Lesson 39b & begin 8:35-39 Lesson 40a

So last week we were kind of all over the lot in terms of the questions. We were talking about, you know, the challenge, the challenging question is, is it possible for anybody to bring a legitimate accusation against anyone who's in Christ? As an example, yesterday, who was a former Attorney General under Obama, what was his name? Eric Holder. He made an accusation against Donald Trump yesterday. He said that Trump, when he retires from office or leaves office, he's going to be subject to prosecution because he has violated campaign finance laws.

Well, okay. And so, you know, some people will say, great. Other people get a little nervous about that. All that is, is an accusation. People can say anything they want. The biggest problem I find with accusations is that you accuse yourself. An example of that is, Regan was over one day with one of her close girlfriends and cousins, and she has been involved in Al-Anon for quite some time.

She made the statement that, boy, I'm just having trouble forgiving myself for some things. And I said, why are you having trouble with that? She said, well, I said, the Lord has not only paid for whatever they are, but you're forgiven. So if He's forgiven you, why don't you forgive yourself, like you're more important than Him?

Isn't it interesting how we have this accusation mechanism within us that's always accusing us of some crazy thing that we did, and won't ever let us off the hook. The only way to get off the hook is to trust what the Word of God says about what Christ did on the cross. And so the accusations can be there. You can be accused, and guess what? Yeah, you did it. You did it. But it's not a verifiable charge anymore because it's been paid for already. It's done with. A guy said to me one time, he said, the Lord's done with your sins, how come you're not?

It's a really important point, because a lot of us, a lot of believers live under this rain cloud that follows them wherever they go, accusing them all the time of what some sort of behavior they have done or continue to do, and that they're not free. They're not free.

Recognizing where that's coming from, it's the old man who's doing that, because there's no word. dragging you down, or bringing you to where you have to do something, or taking your focus away from the Lord. I think that's the thing for those who are going through that is, who's doing it? And realizing that when you're feeling that pressure, that accusation, that guilt, that's the old man. And that's the source of that guilt or frustration or whatever.

And you know what? The old man knows he's guilty. Oh, yeah. And he's telling everybody about it. If you take the hook, that's where I think you're sitting there for a long time under guilt. Well, it's the old man who's been doing that as long as he can get it. So what you're saying is that people can accuse us all day long, and what they're saying is true, but it's already been paid for. It's ineffective. So what's the reality? The reality is that Christ died and paid the penalty for my sins. The second reality is that I died with Him. So if I'm dead, buried and resurrected, What kind of an effective charge can there be against me? Can't touch me. Can't touch me? I'm dead.

It's freedom. What's that? It's freedom. It's total freedom, not only from the accusation, but the whole old system that does nothing but accuse. That's the importance of it. The critical. And so that's why in question five, when it says what's more important to the believer, the crucified Christ or resurrected Christ? Which one's more important? Christ resurrected. Christ resurrected.

Why? Why is he? It proves the first, work. That the work was done. The work is over. Right? And did what God intended for it to do. That's exactly right. It satisfied Him, which is the only person that needs to be satisfied. He's the one that had the sin issue, and He's the one that resolved it to His satisfaction, not necessarily mine.

So, if you grow up in a denomination that I grew up in, they have this wonderful thing called the crucifix. And what it is, is a cross with Christ still on it. They don't want to ever have a believer in their system think that the job is done because then there's no need for them. But the truth is that Christ is seated in the heavenlies and my old man is on the cross, not Christ. Why would he even care? The point is that no, my old man's not on the cross because Christ is off the cross and went in the grave, so where did I go? And you know what's cool about a grave?

It's the last act in this environment. It's the last thing that is ever done to any of us. You go in the ground. Then they shovel the dirt over you. Adios. And so I'm done. Now what's going on? Well, now I'm seated with Christ in the heavenlies. I don't even have to consider my old man. If Jesus wasn't resurrected, then neither am I. That's right. I'm not seated with him. He's not seated with me. And you think about this. If you want to spend your time operating in the old man, or working really hard to effectuate in your life the work of the cross, and you have doubts.

You know it's got to happen in order for what your thought process has to be legitimate. Christ has to come back down to the earth, has to go back down in the grave, come back up out of the grave, go on the cross, come back alive up there, get off the cross, and walk away. That's what's got to happen. Well, the chances of that happening are slim and none, and so the work is completed.

