The Position & Possessions of the Believer # 30b (Lesson 32)
Mike Doyle · May 20, 2007
Identification (2006-07), No. 33
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926027313430

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

Okay, lesson 32, number 30B. Actually, we could have spent a lot more time on this, because there's a lot more. Vitally united to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is another way of saying identification. because that's really what it's about. And so we have worked through the verses of our union in God, and then in Christ, and we worked down through, last time we finished up number three, a stone and a building, which was Ephesians 2.19-22. And today, we're going to start with a sheep and the flock. Granted, John chapter 10, which is the verse that Schaeffer uses, has a lot to do with the nation of Israel, but it also has a lot to do with us.

So John 10.28, somebody read it.

And I gave eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. Okay. Now, my question was, and it's actually a pretty simple one. Has the Lord Jesus given eternal life once and that's it? Is that right? Now it's not a hard question, you can say yes or no. But you know once you say that, then I'm going to ask you why. Does the Lord Jesus give eternal life once and then that's it?

In that verse, no. In that verse, no. And the secret to that verse is the word give, which is A little Greek lesson here is indicative, present, active, which means, what's present tense mean for you Greek geeks? Right now, going on now, now, now, now.

It never stops. It's active voice, which means God is communicating eternal life and it never stops. It isn't that he gave it to us once and it's over. There's a constant stream of eternal life communicated to those that believe him all the time. And indicative mood means it's the mood of reality. This is what is. So the answer is, you could say, yeah, I got it once, but then it never stopped.

Because life isn't a static thing. Life is a dynamic thing. When John 17 says that the Lord says that eternal life is that he might know the Son and the Father, does that mean, well, you've got to introduce to them and that's it? No, once the introduction is made, it's a continual growing in fellowship with them. You have to think of eternal life as a dynamic, not a static, it's not a commodity.

Do you understand that? You don't get 14 bushels of it and that's it, and then next week maybe you need a little more. Grace is the same way. Grace is a dynamic thing, it's not a static thing. Alright, and then John 10, 27. Well, let's read, somebody read 27, and then, let's do it this way. Somebody read 17, 6 through 8. And then somebody read 10, 27. John 17, 6 through 8.

Anybody? I have revealed to you, I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me, and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you had sent me. Now, in 27, which is the appropriate verse, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

Now, I think most everybody here knows about shepherds and sheep at this time, lots of shepherds around lots of sheep. If I were a shepherd and I had my flock, the sheep would know who I am and they would know my voice and be able to recognize it. And there's a lot of competitors because there's a lot of other shepherds and a lot of other flocks. But have you ever been around shepherds and sheep? I mean, shepherds can literally call their sheep out of a bunch. They just call them and they come right out. Because they recognize the voice.

So, the point is, from a spiritual standpoint, have you heard his voice? And you'd say, oh sure, no one in this room dares say no, I haven't. So, how did it happen? How did you hear his voice? Through His Word? Yeah, through His Word. Now, that's how you initially heard it, right? Through His Word. Now, it could have been something you read. More than likely, it was somebody who communicated the Word, or carried the Word to you, and you heard it. Who was the agent that allowed you to hear it? The Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God.

And, so you hear it, and you... How do you become part of it? How do you become one of those sheep that hear all the time? You believe, right? So now that you do believe, you have the right ears, so you can hear all the time. As a newly born one in Christ, with his resurrected nature, you now have the capacity to hear his voice. Right? You have two things going for you. One, you have the capacity because you've been recreated in Christ, and two, you have the Spirit of God, who indwells you, so you can hear His voice in His Word, and that's the primary place.

There are lots of Christians, I think, that sit in their room and wait for God to talk to them, or without the Word, or especially in the charismatic realms of things, you know, they're coming up with all kinds of things that God told them, but they can't find any of that in the Word of God, you know, so it's got to be based here. Because is there any additional revelation about what the Lord has to say to us that may not be in here? I don't think so.

So we have a wonderful capacity to comprehend His conversations and to know Him and to follow Him. I even see in John chapter 10, what is the Lord trying to communicate? He's trying to communicate intimacy. And if you look at all of the teachings of the Lord, especially in John's Gospel, they all relate to intimacy. They all do. Because the Apostle John understood intimacy. He really did. And so did the Apostle Paul. Intimacy is ease. The sheep follow him. They know his voice. There are many other voices, but the sheep don't know them.

