Faith - lesson 7 Week 2
Mike Doyle · Mar 29, 2015
Faith, No. 12
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492645941282

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

OK, we are in Lesson 7. Everybody got 7? And we didn't get very far last week. We looked at Romans 10, 1 through 9 and Question 1. What information does God give them in order that they might be saved? And we talked about the elements of salvation that are there. I was just about to start question two and the buzzer went off. So what is the gospel of the glory of God? You see that phrase in the Bible a lot. The gospel of the glory of God. Now let's talk a little bit about what's God's eternal purpose?

What does he do everything that he does for? His glory. He does it for his glory, right? So he wants to declare his glory. He wants every one of his creatures to see it and know it. Everything he does is designed to reveal his glory. I know that sometimes when you say, God has a purpose and his purpose is to do something selfish, doesn't that sound selfish at first? God's purpose is to glorify himself.

I mean, that's how you and I live, right? Um, just a minute. What? The definition that I wrote on one of these pages, it came from New York then, is that glory is the radiant essence of who God is. Right. Okay, if we bring Him glory, we are displaying who He is.

Okay. And that is not selfish. That makes Him better known, but it's not selfish. Okay. How would you, uh... say that we bring him glory? By being his instruments. By letting the Holy Spirit work through us. Okay. By believing him. By other people noticing that we have something they don't. I think Donna hit it on the head. It's simple, by believing him. That's it. Because when you believe him, what happens? You take him at his word, you trust him, and if his purpose is to glorify himself, through his word, that's where he's going with it.

You become, through a person of faith, we talked about Hebrews 11.1, the essence of faith, right? The essence of faith is substance or its reality. of the things of God, the unseen things of God.

That's what faith is. It has absolutely nothing to do with you and me. It has everything to do with what faith is. To do what? The things of God, that they might be seen and known. As we see them and know them, and believe them, what happens? It rebounds to God every time. Because none of us can go to God and say, look what a great job I'm doing.

I'm giving. I mean, these idiots, excuse me, stand up and pray and say, now we're going to do all of this really terrific stuff. And at the end, they say, we're going to give you all the glory. Like he's saying, oh, gee, thanks, guys. I'm really glad.

God's purpose in and of himself is to glorify himself. And the definition that you read is really a good one, because as he declares his glory, and we see him for who he is, he's anything but self-absorbed. Our glory is because we're in him, and we're being conformed to his image.

And it goes back to John 17. He shares his glory with us. We just reflect it back as we're conformed to His image. It's again, nothing of us. It's Him sharing His glory. And we basically just give it back. But it's because of Him. I guess the point is, it's not like me. It's because we're in Him. The glory is because we're in Him, nothing of ourselves.

You know, as I do every day, when the clouds are clear, I look through the skylight and I see that moon. And I think that's the same moon that Abraham was in. Sure. And the glory of God exists in that. Yeah, isn't that interesting. It blows my mind. Yeah, the glory of God is really evident in creation. But imagine, like Courtney's talking about, one of the purposes of God is to share his glory. And in order for him to share his glory with us, what's he got to do? He's got to make us a vessel that's worthy.

Oh, but we're claypots that aren't worthy. Isn't that cool? So he demonstrates and manifests his glory through claypots who aren't worthy, us. See, that's really a cool thing when you think about it. Because it takes your little ego out of the equation.

I want to read a quote to you. If the need of man were the sole measure of the grace of God, then man only would be thought of. The work of the Lord Jesus would simply be for men, and the power of God expended merely in rescuing man and securing his relief. Man would be the object and the end of it all, and not God.

This is the glory that excels. It is the divine testimony to one who, having accomplished redemption, has gone up into the glory of God. He did not take his seat in that glory until every question relating to our souls was fully settled and every foe silenced. The light of the gospel displays all that has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes its rise from the glory of the Father, from the consummation of the Savior's work, and not from the beginning of His work, but from the climax of it. The light from thence sent of the Father into the soul illuminates the Lord Jesus' whole course and comprises His entire work from His first ascent from the glory to His ascension back into the glory." Cool quote, huh?