So to be focused on the resurrected Christ, our faith on the Christ who is seated in the heavenlies before the Father, that's where it's supposed to be. And the reason is, if I'm focused there, I'm not focused on me. And one of the real dangers of legalism is that it forces you back on yourself. By just the nature of what it is, you're not free to focus on the glorified Christ. What a freedom that we have But in our minds is what I call the butt monkey. Yeah, but. Yeah, but what?

Yeah, but you don't know the troubles I've seen. You have never experienced what I've experienced. You haven't. It doesn't matter. You can go out to the graveyard and walk around the tombstone and say, how was it back then? Was it tough? You have a tougher time than this guy over here? You don't get any answers. Why? They're dead. That's why. They're gone. Pretty simple. Hard to believe.

So, this is your turn now. Show us from some other passages that declare Christ crucified, risen, and ascended. You got any that are maybe your favorite? I wrote down 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of them. Let's see what you got. Or maybe you didn't do your homework. Give me a passage that talks about Christ crucified, risen and ascended. I'll prime the pump and then it's your turn. You know why I ask this question? Because these are the kind of verses you ought to know and you ought to have. and you ought to be functioning with, you know, because that's what it's about.

I put in Ephesians 1.20, which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places, Ephesians 1.20. It's a great verse. He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. Notice He's talking about the Father doing that.

Were you included in that process? Sure you were. If you're united to Christ, whatever is true of Him is going to be true of you. Do you see that? Here's a converse example. I use this example all the time. You know the White House over here? My buddy lives over there.

No, he doesn't. But the guy who lives in that house isn't saved. Are his sins paid for? They're paid. But he's never believed on the personal work of Christ. So when he dies, he's going to go, he's going to perish. Why? Sins are paid for. Why is he going to perish? He didn't die. He didn't die with Christ. That's okay. He didn't accept the gift. He didn't accept the gift. But here's the mechanical reason.

You're either, human beings are either united with Adam, or they're united with Christ. There's no in-between. You're either united with Christ, or with Adam, or you're united with Christ. If you leave this planet united with Adam, what does Romans 8.3 say? The sin nature was condemned. Adam is condemned. You're condemned, even though your sin has been paid for. Because you have this sin nature.

If you're united with Christ, when this guy leaves the planet, wherever his sin nature goes, he's going. a believer when he leaves the planet, where's he going? Wherever his spirit goes to be with Christ, that's where he is. He's already there. Yeah. So the mechanics of it are really pretty simple. It depends on who you're joined to. It depends on who you're united to makes all the difference in the world. And that's where your destiny is. Okay, give me another verse.

Romans 6.4. It says? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism in the death, that life as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Perfect. And so we should also walk in newness of life. Give me another one. One in Corinthians. First or second Corinthians. I can never remember the letters. First Corinthians 15. 15, 3 and 4. Corinthians 15, yeah. Okay.

4. What does it say? that I declare unto you, I may be misquoted. Oh, the gospel? The gospel that Christ was crucified according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day. That's true of him. Is that true of you? It doesn't say. It doesn't say. If you believe that, then... Yeah.

Look up Hebrews 1. 3 and while you're at it look up Hebrews 8 1 and this is one of Courtney's favorite verses Colossians 3 1 Hebrews 1 3 says and he is the radiance of his glory in the exact representation of his nature that's pretty cool description And He upholds all things by the word of His power.

And when He had made purification for sins, what did He do? He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Where are you? Seated on the right hand, seated down. Have you ever noticed something? I don't know if you've ever looked at all of the implements that are inside the Holy of Holies in the temple. You know what's missing? A chair. There's no place to sit. Why? Because the work is never done under the old system. Who sits in the mercy seats? The Lord does.

Hebrews 8.1 says, now the main point is what has been said is this, we have such a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens." Oh, you guys aren't going to get tired, you're going to be sitting all the time.

Hebrews 10.12, but he having offered to sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God. And then 12.2. Fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame as he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Sat down, sat down, sat down. Why? Because the job is done.

And then Courtney's verse, Colossians 3.1. Therefore, if you've been raised with Christ, keep seeking things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. I continue on. Set your mind on things above. None of the things that are on earth. I like verse 3, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Perfect verse. Aren't those great?

