what it means for what he's done for us. When you read John 17, the real Lord's Prayer, all the things that He has done for us, He set Himself apart what? So that we may be set apart. You know, He gave up all this stuff for what? For us. So we'd be set apart. So, what does it mean that they may also be sanctified? They is us.

That's right. So what does that mean? What you just said. What? That we're also set apart. Yeah, and what does that mean? That we're sanctified. I'm going back to my old school and you can't use the word in the definition. You can't use it. That's cheating. That we may be in him. What? That we may be in him. In him. Set apart. What are we set apart from? The devil. What? Adam. Adam. were set apart from Adam and placed into him. In verse 17 it says we may be sanctified in truth, which means set apart in God's word. He was dedicating himself to us that we may be set apart in him.

I thought this was kind of interesting too, from the Greek geeky stuff. It's also interesting how the Greek words for each of the two times the sanctification is used. Remember he said he sanctified so that we may be sanctified. If you look at the tenses on that, regarding his sanctification, it is the present active indicative. So that means it's a continuous action. that he, the subject is doing that and it's a fact. That's on his sanctification. For our sanctification it's in the perfect tense and passive voice. So what does that mean? It's completed. It's completed and what? It's been done to us. To us. So what did we do? Nothing. Nada. All we did is accept it.

Seems like I've seen where sanctification also includes growth, though. Or am I thinking of a different word? No, usually sanctification is... All that means is being set apart. So it's done, it's not a growth process. Right. Yeah, it's a position. And a conditional element. Right. Yeah, position and conditional element.

Positionally, we have what? We've been crucified in Romans 6. So we've been set apart by that. We've been separated from Adam. And what? Placed into Christ. So that's the sanctification. We've been set apart now. To go on your nerdiness where you said that the sanctify referring to him is whatever the... Yeah, present active indicative. Exactly. Meaning that it's happening It's always happening. How is he being set apart even? He was because he came here. So where is he set apart from now if it's present now? What do you think? I don't know. That's what I'm asking. I have my answer. Anybody? Any?

Mine is that he is still fully man and fully God. So he's set apart from who he was. Right. He's the firstborn of the new creation. He is set apart now because he's now fully man, fully God. That would be mine. Any others? He's still fully man? Yeah. He's man and God. He's the firstborn of the new creation. So when he ascended, did he give up that? Yeah. He did? Where does it say that? You mean for all eternity? He will be fully man and fully God? You know, I think the one thing I remember saying, somebody said this, and it hit me, it struck me. You know the only man-made thing in heaven? It's Christ. Christ and the scars on his hands. No scars. Holes. Yeah, holes. I'm nerdy. Really? Really? Okay, yes. They did.

Yeah, that's the only man... I would think about that. That's the only man-made thing in heaven. Man-made thing. Will we also be man and woman? No. No man, no woman. And spirit? We'll have a new body. Just like his. just fully met. Do you see my confusion? Well no, it is not fully met because Christ was of God and of the Virgin Mary. He came for the woman as Jesus says. So he came for his. Right. He is of It's not like we have flesh. He can walk through, come through buildings, appear. Can we do that? No. Different body, different form of. That's the set-apart that I think it is now. He's continually set-apart. He's the firstborn of the new creation. He's the new creation. He's set-apart from what he was before.

But if we're dead and we're in heaven, We will have a different body. It's not going to be like this. Right now, I don't even know what the body is going to be like, although we've seen it, like what Christ was. He was able to appear to Thomas and the disciples. Went through the door. And he ate the fish.

There's things that, it's a different type of body. It's a new creation. New in kind and quality. Brand new. Not like we have. Not like the Adamic flesh. Clear as mud? I just thought that was kind of an interesting thing. For us, again, the perfect tense and the passive. It's completed, done, and we didn't do anything other than believe it by faith. That's it. All right. Zooming on.

Can I add one last thing to that? You may. If you want to take a look at more of the doctrine of the eternal nature of Christ, Colossians, if you read through Colossians, there's actually a lot of references in the first several chapters. For example, Colossians 1.15 is the firstborn of all creation. Thanks. All right, question four.

What is the appointed means by which we are sanctified? And it said, look up Ephesians 5, 25 through 27. Somebody want to read that one? Anybody? Love your husbands, love your own wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and has delivered himself unto it, in order that he might sanctify it, purifying it Okay, so how does he sanctify? Poof, he just does it, right? What does it say?