So the question was, what is the gospel of the glory of God? It's all contained in what I just read. What is the gospel of the glory of God? The whole reason that God effected the work of Christ, salvation, was to do what? To glorify himself, right? And so here's the Lord Jesus, who comes and does what the Father directed him to do, which he agreed to do, and it manifests and demonstrates the glory of God, salvation. So it's titled, Salvation is the Salvation of the Glory of God.

Do you see that? He did it for himself. And that's why the Lord Jesus, back in John 17, As a man, ask the Father to glorify him as a man, even with the glory that they had before he was a man. Something I've been thinking about this week, why did Jesus, when they were in the boat, and you know they woke him up, and then he said, ye of little faith, Why did...

I mean, they were with him. They... Do you think they fully comprehended who he was? No. Well, no. No, they didn't, see. And, I mean, he's telling them all along who he is. And, you know, the first time there's resistance, they're panicky. Gee, we never get that way, do we? We read the Word of God and the first time there's a little resistance we hit the panic switch, right? It's the same principle. It's the same principle.

That's why it's so important, I think, for us to realize that the study of the Word of God is not only designed to give us information, but it's designed to reveal a person to us. And the reason a person being revealed to us is so important is it's who you trust.

Who do you trust? That's what he says to them. Well, I'm here, you know, you of little faith. Because I'm here, what are you worried about? See, and that's the point. And it's the same with us. He reveals all of this wonderful information designed to reveal his personhood to us.

And really our faith and our trust, personal faith and trust, ends up in a person Facts are included, but the person is important. It's like we have varying degrees of faith with each other as we know each other. I would trust Bob less than I would know. Or I should say I would trust Courtney less than I would trust Bob. Just because I know him. Let me respond.

No. You know, one thing actually from one of the things from our trip, which was, you know, the thing, the physical side is we saw what those little fishing boats are in and the thought being 12 or 13 people in a boat that size in the middle of a storm in the pitch black in the middle of the Galilean Sea.

I understand why they panicked. I can see, but the reason they panicked is they didn't believe in who was in the boat with them. And yet I understand from a physical standpoint, after seeing that, it was, you know, I'm thinking, these are all big boats, you know, and it's, you know, you're fine. These are little tiny, this was a little tiny boat. And I'm thinking, just physically, 13 guys, 12, 13 guys in a boat like that rocking. I understand why they panicked. But the reason they panicked is because they didn't know who was in the boat with them. Just like Peter, when he's walking on the water, as soon as you take your eyes off the Lord, you sink. But I understand after seeing that. If I didn't have the faith and who was in the boat with me, I'd be panicking like crazy.

Any of you ever been to Lake McConaughey in Nebraska? There's a theory up there that if you're out in the lake and you see a cloud, no matter how little it is, head for shore. Because by the time you get to shore, there's going to be a huge thunderstorm in that lake. And that's really true. It's happened to me a couple of times. In a boat that you think is perfectly safe, the next thing you know, it's ready to go over. Because the storm comes right down that middle of that lake. And it's treacherous.

And I don't think, like Jesus said to him, you have little faith, like he's yelling at him, either. Oh, you have little faith. It's like, you have little faith. Well, and contrast that with the Sanhedrin. who says to the Lord Jesus when he comes to him to heal his servant, the Lord says, I have not found greater faith in all of Israel than this guy. Because he said, I know you can come, you don't need to come to my house, I know you can heal him from where you are. There's a sense in which the Spirit of God is working in every heart of every believer to develop this trust and dependence on the Lord Jesus, as opposed to self-dependence. So little should we wonder when your self-dependence is challenged.

