Unfathomable Riches of Christ - In Christ, redeemed and forgiven, so as to be...
Vern Peterman · Mar 25, 2018
Unfathomable Riches of Christ, No. 11
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/410261638206253

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

We have been talking for the last few weeks during the month of March for, you know, in Christ and then looking at things like position and condition and looking at, okay, we have a position and possessions and then predestination and then last week we looked at being in Christ is not just location, in terms of location and being personal in Christ, but the Father placing us in Christ and his initiation of that was also the means by which we were blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So we looked at location and means. Now we'll be looking at another thing and that is in Christ And then as we look at the various ways in which we have been graced with the unfathomable riches of Christ, we want to take a look and see how some of those things are connected. How is it that Paul can make this huge, massive, eternally significant summary statement, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. By the way, was Moses blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ?

You're saying no? Why not? Wasn't he a nice guy? You know? Was that? Sometimes, yeah. And other times he was pretty cantankerous, right? Especially when they told God, you know, pick somebody else, right? So, anyway, so you're saying Moses was not. Why not? I mean, he was an awfully nice fellow, you know, and believed in the Lord, and even saw the Lord, you know, as close as you could get to face-to-face, that sort of thing.

So here's one of the things, these things that we're looking at, they apply to church age believers only. We can't automatically transfer these truths that we're studying to saints from earlier times, before Acts 2, including the thief on the cross. It was less than two months after the thief on the cross went to be with Christ in paradise, that Peter gave the address on the day of Pentecost. The thief on the cross died the same day Jesus did, April 3rd, 33 A.D. On May 24th, Peter gave the address on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. Less than two months later, less than two months after he denied knowing Christ at all. So what was true of the thief on the cross as he went home with paradise that day, we have less than two months after that the church began. So what we're looking at here are not things that can be just transferred to everybody who was saved of all time. It doesn't even matter if they're really good guys. Noah walked with God. Was he in Christ? Enoch walked with God and God took him after 365 years. Was he in Christ?

No. You will have the two witnesses who will be God's two witnesses the first half of the tribulation period They will be killed after 1,260 days, they will be killed by the Antichrist, lay on the streets of Jerusalem for three days, then be resurrected and taken up. Will they be in Christ?

No. So what we're looking at is very special here, and it's not something to just be spread all over and assumed to be true of everybody else who's a believer of all time. It is only for those who are in the church. Yes? The Jews in the millennium won't be in Christ's presence. That's true. They won't be. They won't be.

So, we were baptized into Christ, Romans chapter 6, Galatians chapter 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 10, The Jews were baptized into Moses. Through the cloud and through the sea. They were baptized into Moses. We've been baptized into Christ. Those are two very different things. Baptized into Moses and how many laws did they get? 613 laws, 365 of them are don't do this and don't do that. How many of those do you get? None.

Okay, so here, now we have the very first lesson of this lecture, we point out that the various authors have sought to bring together those great truths, those great truths of being in Christ, of being of the unfathomable riches. You have those. As an add-on, supplement, we won't be going through it all today, but you have them and you're certainly welcome to take a look at them.

That is the one for Schaefer that was revised by Hampton Keithley that Nancy got permission to further reduce. So that's what you got. It's Schaefer to Hampton Keithley III to Nancy. So that's the version you have. This is Nancy's reduction? This is Nancy's reduction. She got permission from Hampton Keithley, who's now home with the Lord, and so he can't renege on it, right? And Schaefer went home to be with the Lord on, was it August 22nd, 1952, right? So he's home, he can't renege on it either. So anyway, so what you have is the double reduced form, but it's there. All right, so you're free to take a look at that.

One of the reasons why we're taking a different approach than Schaeffer took, and not just going through Schaeffer's list. Number one, blessed be the Godfather of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Where? In Christ. What Schaeffer did is he listed those things, but it was down the list. Instead of saying, in Christ is the door to every way in which we've been blessed. So that's the approach that we're taking that's different. Different from what Shapert did. All these guys we have here, Bulleted, all did a great job. I mean, they really pulled together some wonderful and marvelous things.

But the different approach that we're taking is recognizing that it is in Christ we have every spiritual blessing. in Christ, in the heavenly places, and that that is the entry hall and the front door to all the spiritual blessings that we have, the unfathomable riches of Christ. So, one of the things we're going to be looking at today, Scripture brings out some essential and momentous insights into our unfathomable riches that are best reflected in these two principles.