With water through the word. So, water and a word? Water through the word. By washing with water through the word. Okay, so what does that mean? You get to read and take a bath at the same time. So does this mean baptism? Water? Is this talking about water? Yes. But you're being immersed into the Word and Him being the Word, so we're immersed in Him, right? So baptism. You have to water baptism? Not necessarily. I think it's... moving on. Just trying to explore where you're going. So what does it mean, washing of the word? Or with the word? Mine has cleanses by water with the word. So what does it mean?

You're immersed. With new knowledge. Paul's using an analogy here. It's not literally about the water. Thank you. Yes, that's what I was trying to get. It's nothing to do with any form of H2O, even though I'm very partial to H2O. It's my job. Very partial.

It's like the word cleanses us. Cleanses us. Yeah. Cleansing us, he sanctifies with the word. So, what is the word? John 17, 17? Truth. Truth. The word is truth. Truth means the facts and doctrines of the gospel. Union with our Lord is the root and source of His people's sanctification. Also with that Ephesians 5 for you husbands. How do you do that? Love the church like Christ loved. I mean, how do you love your wife like Christ loved the church? Difficult. I go even further. I say it's impossible. In and of myself. I can't. After many years of marriage, I've figured that out. I have a flat forehead from running into the wall many times trying to prove that point.

It's impossible. You have to really understand that you can't do it other than through the Holy Spirit working through you in the new creation. Because if you try and do this in the flesh, ain't going anywhere. You end up, there's always a little bit of that, well, I need something for this, I need, and there's, meh, doesn't work. So I say it's not, it's impossible to do that.

In and of yourself. The old man. That's why we had to be baptized into Christ's obedience. Not, not, it's not of our own doing, but it's an impossibility. Yeah, I mean, we had to be placed, I mean, him placing us into him is the only way we can do this. The only way this makes sense is how you do this. Is by us being placed into him. Because he did it for the jerks, now we can do it. for our wives. That's why sanctification is in the perfect tense. In the perfect tense, exactly. Done. You can also look at his people about his sanctification.

Galatians 1.15 and 16. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace, and was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. Again, he set me apart. The sanctification. Question 5. In verse 21 of John 17, he talks of oneness with the Father. Look up the following verses and indicate what kind of oneness is mentioned. Maybe I'll read them just so we can get through it quicker here.

So Ephesians 4.3, and that says, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. So what kind of oneness is mentioned there?

Stunned silence. Spiritual. Spiritual. Peaceful. Am I that fearful? Mike, I can understand. He'll smack you, but I'm peaceful. So what? Unity of? Body and spirit. Spirit. So we have the same spirit that dwells in all of us. That's what he's saying, the bond of unity and spirit. Does Nick have a different spirit than I do? Well, I don't care. Are we all of one spirit? Yes.

So this oneness we have is in Spirit. Because we believe, right? Once we're placed into Him, through belief, through the non-meritorious act of faith, believing in what Christ did on the cross, then we are placed into Him. And we then what? All share one Spirit. Right? The Holy Spirit. Right?

So, this intimacy that he's talking about in 17, and this is again our identification. Remember this is all about identification. Once we're identified with him, you know, we have the thing about all the things we receive positionally. The moment we have the, I think Randy handed it out, Lewisbury Chief put it together, the 34 things that you have immediately, positionally, when you believe. This is one of them too.

Unity of spirit. We all have the same spirit. Amazing, the same Spirit, part of the Godhead, Father, Son, and the Spirit, we now have that Spirit, all of us, who are placed into Him. So, we have unity of Spirit. Ephesians 4.13, Until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

So what do we have there? OK, Holly, go through the words one by one. And I'll beep when you get there. I didn't get them. Anyone else? What? The knowledge of the sun. You did a great imitation of Holly. It's going down the words. You said, what do we have there? Remember what the question is.

What is the oneness that we have now? Faith. Faith. Unity of faith. Okay? So, we all have the same faith, right? Kind of, we're children of faith, right? We're all born of the promise. Right? All these things. Now, we have... Did you rescind the question?

No, I just have a note and I don't know where it came from, so it could be... I don't know if this was 20 years ago when I first got my Bible or just recently, but my note in here says that this verse is referring to a church's maturity, not an individual maturity, and become mature. And I don't know if that were that, my guess is that my notes were from here because that's when I mostly wrote.

