Which Side of the Cross - Lesson 21 Week 2

All right, so we're on lesson 21. And we got about halfway through that last time. In looking at the questions, I think that we're going to start with seven. So we covered the content of six kind of in the discussion around question number five. So I'm going to jump into question number seven.

It says, define the essence of faith. Oh my goodness, this is repetitive, isn't it? It's good though. Let's see if you got it down. Who can define the essence of faith? I put two things down here. I had things of God, reality, and God's total revelation to man. Okay. Definitely on the right track for sure. If somebody was to say to you, believer or non, how do you view the world? What's your world view?

You might start to go into that apologetic mode and think, okay, God created the heavens and the earth, and you may go back to the very beginning. It's interesting because the verse that we get, the definition for the essence of faith, is in the context of creation.

It does actually cover all the things that were created by Christ, and so creation does exist in the context of Hebrews 11.1.

So that's the verse that we use to define faith in its essence, but if someone were to say that to you in just a short sentence, and they may not understand it, and most believers may not understand Hebrews 11.1 still, but ultimately, if we break this down, as we have done in the past, It defines the way believers view the universe. It's the way reality is for us. Faith in its essence is our reality.

So I'm going to start working on a new illustration, see if it's right. Yeah. Alright. Is that pretty close? Alright. So we have faith. And we'll call it its essence. So that's number one. Right? The way we view the universe is based off of this verse. So what does it say?

So we see that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence or proof of things not seen. This is the way we view the world. This is the way God has set it up for us to understand. Faith, the subject, is linked up with the verb is. It is a substance. Faith is substance. And we said another word for that is reality. Faith is reality. Faith is also evidence, or proof. So within that outer view of the world, we have reality, and we have the proof of that reality. And it's connected, in substance, it's the reality of things being hoped for. And that word, hoped, has this idea of certainty. So it's a conviction of, a certainty of, things being hoped for.

What are those things? We talked about those last week. We went into pretty great depth on it. We said there are these big theological terms, sovereignty, righteous, just, love, so forth, that define God. Right? Or that help us understand some of God's characteristics as He's revealed to us. But we also said we left this box open because the things of God are also the things of who? That's right. That's right. And so we made that connection last week. And we talked about His life is our life. That's a thing of God. His hope, or His peace, is our peace.

And we connected many of those things, but we said we couldn't cover them all, because ultimately the things of God are represented in what? Completely, in totality. In your Bible, right? The full revelation. So the things of God do include the full revelation of what He has shared with us, and specifically through the Scripture, are we going to know all the things of God? Can we know them all? That's right. No, we can't know all the things.

We can know all the things that God has chosen to reveal to us, and there will be things of God being revealed to us on into eternity, that are not for this side of our life. And so, the things of God are eternal. And that's one of the ones that we have up here. And it applies not only to his character, it also applies to the very things that he will reveal to us in time and on into eternity. And so we connected this universe to the reality of these things that we can be certain about.

Is there any wavering over the things of God that have been revealed? There probably is in the believer's life. I mean, we waver over these things. Is God really sovereign in this situation? Well, it says that it can be certain to us that He is sovereign. But what is required by the believer in order for this to be certain to you? It's that personal faith, right?

So we'll get to that here in a little bit. So just kind of a little bit in review here, we're talking about the four aspects of faith, the essence, our personal faith, the faith, and the principle. We're going to look at principle a little bit more today, and of course personal is something that we've touched on quite a bit. We also said that faith is evidence. It's the evidence of these things. He proves these things through his word.

We said that the unbeliever is aware of two specific aspects that Romans 1.18 conveys to them, but they cannot know reality, and they cannot know the things of God. without faith. Correct? Personal faith.

