Gospel of John, 20:1-

Okay, John chapter 20, as the way I've kind of got it figured, we'll probably spend the next two weeks on 20, and then I'll just do the whole chapter 21 at the end, because it's really sort of... 21 shouldn't take us too long. We could spend a lot of time on 20, though. So, John chapter 20, verse 1. I don't think I gave you... I just went one dash. I don't know how far we're going to get. I got to about 11. So what's the first day of the week? Sunday is the first day of the week. So what's the significance of the resurrection being on the first day of the week? A new age, a new covenant, a new period of grace or whatever. A new age, a new covenant, a new beginning of grace? It signifies a new beginning.

Don't you find it interesting that the way God set up the Jewish system was that everything ended with them on Saturday, which was the last day of the week. So it's significant in my mind that this stewardship that the Lord gives us begins on the first day of the week. It's a brand new beginning. And typically the way the Lord does things is that all of those kinds of circumstances fit together in what he does. And I think you're absolutely right.

What I wrote down was, everything that was Jewish ended with the Sabbath day, which was Saturday. Therefore, a new stewardship or dispensation begins with Sunday. The first day of the week has found significance in a new beginning beyond death, which is a stamp on the old creation. So I know there's lots and lots of people in Christianity today that don't think that God has left Judaism behind, but he has.

We are an entirely new thing. And even signified by the days of the week in which the Sabbath ended. And what's interesting is, you know how the Jewish day works? From sundown to sundown. So the Sabbath day was from Friday night at sundown to Saturday night at sundown. And then Monday morning or Sunday, Saturday night at sundown really started a new day.

OK. OK. In verse two. Is there any thought in Mary's mind as to what has happened? Maybe I should read a little bit. Now, on the first day of the week, notice how John makes sure that when he's talking about the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, who is John, whom Jesus loved and said to them, they have taken away the Lord out of the tomb. We do not know where they have laid him.

I'm one of those people that when you talk to me and you say, well I always want to know who they are. So who are they? Who do you think she thinks they are? They have taken away It could be the Jews, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, it could be the Romans, it could be a lot of people.

But my question is, what's in her mind when she sees this? In her mind, number one, it's a calamity, right? The body of Jesus is gone, and her heart is buried with her Lord, and she finds, she thought she'd go visit the grave, right? Which a lot of people do. to find some solace there. And when she gets there, what does she find? It's wide open and Jesus is gone.

So she has no, I think the point I'm trying to make here, she has no grasp of what's happened. How come? Why can't she sort of get, gee, I wonder if something other than somebody stealing the body, you know, what has happened here? Why not? Say that again. Everything is new. But she doesn't know that. She's operating under the old system. She does not have any idea what has really transpired here. None at all. So you can't. I mean, her response and her emotions involved in this is strictly from, oh, my goodness, somebody stole the body.

So, verse 3, Peter therefore went out and the other disciple and were going to the tomb and so they both ran together and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. I love that John put that in there. And he stooped down and looking in he saw the linen cloths lying there and yet he didn't go in and Simon Peter came following him and went into the tomb and he saw the linen clothes lying there, and the handkerchiefs that had been around his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but folded together in a place by itself.

So question four, is the resurrection a mystery to the disciples? Just resurrection itself? No, not at all. What was their thoughts about resurrection? Well, there were two camps in the Jewish system, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. One of the big points of contention between those two parties was the fact that one of them believed in resurrection, the other one didn't. The Sadducees said, no, there isn't any resurrection.

Once you're dead, you're dead. Do you guys know each other? She said. Carol, this is Ralph. This is your book. You're married to each other. Not for long. Ralph, you're not going to get any visitors tomorrow. I get a ride. I made plenty of mistakes before.

So they believed that there was such a thing as resurrection, that everybody would rise. What they didn't recognize is that Jesus was going to rise right away. They didn't know that. That was something new to them. But they were, and I think they all believed that resurrection was a fact, just not today. So when you get to verse 8, then the other disciple came in the tomb first, also when he saw and he believed. What did he believe? That Christ did resurrect.

