Colossians Lesson 16 Week 3

Hard to get last week. What's that? You tell us nine or 10. We just finished question eight. Yeah, that's what I thought, too. So we talked. Yeah, we ended up talking about the seat and that kind of thing. How simple it is to fall into that. Now, question nine. Does the old man practice evil or is he inherently evil? What do you think? Give me some verses that back up whatever you said. I'd say both. I'd say both. He's inherently practicing it. So practice makes perfect? Wicked or evil, who can know it? I like the one in Genesis 6 that God looked over the world and saw that evil in man's heart was nothing. His heart was evil continually, something like that.

I think the first one that I wrote down was John 3.6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

And I think it's important for us in an era in which we live, which we're inundated with psychology, which in my opinion is a study of the sin nature. That it's all about behavior modification. It's all about practice this or don't do that or if you could figure out why your mother was nagging you or whatever. You could change the way you function or the way you thought.

But the Lord Jesus very succinctly said, what's born of the flesh is flesh. So in that case, what's born of sin is sin. Sin is sin. And it's always going to be the same. That's why I asked the question before. Is the sin nature of the person sitting next to you better or worse than yours? It's the same. It's the same.

And sin is... Sin doesn't have... God doesn't gauge sin on a curve. When you think about it, Adam and Eve are in the garden and they're in the perfect environment. They're innocent. And God gives them one test. And it's not tough. It's not as though they were hungry. They don't have a sin nature, so they don't have a propensity towards sinning.

But Adam and Eve took one bite out of one piece of fruit, big deal. What happened? The entire creation fell. That should tell you a little bit about sin. One bite out of one piece of fruit and all of you have sin natures because you were there doing it with them.

More than that, it tells me about the perfection of holiness. Oh yeah, and His righteousness. It really tells us a lot about the righteousness of God because holiness doesn't necessarily demand justice, but righteousness does. Righteousness demands that if there's sin, something's got to be done about it. and God is ultimately righteous. So, we sometimes like to have, maybe portray sin as something less than what it is. And so, I wrote down Romans 8, 5 through 8.

For those who are according to the flesh, and according to the flesh in this translation means that's where they came from, you know, that's what they are. What do they do? They set their minds on the things of the flesh. If they don't set their minds on the things of the flesh in order to be from the flesh, it's because they're from it. That's where their mindset is. They don't have a choice. Do you see that?

And those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. And you and I are according to the Spirit. And one of the things that Paul's trying to emphasize here, or teach us maybe is a better way to say it. is that we, since we've been risen with Christ, we should seek those things which are above. We should seek spiritual things because that's what we are. We don't do it to modify our behavior. We do it because it's what we are. Make sense? No? Okay.

For the mind set on the flesh is death. No kidding. but the mindset on the spirit is life and peace, because the mindset on the flesh is enmity towards God, unreconcilable enemies, for it is not subject itself to the law of God, nor able to do so. The sin nature, you know, God gave the Mosaic law to the Jews, they were totally unable to keep it. Why? More than that. Because of their sin nature? Yeah, because they had the sin nature. And what does Allah really do when it comes up against the sin nature? It explodes it. So you think God was tricking them? No. Why did he do it that way then?

Because I mean I know all of you good Baptists. You think that you get a little bit of this law and we're going to be better. You get a little bit of this law and you're going to be better sinners. That's what you're going to be. So why would God do it that way? Why would he do it that way? Why would he give these Jews 600 and whatever they are laws. A rabbi lives across the street from me and his son is always telling me about this that and the other thing and his daughter too about how things ought to be. So why would he do it that way? Why would he give this separate group of people that he called out a law system that they couldn't keep, and that actually would cause them to sin more than they had before they got the law. So we know how hopeless we are? Okay, and if you find out you're hopeless, what do you have to do? I mean, if you're really in a box, what do you do? We cry out for help.

To? Yeah, that's the whole plan, was to go to him and seek his grace and his mercy, and to believe him to believe him. That's really why he did it. And he declared, all the Old Testament guys, the Hebrews 11, they were all declared righteous. Why? Because they were really good law keepers? No, because they believed God.

Romans 7, 18, Paul says, For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. Romans 8.3, for what the law couldn't do, and that it was weak through the flesh. What couldn't the law do?

In Romans 8.3, what couldn't the law do? Make you righteous. That's right. Couldn't make you righteous. Because why? Because it was weak through the flesh.