I just learned that since our faith is a process, they've never been in a storm that bad to realize that he can just call out and make the others stop. It's sort of a learning curve. So what does it tell you about the procession we've been going through here? We start out with the essence of faith. We talk about what it is. If that is not first, then what are you relying on? Your personal faith. Remember the first couple of classes? It was really difficult for us to get off of this idea that faith is all about me. No, it's not. No, it's not. When the Lord Jesus says to those guys in the boat, O ye of little faith, what's he really saying to them? You needed to know who I am and the facts are better.

It's the same thing with the essence of faith, the things of God that can't be seen, the absolute proof of the things of God. And if that's the object and focus of your attention and your faith, then it doesn't waver. If that is not the object, then everything depends on how strong you think your faith is. The strength isn't in your faith, the strength is in what you believe, or who you believe. Do you see that? That's why the essence of faith is so important to us. The Word of God is so important to us, because it reveals to us who He is, and what He's done. And the focus and the strength is in that, not in my belief.

I get to appropriate it and live in it if I believe it. That's very difficult. I talked to a friend of mine that's my age and a very good Christian, and I asked her, have you ever heard that faith has nothing to do with us, that it is not personal faith? She said, yes, I've heard that and I believe it, but it's very difficult to understand. It is, because we're always taught, and our whole frame of reference is me. It's always about me, isn't it?

Sure. Sure. I don't know if I ought to bring this up or not, but many years when I was in total support of my 40 young sons, and I remember very vividly talking to God, I said, why should you care? You don't need to worry about feeding them today. I did. And because I was frightened. And you know, I sit today and laugh. Because He did take care of us.

Well, and that's one of the big deceptions that always enters the mind of a growing believer when you are confronted with this issue of just trusting God for your life. Because you think, well, how's my family going to get fed, and how's all this going to happen? Like the Lord Jesus says, trust me and you're going to starve. It just demonstrates how little we really know Him, and know of Him, and know His glory.

And what a great story that is about, you know, in the boat and everything, because it shows, like you said, that they felt the same way. Otherwise it would have been, they all remained very calm, trusted in the Lord, enjoyed their storm. Let's see what God does. We're going down a little bit different focus here for a minute.

Question 3, Hebrews 13, 20 and 21 explains what the eternal covenant is. What's a covenant? It's a contract. It's an agreement between two people. You want to hear a story that's kind of a tangent? Absolutely. You know the rabbi that lives across the street from me? He said, let's have coffee on Friday. So I have coffee with him. He said, I have these contracts here. He says, do you know what shametz is? I said, no, is it a car? Here's the deal.

Every year at Passover, every Jew has to go through his house and find all the leaven he can. And you know what he has to do with it? He's got to sell it to a Gentile. Leaven is yeast? Huh? Leaven is yeast? Yeah. Okay. Or it can be alcohol or anything that has leaven in it. Okay. He's going to sell it to a Gentile. Guess what he wants me to do? For his entire congregation. Got the contract right here. Right? So I'm going on with this guy and I'm thinking... He said, now listen, he said, He said, you'll put a deposit up.

And I said, well, what happens if nobody wants it back? He said, it's yours, you have to buy it. We have three appraisers who come and appraise all this stuff. I said, so all you Jews get all your junk and sell it to a Gentile and then you take off for the woods. He said, no, no, no. He said, but I can't tell you that we'll buy it back because then it wouldn't be an arm's length transaction. He's right about that. He said, I came to you because you're a real estate guy and you understand contracts. I sure do. I said, I sure do. And I said, so let me get this straight. You know, so we went through it again.

And so and not only that, if they have a space in their house where the Levin is, They have to lease that space to me. During Passover, let's say you're a Jew and you've got something in here and I bought it. I can knock on your door and say, I'm coming to get my stuff. And you have to let me take it. Isn't that wild? I'm going to form this limited partnership and you're all in.