What do you mean, the church's maturity? That this verse is not because it's saying until we all reach unity, that the unifying is... Verse 12 is about the church body. It's not an individual. I'm not reaching maturity. We as a body, because we have that unity, so I don't know if there's differences there when we're talking about...

Yeah, but I think regardless whether the church or this is being Collectively, then, you know, I didn't look, I didn't pull out the verse before it, but if that's on the church. What is 12, do you have? What is 12? For the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.

Yeah, but that's still, that's individuals. The body, I mean, the body of them, yeah, but the individual equipping of them. It's still, it's talking about the body, but it's still talking about the individual aspects of it. I guess I get confused by It's the one in the many. Yeah.

We're all here, but if that's true, then how are the, you know, there are believers in the Presbyterian Church, but we have the same thing, but we don't, and so it's... See, I see the difference is also The difference with Christ and all the things with what we have as believers is individual, whereas with Israel it was a nation, it was all that.

All these things are still individual to each and every one of us. The unity of faith, we all share the same faith. It may be building up the body, but it's the individual building up collectively. It's still talking about individuals being built up for the body. I still think everything is still individual, all these blessings. We do talk about the body and the church as a whole, some of those things, but I always look at the individual things that are specific to us as individuals. What that means is we all come together as a body. The head, the legs, Christ as the head, we're the body.

There are a lot of those things that we're still individuals, but yes, we are collectively as a body, we're collectively the church, some of those things. But I still think these are still individual aspects. Also, a couple of things. One, I think this is a conditional verse, not a positional one.

And the equipping of the saints is for the express purpose of the church growing within itself. So it grows within itself. And it cannot be a mature church without mature individuals. And that comes from within. Like here at Holly Hills, we grow one-on-one, or a class, as a body we're growing. And as each individual matures, then the church is forever of maturity.

And it's because the saints are being equipped within that body to minister to one another. Yeah, again, it's still individual, but it works as a whole. So again, the point being on this one is, what do we get? We get unity of faith. We have one faith. Again, the premise, or the question I'm looking for is, from John 17, this oneness we have, what do we get?

Well, oneness we have unity of spirit, unity of faith, all these things that we individually have, but corporately we have it together too, as a body of believers, as the church, as the bride. I mean, there are things we come together collectively, spoken of, but typically it's the individual believer and then that manifests in the body. Yeah, if you just focus on these verses on the church itself, then you'll never get a mature church. Because you're looking for some sort of corporate entity that's supposed to have these characteristics that you forgot that the characteristics are done individually by the work of the Spirit in every individual soul.

Good? Sorry. No, that's good. No, I like this. that it might, talking about the church, that it might develop that we all attain oneness in the faith and the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God, that we might arrive at a really mature manhood and completeness, a personality that is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection. the measure of the standard of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness of the man. Good, that's amplified. We do allow that occasionally. Alright, we should move on here.

Acts 4.32, And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. So, what's the unity we have here? Heart and soul. Catching on. You got it. You're figuring the game out. It's good. So, the question is, now, ha ha ha, how do we have one heart and soul? By believing. Well, by your faith. By faith, we just have one heart and soul.

More details. You want more details? They've been out of town, that's right. We was partying. One heart and soul. And we're made in his image? Made in his image, yeah. Getting there to where I'm going. What is our class? That we're put in him. We're in him. So, if we're in him, our life is his life. Do you see how we have one heart and soul? That's how we have it. We are all placed in, and we are what? New creatures. One heart and soul in Christ. By our identification with Him, we have now, collectively, all of us, have one heart and soul, which is Christ. We're placed into him. Remember the class, identification. That's why it's so important to understand that identification.

And Romans 6 and our separation from the old Adam, which was the greatest thing God could do, was to crucify our old Adamic self and place us into Christ positionally now. That's what we have right now. I want to take issue with the word soul. Because the verse refers to an environment in which the early church was singularly focused almost communally focused and their souls, their minds, emotions and will were focused on this one which we don't do today community property and sharing and that kind of thing and my soul is my individual identity so I am an individual in a way although I may have the same focus as you do but my soul is And that's who I am. But we're identified with him. That's, I think, what he's talking about here.