God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was a man. and offering for sin, he condemns sin in the flesh. So what's the deal with all sin natures in terms of their status before God? What are they all, what status do they enjoy before God the judge? They've all been condemned. So here's a little secret. My buddy across the street here in the White House, who hasn't believed in Christ as his Savior, his sin nature is condemned.

And so is yours. And so is yours. And so is mine. The difference is, he's united to his. You're not united to yours. You're united to Christ. So when you leave the planet, he's going to go wherever that sin nature goes. He's stuck. And according to this verse, it's condemned. And so is he. Have his sins been paid for? Absolutely they have. But his sin nature hasn't been paid for. His sin nature was condemned.

You guys, because of your faith in the person and work of Christ, have been separated from the sin nature that's going to be condemned. That is already condemned. That make sense? It is sweet to see how the truth of being dead with Christ is brought in as deliverance from the nature in all its forms.

No matter whether corruption or violence, it is the judgment of the first Adam as a whole, nothing is spared. Everything that you were and I was in the first Adam has been judged and we've been separated from him. Now you look around at each other and we all still have our original Adamic bodies and we kind of identify each other that way, but we're separated positionally. Okay? Is there a verse reference that talks about things separating from the same nature?

I would probably I'm not sure it would say it exactly that way I would say like Galatians 2.20 says I have been crucified with Christ nevertheless I am alive and living and the life I now live in this body I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Romans 6.6 says my old man was crucified with him so that the body or the totality of sin might be put out of business, so that I would no longer serve sin. Give me another one. Seated in heavenly places in Christ? Seated.

But specifically it shows that we've been separated. What about that we have no condemnation for those who are in Christ? Romans 8.1. Which would be like we were just talking about the condemnation that is clear for the Savior.

You know, it's interesting Romans 8.1 says there's no condemnation for them that are in Christ. You know why I really like that verse? Because I'm a realtor and location is everything. If I'm in Christ, good location, there's no condemnation. If I'm not in Christ, like my buddy over here, guess what?

Whenever you see in Paul's epistles a discussion about crucifixion or co-crucifixion or anything like that, what happened was, well here's another one. He was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. So not only were your sins, all the bad stuff you've done in your life and will do, put on Him and He paid the penalty, which is death and the guilt of those sins, but your sin nature and my sin nature, He was identified with it. Now, imagine, here's the Lord Jesus on the cross, and God takes all of our sin natures and he identifies them with Christ. He unites Christ to sin itself.

Christ cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then what does he do? He dies. He separates from what? Your sin nature and mine. And when he separates, He goes into the ground, we go with him, and when he raises to newness of life, so are we.

We are brand new. You see that? That's the cool thing about it. You may or may not know that information, it doesn't really matter in terms of your position, because that's what's happened to every believer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, new in kind. Old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. That's a good one. Old has passed away. We are new in kind, new in quality, completely new. The old has passed away.

That information alone, if you start to get your arms around it, will set you free. Free from what? free from the tyranny that your old man or your sin nature was telling you, you had to do all these spiritual push-ups to be pleasing to God. And then you find out, well, I'm in Christ, there's nothing I can do to enhance my position. I live under grace and I'm learning this grace is overwhelming. And then I learn I only have one obligation and that's to believe Him and accept the grace, receive it, take it. That's why He gave it. It changes the whole mindset of how you live.

I have a friend that died yesterday, and she was Catholic, but she'd been sick for a long time, hadn't gone to church, and I asked her would she like I mean, you know, that's what Catholics do. Sure. Have the priest come. No. And so, her son, who is Baptist, thinks that she is not going to go to heaven. You know, my mother was Catholic, obviously. She went to Mass every day. every day for 60 years. But I think she's going to be in heaven, simply because she believed Jesus was her Savior. That's all. Now she did all this other stuff, you know, spiritual push-ups, her arms were tired. But she did believe that Jesus Christ died for her personally, alone. So you don't know.

I have a really good friend in Colorado Springs named Benjamin and he's Jewish. But he's one of those itinerant brethren preachers. He goes all over the country and he preaches and teaches. And when he became a Christian, obviously his family didn't think that was too cool. And they told him they never wanted to hear the name of Jesus mentioned ever again around them. But, being the good, young, enthusiastic evangelical that he was, he kept going. Finally, he knew he had to stop or he was going to lose all relationship with his parents.