You think so? No, I think John did. No, I want to know. Are you talking about Mary? No. What question are you on? I'm on question 5. Oh, by the way, I made a mistake here. Do you know what the mistake is? It's John. I know, my mother-in-law had to call me and tell me I made the mistake. But you should scratch it out and put John.

What did John believe in verse 8 and why? What did he see and what did he believe? He obviously believed the very simple fact that Jesus' body wasn't there. That's not tough. Do you think he believed that Christ was risen? I think so. You think so? Yeah, I wouldn't have said he believed unless that was it.

See, there's more than just evidence that somebody came in and stole the body. What's the other evidence that's there? Resurrection. Face cloth was folded. Yeah. The linens are there and the face cloth is folded and, you know, if they were going to steal the body, they'd probably take all that with them. Right?

So he sees and he does believe he's resurrected. He doesn't know the significance of what he's done, but I think he believes that Christ was raised. Does anyone disagree with me? This is one of my isms again. These are ones that Christ didn't have to, but he did.

He could go through You know, because otherwise, I mean, he could have the resurrected body. He could, you know, as he appears in a room, he could go through his new body. This is all for us. Yes, it is. And, you know, it's, you know, he could have, you know, later all the appearances and all that. But this is for us to, you know, he didn't have to, but he did.

And this is so, you know, there weren't any questions. The linens were there. Everything is there. cohort was there. I mean that whole Roman cohort there. A bunch of guys. They had the sealed tomb. They had all that. place. So it doesn't, you don't just kind of open the door. So it's all pointed to something that they couldn't just explain away.

Well I think that's significant because one of the elements of the gospel is that he was raised, right? And so what you're seeing John do is begin to lay the groundwork for the physical proof of the resurrection. And I think that's what John sees. He sees the physical evidence. He doesn't understand spiritually what's happened at all. But the physical proof is there and he's starting to lay out the pieces.

And again, remember as I go back, and that's what I get to, the point being is when was John written? after all Paul's and what is he trying to prove? 30 years later. Who Christ is and the physical resurrection and his being the Son of God. Those are his main points after all Paul's epistles. So that's why I think he spends a lot of time in this. I agree. It is physical. It was true. It did happen. There's plenty of witnesses.

So question 6, what is John admitting in verse 9? Verse 9, As for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Why would he put that phrase in there, that sentence? Because he's admitting something here. He's saying, you know what guys? For as yet they did not know the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. Didn't it say back in Isaiah, point to this guy? Yeah, but think about it.

Christ is the resurrection. Christ is the resurrection, so what didn't they know? They didn't know the poor rabbit. Here's John, he goes into the tomb, he sees the physical evidence. So he says, well gee, Jesus must be raised, and then he puts this phrase in there.

That he was God. What's that? That he is God. Yeah, I think that that's the point that he's trying to make is that the connection of the Old Testament prophecies with the Messiah was that he was going to die and he was going to rise again from the dead and this is the one. I think that's the point he's making. This is the one because the disciples could have believed he was the Messiah and He could have died and disappeared into history, and if he was never raised again, they might still believe it, but then all of the prophecies about him wouldn't have come true. Here's another proof that he is. Do you see that? In other words, he's connecting the scripture to the person of Christ.

That's what he's doing. And he's admitting that he didn't understand the scriptures himself. He's saying, at that time, I didn't understand it. Pretty cool of him to do that. You'd think he would be, a gospel writer would be smarter than that, but I guess not.

So, then question seven. What does the resurrection, what does it mean from God's point of view? Now, I'm going to read some scriptures to you. John 12, 27. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I came to this hour.

Father, glorify your name. And then a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 13, 31. So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. Now, I want you to tell me, what does it mean from God's side of the ledger? It fulfills the eternal covenant. Fulfills the eternal covenant. Slate is clean. Slate is clean? According to who? Whose slate is clean? God's slate is clean in terms of man and sin. Anybody else?

Think about God's relationship to man. How did this change God's relationship to man? Say that again? So God is satisfied about the work that Christ did, right? What I'm after is that from his perspective, not mine, I got lots of benefits from this, what did God get out of this deal? He got a relationship and fellowship. In other words, put it this way, he got a man he could now deal with. You understand what I'm saying?