Isn't that interesting? Our viewpoint would be, well, I'm going to study all the shepherds. follow the right one. Well, the sheep aren't that smart. Their safety consists in not knowing at all, or not knowing all of the shepherds. Their safety is knowing that one voice, that is their specific shepherd, and that voice is life to them. Think about it. A shepherd is the guy who is responsible for their life.

Because sheep are really stupid. If you just let them go, they'll die. You're saying that sheep always follow Christ, and we can make all kinds of decisions, and the sheep are stupid? So what's the secret? The secret is to understand that you're not the shepherd, that you are a sheep, and that there is a voice that you can rest in, and you will avoid the voice of strangers. Question 3. Explain the security for us in John 10, 27-30.

I'll read it because I've added a couple of verses. I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else. And no one can snatch it from the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.

What I did on this is I just looked at the verses themselves and took out of there the issues that God talks to us about in terms of security. The first thing is that we do have eternal life, which is his life, and it's a continual flow of that life. That alone will give you security. The second thing is that we cannot perish. That word means to be destroyed. You can't be.

Not because of you, but because of him. And the reason that that is important is because of the greatness of the Father. I think about this a lot, that the God of the universe, the creator and sustainer of everything, desires that I would have a relationship and intimacy with him. I come out of a Catholic background where it's an entire system set up to go to and solicit subordinates who in turn will talk to the head man for you. But the security of the believer is the fact that you have direct access to the head man, and he's the God of the universe.

Paul says, hey, make all your requests known. All of them. Don't clean them up, just go to them. And you have to recognize when you do that, who are you talking to? Does he possess the ability to respond and fix? and comfort, and do all of that, or does he have to check it out with somebody? No. He's the one.

The greatness of the Father. And the second part about that greatness is the fact that the Lord Jesus says, oh by the way, the Father and I are one. And then he says later, the Father and I are one, and we would desire that you guys would be one in us. And the last part is that we are their possession. We belong to them. So there's just four or five things that would explain the security, even in John chapter 10, way before the Apostle Paul comes on the scene. So the sheep's safety is in the personal care of the Lord Jesus.

That's comfort in thought. This one, early in my Christian life, as a believer, this used to be my anchor verse. When there was a doubt, a new believer, and I'd do something really stupid, and it was like, am I really a believer? I always go back to this one.

I'm in his hand. I'm in God's hand. When it says one, to me that's intimacy. You're in his hand, but no one's able to snatch you out. And the way I look at it always is, nothing can take me out of his hand. So when those doubts come, there's nothing that can take me out of his hand, nor I can climb out of his hand.

You know, both aspects of that. It was that eternal security, that no matter what doubts I have, whatever would make me doubt, I couldn't get up and let you know anybody. And it was the intimacy and the eternality of it that always, like I said, was kind of my anchor. Whenever the doubt came up, I'd always go back to this one.

I just got the picture again, the hand of God. Who's going to wrench me out of God's hand? You know, it's interesting. I went to Miles Stafford one time. We were talking about this issue. And his reply was, well, you're in the hand that has the hole in it. And I thought, well, gee, I could go through the hole. He said, no, no, the hole means that he gave his life for you. He's never going to let you go. He gave his life for you. That's the point. That's good. OK. Any other comments? Four. In order to be the bride of the Son of God, what must happen to those who are the prospective bride?

And the verses are Ephesians 5.25-27. Which sometimes are used a lot in talking about relationships between husbands and wives. But underlying it is this truth.

So somebody, Ephesians 5.25-27. Read, please. Does the husband love your wife just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle, or as any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

So, what's going to happen to, because obviously nobody, initially on the planet, is qualified to be the bride of Christ. So what's got to happen? All of this has got to happen. But what intrinsically has to happen to those who would prospectively be the bride? What's got to happen to them? They need to take a shower, get fixed up, get some cool clothes. They have to be made suitable. And by suitability that means what? Have to be perfected. They have to die. They have to die out of and from all that isn't suitable and all that's not of Christ and then be resurrected and recreated in Him to make him suitable.

The example I've used for years is I can't go home and even though I love my dog very much, I'm not going to marry him. Why not? Because he's a dog and I'm a human being. The Lord Jesus could not marry anybody from Adam because they're not on the same level of creation.

Do you see that? So, as a result of our identification in the resurrected life of Christ, it makes us, from a suitability standpoint, qualified to become a bride of Christ, because like marries like. Does that make sense? Now, how about Old Testament saints? Are they suitable? to be members of the Bride of Christ? Why aren't they? How come they're not? Resurrection being the key. They're not resurrected in Christ. They're not in him. They don't share his resurrected life.