But you have to be a Gentile. So anyway, a contract. So a covenant is a contract. Would you be a Gentile as a Christian? I would just be a Gentile. From their perspective, I'm a Gentile. They don't know from nothing about Christians. Just a Gentile. So did you sign the contract? I didn't. But I'm still thinking about it. Because I think it would be a cool thing to go through just to know what they're about. I want to guarantee that I don't have to get You know what the Jewish community in Omaha does? You know who their Shamitz guy is? Warren Buffet. He does. He agrees every year with all of the Jews in Omaha to be their Shamitz guy.

Now what does that mean? That means that if they don't want the stuff back, he's got to pay for it and it's his. Then what does he do with it? Sure, he can do whatever he wants with it. So I put up a deposit, which isn't a whole lot of money, but there are 125 people in their community, and who knows what it's all going to add up to.

Well, what kind of stuff is it? It's anything that they consider leaven. You know what else they do? Donna looked this up on Wikipedia. They're supposed to go through their house and they go through this cleaning process the day before and then when it gets to be night they get a flashlight and a feather and they go through their house looking for leaven so they can, you know, get rid of it. Well, does this sound Jewish? They purposely hide leaven so they can find it. So it'll look like they're real good cleaners. That's right. That's exactly what they do. It's like hiding your own Easter eggs. But if you're an Alzheimer's patient, it's a fun deal. You can't remember where you put them. This leaven doesn't have any link to anything that might cause them to sin. Only the kind bread and beer. Bread and beer and anything that's fermented. I don't know what it all entails.

But he did say to me, you know, to be honest with you, he said it can be in the tens of thousands of dollars in terms of what it all is. Well, that's ridiculous. You mean, Wanda, you don't want to sign the contract? Why do they have that in the first place, if they know they're going to have to get rid of it? That's a good question. I don't know. I know they drink wine. They're weak in breaking the laws on your lawn. So anyway, back to the lawyer. Lawyers give you a good deal. With three Jewish appraisers?

I don't think so. I said, well, how do you base the values? And the value would be what you could sell it for on Craigslist. Boy, that's really... It's not as good as like a garage sale. I said, you know, if you guys renege on the deal, I said, then the next thing we're going to talk to is the lawyers. And every one of these kind of deals, the only guy that wins is the lawyer.

Okay, what's a covenant? It's a contract. It's an agreement. And there was this agreement between the Father and the Son, right? And Hebrews 13, 20 and 21 talks about it. Now the God of peace who brought us from the dead, brought from the dead the great shepherd, who's that? Christ. Of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant.

So in order to have a transaction, how many people do you need to have? Two. Got to have at least two, right? You've got to have on both sides. So in the Eternal Covenant, where are you? Nowhere. Are you in the deal? No. No, you're not. Who's the deal between? The Father and the Son. Right? It doesn't say Claire or Courtney or JD. It's between the Father and the Son. Right?

And what was the deal? What were the terms of the contract? Christ would die on the cross and God would regret it. You die on the cross and pay the penalty for the sins of the world and I will raise you up. And it's God took his wrath out on his son. That's right. So it's not even just a die, it's like a you get all my wrath. I don't think there was any hidden agenda in this contract between the two of them. So the point is The eternal covenant, what's a covenant? And who are the parties to a covenant? So we got that straight, right? Now question four.

What is the proof that Jesus' death for the penalty of sins was adequate payment to God's satisfaction? What proved to the Father that Jesus carried out his part of the covenant? That he raised him from the dead. No. What was the proof that Jesus carried out his end? He died. What was the proof that God accepted his death? He was raised. So the Lord Jesus fulfilled his, if you lay down your life for the sins of the world, I'll take it up again, I'll resurrect you. So the very proof that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world and no one else could do that, The proof is in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That's the proof. Okay? Sounds pretty simple to us. You know, I'm going to throw something in. You know, I'm Miss Holy Spirit.

So in that contract, it was the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So is the Trinity, because the Spirit is the power that raised Christ. All three of them. All three. Yeah. Okay. Just throwing that in. How about this? It took more of God's power to raise Christ from the dead than it did for him to create. Well, where did you learn that? Think about it. I asked you before, where did you get that? I just pulled it out of mid-air. Well, the reason it's not all in one place, I should have put them together.