Adam and all of his descendants were not men that could glorify God. Not a single one of them. There were some that would believe God and they would be accounted righteous. But this man, this resurrected man, now is a man who can totally manifest the glory of God and glorify Him.

And as we've learned in lots of classes in the past, why does God do anything? What does he do? What motivates him? He wants to glorify himself. He wants to manifest his glory. Here's the man who can do it. See that? None of the old men prior to this time could do it the way he wanted it to be done. And the reason this man could do it was because he was a man of an entirely new order.

The resurrected Christ had dealt with the sin issue. had dealt with the issue that was between man and God and God and man. And when the Father looks on man now, he looks on man from the perspective of what he sees in Christ. There's no shadow in Christ at all as a man. This is the perfect man. And so now, God's whole approach and his whole demeanor and his whole everything towards man is totally different. because the man he's now dealing through and with has satisfied him. There's nothing about him that is wayward. There's nothing he has to fix. There's nothing he has to cover up.

I wrote down, God is no longer dealing with a man as he had been, working on man. That's all over. Now God works from his own side, God works downward now from the man in glory instead of man being at the greatest distance. Man in the blessed person is now at the right hand of God and from that point God now works.

So one of the interesting things you find when you teach positional truth and grace and blessing is that people look at it from, oh, I'm at a distance from God. How could that possibly be true of me? I see it with the ladies in Parker. They're starting to get a hold of it, but they're not putting their arms around the fact that all of those things are true of me now.

I am no longer at any distance from God whatsoever. The old man tries to convince you they're still distance. There isn't any distance. Because God sees you in Christ only. Only there. And your standing before a holy God is what His standing is. You cannot improve that. So we ought to stop trying. What is the resurrection from the viewpoint of Christ?

What did He get out of it? God the Father, we talked about him, now what did Christ get out of this deal? He returned to his previous position as the Son of the Father. The most important thing to Christ was to do the will of the Father, right? So he has now opened a way for God to express his heart to full satisfaction. That totally satisfies Christ. that he can do something that will allow the Father to do what he wants to do.

J.B. Stoney said, I do not think we can at all estimate what his joy was to Christ, what this joy was to Christ when he said, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work you gave me to do. I don't think we appreciate what an incredibly wonderful statement that is from Christ's viewpoint. He could say to the Father, Father, I've done everything you wanted me to do. I've glorified you on the earth.

The highest praise he could say. He wanted to let the Father's heart come out according to all its mighty volume and express itself to all those sinners that were now reconciled. The second thing that Christ has is he now has brethren, brothers, a company of his own order, who now are flesh of his flesh and members of his body. It is not that he is of us, but that we are of him. So there's two things going on here with Christ. Number one, he is ecstatic that he was able to fulfill the Father's will. And number two, he's just as ecstatic that he got all of us included in it. He's real excited about the fact that Jack McBride is there with him and that we all are there with him. That was what his purpose was.

So I don't think we appreciate, at least early on, how incredibly satisfied God is with our company. how he wants us to be in fellowship with him and he has done everything possible to accomplish that goal. The term Abba Father, the fact that we have that we can approach and sit down and fellowship with the God of the universe and John talks about that all through his epistles. Fellowshipping with God is the reason. The Old Testament guys They could talk to God, some of them, but they didn't have the capacity within themselves, because they weren't in Christ, to appreciate God and God's love.

We do. We absolutely do. Why is there reluctance on the part of our nature to accept the resurrection? I said we've never experienced it, plus the fact our old nature denies it. Okay, that's pretty good. Anybody else? Anybody else do their homework? Why would we have such an aversion to the resurrection? We've never seen anybody raised from the dead. We've never seen anybody raised, so there's an anecdotal reason, no experience. I don't think that's an aversion though. No, you don't think so?

Then what's the real reason? An aversion is emotional. You're talking about rational. I am. What's the reason? Defeats our powerlessness. That's close. Defeats our what? It's the end of Adam. If you accept the resurrection, you know what you've got to accept with it? The death of Adam. We can't do anything to achieve it. That's right. You're done. Old Adam is out of work. And you know what? There's no unemployment lines for him. He's out of work. He's got nothing to do. From God's perspective, there's nothing left for him to do.