It's like, the way I equate it is, in the Adamic, we're all mankind. And now we are a new creature in Christ. That's our common soul identity. is that we're in a new creature in Christ. Individuals still, because you go back to the body concept. There's thumbs, fingers, knees, toes. We're all different. But what? We compose one body. And that's what I think is here. The one soul is that identity of the body of Christ.

Colossians 2.2, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself. So what is the oneness we have?

Love. You've got this game down now. So, knit together in love. So what does that mean? Agape. So what is that? Unconditional. Unconditional. So, and... I think the thing about agape love that makes it unique of love and the one who gives it and the one who receives it can deserve it or not and it doesn't influence whether the giver of the love is giving it or not. So if you have a whole body of believers that functions that way, then there's no, you don't have to create a cause to be loved or do something not to be loved. It's unifying in the sense that everybody's a lover. So you and I equate this to what is the operating system we're under right now? Grace. What does that mean? Just pouring out of God's blessing. Unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. You guys are getting this down now. Unmerited and unlimited blessings. So I think that fits into the grace category too.

I don't know about you, but when you travel or anything like that, when you find believers, isn't it just a little different? You just kind of You feel better. And when I'm gone here, I miss the body here. I truly do. And this is, I think, knit together in love. I find a believer out in the work world. It just elevates the relationship. And if you go someplace and you find believers, that's what I think he's talking about here. You can't help but love other believers. You know, I think this is exactly what he's talking about.

No matter where you go, wherever you do, if you find believers... And again, you know, the believers here, I think you have that... I always, like Sid, when I come back, it's like, you know, I love to travel wherever, Hawaii, wherever we come, but when I come back, it's kind of back... This is where I belong.

It's like your leg being reattached. Yeah. I mean, that is true. I mean, it is like you're missing a part of the body. I think so. Yeah. All right, Ephesians 4, 3. Holly, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. This could be tough. This is a twofer. The bond of peace, okay?

Again, we have this bond of peace that again, that permeates. These are all the things, remember, this is what we, that's why I say look at John 17, this is all in the context of what we have and what he was talking about, this oneness that we have. And these are just verses that support that, that what we have in this oneness.

So, 1 Corinthians 1.10, Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you, that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Easy. No divisions? And what are we joined? Mind. What? Mind and judgment. Mind and judgment. So, what does that mean, same mind? Holly, are you thinking what I'm thinking? I hope not. Good for you. Well, it's the same mind. So what does that mean? Same mind? We all think alike? We're all just Charlie Brabs in the same time? No, but we all have, we all believe in Christ. Okay. But there's different levels of new Christians, older ones, more and more knowledgeable about the body and the Bible, and others who are not. So there's different levels. Growth, yeah, different spiritual maturity. You're united in Christ. Right. You want to say something? No, I don't. Did that just sound stupid? No, what? Well, I think that because... There's no stupid question here. There are stupid answers. I give you stupid answers. That's true.

Well, I think that when he's praying in 17, there is that while he's here and he's man, his mind is like-minded with the Father and the Spirit. And when we're placed in Him, then that's our mind. You know, whether we're new believers, our mind is set on those things above. That's where our mind is, because that's where we're placed in.

You're getting to where I... You're looking at the verse. I think you're probably looking at the verse. I didn't look it up, but I... It's 1 Corinthians 2, 14, 15, 16. There's one that we have the very mind of Christ. Do you believe you have the very mind of Christ? That was a hard one for me to choke down. Yeah, that is hard. But, but, what is it? The knowledge and grace of the Lord.

That was 2 Peter 3, 18. We're growing in the knowledge and grace. We're growing in it. So a little bit of what you're saying, that we're growing in that, but we have the very mind of Christ. Not what's in it, but the mind of Christ. Again, I think this is more in our identification again, in our conformity as we're conformed. What are we doing? Paul is exhorting them, which means he's encouraging them to do this, and that is, how are we growing? We're having to walk by faith in the positional truths that are there.

This is one of those ones. Do you believe it? You know, I go through that 34 list. And when we taught that, just take one or two of those things, and if you really understand that and believe it, it changes you. Because you really understand, do we have the very mind of Christ? Yes. We grow and we become more like Him. We're conformed to Him. So if we're conformed to Him, our mind is more active in what He's doing in our life. It's true. I don't think of it It is.