And these things that we talk about are eternal, and they're not being seen. They're future, they're spiritual realities. Now we can see the results of many of these things in creation, but in totality these are things not being seen. And that's what faith beholds. It beholds the things of God, and for the believer, It's it's certain things for the unbeliever. It's only one thing and that's the gospel. We'll talk about that That's all all that's available as a starting place so define the essence of faith We said that faith is the substance of things hoped for for the hope for and the evidence or proof of things not seen and so substance means reality faith is reality write that down or get it tattooed on your shoulder and Okay. Faith is reality. Somebody will be like, what are you talking about? That would be a good one. Here I'm telling people to get tattoos. Sorry. That would be a good one.

In reality, what is reality? What is reality? The things of God. Faith is reality. The reality is the things of God. And they can be absolute and certain. We can be absolute and certain about them. Absolutely certain. So the essence of faith is God's total revelation to man. It's everything that God reveals in totality. That is the essence of faith.

We have that definition down for today. So we've got this outer circle. This encompasses all the things that have been revealed, the things of God that have been revealed to us that we know. Now, there's more to it, but it's not part of our reality right now. It's God's reality. Does that make sense? Does that work so far? Number one? Alright. Number seven.

Before we leave number 7, let's look at Hebrews 11.3.

We always read Hebrews 11.1, but let's read down through 11.2 and then into 11.3. Hebrews. I didn't have my verse ready.

11. 1. Alright.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. In verse 3. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of the things which are visible.

So here it connects the creation worldview to this very perspective on faith. And I just thought it was interesting because when we first started talking about this faith as reality, I think, Kitty, you mentioned, this is something that's different. It's harder to understand than say, love, God's love. I mean, that's understandable. He loves us. But how is this whole idea of faith conveyed? But it's connected to the very creation of the world. It's how he designed things to operate. And we'll see that he connects it in this verse to the men of old. So even in the Old Testament times, that reality, in part, was fully functioning.

There was also another principle at work during that time. Do you remember what that principle was? principle of law. But it existed within the entire reality of faith. And we'll see that that principle of law is then replaced with the principle of faith after Christ. So we'll get to principle, that's where we're working. In fact, question 8 says, define the principle of faith. I want to start, oh yeah, go ahead.

And then you see something you've never seen before. It says, by faith we understand that the world is framed by the Word of God. You don't understand the things of the world. The only way you understand it is by faith. That principle has to be operational. Otherwise you don't understand it. And that was the same for the Old Testament. They understood that the principle of law said, do this, don't do that. And you'll get blessed or cursed based on those principles. But they couldn't understand reality. Without faith.

And when they did operate by faith, we know that Abraham, and it goes through this whole hall of fame of faith, we know that these men understood that reality, and they relied on the word of God to define that reality, not just the law of do's and don'ts, blessings and cursings. Does that help? Make sense? It does help, because it's interesting. We don't know, without faith, We have no idea what the things of God are. With faith, we know them, and not only that, it says in verse 2 that there's a testimony from the Holy Spirit that what we have believed is in fact true.

If those aren't all together, we're in the dark tunnel. And that's where the unbeliever is. They operate in a world that they cannot understand. I also think that we as believers, as we go forward and we learn... We can choose to be in that boat too.

You know, this principle is still appropriate because we see things that God pronounces that are true of us and what he's done and we're not so sure by that because you can't empirically add evidence to it. It doesn't... Like, you know, I was crucified with Christ so really I don't remember that happening. No. You could be a believer and By faith, believe in the gospel. That's required, right? And not know any of the other things of God. Not understand reality beyond that. You can be in that place.

That's a possibility. But it is through understanding those things that He conforms us and transforms us. And that's where we're trying to move from the principle of faith through believing in the gospel, to believing in all the other things that are true of us in Christ, as well that are true of God. Go ahead. This is a question.

If I'm a believer, but I operate under a reformed theology, in other words, I think that I'm under a lost system, then I'm exercising faith in the lost system. But I don't think there ever is a confirmation from the Spirit that that's one of the things of God, because it's outside the principle in which he operates today, which is grace. So believers can create a whole environment and walk by what they think is faith, but the substance of what they believe in is no longer relevant in terms of what God has revealed to us.