And I have to tell you that Adam, the Adamic nature, that's the one thing it won't do, is not do. Does that make any sense? In other words, Adam, how do I say this? The nature of Adam is to express itself in sin. And what God said to Adam was that the very fact that you exist is sin. The very fact that you even function is sin. So God went to Adam and said the very thing that you do, you can't do anymore. And Adam said, well, I'll show you. That's what your Adam says to you. You might think you're a Christian, but I'm going to show you different. I'm going to express myself if I can.

What the cross does and the resurrection does, it leaves Adam without a purpose and without any life to be in motion. That's why Romans 6, our old man was crucified, that the body of sin might be put out of business. When you're crucified, The example I use is kind of crude, but my mom is home with the Lord, so she doesn't care anymore.

When she died and she was in the funeral home, in the casket, I didn't go down there with my deck of cards and shuffle them and say, Mom, it's your deal. Why not? Why didn't I do that? She's not there. So why do you sit down and shuffle the cards and say to your Adamic nature, it's your deal?

You shouldn't. because you're separated from him. The whole deal is to keep Adam from functioning. And that's what the resurrection does. If you admit the resurrection, then you have to admit that Adam was crucified. You have to, because you can't have both guys before God. He only accepts one. Alright, you have to part with the old man.

So how does God now view us because of the resurrection? Creatures, new creation, more than that. How does he view you? As a child. What's that? As a member. As a son. As a son. Daughter. Daughter. I remember that guy that used to come to Tuesday, he hated the fact that in Christ there's neither Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, he didn't want to be a girl for all eternity. So what's changed? We are in Christ, but from your perspective now, what's your relationship to God? Yeah. You're family now. You're family. Do you view yourself as family or do you view yourself as a Christian?

Do you view God as your father or is he God? You know, you can tell kind of where people are spiritually by the way they pray now. I'm going to be critical here, but that's too bad. When I hear somebody pray, God Almighty, I think, he doesn't know who Papa is. See that?

Where I came from, the religion I came out of, God was always down at the end of the building, behind some golden thing, in some sort of environment. My whole job, and in my existence, was to do as best I can so I could maybe take another step closer. And then if I wanted to enter the clergy, maybe I'd get another step closer. But he was always way away and up a few flights. What this tells me, resurrection is, is that I went from the farthest distance I could be from God to in his lap, just like that. Can't God be God Almighty and Father? Oh, He is. There's no question that He is. But what I'm after is this relationship. Do I think my God is Sovereign and He's Almighty? Absolutely I do. But I'm really glad that He's my Dad.

How important it is to realize that our old man was crucified with Christ and thus removed from the side of God. How important is that? Extremely. It takes away all your sense of guilt. Okay. It's extremely important. Your guilt goes away. What else? From the study of God's Word, you come to realize you have a position before God in Christ. You begin to realize the closeness from his side to start with. What does it do to you? What does the corresponding effect on you become?

It becomes conformed. How about from your perspective? What does it change? We've kind of been talking around it here for ten minutes. It begins to change your view of yourself. And it begins to change your view of your circumstances. I think that's huge. Most of us are too religious to sit down and think, gee whiz, what's my position before my father? And that's what happens when you begin to understand what your position is. It does change the way you view yourself. You know?

I remember when, oh gee, I hadn't been a believer more than three or four years, and Miles Stanford was teaching that Tuesday Bible study, and we were going, everybody had, of course we had a Schofield, absolutely, and a King James, and in Romans 6, in the footnote, Schofield says that what a Christian is, is a saved sinner. And Miles said, no way. And boy, did he get the arguments.

He said, well you are positioned in Christ, are you a sinner? Are you? And you are seated in Christ in the heavenlies before your father, are you a sinner? Absolutely not. So he didn't save sinners, what did he do with the sinners? He crucified the sinner.

