Faith Lesson 11 week 3

Okay, I actually made a mark for question eight, right? Usually I don't make marks and then I have to rely on Bob. So we were talking about the essentials of faith and you're going to find and probably have already noticed that we do a lot of repetition in terms of questions.

And it isn't because you're slow learners. It's because this information about faith is, I think, kind of unique. I have never read anything other than what we're working on that dissects faith like this class is doing. Question eight is, which one of the four biblical faith aspects are we talking about here? And so I better back up. You're going to say, Mike, what are you talking about?

We're looking at Ephesians 4.11. God gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Why did he do that? For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

What I want you to notice in Ephesians 4.11 and 12 is that this isn't separate activities. In other words, these prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers were not given so that class A would be the perfecting of the saints.

Class B would be for the work of the ministry. In class C would be for the edifying of the body of Christ. It would be like coming here on Sunday morning and downstairs we are having edification. Over in the main auditorium we are having the work of the ministry class. And in this class we are talking about edifying. This is all in one sentence. These people that are given to the church by the Lord do all of these things at once. They perfect the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Who are they ministering to? The body of Christ.

Would you include yourself in that? Yes. Oh no, so now you are going to have a job. As you are perfected, you are being trained for the work of the ministry, so that you might edify the body of Christ. What's the word edify mean? What's that? Build up. For the equipping of the saints, 4.12, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the building up.

Notice that God gives gifted men for the edifying and for the building up of the body of Christ, which is you and me. So God has a purpose. Whose responsibility is to carry out God's purpose? Yours? The Holy Spirit. Yeah, it's God's responsibility. I think we forget that aspect of it all the time, that it's God's job to edify you. It's His job to do that, to grow you up, to perfect you. What's your job?

To listen. And? Believe. Believe. Okay. Because not listening, you can get into a lot of trouble. What's that? You can get into a lot of trouble if you think it's your job to make sure someone understands. Including yourself? I don't know. So it's God's job.

So question 7 says, what does established in the faith mean? It means, we're talking about the results of a walk, and we'll capsulize and summarize here in a minute. The word established means to be fixed, it means to be immovable, it means to be immovable in your faith. Now, our present society says if you're immovable in your faith, you're a bigot, right? which means you can't be stable. You can't be certain about anything.

One of the biggest issues you'll run into when you talk to people in the world system is, here's the question, what is your ultimate authority? What is your ultimate authority? What is your ultimate authority? What is it? Think about it. What would the world say the ultimate authority is?

Me. The world would say, I'm the ultimate authority. I get to decide. I'm the one that picks and chooses, right? But if you're a believer, what's your ultimate authority? It's the Word. See? And the world is going to tell you there's no such thing as an ultimate authority. Yeah, there is. Yeah, there is. Okay, so now streaking down to question eight.

There are four biblical aspects, what are they, of faith? Essence, the faith, personal, and principle. Say that out loud and slowly. Essence, the faith, personal, and principle. Very good. So which one are we talking about here when we're talking about gifted men given to the church? Are we talking about the essence of faith? Are we talking about your personal faith? In other words, to be fixed and certain? Oh, and there's a definite article in front of the word faith, so it could mean an aspect of faith. So which one are we talking about? Nice guess. Principle of faith? All of them. Yeah, that's the right answer. All of them. We're talking about all four aspects. Maybe you put it this way. You learn the information, total revelation of God.

Now there are certain aspects of it you see in the Bible that when you put the definite article in front of the word faith, they're talking about the specificity of one article of faith. personal faith, which we probably know a lot about, and then just the whole principle of faith. So here I think we're talking as much about the essence of faith as anything being established and fixed and immovable in what?

Remember Hebrews 11.1?

What was Hebrews 11.1? Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. If God's going to establish you in the faith, what's He going to establish you in? Make you solid, immovable in the faith. What's He going to make you immovable in? Trust in Him in terms of what?

Pretty close. Again, Hebrews 11.1. Faith is the substance of what? Things. And the evidence of things, what are those things? They're the things of God. They're the total revelation of God. That's what they are. It's going to make you immovable in those. I just gave an example of ultimate authority. If God is not the ultimate authority, then the default position is you.