So what's the deal with us? Responding to accusations or resting by faith in the Word of God about who you are? Now let's say, just for argument's sake, Let's say you decide that, well, I hear what you're saying, but boy, I tell you what, it's like Calvin Tang said, you know, the old nature is like being forced to wear earphones listening to CNN all day long. So here are my earphones accusing me, accusing me, accusing me, right? How do you get free from that? Take off the earphones.

See, it's interesting how the assault is always based on experience and emotion, and how we're to live is based on faith in the facts. Faith in the facts. Whose job is it, one, to make you aware of the facts, and two, to implement them in your life? It's the Holy Spirit's job.

How's he doing so far? If you're walking around with those earphones on, you would say, oh, he ain't doing very well. I wish he'd get with it. No, he's doing his job. We resist it. We kind of like being in the old sewer because we're so used to it. We're not very used to walking above. But his job is to get us to walk there. And as time goes on, here we find ourselves there. It's great. And he did it all. That's the cool part about it. He did it all.

But one thing... He's a butt monkey. Told you. To believe that the old man is buried and not held inoperative at the cross is to believe that there is no sin in it. Positioning it's true. Well, that's interesting. Think about this. God makes some incredible pronouncements about who we are in Christ. And He unites us to Christ. So if I allow the thought process of, well, gee, Lord, I've got sin. He's going to say, where? I don't see it. You're in my son. What you're trying to tell me is that my son's a sinner. That's not true. And that's why we're planted in the likeness of his death.

So what's my job? What's my job? It's just to trust him and believe him what he says. And as soon as you do that, you know, here comes the earphones. But we have a responsibility. You know what it is? To reject that and believe this. I think, though, well, I believe that At present, the old man is held inoperative at the cross. The point I was going to make was, only at our death are we in the grave. I don't get what you mean. In other words, when you physically die... I'm talking about tradition. See, the old man is held at the cross. But in our death, it's planted in the grave. Yeah, he goes where the body goes. Right. Yeah. Do we live in another world? What's the word I'm looking for? Do we live in an alternative world? Alternate world as believers? In other words, do we walk around with some sort of reality going on in our minds that is real or not real?

Our citizenship's in heaven. That's where we are from. That's right. We're sojourners here. Sure. Now, here's the thing. Does the Holy Spirit make that a reality to the believer? Sure does. But he's the only one that can do it. My job is to cooperate with him by believing him. Whose job is it to hold the old man inoperative on the cross? That's his job. God is so polite. He's such a gentleman. If I look at him and say, no, I'm going to wallow in the flesh a while. He says, okay, have at it. How's it working out for you?

That's like that cult classic, The Night of the Living Dead. Walking around. You have to walk there to find out that it is death. Is the work of which faith rests all finished? In other words, is there something left for you to do when it comes to the work? What is your job? So appeasing isn't part of what Christianity is about.

Making God happy about me. Or saying, hey Lord, what would you have me do today so that I could be, I want to move up to the next echelon. I want to move up from being a private to a private first class and maybe corporal someday. Maybe I'll even be able to be an officer. Are there first class Christians and second class Christians? Well, there's some that have a second blessing. I'm a general. Is there any difference between you and the Apostle Paul? No. Nothing. We're all one in Christ. How about this? He's dead. He's dead.

Now, the Lord Jesus in Hebrews talks a lot about Our high priest in heaven, right? What's a priest's job? To intercede between God and man. A priest is one that's between God and man? What's a prophet do? Bring messages from God to man. And what's a priest do?

He represents men before God. Doesn't he? Isn't that his job? He offers sacrifices of praise. So he's a representative of man. So who's your rep? It ain't me. Who's your rep? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's our high priest before God. He represents us, or he is, what's I'm looking for? Well, he's a priest before the Lord. He represents us.

Well, how does he do that? Is he talking all the time? Sending little memos to the father saying, these kids are cool? How does he do it? Just by virtue of the fact that he's there. See? It pales back to the two representative men in all of creation. Who are they? Who are the two representative men? Adam and Christ. So whatever is true of Adam is true of every human being that comes on the planet, right? Whatever is true of Him is true of them.