Do you see that? When you're resurrected in Christ, your position is that of a son of God. That's your standing before God. And if you don't see yourself that way, and you still see yourself as a saved sinner, then you still view yourself as a sinner, positionally. Do you see that? It changes your viewpoint of how you deal with God.

Because you always think you've got to take a shower before you talk to Him. A spiritual shower. Right? Rather than just talking to Him. If you're in Christ, how close is your Father to you? That's right. You don't have to go get cleaned up. You just talk to Him. It changes your perspective between you and your relationship with the Lord. And as you grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, that intimacy and perspective continues to grow and change. Does that make sense to you?

That's why we do not see ourselves free from the law. I'm sorry. How are we in keeping with the acceptance we hold by faith? Maybe I say that better. How are we to be in keeping with the acceptance we hold by faith? And I'll give you my answer. If we do not see ourselves free from the law of sin and death by faith in the facts in Christ, if you don't see that fact, what's your relationship then?

It's tarnished. We are so by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, we are really free. Two points here. God has removed the man who is under judgment. and he's removed me from his own view, his own eyes, as being connected with that man. The only way that you get to enjoy that is how? By believing. So here's the dilemma.

I know what the Word of God says, but I know how I feel about it. I sinned 15 seconds ago. I know what the word of God says, but how do I feel about it? How am I supposed to live? By how you feel about it, or by what God says? He gives us the Holy Spirit, the power of God to maintain us in keeping, listen to this part, to maintain us in keeping with His acceptance of us in Christ. In other words, to believe what He says. To believe what He says and to maintain you in that.

Romans 8, verse 13 says, if you live according to the flesh, you're in the state of death, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you live. You can be positioned in Christ as close as we've discussed, and by not believing that fact, you're functioning in the flesh, and from your perspective, how far away are you? A long way, aren't you? Does the man in the flesh have any different viewpoint than the person who's not a believer?

No, it's the same view. So, the issue is, how do I enjoy, how do I rest in the facts, how do I rest in the position that God tells me I have? How do I do that? How do I do it? By believing them. Just by believing them. Which means you're going to go against yourself a lot. You're going to go against what your feelings are, what your emotions are. So can we be before God in the old man? No. What do you think? I got a no. Anybody want a chance at a yes? I said we'd be struck dead because we're not holy. We'd be struck dead because we're not holy. But let's talk about it from a relational standpoint. Can you be before God in the flesh? No, you can't. even though you think you can. Don't you think that way? Sometimes? Oh, God isn't happy with me today. So, does the resurrection give the believer power over evil? I'm going to read some verses to you. Ephesians 119, 20-21.

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe? According to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

So you have to think about this. A man A man, in the person of Christ, has overcome all of the power of Satan, all of it, by submitting to death. He submitted to the utmost power, Satan's power, and when he vanquished it, God raised him from the dead. God has always been greater than Satan, but now there is a man who is greater than Satan.

Understand what I mean? There is a man who is greater than Lucifer and Satan and all the angels. Who is that man? The Lord Jesus Christ. He is greater than any creature. And what? He's a man. I think we forget a lot that seated on the throne of God today is a human being, a man. A human, just like you and me, a man is there.

So the question is, does resurrection give the believer power over evil? Answer, absolutely it does. Absolutely it does. So has God put us in a wonderful place of superiority to Satan here? Does that mean he can't assail us? No, absolutely not. Why does God, based on this premise, why does God let Satan pick on you? It makes us stronger, it makes us depend on him.

For his glory. For his glory. How about this? To prove to you and to Satan that you have superiority over him. How about that one? As you rest in Christ, you know, Miles used to talk about Satan being an attack dog on a leash and the Lord Jesus has a hold of that leash and that dog has one purpose and that's to bite you and he'll let him out a little bit to drive you farther into Christ. So to prove to you that what he says is true. In Romans 12 that verse says that you might prove what is God's will regarding you God not only does things positionally, but he creates and allows circumstances to come into your life so that he can prove to you what he told you is true. You prove it out. We would think... Bruce? I thought at some point in the past you said that God does not create the evil that exists in this world. Yeah, I did say that. What I'm saying is, maybe put it this way.