The verses that show that Christ was raised by the power of the Father, he was raised by the power of Christ and the Spirit. All three were involved. And what's interesting is that the resurrection of Christ is, in fact, a new creation. Romans 6 talks about that. Newness. It's a brand new creation. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, a new creature. And that kind of thing, and I don't think we really recognize that when Christ rose from the dead, the entire system changed. Everything changed. There is a new creation that exists right now.

You can't see it, unless you are a person of faith. one of those invisible things of God, that Christ himself is the new creation. He is. He was instrumental in the implementation and the creation of the first one. He is the second one. Do you see that?

So it isn't a matter of just bringing Christ back to life. Schaefer says there were at least 33 things that happened at the cross. And the resurrection is a brand new beginning. Okay? So that's where I get it. You know, and maybe it's also that God spoke creation, you know, into being. So it's like his word created it. Versus the whole death, resurrection, new beginning. It's like more than just words.

It was the actions of Christ. What necessitated the cross? Why did there have to be a cross? Adam sinned. God set the rules. He told Adam, if you sin you will surely die. This is where you have to interpret the word death to mean separation. It doesn't mean annihilation, it means separation.

But when Adam sinned, what did he really do in terms of his relationship to God. He slapped God in the face. He insulted him. He challenged his glory and his righteousness. So if you do that to God, God can't let that go. And he told Adam, here's the penalty for not obeying me. It's separation from me. But because God is a loving God, There's two aspects to that.

One is that he had to satisfy his own justice. He had to do it. He had to atone for the sins of the world. And it's every sin committed by every creature for all time. Couldn't leave any of them out. Because if he did, God wouldn't have been satisfied. See that?

This has bothered me. thinking about Christ and he was son of man and son of God and then in essence he was the seed of God and was he under, he never then was under the curse of Adam. Well on the cross he was, not until he was made sin. The soul that sins, it will surely die. So if you impute sin to Christ, guess what's going to happen? It's going to die.

But because of who he is, he could satisfy God in his death. He could fulfill his bargain. You and I couldn't dine across and satisfy anybody about anything. But he could. Because we would deserve it. We would deserve it. He didn't. But it has to do with who he is, his character, he's the son of God, who has become a man.

In order, sort of a lame demonstration I use, let's say you come over to my house and my dog bites you in the leg, and you want satisfaction. Do you look to the dog? You look to me. When God's creature offended God by sinning, who does he look to? for satisfaction. The creature? No. He has to look to himself.

That's why Jesus becomes a man. That's why the eternal covenant. That's why it is the way it is. That's why only Jesus could do this. So in reality, there's no real basis for the thought that Christ lived a perfect life, and because he lived a perfect life, he was a perfect sacrifice.

It had nothing to do with him living a perfect life. It had to do with who he was. I would say it this way, that because he is who he is, there was no other life he could live. Right, but it doesn't... Which made him the perfect... There's no way it's human. Could live a perfect life.

It wasn't a perfectly lived life, it was the sacrifice lived, needed. It was a fact that he was deity. And the fact that his father wasn't Adam. That's really important because all other human beings come from Adam. He's the only one who didn't. And he fulfilled the requirements to be the right sacrifice. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He was the perfect, unspotted Lamb.

And part of it is because of the way He lived, but it was who He is. I think the fact that a while back, before He died, He also created everything that is visible and invisible, so that's part of who He is. He was the creator of everything involved in it.

But you see why he had to become a man? Because a man committed the sin. You see that? A spirit didn't die for the sins of the world, it had to be a man. And he created man in his image. I'm sorry? And because he created man in his image. Yeah, did you hear that? Everybody hear that? Because he created man in his image.

You okay with that? Okay. So, yes. I was just thinking that a contract is really only as good as the parties that are subject to that contract. That's why I'm having real trouble with this Jewish deal. But that's exactly right. You have to decide, will they perform? That's exactly right. That's my whole decision. If I agree to do this, will they perform?

