Identification Truths Plus 2012
Courtney Hemenway · Nov 4, 2012
Identification Truths Plus, No. 43
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926333182052

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

We are in lesson, I believe, 22. And question, I believe we are on question number 5. We got through 4. I think we are on number 5 on lesson 22. And the question, does a grace system scare you? Yes or no? Well, we made a comment last week related to that, in the sense that you don't have any control and that for many people, humanly speaking, that's a scary situation to say. There isn't anything I can do to improve my situation. Okay, good.

That's good. Why doesn't it scare you? Well, I feel like I've copped out and let grace take over for me and I don't have anything to worry about. I don't know if I have that term copped out. I've copped out. I'm working on that one. The truth is that she sees the liberty in it, but that's exactly the reason why some people are scared of grace is that they hear, oh, you've copped out. You mean that with some sarcasm. But they see that and they take it literally. And that's what causes people fear.

Any other thoughts? I think theoretically you shouldn't be scared because you can't control it. Like you don't have any control. So you can't mess things up. It's like the opposite argument. Theoretically you shouldn't be scared because you have no control to mess things up.

Yeah, it's not based on us. We've been going a lot through that, that grace is not based on our performance or anything based on us. Which, you know, is great. But, oh, okay, go ahead. Well, you have such overwhelming peace once you finally understand. I grew up in a Christian home, but you know, my mother would, she would was under the law so much, like you don't work on Sunday, you don't go to movies, you don't dance, you don't laugh or play cards or have fun. It's a sin. And when I finally got released from that, the peace was overwhelming.

It is. It is. I guess the thing that, why I say this is a lot, if you don't, again going back to what we talked about, if you don't understand the identification truths that we have been co-crucified, removed, Adam has been judicially taken care of, and we have been placed into Christ.

The old man, the thing that is where grace is kind of a scary system is in the old man. The old man wants what? Law. He wants this and that. He wants cause and effect. He wants to do something. He wants a law base that has a nice box around it. A lot of people get kind of nervous in grace because there aren't a lot of laws.

You know, do this, do that. The old man is very comfortable in that. The flesh is very comfortable in that. In that, you know, if I do this, I get this. It's a cause and effect relationship. Where in grace, is grace based on cause and effect? No. So that's kind of like, ooh. And so I've been cast out into the system with no laws. How do we function then? This is kind of getting into where I want to teach in three or four weeks if we get to it. How do we function now out of grace?

Pray a lot. I mean, you know, it's really like, you know, stay in the Word and, you know, pray for, you know, the Holy Spirit's going to guide you and it's going to happen. He's going to grow you regardless of how much you want to interfere. There's more to it than that. Okay. Is it Christ living through us? Yeah. Yes, in both of those, but there's more. How do we live in grace now? Through Christ and what He did for us. Right. That's what He did and that's our definition and maybe we'll go back through that. The definition is the unmerited and unlimited blessings based on the totally adequate and complete work of Christ on the cross.

That's about it. The key is to see something. What are you looking for, Cory? See, I want to get yours because I know what I'm thinking about. You're like, I was in the chemistry class there. Two students gave me lots of good answers, but I was fishing for something else. Boy, you guys. I'm just trying to see what you guys think. I mean, I could just dump on you. I could just dump and tell you all that I'm thinking. Just give us the law. Give us the law of grace. I can see the old man is still talking through you. Oh, give me the law.

You know, it's one, in knowing Him, it's a life, number one. Number one, it's a life. And it's not a bunch of rules. As I've said many times, Christ didn't wake up every day and go, okay, Father, here's the refrigerator list of things that I've got to do for you today. It's just who He was. He did the Father's will because that's who He was.

And as we are conformed to Him, it's a life. It's who we are. But how do you get to that? Knowing Him. Growing the grace and knowledge of Him. So as we know Him, our focus is on Him. As we know Him, who do we know? Who we are in Christ. So, that's part of it, that we operate because we're conforming to His image through the Spirit, through the Word, convicting and convincing us of who we are in Christ. But the other thing is, He's given us principles to live by.