Yeah, totally. There are terms for these different doctrinal systems out there, such as reformed. There's charismatic, where you have feelings. Feelings is the system. And you have the law. And you get greater and lesser degrees of all of those things.

You can set yourself up underneath an alternate reality that is not based on the Word of God, even as a believer. You can get carried away with certain gifts. You can get carried away with certain assurances of faith, whether, you know, did I really believe because my life is not in line with what I'm seeing in the scriptures, so therefore I must have not believed, and I've got to go back and have faith in the gospel again. And I'm in this faith repeat cycle, where I'm going back, I'm going back, and I'm constantly looking at myself.

And I think that's really the point, is that when, as believers, we get caught up in an alternate reality that has, we call it Christianese, it's got Christianese in it, but it's not based on the Word, In every single instance of those alternate realities, so to speak, the focus is on who?

Me. Either me to keep the law or me to feel a certain way. It's all about me. I'll give some credit to God here and there, but ultimately it's about how I feel or about how I see myself underneath the law. This isn't anything new. Paul has addressed this. I'm constantly amazed at how many times I've seen scripture and I think addressing them and we don't see in the mirror about how it applies today. I always think about this, where we should be. For those who maybe go under reform or law, they are still in the nursery. They're not growing spiritually. And in Hebrews 5, concerning him, we have much to say.

And if it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to need milk and not solitude. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." You should be, at this time, eating meat. you're dull of hearing, you're dull of discernment, and you're still in the nursery.

It's interesting that even in the Corinthians, they were dealing with the feeling side of it, right? And in Hebrews, and even in Romans, you're speaking to the Jewish audience, and they're dealing with the law. So here you have those same two basic systems, that Paul was trying to communicate the gospel into.

And so, absolutely, there's nothing new with regards to the way that people behave and alter this reality, but I'm so excited about understanding this in this particular class because faith has not been given that perspective of, it's the way believers view the universe. It's from an essence perspective. And everything else works within it. So let's do this.

Let's talk about number 8, and let's look at Romans 3.27 first, and then we'll look at the next verse. Someone read 3.27 for me.

For this is boasting, it is excluded, of what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. Okay, so we've covered this term law of faith in the past, but just to get a little context, Paul is speaking to Jews who would be boasting about the system of the law and how they fit underneath that system. He says it's completely excluded.

There is no boasting because it's not based on works, it's based on the principle of law. We say principle, I'm sorry, not on the principle of law, but on the principle of faith. And that's the word there, that law of faith, principle of faith. That's how we're thinking of it. this fourth item that we've talked about here. In thinking about the principle of law, it stands in contrast to the principle of faith. The way things are is what a principle is, right? It's the way things function. The way things function for us is based on faith. As a principle, we have one, faith, its essence, or reality. Within that reality we have faith as a principle.

And it functioned in the Old Testament just as it does in the New Testament, but in the New Testament it becomes a complete and total replacement for the principle of law. It does away with it. There is no principle of law for us as believers. There's no blessing and cursing. There's no do's and don'ts in that same way.

So now we have this principle of faith that exists. Let's look at Colossians 2, 6. And before we read this one, I have had this interesting thought, and maybe this is me thinking out loud a little bit, so you guys help me. Law is no longer a reigning principle, true? Okay. Oftentimes in evangelical, when we're communicating gospel truths, in order to help someone see their sin, we may use the law. Have you ever done that? Have you ever had any gods before God? Okay, you've broken that line. Have you ever not honored your mother and father?

Okay, well then see you're a sinner. It's interesting though, The law was used as a guide to Christ. It was used to show man their sin, that they were never capable, and they never would be capable, and they needed a Savior. However, because the law is no longer a reigning principle, is it valid for us to use the law to help man see their sin today? Is it? Are they? Are unbelievers under law? Just because they're not... Are they? Are they? Are unbelievers today under law? In Romans, the law and their heart are... I forget how he puts it. They're not under the...