And Christ had the Father turn away from Him on that cross. And that whole contemplation of that eternal covenant is mind-blowing. Yeah, he said before the cross, for the joy set before him before the cross, but here he is on the cross and it's really happening and God turns away from him. Uh-huh. You know? Now... But that was the man part, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. What do you mean that was the man part? Well, that was the humanity part. The father didn't turn away from the eternal son in terms of deity, but he did. But see, you have to understand that the Lord Jesus set aside all of his deity to become a man. You know, his whole center and focus was as a man. So much trust.

And then it was like even, you know, hey, It shows the man part when he says, you know, if there's any other way we could do this, you know, if you could take this from me. Isn't that something? That Gethsemane thing, to me, made Christ human. Because we've all been in situations where, hey, I can't deal with this. And what another great thing to show in the Bible, because it could have been showing Christ the whole time, I'm ready, okay, when are we going to do this? And you know what's interesting about that? I think that the angels came to minister to him, to keep him alive long enough to get him on the cross. That was such a traumatic event for him, that he was, I mean, he's sweating blood. As a man, that would have been really tough.

You guys think you've got mental problems, How would you like to be the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? You know, in a couple of hours, we're going to the cross. Not from the physical standpoint of it, but I'm going to turn away from you. Oh, boy.

How does setting aside his deity when he was man on earth, may relate to his being able to perform the marital system? You know, the Word of God says that he did that. How he did it, I'm not sure. He's fully God and fully man. He's 100% both. It makes me think of one of the verses in the New Testament where someone was questioning him.

He said, I am. And it made me think back to when Moses was going to the Pharaoh. And he says, who shall I send? They said, me. He said, I am. So I created. Well, that's what he said in Gethsemane when they came to rest. And he said, who are you looking for? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am.

What happened to him? It all hit the ground. So did Jesus do his miracles after he was baptized? I don't think there's any record of him doing any before then. So Holy Spirit, right? The great thing about the triune God is that they never act independently. And if there's anything that demonstrates the Lord Jesus' life up to that, it's dependency. Think he ever hit his thumb with a hammer?

I bet he did. He said he knew nothing about the Father. That's right. Nothing. That's the thing that is so important for us to understand. We as the sons of God are to live that same way. We're never to do anything of ourselves. We're to live totally in dependence upon him. Oh, my family will starve if I do that. Would he have had it unless he came to earth as a man? Would he have had any other way to know what mankind goes through?

No. I don't think so. No. But if he knows everything, okay, that doesn't bother me. But where he said that God turned his back on him, God turned his back on evil because it says he could not look at each Yeah, it's very clear that he was made sin. Not sins, but the thing sin itself. He was so identified with sin that he was sin. It was our sin. Yeah. Yeah.

Why would Satan have come to him and tempted him? But Satan certainly knew he couldn't overcome in the garden. I'm convinced that Satan thought he was winning. He thought, boy, if this Jesus dies, I win. When he took him on the tent and he said, I'll give you all the world, you know.

Yeah, that was three years ahead of that. I know, but I mean... Well, who do you think whipped up the Jews and the Gentiles to kill Christ? Who do you think whipped up the opposition to Christ to crucify him? Well, Satan did it. I'm thinking he was convinced that if he could kill him, he'd win. Or to get Jesus on his side, to say like, hey, if you get all this, come on to my team.

Yeah, you know, I'm not sure that Satan really understood who he really was. I mean, he knew he was the son of God, but he... I mean, I envisioned Satan, and the moment that Christ died, he goes, oh, I shouldn't have done that, because now I lost. Shouldn't have done what? I shouldn't have had him crucified.

Oh, so even then, he thinks it's all about him. Sure. Satan does, like, oh, I, yeah. Sure. So, I mean, Satan lost all of his control that he gained in the garden once Christ died. Do you think he still, with all what we see going on in the world, do you think he still thinks he could win? Oh, sure he does. Sure he does.