If we're still under the law system, every day we'd have to get a laundry list. Randy's day today is going to be, these 29 things. These are the 29 things. If we're under a law system, these are the 29 things. Now, we don't have that. Every day we'd have to get another list. We're not that way. We're not under a list. We're under grace, which we now operate under principles. And Paul lists out a lot of different principles.

And I think through Verne, he basically categorizes them as logical imperatives. And logical imperatives are, if this is true, then this will be the manifestation of that. So the principles we live by, if you're in Christ, you will this. It's one like husbands. love your wives as Christ loved the church, gave himself up, sacrificial, all the Ephesians 5. That's a set of principles for who? Husbands. That's how we're supposed to act, or be. So he did give us these, but these are logical imperatives. If you are in Christ, you will what? Love your wife as Christ loved the church. It's through the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes, it's always through the Word and through the Holy Spirit. That's a great point, Ashley. Look at the requirement, at least for a husband. Look at what the requirements are in Ephesians 5.

Every time I think I can do that, I fail. I have to say, I can't do that. It's only through the Holy Spirit working in me, conforming me to the image of Christ that I have a shot at this. Otherwise, I will guarantee you I will fail. I can't. I mean, I look at those requirements. Pardon me, English. Ain't no way I can do that.

It's only when I realize that I can't do it is when He can work. And then I can do it, is in the power of the Holy Spirit working through me, convicting and convincing me that I can't in and of myself, but who I am in Christ, absolutely. Otherwise I fail miserably, and I do.

You think of 1 Corinthians 13, anytime I think that I know how to love, I just have to read the list. And even though it's like a laundry list, it's like you say, it's being conformed to the image of Christ and loving as Christ loved, which I can't do, but go back. I mean, you know, it is the Holy Spirit. And like I said, that's why our whole next class is based on that. Yeah, I know. I'm not making it up. revelation of the word. You don't start out as a 30-year-old person. You start out as a child and you grow.

The identification truths are the first. All of this is based on the Holy Spirit. There's no question about it, and we'll get into that. Jumping ahead to our Holy Spirit class is the fact that You have to understand all these things about the identification that it is not you, it is not the old man, it is the Holy Spirit. Right. We have to get you to the point of understanding that it is not you. Right. Then you can understand how the Holy Spirit works. Right. Because it's not you. Right. So, I mean, we have to go through this to get to that point.

You know, once the Holy Spirit takes over, you don't even have to think what's right and wrong. You just know it, you feel it, you do it. Again, the key is, as you're conformed to his image, as you know who you are in Christ, it's just like breathing. It's because that's who you are in Christ.

The key is focusing on him. That's why I said, Mike's one thing he taught me that was worth anything, just kidding, was the first day he was telling me about, look to the scriptures, not to know facts. but to know a person. Read it to know Him. That changed everything to me. Everything. Because I now wasn't trying to get facts. I wasn't trying to figure out what to do. It completely changed how I studied the scripture. As I look to look at Him.

And that's why I say the 2 Peter 3.18 is to grow in the grace and what knowledge of Him. So that's the key, is to grow in the grace and the knowledge. That's what you do. And then as that is, the life is manifested in you. Through the Holy Spirit, it's manifested in you.

I guess the thing is, a lot of times, in getting back to the question, does the grace system scare you? Everything in the world goes against the grace system. I've used this example a lot of times too. Everything in the world goes against this. When Mike and I go out to lunch, remember I told you, the first thing is, who paid last time? Is that a grace system?

No. I think, you know, what happens when, if somebody invites you to the Bronco game, what is your, or over for dinner, what's your first reaction? What should I bring? What should I bring? Or, you can come over next, I'll invite you over. It's your turn. It's your turn.

Is that a grace system? Tip for tap. Exactly. Everything in the world goes against the grace principle of unmerited, unmerited. You tell your kids, if you do that, you get this. If you do that, this will happen. It's all a cause and effect, a law based. Grace doesn't operate. Everything in the world basically is contrary to this. So paybacks are basically, it can't be free or unmerited. It is our typical reaction. Everything in the world goes against the grace system. So, moving on. Question 6.