Mosaic law. Mosaic law. So let me rephrase it then. Because that's a good point. Are unbelievers today under the Mosaic Law and held accountable to the things of the law? The only accountability a non-believer has is not believing in God. Okay. Okay. And that's the principle of faith as it applies to an unbeliever. So I think that it is important for us to recognize that unbelievers aren't out there breaking the Mosaic Law. And if we use the Mosaic Law to help them see their sin, it's as though we're saying, you're underneath these Ten Commandments, and you've broken them, and you need Christ. Is that valid?

I'll take it is. Any thoughts? From the back? I guess where I'm coming from is in Galatians we're also told the fruits of the Spirit versus the fruits of the flesh. That's right. I think it's in, is it in, where did we look at it last week in Sunday school class, Mike, where the litany of things the flesh produces. Is that in Galatians 5? Galatians 5, yeah. Those are the convicting operation of the flesh.

And so to say that, have you lied, and get a response, yes I have, then you're not perfect. is a valid thing, but it doesn't necessarily have to be against the Ten Commandments. Right. I agree. So there are fleshly behaviors and attitudes and actions that Every unbeliever is aware of their sin, because the scripture tells them, and the Holy Spirit convicts on that principle alone, right? But see, they can't see the fruits of the Spirit. No. Well, the fruit. The fruit, but it's a package. Right. They don't really see that. Right. And what is the fruit? ultimately.

It's Christ's life. They're not aware of Christ's life and the fruit that His life bears on a believer. And so, that being said... They don't even see the principle of faith. They don't see the substance, nor the things hoped for. They don't see either one of those. Nope.

And so, it's just been a working conversation in my mind as I've been looking at these verses that maybe we ought to be careful about helping an unbeliever see their sin using anything from the law, because they're actually not under law. They are under the principle of faith. However, they do not have personal faith, but they have an opportunity to believe in the gospel message, that very portion of the faith. So here we have this faith as a principle. This is how everything works on the other side of the cross.

And so let's look at Colossians 2.6.

I don't know that you want to leave it with what you just said though. What'd I say? In that we can't use the law. Maybe we ought to say what we can use. Is it yourself or is it God? Maybe would be the way to approach this. I'm just speaking on... Yeah, me too. This is something I've been stewing on for a while. So, yeah, I wouldn't want to say can't. How might we use the law today in light of what we understand about the essence and the principle of faith so far as we've discussed it? How would we use, let's just say the Ten Commandments? Yeah, thoughts.

I'm thinking that the law was originally given, I think, I could be wrong, for man to understand that he falls short of the glory of God. He's not perfect. He's not on an equal plane. And darkness and light repel each other. be together and mix. But if we don't use anything from the law as a principle, use those things. How do we help an unsaved person come to the point of realization? That they fall short of God's glory and they deserve condemnation. And that's what they're actually under. And that existed prior to the law. So we can't communicate that without the law. So the purpose of the law... But can we use the law to illustrate? So just as a working term, the law in this discussion is mosaic. That's what I'm referring to.

If it's a mosaic law, then it was only given to the Jews. Only to the Jews. That's right. That's why the boasting is excluded to them, because that's what they did. They boasted in the law. In Romans 3, 19, it says, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law. That's right.

Then it says, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, By the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in this sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So I think law from a principle standpoint, I think everybody in the world is under a principle of law. That reveals sin.

The society we live in, we've got rules and laws, you know, and people who are not believers judge themselves based on, well, I've done good, and I've done bad. Right. Well, those are law. You know, under grace, there is no good and bad. You know, there's principle of, gee, I'm doing good, and I'm not doing so well, or that kind of thing. Well, to what standard?

Either some personal law system that I created for myself, according to Romans 2, or to the Jewish system or a religious system, the principle is there, but it's not the Mosaic principle. And even today, if you're a Jew, you're not under the Mosaic law. So the principle of law is different from the Mosaic law. And so I have, and I'm not trying to say I was wrong or right, I'm just trying to think through this as I start to communicate to an unbeliever, you could use the Mosaic Law and say, here's how the Jews understood sin. And it was based on blessings and cursings, and it had a consequence. There are many principles that continue on in the New Testament with regards to right and wrong. Those principles continue, but they are principles that are no longer law.