What's a principle besides the guy that you get sent down to school? What's that? How things work. So this is a statement of how things work or a fundamental truth. That's a principle. Fundamental truth, how things work or both. Fundamental truth, how things work or both. So principle number one. An understanding of the identification truths is essential for grasping the meaning of our unfathomable riches in Christ.

Suppose I went through Ephesians chapter 1 and took out all the places where it said, in Christ, in him, in whom, in the beloved, and just took those all out. I mean, it's kind of repetitive, so why not just take it out, right? So what happens if I take it out? Nothing but? It was funny, it seems fairly simple, right? In Christ. Except what happens is you lose the whole thing. You lose everything. Why? Why do you lose everything that's in the chapter if you don't have that? That's the essence of the chapter. That's the location, that's where we end up, right? And does it come and go?

Are there percentages? I'm 70% in Christ and I'm working for the other 30? So there's no coming and going. Does God say, you know, you better shape up or I'm going to make you only half in Christ. Or even worse yet, you know, look, you've been a bad boy, so you're going to be unseated from the heavenly places. Is that the way it's going to work? No. In Christ, 100%, God did it, all we did was what?

We believed. That's it. You find that at the end of Ephesians 1, 3-14 and the beginning of Ephesians 1, 15-23. Believe. Have faith. So this principle, fundamental truth, the way things work, is so critical the Apostle Paul stated this summary of the all-inclusive truth in his introduction to the letter to the church at Ephesus.

So this is Ephesians 1.3. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Absolutely, totally, irreversibly. Principle 1. Principle 2.

Through what the Bible tells us about our identification with Christ and the words that describe our unfathomable blessings in Christ, we can begin to see the relationships between the words and terms. That is, the way things were listed, for example, by Schaeffer in your handout, things are individually listed, but rarely connected. First, what's the first connection between all the spiritual blessings that we have? What's the first connection between all of them? Death. Death is critical, but it's not the first connection that you see here.

And it's real simple. In Christ. In Christ. Certainly faith, you don't get there without it, right? But in Christ, that's where every spiritual blessing is located. It's where every spiritual blessing comes about. That's the means that we talked about. That's how the Father gets it done. That's how He accomplished it. You see that? This is location, personally, in Christ. It is how the Father blessed us with every spiritual blessing. And it's so critical that if you take the in Christ out of the chapter, the whole chapter falls apart. Yes. So it's like all real estate.

Location, location, location. You got that right. It's location, location, location, but the location is not simply a coordinate on the map. The location is personal. It's in Christ. By the way, is that transferable? It blesses you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Roger Henderson. Is that going to work? Bless you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Luke Jenkins.

There's no other name we can put there that's going to work, is there? It didn't matter if Luke won the baseball game yesterday. So as we look at this, we're going to look at examples of relationships between the words, and this is going to be our starting point, but it won't be our finishing point. So let's take a look here.

We have in Romans chapters 3, 4, and 5 and Galatians chapters 2 and 3 being justified or justification or justify those related words are said and who does the justifying in those chapters in Romans 3, 4, and 5 Galatians chapters 2 and 3. Who does the justifying? Essentially it says God justifies us, right? And so we are before God justified.

By the way, one of the confusions we can clear up real easily, the book of James is justified before other people. Is it the same word? People and hell must be the same thing. No it isn't. James means justified before other people. All means justified before God. Big difference. And it's a simple difference. Simple difference. Okay.

So now, let's turn to the top of page two, which is just the flip side of the one-piece paper. So the Greek word translated justified means declared righteous. That's what it means in simple form. Is that all that it means? Okay, so this is what we've got to take a look at here. You have an inset here, that's this little rectangle.

And the rectangle, and this is near the top of page two, it says some New Testament words related to slaves. And one of the things that's really amazing is that the New Testament repeatedly uses words related to slavery. Again and again and again, use the words related to slavery. I've given references for these, but the reference list is the short list. Not exhaustive.

So, one of them was bought. The agora was the marketplace, and so to buy something in New Testament times was agorazo. That's the verb to buy something. And the example of that word is in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 20. It's also near the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

When Nancy and I got married, which is something I just jump up and down with excitement about, you know, even though it's almost 45 years ago. Anyway, when we got married, at the front of the church, they had engraved on two large pieces of wood up front.