And we'll talk about next week about can you Can you have faith as a non-believer? Can you function by faith as a non-believer? The answer is sure you can. Sure you can. How could you? If you don't believe in faith... When you got in your car this morning and started it up, you had faith you were going to get here, right? Yes, I had enough gas. Last night when you went to bed, you had faith that you were going to wake up. Or did you go to bed last night? Some nights she doesn't, she stays up all night. You had faith that you were going to get up this morning, right? Yes. Do we all operate by the principle of faith? Sure we do. Sure we do. When you think about it, you do everything by faith, don't you?

What don't you do in your life that's not of faith? That's a better question to ask. What don't you do? in your life that's not an aspect of faith? When you're sleeping. Even the fact that you're sleeping, when you get into bed and lay down, you have faith you're going to go to sleep. Well, some of you do. Tell me something you've done that isn't a faith.

Whatever is not a faith is sin. That's for a believer. How about for a non-believer? Because if it isn't, What do you have a free will for? Or what do you have a will for? One purpose. What do you have it for? To believe either in this or in that. That's the reason you have it. So, if that's why you have a will, then here comes the non-believer. He's going to pick between A sin and B sin. But he's actually picking by faith because he thinks A sin is going to be more edifying to him than B sin. You see my point?

So why are we to be grounded in the aspect of biblical faith that you chose? Which one did you choose? Now we went through these four, which one did you choose? When I said, which one of the four aspects of faith are we talking about in Philippians? You didn't choose. I'm sorry, in Ephesians. Well, let's say you chose the essence of faith. We've already talked about that. Let's say you chose the faith. So what are you doing there? It's like the gospel Is the gospel the entire revelation of God to man? No, it's just a part of it. So that's why the definite article is there, the gospel.

How about the principle of faith? What is the principle of faith? Many things. That's not an answer. What is the principle of faith? It's how it operates. It's how it operates. How does faith operate? What's a principle of faith? What did Cardinal just say? The general or fundamental law, rule or code of conduct Our devotion to such a cult.

You get a star. Well, that wasn't my. No, but a principle is something that operates or functions the same way every time. So you go to school to learn principles because you want to find out what operates and functions the same way every time. So you're not going to be surprised. So.

Nick has taken this test in engineering. He's hoping he got the principles down. That he learned that this thing operates the same way every time. Well, I remember that. And so does this one. And so does this one. So a principle operates the same way every time. So what's the principle of faith? It operates the same way every time. How does it operate?

Biblical faith. The essence of faith. Faith comes by hearing. and hearing by the word of God. So God reveals to man his essence, his things. Here it comes. So now I've got the information. Now what's the next thing I do with the information? I either believe it or I believe something else. But I can't sit in the middle. When you present the gospel to somebody and they say, I can't think about that today, have they made a decision? Absolutely they have to believe something else other than the gospel. So when the principle of faith is that the information is presented, what do you do about it? You either believe it or you reject it. That's the principle. That's why you have a will. Does that make sense? OK? So it's good you have a choice. And what's the choice?

Either believe or you don't. Or you either believe this or that. Very seldom do I say, I just don't believe that and I don't believe anything other than that. There's always something else. I don't believe this, the Word of God says, because I believe my emotions more than I believe what God said. or I believe how I feel about it, more than what God's word says.

As an example, the word of God comes and tells you, you were crucified with Christ. What do you do with that kind of information? Read the Bible, because it's a difficult thing to understand. Well, here's the information you're reading along, and it says that you were crucified with Christ. Information is clear. This word I just read said that I was crucified with Christ. What do I do with that information? I'm going to make a decision about it. What's the decision going to be?

Either okay, I believe you, no experience, no feeling, no nothing, you just said it. Or I don't believe you because my experience doesn't verify what I'm reading. Because that's a hard thing to understand. that would crucify us sitting here. So you have to really delve more into the Bible to get a wink of it. Okay, so I make a decision that I'm not going to believe it until God makes it clear to me. Right. Is that the principle of biblical faith?

It's harder to believe something that happens. in the past than it is to be something that's going to happen in the future. Most of the information about Christianity are facts. They're already done. But believing in heaven and all of the things that are after you die is easier to believe in than something that happened in the past. Yeah, it is. And the hope that we have for... That is. It's absolutely the same thing. So think about this. God's word says you were crucified with Christ. Here's the information.