So the way things work in terms of God being just, He's just. He's not going to allow you to sweep things under the rug. He's also holy. And so there's a definition with regards to who He is and the type of God that He is. And there are principles that come out of His character that are communicated by Paul and all the other apostles in the New Testament.

I've just started thinking to myself, I've got to be careful using anything from the Mosaic Law, because it conveys that an unbeliever is still underneath some kind of Mosaic Law. And I know that that might have been clear to some of you, but maybe it was a little muddled in my mind in earlier years.

Maybe it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden and not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Because that's the contrast. Right. It started before. So many believers think that when they're saved that they just move over to the good branches. Unless you know the things of God, you realize you're supposed to get out of that tree totally and get into the tree of life, which is Christ himself. And the contrast isn't there. And evil is not part of who Christ is.

Colossians 2.6, let's read it.

And this is going to kind of work these next few questions, 9 and 10, into this beginning part of reading Colossians 2.6.

So, someone read Colossians 2.6. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. So how did you receive Him?

Alright. So, we'll keep working on this. Here we have... I'm going to put, while we're not covering this today, what is the faith? Just out of context of this verse, what is the faith? The gospel message. Okay. Is it more than that? It can be the whole revelation from God. Right.

And it definitely can be the gospel as a subset of the faith, and it can be referred to as the faith. It depends on the context, right? Anytime we have that definite article in front of faith, we have to look at the context of what the faith refers to, but it is God's revelation. It is what He has revealed with regards to the gospel as well as the things of Himself. So we have the faith, and then what's right here in the middle? What's the fourth one? Try and keep my uppercase consistent. That's alright, I'll fix it later. It's personal.

So, read Colossians 2.6 again for me somebody. I have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. So, how did you receive Him, somebody said? By faith. And how are you supposed to walk in Him? By faith.

This is kind of how I've been viewing the conversations that have taken place over the last several months. Our personal faith exists within the faith. It's something that we believed. And initially, as an unbeliever, the faith that we believed was the gospel. Okay? Which made clear to us the entire principle of faith. The way things work. Which, if walked in, helps to reveal the entire essence or reality of the things of God. Who he is and what he's done and how he's done it. Etc, etc, etc. And so, You know, we've been talking about these four things, and sometimes they get a little... there's definitely overlap.

There's nothing in scripture that can be so clearly definitive as an illustration. That's why it's the Word of God, and not the illustrations. He didn't include, you know, figure 1.3, refer to it, and it looks like this. But as a working concept, these exist and have an outer essence. This outer essence has nothing to do with us, it's the reality.

But as you believe in the Gospel through personal faith, this entire understanding of reality becomes yours through the Word of God as you walk in Him. And how do you walk in Him? By faith. And so, we were talking to the kids last week and we said, it's so easy to think of, I came to know Christ as my Savior by faith. Got that. How do I walk in Him? It kind of is a trick question, but it's the same answer.

The way that you are being conformed and transformed is by walking in faith. You revealed something of the things of God, and you have a decision to make. That decision is you walking. You're either going to by faith walk in the knowledge of that, resting and trusting in the truthfulness of what God revealed to us, and you're walking. That's the walking part. Or you're not. Right? You're not walking. You're not believing it yet.

And that's really where we are on every single one of these things of God. Now, is there a conviction of the Holy Spirit with regards to that? And who is He working to reveal to you? Christ. So your walk is the opportunity that God has given each believer to more personally and intimately know Him in Christ. who you are, where you've been placed, all the things of Christ that are yours, those are going to be revealed to you.

So it's not a, I believe this on paper, it's, I believe that this is true and I know that I'm being conformed to the very image of Christ and that is a conviction of the Holy Spirit that is, or a ministry rather, of the Holy Spirit that is being worked out in me. Does that make sense?