Does that make sense? You know, we look at marriage and relationships from a human level. It's a foregone conclusion that we're all human, so we're all suitable. But from a spiritual standpoint, to become the bride of Christ takes an incredible transaction. You have to be made suitable. You have to be recreated on a level where you are a bride.

And this language indicates what the Lord Jesus through his death, burial, and resurrection has done to those he wants to present to himself. Christ took their sins on himself, didn't he? That's right. They just weren't identifying right? The common response to that, though, is, that's not fair. So who promised you life as a kid? I mean, that's, you know, when you bring this up, you know, Old Testament saints are revered, whatever. And then when you say the same thing, the Fairness Doctrine comes up. The Fairness Doctrine.

Yeah, we got a lot of that. Those who would be the bride of Christ must be elevated to the level of life that the groom possesses. He became a man. we became one in him. Consequently, our identification with Christ after our resurrection accomplished that task, whereby, as new creatures, we share his very resurrected life. We are now qualified, from a life standpoint, to be a suitable bride.

Ephesians 5.30 says we are parts of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. See that?

So, in terms of union, Christ just doesn't arbitrarily pick some and just sort of give them a shower and here we go. This transaction that takes place in eternity is monumental because you have to be suitable. So why did Christ give himself first? Right, why did he do it?

That was the only way. How do you mean? The only way to make us human. Do you hear this? Is that the only place that's coming out? Is it bothering anybody? Who is it? Is it Romans? I can't tell. I probably shouldn't have noticed that now everybody's going to notice it. Nobody else can.

Why did Christ give himself first bride? Why did he do it? He loved us. But according to the verse that he wanted to present, the church to himself, in all its glory, without a spot or a wrinkle or anything of the kind, holy and without fault. Then he decides, God decides, that this thing that we call the church, he's going to call out some people to be the bride of his son.

But it can't just be anybody. And it can't just be anything that's less than perfected. So not only does he come up with the plan, but he implements the plan himself. And he does it, he recognizes that in order to deal with the sin issue, he's going to present to himself a bride that he's going to have to do the perfecting of it. He's the one that's going to have to do the making sure that it's spotless, that it's without fault.

And so recognizing, if there's anything the study of the Old Testament proves, is that God can't fix up Adam. You see what I mean? He can't take Adam in his creation and make him and fix him up and make him suitable. He can save him, and by faith they can become righteous before him, but boy that being righteous is not enough to be the bride. See the difference? Abraham's not in the bride. John Baptist isn't the bride.

So there's this whole thing about us as the body of Christ as the church. that the Lord Jesus has done that's way beyond any other group of human beings that have ever been done or will ever be done as far as we know. He himself has taken it upon himself to present us to himself without spot, wrinkle, or anything like that. and that we are holy and we are without fault. He's going to do that. He's decided to do that. Not having spot or wrinkle or any such things. The Lord set himself apart in the glory as an object for his people now on earth.

And as we are occupied with him, we are changed to his likeness from glory to glory. What's interesting is that Some of us think, well, positionally that's a great thing, I'm very excited that God is doing that, and when I leave the planet and go home to be with Him, all will be swelled. But the process began the day that you were saved. The conformity to His image from a practical standpoint began then. One of the big reasons that there is spiritual growth now is to, in the end, accomplish this purpose.

We are the manifestors of God's glory unto this creation. We are the only ones. And it isn't imitatable. It has to be suitable. So the conformity process must go on and will eventually show up as the bride of Christ spotless. You know, we live our life, then the rapture comes, and then there's the bema judgment, and then the wedding feast of the Lamb, and all of that is part of the conditional process to make us suitable. But we will be, in the future, Christ will present us to Himself, and we will be on a level that's suitable to Him. To Him. That's an awesome thought, when you think about it. Suitability to Him. And he will look at us and not see any wrinkle or any fault in us at all. Not a thing, because he's done all the work. Question six.

What does it mean to be part of the first resurrection? Which leads to another question. How many resurrections are there? Christ's resurrection and then the resurrection of believers. There were other guys that were resurrected at the time that Christ was resurrected, right?

They were walking around. But in general... But they're not here today. I often think about poor Lazarus. We think, oh gee, he came back to life. Yeah, but what does that mean? He's got to die again. Not a good deal. Basically, there are two resurrections. And there's the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the unrighteous. Now, I think you could say that in my study I found three groups of people that will be resurrected in this first resurrection. The first one, obviously, is the Church, together with the Old Testament saints.