Read 1 Corinthians 1, 4-7. What does verse 7 say about the Corinthian church? And based on this, how did the Corinthian Church respond is detailed in Paul's letter in 1 Corinthians. So I'll read the passage, 1 Corinthians 1, 4-8. I thank my God, always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech, in all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you were not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, what does it say about them?

In verse 7. Is it not lacking in any gift? They had it all with respect to spiritual gifts. You are not lacking. You know, is there any other church that Paul said this to? Answer? No. Just help you out. He didn't say this, that you're not lacking in any gift.

And you know the flowery, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony of the goodness of Christ was confirming it, so that you're not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. So how did the church do at Corinth? How did it do based on Paul's epistles in 1 Corinthians, in his epistle to the Corinthian church? What is said about the church at Corinth? They quarreled. They were divided.

Yep. What else? There's a lot of sin going on. The one son was having a relationship with his mother-in-law or whatever. Any others? It's a long list. They rejected Paul's apostleship I mean, I can go to, you know, Paul addresses divisions in the church, 1-1, 1-11, excuse me, immorality, chapters 5 and 6, 9 through 20, questions concerning marriage, food, worship, and the resurrection. Sparkling bunch. Right? Sounds like an election. Don't even go there. Two more days. Two more days. Please. What does that say?

What was the first part? They had what? Lacking no spiritual gifts. They had every spiritual gift. How did that help them? They didn't appropriate it. They didn't appropriate it, but so what does gift have to do with the manifestation of Christ? Or their life? Operating in a grace system. How does that help in a grace system? You don't earn gifts. I don't know. You don't earn gifts? They're given to you, right? Okay.

So, they had a bunch of gifts, but they weren't opening them. Well, supposedly they had all the gifts. So, they were at least acknowledging these different gifts. So, did that help them in this grace system? I guess not. No. The church at Corinth had it all. The gifts. Everything should be rosy and wonderful, right? But it wasn't. Yes, Holly? That's a great sigh. Yeah, I'm going back to grace.

The definition is unmerited, unlimited blessings. But sometimes It doesn't seem like a blessing, because when you're being guided through some tribulations, that doesn't seem like grace. It is. But it is, but that's where I think the definition maybe falls short, or to define blessing as blessing as being like sometimes not so great looking. Or to define it in a shallow material fashion rather than looking at the richness of what it may entail.

You know, what reveals the characteristic? Which is better? You're going through trial and he immediately takes you out of it. Or you realize your dependence on him through a trial. through a trial, versus just removing me from it. But I'm just saying, in the long run, what you gain out of that will seem like a blessing, but at the time that you're going through it, it doesn't seem like a blessing.

We touched on that last week, I think. And the thing that I want to impress upon you is, if you understand, because Just go to one of my favorite passages, I always quote it, it's James 1, consider it all, John, my brother, when you encounter various trials. It's not saying later, it's not saying, it's saying consider it. How you get, and see this, Holly, this is one of those things that I think a lot of believers miss, is that when you go through a trial, you can have that peace that surpasses all understanding.

You don't have to wait until the end of it. If you understand and he's taking you through that trial for the purpose of drawing you closer to him, as you go through that trial, you don't go through the downs. And that's why I want to really impress upon you, you're trying to say it's always on the back side. I think he's saying it's through the trial that you have that comfort, not at the back side.

When you understand that you can't be separated from his love, no matter what you're going through, just understand that he loves you. So it's like really ignoring your circumstances. Because did he not love you at that time? Did he not, does he not know what you're going through? Absolutely he knows what you're going through. And if you understand, it's for what purpose? To get closer to him. To draw him, to him.