You are not your own. You are bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6, 20. That's this word. You're bought as in the marketplace with a price. What was the price by the way? Price. Christ paid the price for you. It was just as simple as that. It was an ownership issue. He paid the price. Done deal. So are we our own? No, we're bought with the price. Secondly, redeemed, which is used in a few different ways.

One of them in Galatians 3.13, redeemed, is translated from ex agorazo, and it means to buy out of the marketplace. Buy out of the marketplace. Next you have Redeemed, which is Lutro. This was used by Titus.

Titus 2.14. And then Redemption, which is the one we're going to be focusing on here. I recommend a handout.

So, Redemption, Apollotrosis, that's in Ephesians 1.7, that is also in Romans 3.24, and Colossians 1.14. So, that is to buy completely from. To buy completely from. That word, redemption, is to buy completely from.

Next, we have a tutor or schoolmaster. So this is a pedagogos, and it's often translated tutor or schoolmaster. Neither one of those English words is really quite the full picture. In general, the students were often really glad when they got out from underneath the pedagogos, because the pedagogos was a slave. who took them to school, grabbed them by the hand, took them to school, and drilled them all the way to school. Stood in the back of the classroom. You ever had any instance where a student says, well, I didn't do this or that, I didn't hear that, or, no, you don't get to do that. I lost my homework, the dog ate it, none of that. Because this pedagogos is going to stand in the back of the classroom and listen to everything the teacher says.

And then drill the student all the way home, holding the student by the hand, drill the student and drill the student until bedtime. And then when the student gets up, guess what happens the next day? You get a pay to go gas. And when you get rid of the pay to go gas, what are you? Really happy. Because that pedagogos is a pedagogos in the mirror, right? So, we got that. Now we have another one that was captive.

This was Colossians 2.8, let no one take you captive. This was someone being captured by thugs or pirates. That's what that word means. Let no one take you captive as in pirates or thugs kidnapping you. That's what that one means. Then the next one, captive, is a military capture.

By the way, what would happen when the Romans would take on a battle is they'd have their soldiers And all their military people and military equipment and right at the back of that was a large team of slave masters ready to take the captives. And that helped fund the Roman military, right? That's what this word is. Being taken captive after the Roman military takes you captive and then passes you on to the slave masters.

Then the next one, freed, which is the word that's also translated righteous, declared righteous. And the final one, master couriants. So there's all these words, and the specific word is the one we have there about fourth down the line. So let's read Romans 3.21-26, understanding that word. Yeah, Stan? What's the difference between kurios and bahal? Ah, okay. So kurios is a Greek word that meant master or lord, or could even mean Lord God. It could even go that far. So, for example, in the talks about slaves and masters, kurios was most often the word that was used there.

So, anyway, Romans 3, 21-26, But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who work really hard at it. who give it their best. No. All those who what? Believe. For there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and therefore all in order to be saved must believe. Right? Nothing else is going to do it. None of us gets there. Right? being justified because you really deserve it, right? No, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption, here's that word, okay? Redemption. Apollutrosis, fully redeemed from, is redemption, okay? Which is in Christ Jesus. Where is it? In Christ Jesus. What did we see in Ephesians? Every spiritual blessing, where? in Christ Jesus. Scripture is consistent.

What an amazing thing, right? So, did we get justified just because God said, they're awfully nice folks and so I'll just let them go. How did we get justified? How did we get declared righteous? We believed and then what did God do? Did he justify us right away or what else happened? Through the Redemption. And how did the redemption come about? We were made to be in Christ Jesus. So did anybody just get declared righteous and that's it? No. Not happening. You must be in Christ Jesus. You only get there by faith and you must be redeemed.

But that's not all. Because we're going to read the next one. Ephesians 1, 7 and 8. In him we have same word, the exact same word. In him we have, and remember what we said, we have what is that? That is a possession. We have as a possession, we have the redemption.

We've been fully redeemed from the sin that called the shots. through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses and literally the trespasses of us. According to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight. Does Romans 3 21 through 26 say that we are redeemed by grace? Yep. It's a gift. Verse 24, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption. So it's by grace, and being redeemed and being forgiven is by grace. Ephesians 1, 7 and 8. Colossians 1, 13 and 14 has a very similar message.

For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom..." Is that it? In Christ? "...his beloved Son, in whom we have..." Here's the possession, right? "...we have the redemption." The exact same word, the forgiveness of sin. So, how are we saved? by grace through faith. Anything else? Did we help it along? Did we deserve it? None of those, right? Entirely by grace through faith, scripture is consistent on this.

Entirely by grace through faith, we've been saved and God says that's it, I'll do the rest, and we have been placed into Christ, placed into Christ, Colossians 114, Ephesians 1.7, Romans 3.24, all exceedingly consistent on that point.

Alright, so let's walk through it. God offers us a gift. It's to be accepted entirely by... He offers it by grace. It's to be received on our part by what? by faith. And from that, we get the picture here, from that we are forgiven of our sins and trespasses. We'll talk a little bit more about what that means. And we are redeemed. Completely bought away from the slave market that we were in before. The slavery that we were in before. Completely bought away from there, and therefore, God says, you've been redeemed, you've been forgiven, you are therefore qualified to be declared righteous. Therefore qualified to be declared righteous. So what were the doorways you walked through?

First of all, salvation and every spiritual blessing was offered to you by grace. There's no enhancing it, there's no making it better, there's no deserving it, there's no losing it. It's offered to you entirely by grace. The only thing you can do to receive that gift is to believe.

God then says, okay, you are forgiven and redeemed and therefore you can be declared righteous. You have to walk through those doors, don't you? You have to walk through every single one of them. Let's look at Colossians 2, 13 and 14. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven all our transgressions.

How did that happen? Having cancelled out the certificate of debt. Ever taken out a loan? They had papers on them, right? Unless you did a personal loan where somebody just says, you know, I'll let you pay it back, and it's just oral, right? But the usual thing is, you go through any sort of commercial entity, and you're going to have a piece of paper that says you owe this much money, and you sign on the dotted line. This word for debt note is a handwritten IOU.

And they took that handwritten IOU and nailed it to the cross. Why? Jesus paid it all, just like we sing. Jesus paid it all, and that's why the debt is forgiven. That's why we are forgiven our trespasses and sins, which are debts before God. But they're all taken care of by Christ's death on the cross. Are there any exceptions to that? None. Yes, Dan? I think it's interesting to say these are all legal terms. Redemption? Forgiveness? Appreciation? That's exactly right. That's right. Everything here are, in the context of the culture, legal terms.

Even being a slave, it's a legal term. To buy you out from, buy you away from the slavery that you had. That's a legal term. And they would write down Okay, you've been bought out, here's the amount paid, the whole thing, right? And to have a debt forgiven, to take the debt note, you know, and you nail it, here it is, it's on the cross, Christ paid it all, that's a legal term. So you go from being under the law to being released by the law. And how did that happen? By the judge. Right, and it's because all the legal requirements were satisfied. See, we get grace, but the only way we get grace is God the Father was absolutely demanding of payment of every single sin.

No exceptions, no bargains, no sale prices. Jesus paid full price for you and me. He paid full price for you and me, no exceptions. Nothing gets left off the list. No bargains. He paid full price for you and me. It was taken out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Canceled out. We're forgiven of that debt completely. How much? Completely. And we've been bought out of slavery completely. Bought out of slavery to sin. He is now our new owner completely.

Yeah? If there was one sin God did not pay for, we would have no assurance of salvation. That's right. If there was any exception, this thing's got a leak. Right? And that's a problem. Could God forgive us if there was some sin that wasn't on the list, that wasn't covered? He couldn't do that.

How about the redemption, to buy us out of the market? If this is the price, and you paid that except for one thing, You'd still owe something. You'd still owe something and this redemption isn't happening. And he was the one who paid the debt, so he would still owe for that death. Yeah, so, and then you have on top, can God declare us righteous if we've still got something hanging out there?

No. No. It has to be total, completely, 100% to be any good at all. We wouldn't belong to him if he didn't have a debt complete. Yeah. We don't sing Jesus paid most of it. But that's why they use legal terms. Because when you go to court, that's the final decision. That's right. So we sing Jesus paid it all, not Jesus paid it almost all.