Already we have seen that the saints have been represented on the figure of the elders surrounding the throne of heaven, and that was in Revelation 4. We've seen them presented as a bride and these other saints as guests at the marriage of the Lamb for the satisfaction of the heart of Christ. And now we see them as forming a part of the armies that follow the Lord out of heaven to be associated with him and to reign with him.

The second group is John sees the resurrection of those who have suffered and martyred them on account of their witness of Jesus. and their faithfulness to the word of God, and who, in the days of the fifth seal of Revelation, had cried to God, saying, How long, O holy and true, dost thou judge and avenge our blood on those that dwell on the earth?

They were told to rest yet for a season. At this point their season is over, and the answer to their cry has come, for they are raised to have a glorious reward for all of their sufferings by being associated with Christ and his reign. And the third group are the saints who had suffered under the reign of the beast for refusing to worship him or receive his mark. They too will live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. Where you get the two resurrections is in Daniel 12, one for the just and one for the unjust. We are in the first and we're called blessed and holy.

And the second one, anybody know what the second one is called? What's going to happen? What's the thing associated with the second resurrection? Judgment. Judgment and this thing called the second death. Anybody know what that is? What's the word death mean? Separation. So if you're going to have a second one of those, what's it going to entail?

Separation from God. from God for all eternity. And the second resurrection will be so that we have this little event called the Great White Throne Judgment. And those people, the unrighteous from all time, will be resurrected and be judged. And they'll enter into the second death. This may be going on the subject, but... Well, I'll let you know if it is.

The subject of hell is the separation from God. The world portrays hell as a place of fire and torture and that kind of thing. I don't know if it was you or Hal that I heard someone talk about how people that go there would be glad because they didn't let God. I guess the picture that the world portrays what hell is, It's a separation from God. Does the Bible say there's fire there? Yeah, it does, but I don't know where. It's a place of torment, and there's a fire that doesn't go out. Unquenchable fire. Unquenchable fire, something like that. Here's the, I think, the scenario as it goes. When you study John, you find out in John that men won't come to the light because they love the darkness.

The word love there is azafe. They place extremely high value on the darkness and their deeds were evil. Now here's, you take somebody in that environment. And they, through their lives, don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So they leave the planet. They have this wonderful thing attached to them called sin nature. At some point, at the point of the Great White Throne Judgment, they're resurrected. They're reattached to their body. They still have this sin nature and they still love the darkness.

Now at the Great White Throne Judgment, how's the lighting going to be there? The glory of God will be manifested through Christ in all of us, wherever this place is, and they will have to come before him, loving darkness, and be judged by him. They hate the light, they love the darkness. Now, I don't think, it's hard for us to comprehend, I think, how intense this dislike for light is. So much so that I don't think any single one of them are going to look at Christ and say, boy, give me another chance. I don't think they'll say that because they love the darkness. And they're going to say when the judgment's over, where's the door to hell? I can't wait to get out of this light. The being in the light is worse than hell. Have you ever read The Infernal by Dante? That's the same point he makes in that book.

Well, the analogy that I've heard growing up in youth groups and stuff was that they're much like cockroaches, but they're out when everybody's in bed, and they're doing their evil things, and you shouldn't turn it on. But when they run into any dark corner, they're like, that's pretty much it. You know, and that's their being is that they're ugly, they're gross, you look at a cockroach and you go ugh. I mean that's our perspective on them and that's what they love. They love to be in that grossness of, I mean look what they, ugh. So to them is that punishment?

I mean they obviously wouldn't like to have to be in a place where they're going to be tormented. which they will be, but that's preferable to being in the light of the glory of Christ for all eternity. Actually, I think Hell is a blessing, because it's a place that they don't have to be face-to-face with God for all eternity and all his glory. That would be a worse state.

Well, and also in the darkness, no one else can see the grossness. I mean, it's shameful. You know, you're in this light and look at what... I'm gross. Not even to that extent. You know what's interesting about that? Well, now everybody can see. You know what's interesting about that?

We all live in that same cesspool right now. Exactly. You know, we live in a world of... abject sin and poverty and darkness, and the only reason that we see the light is because of faith. It's the only reason. And you see life, and you see things, you see the person in the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Word, we're the only ones who can see it. Nobody else can see it. And don't get too spiritual, because then you'll be too white. I mean, you'd be much better off being religious.