When you go in and conquer a country, what do you do with the people you conquer? What if you don't kill them all? What do you do with them? Put them to work. For you. Right? Unless you're American, then you try to rehab them. But you put them to work for you. Right?

And Satan is a defeated foe. He's evil personified. He doesn't cease to exist. So what does God do with him? He puts him to work. For my growth. Now is he allowing evil to exist? He allows Satan to exist. Satan will exist for all eternity. Is he the author of evil? No. But he will use Satan's attempts to to subvert me to approve me. James chapter 1 talks about the fact that I am tempted to sin by my own lust, my own sin nature. But God intervenes and uses that temptation to approve me, to exalt me. Did he use evil for good? Absolutely he did. Does he allow Satan to go around the world like a roaring lion? Absolutely he does.

But from a believer's perspective, who are you dealing with? You're dealing with a defeated foe. And as long as you abide in Christ, there is no... I shouldn't say he can't touch you, it isn't that he can't touch you, he can't defeat you. But it says in 2 Peter that you can be lured back to the world. Sure can. Because you have a sin nature. Then I've been defeated by Satan. Not positionally you haven't. Because no matter what you do after you're saved, it doesn't have any influence or effect on your position in Christ. You see what I'm saying there? Even if I'm lured back to the world? Oh sure. Well, okay, I sinned right now. Did it change my position? Bruce? No. It didn't.

So what God says is true of me is still true of me, even though I'm acting as though I'm not saved. I'm acting out of Adam. And that's a proof that Adam doesn't die at the cross, you just get separated from him. He's still there, alive and well and living in Indiana, right here. But I'm not a slave to him anymore. I don't have to respond to him. As a matter of fact, I have my position of victory over him, but it's by faith alone. I think the confusion here may be understanding the difference between position and condition.

It says in 2 Peter 2.20, For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, and the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them."

So let's talk about those people saved he's talking about? I'm thinking they're not. Hebrews 6 talks about the same thing. Let's move on. How does he put it? Can I look it up? Hebrews 6.4 says, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit to have tasted the good word of God and the power of the ages to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame." Uh-oh, I'm nervous.

I'm going to lose my salvation. Isn't that the same premise, Bruce? So, is it possible for me to lose my salvation? Then what is he talking about? one of two possibilities, either the people he's talking about never were saved, or maybe he's talking about something totally different. Maybe he's talking about spiritual growth. How many of you know, it's an anecdotal proof, I shouldn't do that, it's possible for a believer to be exposed to the identification truths, or what we call dispensational theology, a position and condition, and to turn their back on it and say, no, I'm going to go live under the law, because I think the law is the way to go. Would that man ever come back to the grace position on dispensation?

What do you think? Do you understand the question I'm asking? be under by the law and there is no possibility of him improving himself. God will go ahead, go under the law. Enjoy it. Sure, enjoy it. Have fun you fellas. To renew a man to repentance, to renew a man to have a change of mind, you can change his mind. So if I've changed my mind, if I enter into a grace, and then I decide grace isn't really the way to go, I've got to get going that Moses way.

I've got to study the law. I have a friend in town whose wife, he's a believer and his wife's an attorney and she spent a whole year studying the Mosaic Law. And I asked her one day, I said, how's it going? She didn't answer. So if I go under law, And the word of God, what does the word of God tell me that the law will do for me? It will convict me and what else will it do? It condemns me. It condemns me, it separates me from God. And my court, he says, what will it do over time? Keep you condemned, keep you slaved.

The problem is that in today's Christian society, most people are under some sort of law system And what they do is, so that they don't feel totally condemned all the time, is that they pick and choose the laws they think are good for them. The problem with the Mosaic system is that it's one unit. If you're going to be under any part of the Mosaic system, you've got to be under the whole thing. And if you break one law, you broke the whole thing. And boy, we don't have a temple and no place to sacrifice some goats anymore. What are you going to do to get right? You can't fix it. Once you've broken it, you're done. Without Christ.

Father, we do thank you for the resurrection of your Son and what a different plane it puts us on, a different creation and a different viewpoint. Father, that we may continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of our precious Lord Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen.