Good evening. If you would open
your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 1. I sure love that song, I need thee
every hour. There's no time that it hits
me more than when I'm getting ready to stand up here. The title of my message tonight
is, We Are Who He Says We Are. We Are Who He Says We Are. The Word of God, the words that
are written in the Bible, are accurate. They're true. They're written perfectly. There's
no mistakes. There's not a question that you
could need answering, and there's not an answer that you need to
find that isn't in this book. There's not a worry, there's
not a fear, there's not a time, that this book does not supply
all need. And it's because it was written
by our God, by the Lord Jesus Christ. And what it says in this
book is final. No matter the interpretation,
no matter what we think, no matter what we say, this book is not
affected by those things. This book is not affected by
time. Many people think that, I've heard comments of, well,
that had a different application then. Our Lord, who wrote this
perfectly, It's applicable now, as it was when it was written,
as it was when it was determined what would be written. And though
we have many problems understanding it, we have many problems seeing
the truth in it, we often look at things and think that there's
a contradiction or something doesn't make sense, but the common
denominator in all that I've said is the us, it's the we,
it's the sin. The reason that something doesn't
make sense is because we don't understand it. The reason that
something appears to be a contradiction is because we just don't know
any better. And one of the applications for
we are who he says we are is that we first need to realize
that everything that's said about us about me, about you, about
us, about man, about woman, about everyone. All of it in this book
is 100% true and accurate. Now, when we see the things that
are written about us, or people look at it and see things that
are written about man or sinners, the term contradiction comes
up. It's hard to see how something is true in one sense, but something
that's also said seems to contradict. The reason that's the case is
I can make a grandiose statement about this. I can say that the
only reason someone could say that the scriptures contradict
themselves is because one, somebody's ignorant, two, somebody's misguided,
or three, somebody hates God and wants to find a problem.
But if I say that, what I'm actually saying is I'm ignorant, I'm misguided
and I despise the God that's written about in here. And by
that, I mean, I don't understand things. I don't see things. And
I can't say that about people because I have the same problem.
Now, why do I say all that? Because there's a very fine line
that determines everything we see in the Bible that seems to
be opposite or seems to be opposed to each other. And that's because
everything that's written about a person in here, everything
that's said about us, it all comes down to one difference.
It falls on one of two sides of the fence. If it's a negative,
if it's bad, if it is fearful, if it scares us, all of that
falls on the side of a description of someone who is outside Christ. And if it is something positive,
it is something that provides hope, if it is something wonderful,
if it's a good thing, it's describing someone or it's describing the
Lord Jesus Christ. Someone is in Him. And there
are three loud and clear proclamations that make it possible for someone
to be described as in Christ. Those three things are first
off, God chose a people. It is very clear in the Scriptures,
and it's said over and over again, there are names that are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Those names are proclaimed out
loud. Those names share one thing in
common, that they will be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
second statement is, the Lord Jesus Christ declared and made
sure that it is finished. He did everything that was required
for a person to be found in Him. And the third one is the Holy
Spirit's call to the chosen. Those three things are the things
that make it possible for someone to be in Christ. Look here in Ephesians 1. God
chose a people. And I want to look at this chapter
in different parts, and I want you to read it with me, but I'm
going to go out of order so that it fits the order that I've been
describing here. That God chose a people, the
Lord Jesus Christ died for the people and made it possible to
be found in Him, and the Spirit calls His sheep. So start in
Ephesians chapter 2, look at verse 1-3. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. This description is true about
all of us. This description is such a true
statement about who we are in our nature. Go now to Ephesians
1 verse 4 and 5. the first thing that happens,
according as He has chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good
pleasure of His will. We The person who's in Christ
was chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. And
it says that we should be holy. It's the only way we can be holy.
And without blame, before Him in love. And the word predestinated
is used. The adoption of children. Look
at verse three now. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The only way we can
find blessings is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 6,
"...to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved." We can be accepted because we're
in Christ. We are not accepted. Christ is
accepted and we are in Him. Look at verse 7, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace." We are redeemed through His blood,
through His sacrifice on the cross, we are redeemed. Look
at verse 20, "...which He wrought in Christ," it was done in Christ,
"...when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own
right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." Look
at verse 11, "...in whom, in Christ also, we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."