Do you understand what I mean? We grow up in this cesspool that we call Earth. What we do is we operate on the theory of relativity. Everybody is relatively good or relatively bad. But we're all ungodly. And we're all intrinsically, in Adam, evil and sinful. And we love the darkness. So you become a believer and you begin to glimpse and see light, you've been recreated with a nature that loves the light, has a taste for the things of God, and it's no wonder after a while, as you grow spiritually, it isn't so tough to reject the things of the world. Even though that's what we've come out of that and that's what we're all used to. And we always love to be judgmental on the run of the ladder that there's a few people that are much better than me but there's a whole lot that are worse. You know? I'm a little higher in the darkness. Is that what you mean?

One verse on the fire and all that, and I remember it, but we begin asking it to you both, Matthew 13, 41 and 42. The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all the stumbling blocks. and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When I think about that, weeping and gnashing of teeth, they will still like that over being in the presence of God.

It's amazing. Well, you know, there's a lot of discussion. We talked about light and darkness a couple of weeks ago, and especially John the Apostle understood this very well. 1 John 1.5, he talks about the Lord Jesus, this is the message which we have heard of Him, declaring to you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. But then in John chapter 1, he talks about the fact that the light came into the world, and it shined in the darkness, but the darkness didn't comprehend it. Do you know why John the Baptist was sent to precede Christ and to be his herald? The best example I know of that is that if you had a room full of people who were blind and couldn't see and you turned on the lights, would they know that they were on?

Somebody would have to tell them, wouldn't they? So here comes the Lord Jesus into a dark world. He needs somebody to tell the world, hey, the light's here, it's on. Otherwise they wouldn't know. We don't think like that, because we can see, but when the lights go on, if you're blind, what do you know? Unless somebody tells you. My beautiful black lab is stone blind now.

And, you know, I watch him function in the world that he's in, you know, and try to comprehend his environment. And he's blind and he doesn't, you know, it's funny, when my wife lets him out at night to go out and do his business for her, she turns the porch light on.

He can't see. And he comes back, and the door's here, and he comes up over here and stands by the wall, because he can't see. Well, he's a perfect example of somebody living in the darkness. You don't even know where the door is. He can feel the heat from the light. I mean, his other senses are keener. But, you know, I mean, why turn the light on? So you can see him?

In John 5, 24, the Lord said, Truly I tell you that the one who hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. The Lord Jesus said that to his disciples, it's clear, the first resurrection includes Christ and his saints and the blessed and holy ones who have part in the first resurrections. If such, the second death, that final separation between God and the soul will have no power. The unregenerate will alone have part in the final resurrection at the closing of the millennium reign.

Boy, we don't like to think about events like that, but they're coming. Question 7. As a kingdom of priests, how are we going to function when reigning with them for a thousand years? And the verse that Schaefer gave us was Revelation 20, verse 6. How blessed and holy are those who participate in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them. They will be priests of God in Christ and will rule with him for a thousand years.

Paul says to the Corinthians, you know that the saints will rule the world, don't you? And if the world is going to be ruled by you, can't you handle the insignificant cases? You know that we will rule angels, not to mention things in this life, don't you? I'll ask the Corinthians then.

So, the Church, the body of Christ, in heavenly bodies, ones that will be exactly like Christ, of course, will not interfere, this is a quote from William Newell, will not interfere with the earthly order of Israel any more than God's angels interfered with the Davidic kingdom in the former days. Now listen to this next part. and not mere execution of it will belong to, be given to the Church. So it's interesting, in the Millennial Kingdom, I always thought of it as, well, the judgment would happen when somebody sins, and that we would be involved in the execution of it. But Newell says we're going to actually be involved in the judgment process. And that makes sense to me, because when we rule and reign with the Lord on the earth, What's the word I'm looking for?

Our communication with the Lord Jesus Christ, what's that going to be like? What's that going to be like? Well, He'll be with us all the time. We won't be separated. That's right. We may be separated physically, but we will never be separated from Him and His mind and His life, because we're one.

So if you're living in Castle Rock, or you're hanging around Castle Rock this week, and there's judgment due, you will know exactly what to do. And it will be instantaneous. But let's talk about the judgment of, because it will be... The rule and reign of Christ will be theocratic under the Mosaic law, won't it? And there will be instant justice, even though the Jews will have the law written on their hearts. How is that going to be gracious?

Because we are actually, we're rulers, but we're also priests. So the other aspect of this, what does a priest do? We're not from the Levitical priesthood anymore, we're from the Melchizedek priesthood, and that's a kingly priesthood. What's the primary function of Melchizedek?