So through this process of identification with the Lord Jesus Christ in death, burial, and resurrection, I am now identified with Christ, right? I am no longer identified with Adam. So whatever position that Christ enjoys before the Father, I enjoy. That's my position. totally my position. I don't have any standing in Adam. And the thought process of the accusation is to try to put yourself back into Adam and get him to be a justified before God. No. But aren't we in the last Adam? That's right, because there aren't going to be another one. Right. Yeah, he's the last representative man. Whatever's true of him is true of all those that are in him. Whatever's true of Adam is true of all those that are in him. See that?

It's one of those points you don't dwell on, but it's so critical to my position and it's critical to the work that was done and where my faith rests. This man lives by faith. This man lives by reason and experience. So a lot of times we believers go over into the faith realm of things and we want to live by reason and experience.

And the Lord says, no, how about faith? How about you just trust me? I'll give you the words, I'll confirm them in you by my Spirit, and you'll grow in the knowledge and grace of my Son. How about that?" And we say, well, how about a little experience thrown in just for good measure? And I want to be able to reason this out. He says, no, you just trust me. Just trust me. That's hard, isn't it? It's really hard.

So, how does he make intercession for us then? What does the Lord Jesus have to do to be an intercessor? It's like someone comes to me and says, I want you to go to Joe here and I want you to intercede for me. So I go to Joe. Joe, what about this guy? What are you doing over here? And so I engage in a discussion with Joe about whatever this person wanted me to say.

And I'm the intermediary. I'm the one making intercession. I'm the one who's saying, you need to forgive Jim over here. and reconcile with Him. Wrong man. So is the Lord Jesus, is that what He's doing, talking all the time for Mike Pola, saying, Lord, I know Mike is, but hey, I'm your son. I paid for him.

Is that what He does? He's got a lot of believers He's interceding for. How does that intercession process work? Advocacy. Does He stand up and say, Your Honor, That's already been done. What does He do? It's a real simple process. I just told you what He did. It's a real simple process.

He's there, and we're in Him, and He's there. You wouldn't be there if you weren't in Christ. There's no other way to be there. See? He just has to be there. That's it. And He sees you and me in Christ only. no other place doesn't see you in Adam. When the Lord says you were crucified and you should reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God, He's just not making a suggestion. He's saying this is reality, this is what's really true. Any questions?

Adam wasn't considered a high priest, was he? No. Well, he was in the sense that the father of every family. Federal head. Was the head of his family and he was the intercessor. He was supposed to represent his family before God. Right. He was the priest. But he wasn't really a high priest. No. The priesthood hadn't been instituted at that time. That's right.

But you take a guy like Noah. We're down to eight people on the earth and Noah's the one righteous man. He represents all of men. He represents his family. And even though they're not, no word does it say that his three sons and their wives or his wife were righteous, they're under him. They're under his umbrella. So yeah, I think that the head of the family was the high priest for that family group until the Levitical system came along. If he was a high priest, he sure failed.

Oh yeah, he sure did. There's no question about that. And so did every other high priest. Yeah, they all did. He had a sin nature that he couldn't take care of. Yeah, it's interesting, but what I find interesting is that God still finds men and women righteous before the cross.

How did he do that? Amen. Faith. Huh? It was their faith. How did God do it on his side though? I don't know. That's the spiritual credit card. He looked forward to it. That's right. He knew what was going to happen with Christ. Plus he lives in eternity which isn't really no future. He knew what was going to happen so he said I can find I can find Noah righteous because he believed me, and he walks with me, and he trusts me, based on what Christ is going to do in the future. I'll put him under that. Didn't Abraham see Christ? Sure did. And he was glad.

So all the Old Testament saints, their being declared righteous and being saved was based on what Christ was going to do in the future. Promise, right? Promise. Do we live under promises? Are you hoping that some of the stuff you've read in Paul's epistle, boy, there's a promise there? That's what I'm hanging on to? That's right. It's like, where's Courtney's favorite picture?

It's gone. Everything that our faith is based on is a fact, not a promise. If it isn't, what about hope? Yeah, it's the reckoning that counts. Yeah. What about hope? Hope is just as much of a fact, it just isn't implemented in your life yet. Like, you're going to get a new body? Absolutely. It's a fact. You just don't have it yet. So you have hope about that. Hope is an assurance when it's spoken of in the Bible. It's not a wishful thinking.