Nearly all. Any of that. No percentage deals. No rounding. We paid 99% so we'll round up to 100%. No, none of those. No bargains. No rounding off. Jesus paid it all. What's that? No discounts. No bargain prices, no coupons. You can go to Groupon, it won't do you any good. No special deals. But it's amazing how much I want to add to that. Oh, yeah. And think about it. Various people want to trim the corners on things.

In some parts of Christendom, grace and Christ dying on the cross and all that was just to allow you to earn your salvation. And you could still blow it. Imagine having, you know, boy, it really worked all this hard. you know, but I just completely blew it. I committed a mortal sin right in the last few minutes or seconds of my life and so now I'm going to hell and all that work was for nothing. Imagine that scenario. It is theoretically possible for one of the Popes to have issued edicts that everybody's subject to to have said things that are considered to be as equally inspired as the Bible, but for that Pope, in spite of everything that he's done and said, to have committed a mortal sin in the last moments of his life and then go to hell. The Bible does not describe that kind of salvation for you and me. Jesus paid it. All. All. Every. Little. Bit. Yes.

It's really interesting because the judge makes the decision to redeem, and to release, and to forgive, and all those other things. But then he turns around and gives you all these blessings. Where in a court do you ever find that you walk out with all these blessings after you've been freed? The example that I like to give is, okay, let's take a for instance.

I go driving down Holly Street here at 65 miles an hour. And the policeman pulls me over and, you know, I'm in deep doo-doo. I'm in deep yogurt. So, he pulls me over going 65 miles an hour and I don't, I mean, I just say, yeah, I sure did it, you know, and he caught me, you know, clocked me on the radar and just, you know, nailed me. I show up before the judge, right?

And mercy, mercy says, now Vern, you deserve to go in the clink for going 65 miles an hour down Holly Street, but you never done anything like this. Mercy says, I'm going to just let you off with a warning. That would be really merciful. Probably not happen either, but that would be really merciful, right? Grace, Grace is when the judge says, no, we're going to let you off. And the policeman says, hey, what are you doing for lunch? Do I deserve the lunch? Do I deserve the mercy? Neither one. So mercy lets me off from judgment I deserve. Grace blesses me beyond what I deserve. And guess what? We get both. We get both.

So now, we look at that to bring these truths together, the believer on the basis of faith is placed in Christ. Being in Christ, the believer is, of course, blessed with every spiritual blessing, and that includes the believer is forgiven of the debt of sins by Christ paying for them. 100% totally, completely, permanently. Being in Christ, the believer is redeemed, fully bought out from slavery to sin. It's not like, hey, you get a five minute reprieve, then you go back. Fully bought out from slavery to sin on the basis of those things which come from being in Christ, God can and does declare the believer righteous. But God doesn't just sort of, oh, you believe so you're declared righteous.

He does so on the basis of we believe, we've been placed into Christ, we've been forgiven and redeemed, and then God is able to declare us righteous. That's the connection that the Bible makes. Now, we have time. Get out your Bibles, 1 Corinthians 6, 11. I'm going to start in verse 9, because we have this luxury called time.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, or homosexuals. By the way, that's both the female and the male role of a homosexual. Nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor violators, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Such were some of you. I could tell a story about that, and I might. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. Quick story. I remember being in church one evening. We had quite an evening in service that's actually packed out every Sunday night at Peninsular Bible Church.

And Ray Stedman was teaching on this. And he said, without being specific, Please stand up if you were one of these. There was a whole bunch of people standing up. I was one of these. Such were some of you. One guy said, boy, those are my kind of people. Such were some of you, right?

But something for us, so here's the word justified. It's the same word. that's used earlier in Romans 3 through 5 and in Galatians 2 and 3. Okay? Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. Yeah, Clare. Um, when First and Final Lord says that a son of man should be like this. Yes.

That's not, it's a little confusing to me. Does that mean that there's someone who's not? Oh, what he's talking about was basically saying, you know, such were some of you, some of you maybe didn't fit on the list, but that's what he's really looking at. This is a list of 10 things. Is it exhaustive? No. So he didn't, this is an example list, not a, here's the full list, right? So that's the primary reason for putting it that way.

But listen, we've been talking about being in Christ. Are we in any other person of the Trinity? Yes. Romans chapter 8 says we're also in the Spirit, positionally, and this tells us the effect of the Holy Spirit of being in the Holy Spirit in terms of its implementation. Here is the difference between the two. If you have a statement of our position, those are stated as facts, spiritual facts. I am in Christ. Am I, Vern, ever going to sin? Yep. So I, Vern, can and have and will sin. Does that change my in Christ status?