It's blessing. So that's the primary function that we will serve, is blessing. we're a royal priesthood, we'll primarily be involved with the blessings because we are in his privilege as holy and royal partners of faith. Now, blessings, it's interesting. Judgment, is judgment a blessing thing? It has to be. Yeah, it is. It has to be. Because in the millennial kingdom, there's still going to be human beings of certain natures, right? Won't there be? Yes.

But our friend Satan and all his boys will be not in a position to influence anyone. The earth will be released from its vanity and everything will function to its projected design. You know, we think if we get all the crops to grow we're really doing good. I mean, you know, 40 acres of corn will be enough for a million people.

So it's going to be a really interesting environment, but there's still going to be sin in it, and there's still going to be people who die, although some will live the whole time. What are the wages of sin? Death, right? Sin doesn't get eliminated in the Millennial Kingdom, and there's still judgment about sin, but it's going to be instantaneous. I think that's a blessing. There won't be any appeals. Sorry. And you know what? All those guys that went to law school, sorry, they'll have to find another job. There won't be any defenses, I guess.

1 Peter 2.9, For what purpose has all this been accomplished? Peter says that you should show forth the praise of him who hath called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light. It's interesting. that there's a principle, and the principle is that you are so that you should show forth. You understand that?

Was that the first buzzer? Yes. What does it mean to be a new generation, second Peter, or first Peter 2-9, or a chosen generation? What does that mean? Real simple answer. Actually, I asked the same question about three weeks ago. What does it mean to be a new generation? What does the word generation mean? Actually, it just means to be born ones of God. That's what you are.

When Peter says a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, or a new generation, we are born ones of God. We are new creatures. If you sort of put this together with Peter and the Kingdom and the Millennium, what you have here is a picture of maybe a Christian circle composed of all believers drawn to Christ, the one whom the world has rejected. In the outside place of reproach they are formed into a spiritual house for the glowing place of God, constituted a holy priesthood. to offer up spiritual sacrifices of praise, formed into a kingdom of priests to set forth the excellencies of God before the world."

Now what's interesting, I don't know about you, but as I've studied through these 34 things, I'm struck by the fact that God has patiently revealed to us and tells us, here's who you are, and here's what I've given you. Here they are, delineated. Schaefer likes to catalog them into 33 or 34 things. George Zeller came up with 215.

These are not suggestions or merit badges to work for or nice personality traits to have. These are absolute definitive statements about who we are right now and what we have right now. What I find interesting about it is, if that's true, how come we don't live like that? What do you think? Why don't we live like that? I don't believe it. You think it's because we don't believe it? Well, now that you know it... I say that to myself. Now that I know it, why don't I live like that? Because that's who I am. That's who I am.

So, not from an intimidating standpoint, but if you look at these things, they're incredible blessings. The problem with the blessings is they come with responsibilities. And they come with a position that requires a conditional behavior pattern to match the condition. See that?

So... I'm wondering, since we're God is infinite, we're finite. Does it have a little bit to do with it? In our finite mind, if we're not infinite, we can't comprehend what those truths are. What do you think about that? What do you think about that statement? It's a pretty good one. Is that an okay excuse?

No, because he's given us the word. If he says it in here, then... Obviously, if He's given us a means to study it or show us that knowledge, and especially through the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit is going to reveal that truth for us so that we can live that.

What has He done to you personally then? Just you? What's Karen? I mean, what has He done so that you can even apprehend the Word? He recreates you in Christ. So when you get recreated in Christ, whose mind do you have? The mind of Christ. Amen. See? It's interesting that we have the mind of Christ and we're always begging God to fix up the old one.

It doesn't make any sense. No wonder believers are identified as believers and we are forced to live by faith. Because none of what God tells us that he gave us makes any sense to the old mind. It makes no sense. Because we can't put it in a box. and we can't mess with it. We're forced to believe God at the word by faith, to trust him, to carry out what he says he's already done, and will do, conditionally, based on the position that we have.

Do you have the very mind of Christ? And so you say to God, I do. Where is it? I don't see it. Who's asking the question? Sure, but you do have the mind of Christ to think God's thoughts after him. How cool is that? Well, the last question was, what's the absolute truth of your salvation? I have a page and a half on that, but I only need one answer. What's the proof? That's exactly right. If you have the Spirit of God, that's the proof. Because if you don't have them, you don't have anything.

Dear Father, how we thank you for your word and how we thank you for your patience and intense desire that we would know all of what you have freely given to us. Father, I pray that we might learn more fully every minute of every day into what you've already done. I pray in your son's precious name. Amen.