As you mature, and again, it's the growing in the grace and knowledge. As you grow in the knowledge of Him, and Mike helped me out years ago by saying, reading the Bible not to get knowledge for facts. It's to know Him. Eternal life is to know Him. To grow in the grace and the knowledge. It's all about knowing Him. And as you know Him, guess what? Who do you know? Who we are in Christ.

And it just shows what the mind can do. I mean our minds can gain knowledge and our minds can focus on different things and our minds can do all those things that like even just say animals can't do. You know it's the mind of what it's See, I think as we get that, we focus less on the earth and the atom, and we focus more on Christ and who we are in Christ. That's the mind of Christ, or the mind that we have, is we focus on who we are in Christ. Our identification, that's why again, identification is critical. If we focus on the old man and what we have to do, as we get into the grace section of this class, it becomes much more evident about how important identification is. Because the old Adamic nature wants to do stuff.

And as we focus on that stuff, we're pulled away from this mind of Christ. And as we focus on Christ and who we are in Christ, we begin to lose the focus on the world in Adamic. It's like you're magnetized. It just happens without you wanting it to happen. It's amazing, really. As we get into the grace part of it, anything you try and do is what? Your own merit? It's unmerited.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2.5, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.

Your mindset has changed because the source of your life is different. The mind of the flesh change, modify, improve. So it takes a new source of life in the believers, which that influence of that life, which is the life of the Lord Jesus and his mind, causes you to begin to think God's thoughts after him. You start seeing things from his perspective and you agree with him.

Right. And that's the maturity, I think, that goes on. And I think again, the identification is still the key. Because you have to know what that old self wants to do. It always wants to do something. We're going to be three weeks on this. Double my pay, right? Zero times zero times zero.

No, there's some things we'll get into that why this identification is so important. That's why we stress this class so much. I think you need to have these identification truths before you can grow to a greater degree because that old man is always still shouting, still wanting to control you.

And as you understand that old man more and realize that God did the best thing, got rid of it, crucified it, there's nothing good. As Mike said, you can't change the flesh's mind. You can't make it better. It's always an enemy to God. We have two natures in us, sinful and a new creation. And as we grow in the new nature, we start to focus more on that, and our mind gets focused on who Christ is and who we are in Christ. So, again, identification is a key thing in all this. So, six. Zooming on.

In this prayer, how does Christ, and I love this part of it, how does Christ describe the union between Him and us? Look at verse 21. I'll read it. Again, I love John 17, verse 21. That they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.

Wow. I mean, just contemplate that. What is he saying there? Total unity. He's saying the unity that he had between the Father, which was from eternity past, is unbelievable union. Now what's he saying? We're in that union now too. I don't know about you, but when you think about that, the God of the universe, the God who created everything, That we now have the union, that same intimacy, and I'll get in, I love intimacy with God, I love the thought of that concept. We now have that intimacy. And we have the same intimacy that the Father and the Son have.

That's what He says. Now, do you believe that? I always come back to that. You say it, you read it, but do you understand and believe that? He has just said He wants to give us the same union that He has with the Father. with us. Do you understand that? Positionally, that's what we have right now. Not tomorrow, not three weeks from today. Right now. Blows your socks off. Yeah, and we can't lose it. Never. For all eternity. Socks are off. There's a union between Christ and His people that can be compared only to the union between the Father and the Son. We now have the same intimacy as the Father and Son have.

This is different than when Adam walked in the garden. Remember I told you how there was a different level now between the Creator and the creation? Now we are... Christ was the firstborn of the new creation. We are of the new creation. We have a new intimacy that wasn't even possible in Adam. We've been recreated in Him, we're in Him, placed into Him. A union that is completely different.

If you look at 2 Corinthians 5.17, that we are new creatures in Christ. New in kind, new in quality. It is also we remember the 33 things that Louis Barry Chafer pointed out that are positional truths of us through the list we have up here.

And above all, we've now entered into His grace, the unmerited and unlimited blessings from God through the finished work of Christ on the cross. We've now entered that. Now we have that intimacy. And we have that just pouring forth of blessings. Because we have that intimacy as a father and son have, we now have that with them. It says, in us. It blows my socks off. Just like home.

How do you explain the difference in the way the world reacts? This is kind of interesting. I looked at this. How the world reacts, as expressed in verse 14, that the world hated them. And in verse 21, where we just read, that the world may believe that you sent me. How do you like that one? So how do you explain that? Yeah. In verse 14, what did it say?