So you think about it for a minute and you decide, I don't have any experience with what he's talking about. I don't know what he really means. Did I really die with Christ? So what I'm going to do is rather than believe it, I'm just going to put it off until I move to Missouri. Or I have an experience that verifies it. Rather than making a decision, God, you said it. It's good enough for me. I believe you. I don't need an experience. You said it. So, did I make a decision? You better believe I did. Bring it into the current, rather than the past.

I always think, one of the things that I always go back to is when it says, Romans 8, that we can't be separated from His love. Well, in the midst of a trial, Do you question that? Do you believe that? In any circumstance, you know, when the boat's being rocked and your world is going through something. Boy, that's a good point. Well, he also promised us peace. And do you believe that? And I think in the midst, you know, current, you know, rather than the crucified in the past, if you have that, the issue is now. be separated from His love.

So no matter what you go through, do you believe that? And I think a lot, I think you hit it right on the nose. We go by our emotions and our feelings, rather than what's true in God's Word. And we rely upon, well, how could He love me if I'm going through, you know, my car blew up, and this happened, you know, house burned down, and hurricane came through, and how does He love me? But the principle is still there. He loves you. And do you believe that in the midst of the trial?

Do you understand what he's saying? Yeah, now he's got nothing. He's lost everything, the way he talks. Well, he's lost everything where? Here. Here. Everything. His house burned down. But the Word of God said to him, there's absolutely nothing that can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Yeah, but can you say I need a little help here? He says, I've already given you the help. I've already given you everything. Where is that scripture? Romans 8, 35 somewhere in there. Who shall separate us from the love of God? Or, you know, I study Romans 6, it says my old man was crucified for what purpose? That sin would not have dominion over me anymore. So I'm trucking down the road and here comes a temptation that I'm really used to. I've seen this one before. And I look at God and say, now wait a minute.

I thought I was dead. How come, you know, the girls are dancing? My feet are moving. What am I doing then? I'm right back to the same issue. Do I believe God or do I believe the dancing girls? Which is it? That's what it comes down to. Did I die, which means I got separated, or didn't I? And when the music started, how come my feet are moving? See, which is true? My experience? My past memories? All of my sinful behavior? Or am I really crucified, buried and resurrected with Christ? Am I seated in the heavenlies with Him? Which is it? Right then is when the decision is made. That's hard to do. Trust me. Sanctification, where even though we've been cut off from the old man, does it, you know, sanctification is needed to be able to say no to all this? Oh, sure it is.

Why do you think the trial comes? Why do you think that, you know, your dog dies and your pickup truck stops running and, you know, your girlfriend takes off? And why? That's a country and western song. Why do you think God allows that issue to come in your life?

Because it brings you closer to Him. How? Why is He doing it? I mean, most of us would say, Lord, go pick on somebody else. Dependency upon Him. What's that? Dependency upon Him. He's teaching us what? Dependency on Him, and to trust Him when He tells us something, and He's trying our faith. Not with a view towards defeat, but with a view towards approval.

See, so that, you know, when you buy a more expensive truck and it dies, you're okay with it. Do you see that? Because he makes such astounding statements to us in grace. And then we say, okay, I believe you. And then comes a testing period, you know.

I used to get really angry about A, B and C and don't you ever do that to me because I'll really be angry. And so you believe him about being crucified and my old man and the old man is the one that's angry. I find myself in the same circumstance 24 hours later and I'm angry. How come?

Well, I did believe him, right? So I understand what's he doing? Is he just trying to make me angry? No, he's beginning to show me in practical everyday experience that when he tells us something, he means it. He will take the position that he tells you is true of you and over time he will work it into your condition so that, gee, I don't get angry anymore at that thing. Boy, that thing used to just drive me nuts and now it's not part of who I am. It's not a big deal.

So God is always working the essence of faith, the things of him, into us because he pronounces to us, especially in Paul's epistles, here's who you are, here's what you have, and here's what I've already done. And we always look at him and say, well, you better go through that again and show me, because I've got to feel it. or I got to experience otherwise I won't buy it. Nonsense.

The principle of faith is that when the truth shows up, you just rest in it. Because he said it. Because really where does your faith go? Is it in the facts or what? It's in him. He proves himself to be truthful and faithful. So your faith goes to him. because he's always proven himself to be faithful. Here's the best example. Abraham believes God and he's accounted righteous.