So when you go through that trial, it's a lot less traumatic. There aren't I think Hal had that, that there wasn't, there isn't a tragedy in a Christian's life. You know, and it's like, what? But if you understand that, there really isn't. And that's what I'm saying, I really want to impress upon you, it's not always on the back side, it's through that, and that's the comfort part of it. Yeah. That's where the real blessing is. And then you call that a blessing, yeah. It is. All your stuff is, you know, muddied up in a flood and hurricane. Because of the thing is that you realize at that point you are totally dependent upon Him. Right.

And what better place is there? When you get all the dross of this world away and you're dependent solely on Him, what better place is there? And that's why I say when you go through this trial, That's how you get through it with joy is that the Lord is working and He's drawing me. He's showing, we may not understand it, but in His love drawing us through or removing those things.

I was talking to Mike about this the other day. The minute I think I've got something in my life that's been a weakness in me and I think I've got it licked, He just says, you think you're done with this? That's the wrong word, slam. I mean, you think you're done with it? Okay, let's go through it. Oh, I'm not done with this. But I find each cycle that I go through, it's either shorter or less, and he's working on me on a lot of different things. But through those, I'm never saying I'm mad or I'm distraught, because I know he's in control. I know he loves me.

And that's how no matter what goes on, The hurricane back east wipes out everything. At that point, when I see these people on TV, their dependency is totally on him at that point. They've removed all the creature comforts of this earth. And they're at a point where there's only one place to look, is up. And a lot of them don't realize that, and that's why they're so totally... Angry? Not so angry, but just like totally freaked out.

And for us, when a brother hurts, when one of the body hurts, we're to help. That's one of those principles. Not a law, but a principle. And so when we see a brother hurting, yeah, we should respond. You know, I think it's in James, too, where you see a brother hurting and you don't do anything.

Yeah, so that you have the ability to do something about it. Right. You don't just pray and say, blessings upon you. Right. It's in James, you know, and that's really good. I love James. The practical manifestation of Christ coming out in us is that.

Back to the question that you asked about They had everything, and yet their behavior didn't illustrate the use of it. When you go further in 1 Corinthians up to chapter 12, where he goes into more comments about the spiritual gifts, he essentially says, but you're lacking this. You're not exercising them in love. You're not exercising them in the way that God planned when he gifted you with these We'll touch upon that in the next question.

In question 7, from Corinthians 1, 3-7, what is the difference between the gifts and grace? If you look at verse 3, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 7, Paul points out that you Corinthians lack no gift, you have them all, but there is something that Paul can pass on to you There is something that you can never use too much of, and that's what's in verse 3. Grace.

He points out, you had all the gifts, but what grace to you and peace is what I bring to you. You have all these things, but I'm going to give you what's unlimited. That's what he's telling the Corinthians. You have all the gifts, but I'm going to give you something or teach you and tell you about what's unlimited.

Even when they were being, like, not walking right, they still had the gifts, they still had the grace. Grace is always full on. And we'll get to what actually the word is and how you respond. And a church with no weakness is a church that's not growing. And so fundamentally, we have to have those failures and shortcomings. I remember looking for the perfect church, and my arrogance was to think that there was a perfect church and that I'd find it and not screw it up if I did.

Did Paul say, in my strength? What? In his weakness. Remember when we went through those verses? In his weakness. So, yeah, I mean, that's where, again, the dependency comes upon. When in the weakness, if you have a strong arrogance, that's the one that you have to peel the onion back to find the dependency.

The other thing, this verse, Paul points out, basically, you've got all the gifts, but I can give you something more, which is grace. Why? Because grace doesn't run out. Gifts are limited, but grace is unlimited. Good contrast. Gifts are limited. Grace is unlimited.

So, question 8, read John 1, 16. What does grace upon grace mean? So, in verse 16 of John 1. For of His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. So, the expression grace upon grace is interesting because the word upon it in the Greek is the preposition anti. And if you look at it, by looking at Zodiaty, he seems to have the best definitions of things. So, I should ask first, what does grace upon grace mean?