Fast forward about 35-40 years, his father is in Phoenix and he is dying. So, he decides he is going to go down there and see him. And he's decided he's going to talk to him about Christ one more time. So he goes in the room and he talks to his dad a little bit and then he lays the gospel on him. His dad looks at him and doesn't say a word. And he's sort of puzzled. His dad won't respond. So he leaves and he comes back the next day because his dad is deteriorating and he's pretty close to death. And he goes in the room and his dad just looked at him and said, you and I believe in the same savior. And then he died. And that's some story. So you don't know. You never know. You know. And so there's going to be at least one Jewish guy in heaven. OK.

Question 10. How does a believer put on the new man? You know, we looked at the verse 7, lying out one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and you put on the new man, which is renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of him that created him. How do you do that? I notice either none of you have ever done it.

Galatians 2.20, okay. It says the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved and gave himself for me. Okay, that's cool. By faith. By faith. Faith in what? I live by faith. Faith in what? In Jesus Christ. In this particular verse, faith in what? In just these words here, faith in what?

That you already have him on. See that? It says that you have, aorist tense, fact, put off the old man and his deeds. How did that happen? You were crucified with Christ. That's how it happened. And that you have put on the new man, How did that happen? You were resurrected in Christ.

That's the new man. So that's a position that we all enjoy. But here he's talking about condition. So he's saying, look, the position has already been accomplished. You guys need to live in it. So he says, put it off and put it on by faith. Wait a minute.

I'm not accomplishing anything. I'm just believing what God has already done. You know, I get at these arguments with people all the time about the use of our will. And don't tell me you've got free will because you're not free. Trust me. You have a will. What's your will for?

What do you use it for as a believer? You choose which source you're yielding to. That's not bad. And the source you're yielded to in terms of the right one, how do you yield to the new source? By faith. So your will is really designed for you to believe, not to implement. You see that here? Implementation is not your job. It's already been done.

But you're to believe it. And when you believe it, guess what? The Spirit of God will, at some point, probably slower than you would like, make it real in your experience. I am in Christ. He is my life. I am everything He's telling me in the epistles as I read them. That stuff is true about me. And once you begin to understand that it's true about you, you know what you get free from? that it ain't about you anymore. Do you understand that? You hear Christians saying, well God did all this wonderful stuff for me.

Who's the center? I am. The purpose that God crucified you, buried and resurrected you was so that Christ would be your center. He would be the one you were most interested in. Not what he can do for you, just him. That's pretty cool. The greatest freedom we have is the freedom from me. from ourselves, that's the greatest freedom we have. There is no greater freedom than for Mike to be free from Mike. Mike is my biggest problem.

Well, maybe Al. Let's see. Mike? Yeah. It says we're being renewed. Is that passive? I don't know. Courtney? It may be middle voice. Is it middle? Yes. Everybody understand the question? There are three voices in Greek. There is active voice, passive voice and middle voice. Active voice is you are doing all the action. I threw the ball. Passive voice is, the ball was thrown to me. What's middle voice? You're involved in the action, but you're not the source of the action. Do you see that? And your involvement in the action is by faith. Renewed? What's that? Renewed in verse 10? Yeah. It's present passive. It's passive. You asked about renewed? Is that what you said? Unrenewed? In verse 10?

It's present, in mind, present, passive. Now we have an argument between Zodiatis and whoever Courtney's reading. I think that's what I looked up and it's a perfect passive participle. Did you have a question? I mean, I like the passive thing, because I think that most everything is God doing it, and I'm receiving. Because that's the way grace works. Now there are things he's got me involved in.

I think for me it's been helpful to understand when you're an unbeliever, or when you didn't believe, you were a slave to sin. Your only option was to walk in the flesh. When you became a believer, now you have a choice. I can walk in the flesh or I can walk in the spirit. Before I was an absolute slave to sin. So I think for some reason that helped me. makes sense when it says put on the new man, to walk in what I already have. Before I couldn't do that, I had no other choice.

Oh you didn't have a choice, you couldn't do it, that's exactly right, you just can't do it. And I think it takes the spirit of God to show a non-believer that they are a slave to sin. And to show a believer that they were a slave or maybe are still a slave to sin in terms of their everyday activity.

Yeah, because you can put yourself back in there. Oh, sure. Oh, totally back in. And you know, being a slave to sin is not necessarily doing a bunch of bad stuff. No. Being under law makes you a slave to sin. Because law is the impetus for sin. Well it goes back to your example of acknowledging good and evil and their focus on the tree of life.