Fast forward 40 years. God comes to him and says, grab your son and go up to the mountain and sacrifice him to me. Did Abraham hesitate? No. But it took him 40 years to get to the non-hesitating part. Why? Because he knew God by then. He knew that God was trustworthy. And what was his attitude? I know that he's the God that gives life. So if he takes my son's life, he can give it. He's asked me to do it. I'm going to do it without question.

He wouldn't have done it a week after he was in the Ur of the Chaldees. He wouldn't have been ready for it. I was thinking, too, about the intimacy with the Lord Jesus in the midst of the trial. You know, like, ow, the Lord's getting ready to take him home.

Yeah. And what's his attitude? He's ready. You know, we are so fortunate in our lifetime to meet believers who understand. And when they get ready to go home, and the Lord's going to take them home, there's no panic in those people. You know, they're ready to go this afternoon, or how about right now? And they are looking forward to it when someone in the world, oh, it's the end of everything.

But these people, your grandfather was like that. I'd go down and talk to Jason. We weren't in a conversation five minutes and he'd have tears in his eyes. You know why? Because he was hoping the Lord would take him today. He was 93 or whatever he was. Lord, why can't you take me today? Well, and Bertha would say, I think the Lord forgot me.

Yeah. So, I mean, it isn't because you got old and tired. It's because you've learned the things of God and you want to be with them. Yeah. Continuing on the trials, the one that comes to mind is in 1 Peter. I was reading this the other day and it came up again. I'm amazed now when I read more verses, it's always related to faith. It's not about whatever.

In 1 Peter 1.6, In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. training, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith The testing is to prove our faith.

It's always that. It always goes down to, do you believe me? And all the other things I've told you, the love, the peace, the joy, the rest, all that I've promised you in the midst of the trial, do you believe it? And it's always the testing of your faith.

What's interesting about these aspects we're going through is that they are the four aspects of where you need to focus rather than how you feel or some warm fuzzy thing. This is where you need to be. Now, let's look at Ephesians 4, 13 and 14. We've been running down 11 and 12. This has to do with what God is up to. Ephesians 4, 13 says, Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

So that means that you all got to believe the same thing, right? You all got to be Democrats. No, sorry. So there's a thing here called the unity of faith. which directly is the knowledge of the Son of God, this is the epinosis word, personal intimate knowledge, knowing Christ.

I know Laban, he knows me, we know because we have the spirit of a man, we know each other. Is it possible that we as believers, having the resurrected life of Christ, can have as great an intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ as we have with other human beings? Answer yes. Answer yes. The knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man.

I was going to divide the class up for the mature guys over here and the guys that are hopeful over here. But God is working to mature us, to conform us to Christ. And here's the high water mark. This is what God is after. To the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Pretty high standard, huh?

Now, when we're talking about Colossians 2, 6, and 7 rooted, built up, and established, who does all these things? God doesn't. You believe him as you have begun in the Lord Jesus. How did you start? By believing. So walk. So you are to walk by faith, right? But in amongst that is this rooting, grounding and establishing. Here it is again, only stated a different way. Who does the rooting?

We looked at Romans 6.3. Don't you realize that when you were baptized into Christ, you were baptized into his death? Who rooted you into Christ? You didn't do it. He did it.

Okay? Who is building you up in the faith? Who's doing that? You're not at home at three in the morning memorizing scripture and being built up because of that. No. This is something God is doing. Oh, and I'm being established. Established for what purpose? What is he doing? He's doing so that I'll have the knowledge of the Son of God, a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. That's what God is up to. That's pretty cool, because it takes the burden off of you to perform. Again, what do you have a will for? Not to implement, but to believe. Verse 14, as a result, We are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the craftiness of deceitful scheming.

We've talked about spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is a big deal in Christianity today and here's what they're selling. If you want to be more spiritual than you are today, come to our seminar and we'll show you how to do it through spiritual transcendental meditation. Okay? What's the false promise there? Don't you all want to be more spiritual than you are today?

We can do it. It's Christ's doing it. That's right. And what's the second part of that, from a positional standpoint? I already am spiritual because I'm in Christ. I don't need a method to make me more spiritual. I just need to find out what's true of Christ and rest in it by faith. I don't need a method. And it's a big seller, a huge seller.

Wayne came back from Sandy, Idaho. What's that school in Sandy, Idaho? It's at Northwest Nazarene University. And he was there for graduation and he brought the graduation program back and there were like a dozen people getting master's degrees in theology. Nine of them were getting master's degrees in spiritual formation.