I don't think Satan understands grace. I mean seriously, because he's the accuser of the brethren and if you read the word you would know that we're eternally safe, but yet it doesn't stop it. Yeah, and this whole idea of Christ being an advocate for us, you know, about your sinfulness, he still stands there accusing you before God's throne about your sinfulness. And the Lord Jesus stands there without ever having to say a word and saying, okay, Wanda did this, but I already took care of it.

I don't know how much the Savior thinks he will win. God uses him now. He's a defeated foe. Yes, he is. And he is only allowed as far as God lets him. To carry out God's purpose. I don't think he thinks he's won. He's just like a defeated foe. Like when you take over a country and you use that person, they're not thinking they're winning. They're just as long a leash as God's going to allow. So I don't think he thinks he's won.

He's just under God's allowance to go this far. But he still might think he still can kind of get the advantage somehow. Like, I'll pretend I'm going along. You know, and I think when he tempted Jesus, it was going after the man part. This is the time that he was fully man and fully God. I think the tempting was to try and get the human side of it. He may think there's a chance, but...

It goes back to when God created Adam, Did he give Adam dominion over the creation? Yes. When Adam sinned, who got it? Satan. Is Satan a man? No. God's original purpose was to have a man have dominion over the creation. Guess who has it now? The Lord Jesus Christ has it. He's a man. Now, Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. Although he's been judged, he still functions as the prince of the power of the air. I mean, he's not so much in Denver, but he certainly is in Washington, D.C. Alright, one last question. After this conversation, I'm hoping.

How does a person believe... Now, where is that? Yeah, why are we looking at the paper? It's my own question. My face. How do you do that? You don't. Yeah, you do. You accept it. You stop resisting the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember we've talked about why you have a will? Why do you have a will? So you can believe one thing or the other. You either believe God or you believe something other than what he's telling you. So you have this thing called a will. And it's designed specifically for you to believe. That's why you have it. Because you can't implement with your will anything. Really? And the Lord Jesus said, how many of you guys by willing can increase your height? He was talking about basketball players. They couldn't get any taller. They couldn't do anything with their will.

But you do use your will to believe. So let's think about this for a minute. You just A person believes by just resting in the facts. The reality that comes out of God's essence, we just rest in them. In Lesson 8, Courtney is going to talk more about the things of God. And those things that the Word of God reveals to you, you just rest in them.

You've exercised your will to believe now. So you rest in them. So you're talking about belief after salvation? Yeah. Or belief too soon. Well, how do you rest if you're not saved? You don't. As a matter of fact, that's one of the benefits of salvation. The Lord Jesus said, you come unto me and I will give you rest for your souls. You know what's cool about that? Everybody who never came to Christ never gets rest for their soul. Never! That's the consequence of sin, is no rest. But the Lord Jesus says, you come to me and I'll give you the one thing that you can't find anywhere else in the world.

I'll give you rest. It's the same thing as the Christian life goes on. You learn these things and you just rest in them. You rest in Him. You have something that's an invaluable asset. You get to rest. Nobody else can do that. You rest in the stormy boat. Stormy boat, calm boat, doesn't matter. You rest in him. And one of the things, my conversation with my rabbi buddy, and now I've known him for three years, he and his family don't have any rest.

They're working all the time, hard as they can. They don't have rest about anything. They think they do on Sunday. Or is it Saturday? No, they work harder on Saturday. Yeah, not working. So, keep that in mind that really what faith is, is just rest in the things of God. So we'll pick up, and we're not moving very fast. You guys are kind of slow. We're okay with it. We're getting over it. We'll pick up at question five next week. I've got to get Courtney in here before he goes to Alaska. Let's close.

Dear Father, how we thank you for your word and we thank you for your work and we thank you for the fact that you have designed a system whereby our involvement and appropriation of all that you are is by faith alone and that we are learning how to live in this grace that you've supplied us and we pray in your son's precious name. Amen.