Yeah, so putting on the new man, well in Galatians 5 which you were quoting, walk in the spirit and really the verse says it's impossible. If you're walking in the spirit it's impossible to fulfill the desires of the flesh. You can't do it. Why? What are you doing when you're walking in the Spirit? What's going on behind your eyeballs? What are you focused on? The Lord Jesus Christ. And as long as He's in the center of your focus, the flesh has no place. Right? I wish Monique was here. She'd know what she'd say now. What about if you're changing diapers? Like you can't change diapers in the Spirit.

Now see, and I think the Spirit of God would have us focus in on Christ all the time. We speculate, I think, early on in our Christian life what walking in the Spirit is going to be. What is it going to be like to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus? Am I going to be just another useless person who doesn't meet the needs of his family because I'm preoccupied with the Lord Jesus Christ?

No. Actually, you'll be much better at what you do walking in the Spirit than you ever were in the flesh. You'll be a much better husband, a much better wife, a much better mom, a much better dad, a much better whatever you do in the Spirit than you ever were in the flesh. So verse 10 is conditional, because it's what we're doing, walking in the Spirit. Yeah, because it's interesting, because he starts the verse, lie not one to another.

Isn't that interesting? Isn't that how he starts it? It says, and have put on the new self. Oh, that you have put off the old and put on the new. And then he explains that the new is renewed in full knowledge according to the image that created him. Who's he talking about? Jesus. A resurrected glorified Christ. Okay.

It's conditional based on your position. Based on our focus? Well, focus or faith. I would use the word faith rather than focus. I wish the Holy Spirit would hurry up and get me. Don't we all? That's really true, but it is a work of the Spirit. It really is. It's interesting about how the spirit works. He doesn't leave things for chance and he never sweeps anything under the rug.

So you're going to learn as intimately what you've been saved from as to what you've been saved to, even though the desire is to get on with the to part of it. Maloy used to talk about the fact that as you grow spiritually, There's also at the same time this peeling of the onion, of the flesh, so I get to find out who I really am in Adam.

But at the same time I begin to realize, I know that that isn't me anymore. But you end up with Paul, and Paul in Romans 7 says, that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. That just wasn't some sort of statement he came up with. And then he cries out, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

That was real. And I think every believer goes down that road. I really do. Because you've got to know, if you're ever going to be used of the Lord for helping anybody else, you've got to know what you're safe from. You've got to know that you're no great sheikhs. that all that you are in the flesh really doesn't contribute to anything you are in the spirit. God uses the most unlikely people for spiritual work and those that think they have something don't get used at all. Isn't that interesting how he does that? That's why we're all here.

I remember in our Bible study with Hal, how it worked, he was telling us I don't know if it was Jay Vernon McGee that he was listening to how he got saved, but he used to have a poker game every week. And after he got saved from having a poker game, he's got a big old cigar hanging out. And so it's this instinct that he definitely was a believer. He was definitely saying that he was just he hadn't been.

He used a non-believing lady across the table from him who called him a hypocrite to wake him up. You keep talking about this Lord Jesus with the cigar and the scotch and soda. You're a hypocrite. Am I right about that? So, Mike, the other thing, which the Lord's just been pounding on me, too, and what we talk about, it's all, you know, we still are talking, even when you're talking, it's I and I and I and I and I. It's like the hungry heart yesterday, you know.

What really changes, or what the Lord's really trying to impress upon me is the other view, His view. And what, you know, take it from His side of the coin. And I think that's when we get to Ephesians, from our position in the heavenlies, looking down. But actually, look at it from the Lord's perspective, how much He loves you, and our response.

And it's a flip. We talk about all I and I and I, and even what you've been talking about is I, but flip it around and see how He sees us, and His love for us, and how we respond to that. It's a flip. You know, we can't be separated from His love. And when you look at it from that, how's our response? A lot of it is in the marriage, when you look at how a marriage is supposed to be, the head of the household. how we respond as the bride of Christ. And it's changing, you know, and you see it from his perspective. He loves you, and how do we respond?

Do we blow it off? Do we look over here? Do we listen to somebody else? Do we just wait for the paycheck? Do we, you know, as long as you meet our needs, you know, I'm not looking at you. Yeah, and meet our needs spiritually. You just stay over there, but look at it from his side. He loves us with an infinite love.