So if you were to look at Colossians 2.6, we receive Christ That word, by faith, is implied there. So you could mark up in your Bible and know that that's an implication within that verse. And so I look at question nine, that is the word that's implied. So we receive Christ by faith in His person, in His work.

It's an active voice. You participated. You responded to the conviction of what? The Holy Spirit, right? That's how you received, and that's the same way you walk. Exactly the same. Verse 10, how am I to walk as a justified person? That word walk is present, active, imperative. What does that mean? It means right now. Right now. And as an imperative, you've got to do this right now. Walk. And you're the one doing it. Right? How are you doing it? By faith. We've got to translate this to our own understanding as well as for those of us that have kids.

I haven't walked with the Lord in so long I don't know where to start. You ever talk to someone like that? I don't even know where to start anymore. I just open up my Bible and read a verse and hopefully I'll get started again. I mean, people are there. Legitimately so. You just think about how to speak to these believers who are They feel so far away.

Hey Jim, one of the things that I think you began today with is that faith is, and then there's the consistency, which is reality, and the evidence of things not seen. But all of that is a verbal thing. It's something that here's this and it focuses on this. and what we can't see, what is unreal. But it is all, like your diagram here, is incomplete if we don't see that God first declared, revealed, shared, and will be glorified. That's what number one is. faith, declaring, revealing, and sharing His own glory. And that's the reality we're in. Right.

I agree. So, does God have faith? Does He? What does He have faith in? When you speak something, things are. Is that faith? I think, I believe that faith, as we've defined it here, He revealed its essence, its principle, the faith and personal faith for us. I don't think he's defined by this. This is for us. And these things of God, you're right, I mentioned they are incomplete. I said that kind of at the beginning.

There will be things on into eternity that will be revealed that will never fully know Him, right? In the sense of His totality and His being. He is the Creator, we are the creature. But on and into eternity we will be revealed more of the things of God, and that will last for eternity.

But on this earth, on this side, this is a perspective that He has revealed in His Word for us, so that we can first come to know him through personal faith in the gospel message and then walk by. So this gives us the operating system, a portion of that operating system with the addition of grace as an operating principle. What you're not seeing though is that he is, in his purposes, sharing his glory. Holy Spirit's taking the things of Christ and giving those to us. That's part of the fourfold purpose of God that in my thinking might be the most helpful to an unbeliever to have as a real view if he believes that.

Well how is he going to believe it but through the scriptures? really doing that today, revealing Christ to us. Isn't that neat? And that's going to go on forever. Yeah, and I think that's one of the things of God, right? The totality of the things of God is His glory. But in order for that to be comprehended and understood by us, faith is required all the way up.

And so, in terms of what is faith in, Yes. For an unbeliever, do they have to understand the glory of God? No. But as a believer, operating under the conviction of the Holy Spirit with the revelation that they have available to them, are they going to see that God's ultimate purpose is to glorify himself through Christ? How do we maybe have an unbeliever focus on that?

Because it's unmistakable and we're without excuse for not acknowledging that. There's only two things in Romans that he says I've declared my glory to you and that has to do with him being God and him being powerful. That's the only thing you can rely on in terms of a non-believer knowing. Yeah, we're probably not tracking on the same wavelength, I would imagine. No, what I'm doing is the same thing you are. I'm wrestling with how can we approach an unbeliever where he is in his focus on himself and turn that to be focused on God.

Okay, so I think that the glory of God is revealed in the Gospel. So glory, we say, is the radiant essence of who God is, right? Or the things He's made. Who He is. So, does the Gospel communicate who God is, in part? And it's the most important part.

So, while we may not use that word glory, when a person comes to know Christ as their Savior, they are beholding Him in glory to the degree that they know Him. They may not know how to say that, they may not understand the radiant essence, but they are understanding aspects of who He is as it relates to the one sin problem that they have, the ultimate sin problem. That glory, that revealing of who He is, continues on as we walk in Him by faith. John 17, the Lord Jesus himself said that the glory you've given me, I've given them. And that they may be one as we are one.