Somebody never taught them the truth. What is spiritual formation? I just explained it. Well, yeah, but I'm old. It takes me a while. Spiritual formation is a system of theology that says, in essence, would you like to be more spiritual than you are today? Oh, I see. So he has a degree. He's going to go out and get everybody all excited and take their money. Yeah. And Denver Seminary has a program in it. Every big church has a spiritual formation class. All of them do. And it's all based on the premise that you're stupid and you don't know what you already have. That's what it's based on.

And I'm sorry for last week when you said, it makes me want to cry, Wanda, have you been crucified? And I am so used to, like, joking. And I said many times, And of course I didn't mean that, but I have been crucified. Hallelujah. It's interesting, you can see spiritual growth in Paul's epistles. I'll show you where.

In Romans 6.6 it says, coming to know this, or knowing this, that my old man was crucified with him. Wow, that's new information. So that the body of sin might be put out of business so I would no longer serve sin. So you see that and you say, well, that's pretty exciting.

You ratchet forward to Galatians 2.20. What does that guy say? I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Walking around. But the life I now live, how do I live it? By the faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Now there's a guy who knew. Started out with the information, believed God, the Spirit of God worked it into him, established him, rooted him, grounded him in it. And now what is he doing? It's a proclamation, it's who he is. Pretty cool, huh? Just by taking God at his word in Romans 6.6, you end up at 2.20. Kind of cool. Okay, question 11.

Go back to Colossians 2.7.

Colossians 2.6 and 7 says, As ye have begun in the Lord Jesus, so walk ye in Him, rooted, grounded, and established. And then what's the last phrase? Rejoicing with thanksgiving, right?

Okay. Let's see if I can spell this right. Or I'll use a word of my own. Easier to spell. Greek lesson. Active or passive voice? Rooted. Done to you or are you doing it? Passive. Being done to you, right? Passive voice. Built up. Active voice or passive voice? You're doing it or being done to you? Passive. Being done to you. Established. Active or passive voice? Passive. Passive voice. Abounding or rejoicing with Thanksgiving? Active or passive voice? Active. Active. Active voice. Why? It's your response. What's that? The natural response, if you're understanding. Really cool. Did everybody hear what Katie said? It's the natural response, the natural spiritual response of the results of the work of God.

So you're going to say, I don't have a lot of joy in my life. And I say it's because you're working too hard. Just rest by faith in what God is doing and what happens? What's the result? You can watch it in this classroom. When people begin to see and understand things and they believe them, this rejoicing comes out of them. Why? Because we sent them an email and said, not this morning you're going to be rejoicing, I'm going to call on you. No. It's a natural result of being rooted, grounded and established.

So what did we do? We walked by faith. That's what we do. We just walk by faith. That's active voice. We rejoice. That's active voice. But in the middle, all the requirements are done by God. All of them. So if you walk by faith and rest and trust in what he's revealed to us and what he's revealing to us right now, And all the rest he's going to do, because he tells you, especially in Paul's epistles, here's where we're going, guys. This is where we're headed, to the fullness of Christ. Fully formed, mature person. Oh, that's what you're doing, Lord? Yeah, that's what I'm up to. Because God has exactly the same purpose for every single believer.

Romans 8.28. What is it?

He's conforming us to the image of Christ. Now that doesn't sound that big a deal when you first run into it, but when you start to realize the one human being that God finds all of his pleasure in is who? Christ. So he's going to conform you, conditionally, to the image of Christ. Is he going to find pleasure in you? I hope the Sha'ari is. Why? Because you're just like Christ. That's the purpose. So the way Christ is the creator of everything, seen and unseen. It's mind-boggling. So, yeah, initially it is kind of mind-boggling what God is up to now. I want to state this another way.

Having been rooted, firmly planted in him, you can say is our position. Our position and our walk. Being built up or edified in him, is the purpose of our walk. So we have position and purpose. Being established in the faith is the result of our walk. In other words, we have a position being rooted in Christ.

Romans 6.3 said we were already baptized into Christ's death. We're there. We can't change it. We're being built up Right now, it's present tense, passive voice, that's what the Spirit of God is doing. He's building us up in Christ. For what purpose? To establish the result. And what's the result? That we're established.

We can't be moved around. We've had a lot of rainy, stormy weather. If your house is built right and you did everything right, you don't have water in your basement. If you aren't established, you probably do. See? Things that you thought were immovable when the water came down the street, they moved.