Let me ask you a question. Does the Spirit of God have to make you aware of that? Oh yeah, it's all about conviction by the Holy Spirit. You can't go home this afternoon and say, well this afternoon, from 2 to 3, Broncos aren't playing. I'm going to look at things from the Spirit's side.

Oh really? Call me and tell me how that went. So what's going to happen there? In other words, how is the Lord Jesus Christ going to become the center of your life? Or He's the most important thing to you? How's that going to happen? Because you spent Sunday afternoon? How's that going to happen?

Well, it's not going to be an effort of my own. That's right. It's not. It's got to be totally the Holy Spirit working in me. See, and it's really important to understand that that's his goal. You know, we were talking about verb tenses, and it feeds right into it. Question 11. Is verse 10 positional or conditional?

Having put on is the heiress middle participle, right? You Greek geeks? Put on. And being renewed is a present passive participle. Right? That's what I discovered. Okay. Let's explain it in English. Yeah, please. Having put on being aorist middle part, aorist tense is fact tense. It's fact. A lot of people say that aorist tense means it happened in the past. Fine. But it's more important to understand in the aorist tense it's a fact. It can talk about time or not. It doesn't have to be time. Fact. You know, your name is Jack. That's a fact. When did he get the B-Jack? I don't know. Fifteen minutes ago. Whatever. Fact. The fact is that you have put on. That's a fact. But it's middle voice, which means you were involved in that. It just didn't happen to you, and you didn't do it all yourself, but you were involved in it. What was your involvement? I made the choice. The choice to do what?

To believe. That's where the middle voice comes in. You believed it. Now, being renewed is present, which means it's going on right now all the time, and continues to go on right now all the time. It's passive. It's a passive participle, which means Right now, going on all the time, is you being renewed. That's condition. Does that make sense? You are being conformed to the image of Christ. It isn't going to be over Thursday at noon. It's going to go on, how long? As long as we're here. As long as you're here. Okay. Will it go on in eternity? What do you think? I would think so. Forever. What do you think?

I would think so, because we're going to be learning in heaven too. See, I agree with you in the sense of this. We're all going to get rewarded at the beam of judgment. It's a place of rewards. Sin is not the issue there. It's rewards. And I look at human beings as vessels that contain things.

And your capacity is going to be everything. You're going to have a bigger capacity than I do, and you're going to be filled to overflowing with Christ, and so am I, but I'm never going to look at you and say, nah. But that's going to be the least amount that you ever can contain Christ. You're going to grow in a capacity, I think, for all eternity. That's where I think the conformity is, because He's limitless.

In other words, should we try certain things to get more rewards? If there's going to be one that gets a lot more rewards than the other, I mean, how are you going to... What conflict? Okay, let's look at a verse, I think it's in Ephesians, that says that we were created in Christ Jesus under good works. that God foreordained that we should lock in them. So when you get to the beam of judgment, are you going to have one extra? Seriously, are you? I hope so. How about one less? I hope so. What do you think? Is that going to be personal? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, is it going to be my background?

It isn't going to be that you're standing there and they say, She only gets this many. Understand something. We show up at the beam of judgment with no sin nature and a new body. So our focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's none of this selfish nonsense going on at all. Right? Because it's sin. It's gone. So here we are. It's your turn. I don't know if we're all going to get in line or what's going to happen, but it's your turn, let's say.

And God is going to say, well, Wanda, here are some opportunities you missed, but here's the ones you didn't, and I'm rewarding you for those. And all the stuff you've missed, that goes in the fire, and when the fire's out, you're going to forget them, and so am I. And so is everybody around you. And everybody's going to say, Hallelujah, Wanda. But Mike, didn't you say that you wouldn't miss any? Well, let's finish up with that. If God foreordained the works, and say you get 26, are you going to show up with 27 or 25? No, you're going to be there with 26. You know what's great about that? It fits the paradigm that God rewards you for what He does. See, he's going to do the work through you and he's going to give you the reward for it.

How cool is that? That's a good deal if you can get it. 100% interest. Absolutely. Do you see how that works? I think Helen, the thing when you say, you know, I want to try and do this. What is the first thing in that? Aye. Aye. You know, it's the motive. It's completely off-center.