You get your arms around what that means in terms of our intimacy with the three persons of the Godhead for all eternity. The manifestation of God's glory is in the Lord Jesus Christ, but he has determined that everyone who is in his body, who will be his bride, are to be used to manifest His glory through them, through us. And I think that's a, what is God doing in the life of the believer? That's part of that, right?

There's a transforming and conforming, but there's also the unity and the very life of Christ that gets displayed by the church as an organism. So maybe we need a class on glory. We already have it. That's why I know so much. That's a joke. Put it back. Alright, number 11.

Is the response to the Holy Spirit the same for an unbeliever and a believer? We've already talked about this, but what's going on here? Somebody explain to me the response to the Holy Spirit with regards to an unbeliever and a believer. What's going on? Are they the same?

With the unbeliever, the Holy Spirit is pointing them to Christ some way, through someone. God being glorified by a sermon or an individual they talk to or whatever. With the believer, isn't the Holy Spirit directing them into the Word to grow? to behold Christ constantly. And all things are new, and realizing that this whole walk of faith and life that they now have is totally new and different from what they were and what they had before. That's good. How is it the same? How is the ministry of the Holy Spirit the same to the believer and the unbeliever? So we have some differences. How is it the same? Faith. The operation of faith. Okay, faith is definitely a consistency there.

We just said Colossians 2.6, so just the way that we received Him, which is what an unbeliever is required, that's how they become a believer. And how we walk in Him, same way. So faith is a consistency. What else?

Pointing both to Christ. Ah, that's what I was looking for. In both cases, they are revealing the person of Christ. The Holy Spirit is revealing the person of Christ. Death, burial, resurrection. That's Christ. Then you go on, ascension, seeding, who we are, our entire life.

I would say that Gail's right in that that initial revelation is that Jesus is the Savior. And that's important to understand that my salvation is based on person and we did. So the revelation is of Him as Savior. The information in the gospel is really important, but he's the issue. And as we grow, he continues to be the issue. Although there's an expanded revelation of his glory, who he is, and what he's done.

So, faith is the same, and the fact that the ministry is towards Christ, and that could be as Savior for the unbeliever, And it could be any number of things for the believer, but they all are pointing to Christ. So the content is different. So there's a distinction in the ministry of the Holy Spirit with regards to content, but faith and the very person of Christ being present in both cases of the ministry are the same.

Does that make sense? Yeah. Is it also true that in the unbelievers case, He is dealing with someone who is dead and is going to come to life compared to a believer who has a new birth in a creature and has more of a connection to the spirit teaching I think we're separated from God, but the Spirit of God is presenting a crucified, buried and resurrected Savior to us as the one who will save us if we'll just believe. I think there's a good point though.

Does the unbeliever have the indwelling Holy Spirit? No. The ministry is not from within, it's from without. So there is a distinction there, but it's still the same person. Convicting and conveying and pointing to Christ, right? Alright, cool. So we'll pick up with Lesson 22 next week. Mike, you're on to that? It's also printed out there. Yeah, grab a copy. It doesn't have Lesson 22 on the bottom. Huh? It didn't put Lesson 22, but it's on the back there.

Just write it on the top, or the bottom, or wherever you want to write it. Yeah, let's pray. Father, we do thank you for all of who you are and the way that you are actively and purposefully glorifying yourself through your Son and that we can participate and be present within the very purposes of your entire work.

That by faith, we know that you will glorify yourself through us We thank you that the essence of faith is our reality and that the things that we hope for are certain. And while not seen, Lord, you are working and transforming and performing us into those very truths that you've conveyed to us as we behold you by faith. And so we just thank you for the wonderful opportunity that we do have in faith and that it can continue to help us understand who we are and what you've done. And we thank you that ultimately that is by grace and that you loved us so much that you would do that.

So thank you again and just pray that we would continue to look to your word for those things that we have not yet believed and that we might come to you and recognize where we are in relationship to that so that we might grow with you. In your name we pray. Amen.