You're not to move. You're to stay because of these things. And then abiding with thanksgiving is your and my response to what God has done. And that's going on. It's present tense, active voice. It means it's going on all the time. And you're doing it.

So what happens in a believer's life? He begins to wake up in the morning not worrying and complaining. He begins to wake up rejoicing because he knows. He knows. He has been rooted. He's finding out about God's purpose which is building him up in the faith and he's discovering that he's being established. That's what God is doing every day. And he's rejoicing and he's, I think, initially kind of surprised.

But I mean, one of the great things, and I recommend it if you don't have it, is to read that None But the Hungry Heart every day. I walk away from that thing... Read what? It's a daily devotional called None But the Hungry Heart. Oh, okay. There's a rejoicing about almost every one of those because these principles are built into every single one of them. There's a position, there's a rooting, there's a building up in some of it, there's an establishment, and then it's like, wow, isn't that cool? And so we believers should rejoice all the time.

I can't get away from thinking how, when Hal Malloy was a pastor here, you'd call him up and you'd give him You give him the nick line, you know, well my truck died, my girlfriend took off, and my dog is sick. And you know what he would say? Hallelujah. And you would think is he nuts? No, he understood this. He understood this. Hallelujah. Or you're going to die this afternoon at 3 o'clock. Hallelujah. Whatever it is, there's no tragedy in a Christian's life. There can't be. There can't be. Because look at how much work God is doing. And what are you doing? You're resting by faith.

The more I'm reading and finding faith and all that, I think, and this is personal I think, but I think it still comes down to intimacy with Christ. Because, you know, if you know a person, the longer you know them, the more you can trust them. And I think that's a principle with Christ.

The more you're, I mean, intimate, and you know, it's like in a marriage or whatever, you begin to know everything about your spouse. You know, how they react, how they move, how they breathe, how they, whatever. Everything. The more you have time and intimacy, You know everything about him, and there's trust in that.

The more I'm reading in the faith, is you have to trust him. And that comes with intimacy. And I'm really just, the more I find it, and that's the conforming part, but it's just intimacy with him, time with him, and the more you have that, the more you just automatically trust.

I agree. Because it's just, you know him. And that's to grow in the grace and the knowledge, is to know Him. I trust it. When the ship collides, when the dog dies and the car dies and everything else. You know that because you know Him. He won't abandon you. Yeah.

One scripture that really hit me lately is When Thomas didn't see Jesus, he said, I'm not going to believe unless I see the holes in the sand. Then Jesus comes later and he said, Thomas, you believe because you've seen me. Blessed are those who believe in me who haven't seen me. Now take the next step.

You go back to Hebrews 11.1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Substance, what did we say substance was? undeniable evidence of things hoped for, and the proof of the things of God, the unseen things of God. So what does faith allow you to do? See. It allows you to see. That's the cool thing about it. The Spirit of God is about the business of revealing truth to us, but He's more about the business of revealing Christ to the believer.

My favorite verse in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 3.18. We all, all of you, everybody in this room, with unveiled face, so there's no barrier, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.

What's the mirror? The Bible, the Word. You're beholding, you're not just glancing at it, you're in it. You're beholding as in a mirror what? The total sum of God and Christ attributes, who he is, who are those? Those are the things talked about in Hebrews 11. Beholding us in a mirror the glory of the Lord, what happens? We are transformed into the same image. From a slug to glory? No, from one state of glory state of glory. You're growing in glory. And who does it?

Even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So we've talked about our walk. We have a responsibility. Our responsibility is to do what? Walk by faith. That's it. God's responsibility, he does everything else. As we walk by faith in the person of the Lord Jesus and who he is, who we are in him, the response to the ministry of the Holy Spirit as he reveals the person of Christ to us, conforming us to his image, our only response is one thing. We are joyful, we are thankful, we are overwhelmed by the grace. That's normal Christianity. You don't need anything spurious. Normal Christianity is to be responsive to the work of the Spirit based on the truth. Pretty cool. Let's close.

Father, how we thank you. How we thank you for your plan and for us to be able to find out what our individual roles are in it, to walk and rest by what you've told us, which is faith. And we do trust you that you're the one that's carrying all the rest of it out so that we may rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord Jesus always. We pray in his precious name. Amen.