I read something that said we have the grace of salvation and then we continue to live in grace. Okay. Others? a compound just by the attribute of time. It can only grow. Okay, any other thoughts? I mean, yeah, these are all true facts. You're asking what he means when he's saying grace upon grace? Some reading in expanded translation, mine says grace in exchange for grace. Interesting. I don't know if that's a... I'd have to... I don't think. I'd have to see if we're exchanged.

I don't think that would come out in the Greek, actually, of how that is. Because it's actually not what I was going upon. The word grace upon, grace, is in the Greek. In the Greek, anti is the word upon. And I'll get you to the definition of what that is. And it's not an exchange. So that expanded or whatever you have is not literal from the Greek.

And that's what I want to get to is that That word anti is the word upon, and it's in the phrase grace for grace meaning grace upon grace, most abundant grace, one favor in place of or after another. God's grace, and this is from Zodiates, God's grace is not given once for all, but there is a renewal of it that is constant. Does unlimited ring a bell? Grace upon grace. It's unlimited. So, it's basically grace which is unlimited on top of grace.

And we'll get to some of these other words. Suprabounding. From McCauley. McCauley had a couple of them in his, when he was discussing this part of the passage. He was saying, this is like saying every time you take a bite of a cake, it gets bigger. Or does God say that this is the fifth time you've used grace this morning and the sixth is the limit?

Can't you shape up a little bit more? I'm getting tired. There's only so much to give. If you don't straighten up, I'm going to cut this thing off. Is that what this verse is saying? No. I take a bite and it gets bigger. five pieces of cake and now I have a hundred pieces of cake. Where grace did, where sin did abound, grace did much more. Super abound is the word. Super, it means super abound.

So, and that was at Romans 5.20. And then law came in that the transgression might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded or super abounded all the more. Okay? There's no end, unlimited. We're trying to hit on the unlimited aspect of what grace is. You can't outdo it. It's not based on us, the unmerited part, but it's also unlimited.

Edie's cake would be good. I knew you were thinking of that. I can tell when I said cake. I thought they're doing well. You suddenly smiled. You're taking it just to the earthly end of it. The cake that you enjoy. I can see when I use that example. Just like that, if you took a bite of her cake, it would be multiplied. If you keep eating it, there'd be five more. Personally, that would be disgusting. That was so rich and so good. All right, question nine.

Read 2 Corinthians 4.15 and then we'll ask the question, what does Paul put abundant in front of the word grace? Or why does he put abundant in front of the word grace in this verse? And I'll read the two different translations, because strangely enough, I don't think the NASB, the New American Standard, which is typically the more precise translation, more literal translation of the Greek, typically, but I don't think it's as good as the King James Version.

So, 2 Corinthians 4.15, For all things are for your sake, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. If you look at it in the King James, for all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Okay? So, the word actually is for abundant is pleonazo, which is superabound. It superabounds. So, what's he trying to emphasize here? It seems like It's all for the glory of God. You know, it's abundant, abundantly going back to where it originated. The hand gesture makes me understand it. That's like me, if you cut off my hands I can't talk. I'm trying to put the word abundant in front of grace. What's Paul trying to say? What's he emphasizing?

Abundant grace. There's no lack. When you eat the cake, it gets bigger. What's our definition? Abundant. Unlimited. Unlimited. Unlimited. Abundant grace. Super abounding grace. It's unlimited. Again, we're just trying to go through how, when our definition, when we talk about the definition, this is Paul. telling us what grace is. Grace is super abundant. It's drinking from a fire hose. It's more than you can handle. It's just full on all the time. So, you know, it's basically getting to the, again, the unlimited characteristics.

My Bible says Thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. And again, the attributes of grace, which is abundant grace, superabundant, abundant. So to further emphasize, he adds the verb to redound in the King James, or abound in the New American Standard on the second part. And that's a different word, perissio, which is again, to superabound. to be, and the definition is to be in excess, to cause to superabound or excel. So both of these words, either in the King James or in the New American Standard, when you look back at the Greek, it is superabundant, more than you can comprehend, it's unlimited.