So when you have anything that is a command, an imperative, or an urging, That is talking about not our position, but our condition. And one of the points that we've made, a critical point, is that God does not ask us in our moment-by-moment walk to do anything for which He has not already provided for in our position. See the difference there? Everything God asks us to do is already true of our position.

And he's done it. There is no place in which God says, you know, I haven't quite done this in your position, but I kind of want you to go out there and wing it. I want you to go out there and kind of fake it till you make it. Or, I'm delegating this to you, give it your best shot and let me know how it came out when you're done. God just doesn't operate that way.

Anything God desires, wants, intends for you to do, He has already made it true in who you are in Christ. No exceptions. How about that? That's why Paul can write, you're complete in Christ. There is nothing lacking. in our position, in terms of supporting and being everything that is needed for our condition.

Including walk in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit can only be done because you are already in your position in the Spirit. So think about this, there's all three, and hold on to your thought, okay? Think about this, all three persons of the Trinity are involved in your being forgiven, in your being redeemed, in your being justified.

That's what this verse, 1 Corinthians 6.11 is telling us. You're justified. The Father initiated it. The Son executed it, and the Holy Spirit implements it. So not only do you have everything for your walk in the Lord, provided for entirely in your position, but all three persons of the Trinity are at home. All of God for all of you.

So if somebody says, I don't want to get involved, I'm sorry, way, way too late for that. Way, way too late for that. Thoughts? Questions? Inspirations? Yes, Stan? I was just going to say that question, isn't that kind of what the end of Romans 7 and the beginning of Romans 8 is all about? The fact that conditionally, you know, we have sin in the flesh and it will always be there, but it's the who, the Jesus Christ, the in, him, that gives us a position and we are no longer locked in the slavery of that condition of Roman Sabbath. Yeah, and that's one I actually will be delving into in more detail, but to kind of address it quickly, think about it, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Are you in Christ Jesus?

Yep. How'd you get there? You believe. That's it. That's all you did. I can't improve it, enhance on it, you know, do anything to polish it up or spiff it up or anything of the sort. I am in Christ Jesus. All I did was believe. God said that's it. I'll do the rest. And there's no condemnation. How much? None. Zip. If you want condemnation, I can't help you. You'll have to go somewhere else. We just don't offer that up here.

That's another legal term. Yeah, that's right. And so condemnation is the opposite of what? Declared righteous. Ding! We've been declared righteous. There's no condemnation. You got the positive and the negative statement. It's a done deal. For those who are in Christ Jesus. Are you in Christ Jesus? Are you forgiven? Are you redeemed? Are you declared righteous? Yup. Done deal.

And that's why we're not giving an altar call. Because you're already there. So what we want to do is to spend our time learning about the truths that we can grow in step by step. Let's go back to the beginning, as if we'd never crossed through that.

Yeah? The growing and learning step by step, that requires faith. Like you could say we need faith to be saved. Do we need that same faith to grow? Yes, absolutely. And so let's think about this. In order to be saved, I have to exercise faith, right? Faith in what? What's the faith in? And let's just state it quickly, that Christ the Son of God, or as that says, who He is, died for your sins, was buried and rose again. Do you believe it? That's it. Okay, you exercise faith.

Now, can you grow continuing to only exercise that faith in those facts? You may in some respects learn more about what that means, Even Jesus paid it all. But, one of the reasons we're meeting here this morning is because there are additional facts beyond what is needed to be believed. The gospel, the content of the gospel, there are additional things for us to walk in and live in and grow. So, believe to be saved? Yes. Believe what God has told you beyond that? Yes.

That's why we summarize it, we spend the rest of our lives catching up with what God's already done. Everything that's true of our position that we're spending a whole year learning about, God's already gotten it done. We're just spending time catching up to what He's already done. We exercise faith in those things from one week to the next.

Let's pray. Thank you, Lord. What amazing, amazing ways you've been merciful. What amazing, amazing ways you've also shown your grace. And we thank you that this grace is so amazing and phenomenal that you're going to show it to us. Ephesians 2-7, you're going to show it to us on into the rolling ages of eternity. Thank you for that. In Jesus' name, Amen.