No. It's a rest. It's something that's coming. It is. Yeah. Okay, Courtney. You're up. Alrighty, so lesson 40. So we are, I've been chomping at the bit for this one, that's why Mike let me write the questions on these. Totally excited about this, this is kind of the end point of, and I've said it many times, 6, 7, and 8 are kind of the foundational chapters of a Christian. And basically as we've just talked about how identification is a key. which we see in 6, and then in 7, where Paul is trying to do it on his own, realizing that that doesn't happen. And then all the truths that are in chapter 8. We've spent a lot of time in chapter 8, and there are so many truths in here. But this is kind of the capping verses, and we're going to go over Romans 8, 35 through 39, so I'll read those. And again, these are all in the New American Standard.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Powerful verses. Comforting verses. Awesome verses.

Especially as we go through these, we'll look back into, I think my last question was about how does this fit. So, question one. In verse 35, who is the who in this verse? So who will separate us from the love of Christ? Because he doesn't enumerate people, it really grammatically should be what? Because he's talking about things in this verse. Well, I'm not going into English because I'm an engineer. Those are mutually exclusive.

So, I guess, is this a specific person or a generic question of who? Who could do this? Anyone or anything. Anyone or anything? Who? Satan. Okay. So we have a person, Satan. I said the world, the flesh, and the devil. Okay. The trio there. Ratchet back to 33, it asks the same question. It said, who will bring charge against God's elect? I will get to all those. God is the one who justifies. So he kind of, what he's doing is eliminating. Okay. Accusers. And he's eliminating separators. Okay. So we have Satan, we have everybody, the world, the flesh, the devil. So, I differed from what Newell had. Newell has it this way.

It is plain that in the word who, he has in mind the great enemy who poses things to God's saint. Satan is the prince of this world and the god of this age. This the apostle always has before him, that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his devices. So, Newell's basically pointing to the Who is Satan.

You think that's it? That he limits it to Satan? Well, the flesh is the culprit. So, yeah, so you don't, well... Basically. Okay, so flesh world. So, Newell's kind of pointing out that this, the Who here, is Satan. You think that's it? No. Only because you know it. Yeah, I just gave it away. I shouldn't have said that. That's a bad one, yeah. I gave away the answer before I asked the question. That's stupid. Yeah, I don't think so.

I think this is more, I think this is, I think the who here in part can be Satan. However, I think that this is also in keeping with the other who questions that Paul brings up earlier in Chapter 8, and this is where I was getting at, Mike. In Romans 8.31, if God is for us, who is against us? So, who's that? We went over that one. Anybody except for God. Yeah. This was Satan, his host, but the challenge was to all and any in the whole possible universe. I think it's the same thing here. I think it's anybody. He's putting out the question, who? Who can do this? Is it Satan? Sure. But is it anybody else? Who can do this? Who can separate us from it? So I think Newell focuses on Satan only. Like I said, I disagree with him on this. I think it falls in line with what he's done before. You think he's eliminating and getting down to it, but I think this is the same who.

Who can do this? Well, he's the God of this world. Who can separate us? Can you separate me from the love of God? Can anything I do separate me from the love of God? It's just God uses you. Yeah, but who can? The question is who? Who can do this? No one. No one, no where, no how, no...

So in Romans 8.33, who will bring a charge against God's elect? The same sort of thing. They boldly challenge any and every foe concerning any possible charge against God before them. So again, I think this all fits in line with what he's doing.

The great accuser is going to accuse us, but it's also, who can bring any charge against us? Well, I'm the one who accuses myself. No, I mean, the old man will bring accusers. too, aren't we? From a conditional standpoint, this all falls apart because I'm operating out of my own sinfulness and my old man and my reason and my emotions and whatever.

This is a position. But the question is, who's doing this? Yeah, positionally, this is all true about us. I mean, I know my position, but who can charge me? Positionally, who is equal to no one? Yeah. But again, I think the question here, we know our position. Who can challenge our position? That's really what I think this question is. Who's challenging our, you know, we're elect. Who's challenging us that? Who can bring a charge against us that says, you know, you're a wicked old dog there. I saw what you did last Thursday. Anybody and anything. I think the old man is still raking us over the coals all the time.