And you know, I say, I'm going to try so what? So God will bless me a little bit more? Or, you know, he hasn't done enough, that I want to give him a little bit more. The focus is completely opposite. You know, he's foreordained it, and we do it, and it's not because we want to get a little bit more rewards. You know, because if that's it, The focus is on I. And that's where I think, you know, if I try to just do six more things, God is going to smile just a little bit more. I'm going to have a bigger pile at the BMAC. I'll have a few more crowns there thrown at His feet. The focus is then on me. I think that shows up in... marriage is such a good example of that kind of thing.

She's not going to like I'm going to say this, but she took really good care of me the last two months. She doesn't get any more rewards or any less for that. She didn't care. That wasn't the point. The point was she was taking care of me. That's it, you know. I never saw her over in the corner going...

So, as the focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ, He's the focus, not the rewards. It's cool that He's going to do it, but that isn't the issue. And if the reward is him, how cool is that? He's the reward. Cool. Well, I have another one. Resting. I am still waiting.

You know, you all talk about just being able to rest in the Lord. And does that kind of I mean, is that absolutely constant with you, with people who have been in this church? Is that always you are resting? No, no, no. The thing is, as you grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, and circumstances show, it's like Al.

You know, Al's got probably a life issue here. He's spiritually mature enough, he's resting about that issue. He may be mad about the cat next door. That may be aggravating him. But when it comes to his leaving the planet and going to be with the Lord, he's at rest. Why? Because he knows what's happening and he's resting by faith. So as your knowledge grows in Christ and in the grace, you begin to rest in the grace. It isn't like walking into a smoke-filled room. It's not like that. Circumstances show up and you kind of go through them and I'm at rest about it.

Whatever the Lord wants to do is okay with me. because he's going to bless me anyway. I know he is. There is no such thing, Hal used to say this, there's no such thing as a tragedy for a Christian. There are all opportunities for growth. Isn't that cool? Okay, the buzzer. Does renewed mean to fix up the old man? Hopefully, we know that by now. There's no sense of renovation or getting better here. None of you are getting better. OK? I've known some of you a long time. You aren't better.

Again, a quote from Kelly, it is sweet to see how the truth of being dead with Christ is brought in as deliverance from the nature in all its forms, no matter whether corruption or violence. It is the judgment of the first atom as a whole, and nothing is spared.

What is God's purpose for every believer? close. Romans 8, 28, 29, and 30. Every believer should know these verses because it helps you to know what God's up to, doesn't it? We know, not finding out, we already know that God causes all things to work together, all of them. for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose. Is everybody in this room called according to God's purpose?

Guy across the street isn't, but you are. So if you're a called one, here's the deal. For those whom he foreknew, he foreknew all of you. And we'll talk about that next time. He also predestinated for what? to be conformed to the image of his son. You think you're going to miss that boat? No way.

So everything that's going on in your life is for this one purpose, is to conform you to the image of Christ. Image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. Firstborn is not that he was the first on the scene. Firstborn is that he's the number one guy.

And those whom he predestined, which is everybody here, he also called. And those he called, he justified. You're already justified, right? And those he justified, have you ever thought about, why doesn't he put those he justified, he's sanctifying? That word isn't there. Those he justified he also glorified. And that's an Aorist tense. How cool is that? This has to do with your position. And there's nothing in these three verses that is left for chance. Nothing. Nothing. You have been predestinated by God to be conformed to the image of Christ.

Everybody in this room. And you were called to that. He justified you. And he glorified you already. Kind of cool. Kind of cool. Wanda, if you want to know about rest, I'll give you some rest. Is that really true? I think that's one of my favorite scriptures. Yeah, I mean, for God to work all things together for good, I've had people call me up and start complaining about some circumstance in their life. And I love to say to them, oh, you know what? My mind says that God works most things together for good.

Must have left that one out. Sometimes you feel that way. Yeah, it's interesting that God doesn't leave any, as we used to say in the Marine Corps, Irish pennants. You know what Irish pennants are? They're little lint things that hang off of your uniform. You had to go around with a nail clipper and clip them all off. Okay, so we will pick up on Lesson 17. There's some in the back I sent out. I sent them out on, I think, Thursday or Friday. So help yourself. Let's close.

Dear Father, how we thank you for who you are. We thank you for what you've already done and that you are expending your time and energy to inform us about who we are in the Lord Jesus Christ and that we may enter fully into it. and be able to rest in the provision that you've given us. We thank you. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.