The world hated him. We went over that. And then in 21, he said, now that the world may believe that you sent me. How do you reconcile that? Because you no longer are of the world. True. So what does that mean? You're a new creation. So Adam was made He was a different man. He was holy.

And so everybody who comes from Adam hates men who come from Christ because they're holy and the Adamic man isn't. Having said that, the fact that a believer manifests the life of the Lord Jesus and we begin to manifest that life, it proves that he came and did what he did, what he said he did. Because there's no other way that a human being could manifest the life of the Lord Jesus without this identity of the cross and believers. And so therefore, believers have to, not because they don't take showers, but because they're in Christ, the world hates them.

Yeah, I think that's kind of the, we're hated because Christ was hated. We're identified with him. They hated him. They hate us. Fourteen is easy. I mean, it's in our country. It's just pathetic. All around the world, Christians are being hated. And, you know, take the prayer out. The most persecuted right now are Christians. And we're not doing anything except go to church, mind our own business. Why is it that people look down on us? The world hates... No, but what I'm saying, it's just tragic. The second half is two things.

One, what Mike said too, is that it proved that by us, we proved Christ was who he was and what he did. But I also think that we are now, as with Christ, light in the darkness. Why did they hate Christ? Not only because he was different. He was light in a dark world. When you're sinning, do you want the light on you? No. So when the light came, the world was exposed and they didn't like that. So Christ was the light.

Guess what we are now? We are the light. And it takes away their ability to be the ones in power. Yeah, there's all sorts. I mean, not only the power of the church and the Pharisees and all those or whoever, it's just light in it. You know, it's just us.

You know, if you, I quickly, I know, you know, stuff like when I go to, I'm on a drill rig and there are some earthy people there, um, you know, and you get out there and, and, A lot of times, even when I was early, I'd go out and I'd hammer them with the gospel.

The biggest thing is you just don't engage in the world but not of the world. And just not doing and participating in what they do, it was much more effective because then they got angry at first that I wasn't participating in their curse language or whatever. And then they got mad. That's the light. You know, I wasn't saying a word. I just wasn't participating in their thing. And as you do that, they became more angry. But then after a while, it's like, why don't you do that? Perfect opportunity. When I went out and I clubbed them, they just either retreated or clubbed back and didn't listen. But as you become the light, not by anything else but your actions, they see who you're different.

And that was speaking more, there was a song that I always used, I forget his name, Bruce McCarroll or something, I forget his name. Anyway, he was great. I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. You know, pounding sometimes, and God uses all different methods. And mine is that even if you pound him with the gospel, God knew about that and allowed you to do it, probably for your benefit, understand? So I mean, he's in control of all these things. So he knew that you were going to go pound him, like when I was pounding him and doing all this stuff.

So again, I think it's the light. They hate us because we're the light, but we also have been sent to prove what Christ did. It's real. One thing is kind of a revelation of the human. I was reading chapter 16, and it was really clear also that Jesus said, you guys finally get it! You actually believe that God sent me.

And then in verse 18, he's being carded off to be killed for chapter 18, but he said, because you believe in your lives, And that's the whole thing, that we will, by us, we're now the light in the world. Through the Spirit working through us, in our new creation, we are the light in the world. They hate us, but we also prove that what Christ did is true.

All right, let's close, way beyond. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this time. Father, we just thank you for what we see in your scripture. It is so cool to see all that is true of us right now, positionally, and what you have done. The minute we believed, we trusted you in faith, the unmeritorious act of faith in the Son. and what he did on the cross, Father, and what we have through that, and what you have for us. It's so amazing that we're the ones pushing back and resisting, where you have full-on love that we can't even be separated from your love, your grace. It's us that don't receive that. So, Father, we just thank you for all these truths that we have in here, and just understanding how much you love us.

And, Father, the intimacy that we can have right now It is it is amazing and we thank you for that that and just as we can come before you in prayer Anytime anyplace anywhere and father we have that intimacy with you knowing that at any time anyplace You're in control. We rest in that fact. That's where we have that peace that surpasses all understanding that rest that we can have knowing that we have that intimacy with you and that there's never a time where you say, oops, you missed something in our lives. And we rest in that fact and we just rest in the intimacy that we have with you. So Father, we just thank you for this time. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.