Paul's just emphasizing the fact that grace is unlimited. So we're just going to where Paul is teaching in our definition and how we come up with our definition of unlimited and unmerited. We've gone a lot through the unmerited part, now we're looking at the unlimited part. It's not based on us in any way, shape, or form.

Grace is full on all the time. It's just us turning and saying thank you, which is the only thing we can do in grace. Which is number 10. Which is number 10, actually. It is. I'm getting ahead of myself. 10. From 2 Corinthians 4.15, what is the key lesson with respect to our response to grace? For all things are for your sake that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. So what is the key response in this? Thanksgiving. Thanks. Thank you. And that's where we're going to get into is what's your only response to grace? Thank you. Thank you.

Receive it and say thank you. That's it. And we'll look at actually the word. The word is charis, which is grace or thank you. So grace by its own definition is thank you. So our response only to grace is because it's unmerited, right? So there's nothing we can do. It's unlimited. It's coming at us full on. So what's the only thing we can do to receive grace?

Receive it and say thank you. You know, I hate when people in the class get me for my own teaching. And there was somebody in one of the classes where we taught grace. And I've had a couple of people when they come out of the grace class do this. reminder to me as a teacher. What I teach, you have to receive.

We talked about coffee, and I love coffee and all this stuff, and roasting. There are several in this assembly who roast their own coffee and all this stuff. I said, that's great, that sounds like a great idea. So, lo and behold, all of a sudden we're at our picnic out at our house, and here, here's a coffee roaster.

Don't, man, that's too much. Don't, no, you can't. Courtney, in grace, what do you say? I hate it when people bring that up to me. Same thing. And I was like, no, that's too much. What do we do in grace? Oh, no, no, Lord, that's, no. I can't, I need to pay you something. I need, no, that's way too much. In grace, just say thank you. It goes against all that the old man, that was totally the old man speaking. If I work in grace, it's thank you. I hate when they do that. I hate when they do that kind of stuff. I hate when they give me coffee roasters. No, well, no, it's just that it was a lesson right back in my face. And it's like, like I said, we burst out laughing when Mike and I go into lunch. And it's like, who paid? Well, you know, oh, this is gracious. So we now make more of a joke of it. All right, moving on quickly. We will begin the race.

23. 23, moving quickly through that. Less than 23. Does everybody have a 23? Do you guys have a 23? Everybody have a 23? So the first one is read Romans 5, 15 through 17. So does somebody want to read that while I'm passing these out? Do you remember? It's 5 through 17. Fifteen. Fifteen. Yeah, 15 through 17. But the free gift is not like the offense, for by the one man's offense many died, much more by the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded to many.

And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

Good. So, again, we're looking at does grace match our offenses? So, from the NASB, I think that was the New King James. NASB, just on 15 and 16. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For it is by the transgression of the one, the many died. Much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And then the NIB, verse 15. But the gift is not like the trespass. So what is it saying? Remember that the, you know, does grace match the offenses? So what is it saying?

No. Yes. Oh, right there, sitting right next to each other. Well, if it's abundant and more like drinking out of a fire hose, there's no way our offenses can outweigh the grace. But you said yes. Well, so maybe I missed. Although our offenses are quite abundant.

So does grace match it? Yes. No. Grace more than matches. More than matches. It depends on how you want to use this word. When you say match, are you thinking of equality? Yeah. Or just about grace match sin. Grace match in the sense of no matter what the sin, Sin has a specific penalty associated with it.

There is a judgment. You do this particular traffic offense, you get one point against you, you get a fine of $100, whatever. I go through school zones too fast, and they keep raising the cost, but I keep forgetting. So the penalty in this world, the judgment matches what my offense was. So there is a scale of offenses and judgments against them.

God doesn't have that scale of, okay, so much grace for this offense, so much grace for that. It's like you say, the fire hose is just your contract. Well, grace is so much more than a trespass that it can't match. goes over and above and beyond and unlimited. Unmerited. If you look at it by the transgression of the one man day, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man abound to the many. Much more.