In verse 33, that's true. He's talking about somebody accusing us. But in 35, he's talking about things. Affliction, anguish, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword. And he's asking, can that separate us? The things, yeah, the things. So actually it's not a who, it's a what. Well, he asks who though first, and then he brings... Who is he? Yeah, who can separate us. So it's a who, and then he says these things. Right. So actually it should be what. Yeah, I mean... It's not talking about people, persons, it's actually talking about situations.

We'll get to it in the verse, the who's. I don't want to give away. We'll address that in coming up. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? The key is Christ. I might personally, from a conditional standpoint, emotionally separate myself. because of some tribulation or distress that I have. But again, that's my condition. I could be dancing all over the place, but there's nothing that can touch my position. You're looking at it from the wrong direction. I do it daily, all the time. But we're talking about the other direction.

We're talking about God's love, Christ's love. And when you say it's Christ's love, just what we went over in Colossians 3. We're hidden in Christ and God. It's God's love through Christ, but it's God's love. And it's through Christ, but again, we're looking at it from the perspective of God's looking at us.

Can we ever be separated? We can certainly lose fellowship and do all that, but that's immaterial. It's a union. That's a loss for us, but does He ever separate us from His love. Never. Well, and the verification there, too, that God is the ultimate authority. Yeah, and we'll get to some of the veracity of that as we go through that. And again, that's the important part. It's on that side of the equation, looking this way, is that we cannot be, no matter what I do, or whatever happens, these things, we cannot be separated from His love.

Even though we try and run 100 miles an hour in an opposite direction many times, he's still 100% in for us, loving us. I just had a weird taco through my mind. That's normal. If I'm a non-believer sitting here, I could ask the question, who can separate me from the sin nature?

The answer is the same thing, Christ. Only God can do it. No circumstance, there's nothing that can effectuate that process. It's only God who can do it. And so, who can separate me from the love of Christ, from my position in Christ? Even God can't do that.

He wouldn't do it. The interesting part is too, when I think about that too, You know, we as believers cannot be separated from His love. Does He love the unbeliever? You know, but they don't receive the things that we have. They can be separated and will be separated from His love ultimately. That's kind of a horrifying thought. It says, my people perish for lack of knowledge.

Well, I go to John 3.16, for He so loved the world. He loves us all. And what we talked about earlier is the gift. You know, the buddy over here who's been paid for. God loves him. Sent his son for him. Sent him for all of us. The love was extended out to everybody.

It's whether you believe and accept that gift. That's the key. And then what happens? You can never be separated. And that's the whole point of this, is who can separate us. Once we're a believer, there's no possibility of it. For the unbeliever, he loves him and is going to try and convince him until the last breath. And then at that point, what happens? Everything goes, all the sin, all the punishment, condemnation, everything goes on him because you're still attached to the old Adam. That's a horrifying thought. And it's like, you know, I've used that before.

God's given you a Ferrari in the garage. You just have to take the keys of faith and let it run. Everybody's got the Ferrari in the garage. You just have to accept the keys. Actually, he's driving. We're just the co-pilots. You can get into all condition and position, but the thing is, he's allowed the gift to be accepted by everybody. It's up to you. The one question in all of life, and why he gives us the will, the only question is, Do we believe Christ and what He did? And believe that He died for us, buried, ascended, and is seated? That's the only question. Everybody has that same gift before them. Wouldn't it be nice to have a Ferrari? Not really, actually. One, I'd hate the insurance, and two, I'd probably kill myself. It's hard enough with the Tesla out there and how fast it goes. Is that number one or two? Oh, that was two? All right, we'll finish up a little bit of this and then go on. All right, let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this time. We thank you again for this closing passage of Romans 8 and what it means and the comfort that is brought to us by these verses that there is no possibility in things, anything named we can come up with to separate us from your love. And that's the important part.

We turn our backs and run and lose fellowship with you because of what we do. You never give up on us. You never stop pursuing us in love. And we rest in that fact. And even in the trials and tribulations, all these things that you list here, your love is eternal and pervasive. It comes after us even in these trials.

And we thank you for that and what comfort that gives us in all these different things you've laid out here that cannot separate us from your love. So we just thank you for that. We thank you again for this time where we can open up your word. Again, for your word and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who convinces us of these truths. And again, we just pray that all that we say and do this day will honor and glorify you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.