So God does not give in proportion to the offense. He's not saying you have a hundred dollar fine so here's just a hundred dollars. He's saying much, much more than that. God's grace doesn't match the offense. It's much, much, much, much more in grace. It's super balanced. It's unlimited. So if God just matched the offense with His grace, what might be applied by that? If it's just enough, what would you imply if it's just enough? Well, that's illegalistic. If it just matches the offense, what would that say about grace?

It's not a bounding. Well, it's not unlimited. Bingo. It's not unlimited. It's like the magic words. We're trying to get at how Paul teaches. And also it's not based on our behavior. Exactly. Perfect. That's the whole last lesson that we've been talking about. It's not based on us. Do you understand how we're walking you through these things? It's not us. It's Paul teaching these things. Paul says it's unlimited. So it doesn't just match. It superabounds. And all these words we just went through in the last lesson about superabounding, it's more than that. It doesn't match. It superabounds.

Each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. And so if Christ's gift was only sufficient for, you know, okay, Randy has sinned to some metric quantity of four tons of sin or whatever some number is, and Christ only had to pay some measurable quantity, it redefines the crucifixion. Yeah, it says it's limited. It's only to this much. Coverages just barely. Just enough.

It also tells us about the sacrifice that Christ was. His character as deity was infinite. And there's a relationship there. Based on a totally adequate, which is nothing else added, totally adequate work of Christ on the cross. That's it. That's it. That is all. It paid for everything and now we operate in a system of grace which is overflowing at us. Okay?

So, let's get on to two if we can get it before the bell. What do these verses say about the grace that God gives us? Is God stingy with His grace? No, it's unlimited. It's unlimited. Good. You're getting this now. I'm not having to draw this out of you. In verse 15, God's grace has done what? Attach it to a verb. What has it done? It's abounded. It has abounded.

He's looking again at unlimited. And if you look at 17, forth the transgression of the one, death reign through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace. Again, I'm just pounding it in. Paul is telling you it's unlimited. Remember, we have to be taught about grace. Paul is just going on saying, guess what? Grace is unlimited.

No, where I went wrong was, I was thinking that no matter what our offenses, God's grace takes care of it. The good point is that it's just infinitely above. It's not even in the same zip code. Right. You know, and that's the, you know, the Romans 520 about, you know, sin or sin, the law and sin, grace, super about it, is more than. It's not even based on our offenses. It's not.

And that's the whole key is, going back to our identification truths, God is done with all your offenses. It's done. Now we operate in sin where he just wants to bless you. Because he's done with your sin. Does he ever look at your sin again? No. We're operating in a system of grace which is unlimited blessings. And it comes through trials, it comes through blessings of all sorts of different things. I think the real blessing we have is the intimacy that we have with Christ. That's the key.

Because as we have intimacy with Him, we know who we are, because that's who we're placed into. Remember we went into a lot of detail about where in the scripture it says in Him, in Him, in Him, Ephesians 1 and 2. where 12 times it tells us we've been placed into Him. So if we're in Him, if we look at the Word, and we look at it to know Him, we know who we are. And as we know who we are, we function as who we are in Christ. It's a manifestation of, if I know who Christ is, I know who I am. Because I've been placed into Him. It all fits. It all works. And that's the beauty of this.

Alright, we will finish up and then I don't know if you're taking the next one after or... I am, I don't remember... I don't know, we'll have to figure it out. If I get through, we'll have another lesson and we'll start with that. Alright, let's close in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again just for your system of grace. What an incredible system. We could never have come up with this in our feeble fleshly minds or just in our mind how to come up with a system that is just pouring out blessings. And it's nothing that we paid for or owed. It's just you pouring out blessings to us because who we are in Christ. It's your love, your mercy, all your attributes. being demonstrated in a system of grace that is the unlimited and unmerited blessings from you.

And again, we realize the unmerited part is because it was totally done through your son on the cross. We thank you for what was accomplished on the cross and that through our co-crucifixion, our placement into Christ, we can live in this system of grace. We thank you for that and what a wonderful system that is. Father, we just thank you for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.