It was predestined to happen, and it happened because it was
God's will. It was determined before time
began that this is the way things would be. Look at verse 8, and
this is the Spirit's work in this. wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he
hath purposed in himself. The only way we would know any
of this is because the Spirit showed it to us. Verse 10, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him. The only people that will be
gathered are the ones who are in Christ. Look at verse 13 here. in whom ye also trusted after
that ye heard the word of truth." This says we trusted but only
after we were shown the word of truth. The gospel of your
salvation in whom also after that ye believed. We didn't believe
first, we were shown and made to believe. You were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory." And look at verse 12. Who did it? Who gets the
glory? That we should be to the praise of His glory who first
trusted in Christ. He gets all the glory for the
work that is done. Now turn with me over to 1 Peter
chapter 1. 1 Peter 1. In a minute, we're going to look
at many of the different things that are said about a person
in the Scriptures. We're going to see things about
how evil someone is and then how holy someone is and how those
two things can be said about someone. But in 1 Peter 1 here,
follow along and start in verse 24. for all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. It calls man grass, and grass
will wither and fade away, except that Lord Jesus Christ endureth
forever. So anyone who is not in the Lord
Jesus Christ will wither and fade away, but those that are
in Him, they'll endure forever. And these passages are what the
whole scripture is. We find out who we are. We find
out that God chose a people. We find out that the Lord Jesus
Christ came, became a man, lived perfectly, was our righteousness,
died on the cross bearing our sins, rose into glory victorious
over sin, and He sits there today. And then we find out through
the Spirit that all this is true. And that's the only way we know
it. So let's keep going. Look at verse 20. The first part
of verse 20 says, Who verily was foreordained, this is us,
was foreordained before the foundation of the world. So those people
in Christ were foreordained before the foundation of the world.
Again, keeps telling us, keeps giving us reasons. Don't glory
in yourselves. You didn't do anything. It was
determined long before this is what was going to happen. Look
at verse 18, ìFor as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers.î Thereís nothing you
did. You canít buy it. You canít talk about it. You
canít talk your way into things. Itís no tradition that you have.
Thereís no ceremony or anything, verse 19. But with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
that is where redemption is, in the precious, spotless blood
of Christ our Lamb. Look at verse 20, the second
part of that one. This was manifest in these last
times for you. Everything already happened,
and then we became aware. All right, look at verse 21.
Who by Him do believe in God. We believe in God because of
Him that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory that
your faith and hope might be in God. We were dead. We have
glory because we're in the Lord Jesus Christ who found us and
our faith and hope has to be in God. But why do we have faith
and hope? Because we're in Christ and we have His faith. All right,
and look at verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. We must be born again. All these
things that I've read so far that we see and we'll see more
of here, describing us, they're all accurate. All these things
that are said about man and sinners that are outside Christ, it still
applies to us. It still applies to this flesh.
Just because someone says, it's written in here, that a person
in Christ is holy, we still sin. We still, this flesh still commits
all these things and we still do all these things, which is
another reason we don't get any glory. We still do all these
things that we know we shouldn't do. All right. Turn back to Ephesians chapter
2 with me. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 is a great chapter
that goes through and lists, Paul lists a bunch of characteristics
of himself, of the people, many good and many bad. And it's a
great way for us to look at these. And so many of them go back and
forth with each other. So look with me in verse 12,
Ephesians 2 verse 12, that at that time you were without Christ
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. We were aliens, someone
from a distant land, someone that couldn't call this home.
And what that meant was we didn't have Christ. There are many places
on this earth that someone would call home, or that's not my home.
But to the center, there's only one true home, and that's in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are aliens from Him. But
then if you turn over and look at verse 19 in the same chapter,
It says, now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners. It says you're not an alien.
You're not a stranger. You're not from a distant land.
It says, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God. We were aliens. We didn't belong.
We couldn't even go there. Now it says we are fellow citizens. We belong. We would be identified
by this place. A true child of God is identified
by only one thing, they are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Any other
description doesn't matter. If you're in Him, that's all
that matters. So, we were once aliens and now
we're fellow citizens with the saints in the house of God. Okay,
look back at verse 12 again. And the second part says, and
strangers from the covenants of promise. having no hope and
without God in the world. We were strangers. Have you ever
gone somewhere that you've never been before and you're by yourself
and you really, it just feels uncomfortable? You don't know
anybody, you don't know where to go, you don't know what direction
to look, there's no familiar faces, none of that. We are strangers
from the covenants of promise. That means we know nothing of
and we receive nothing from the promises of God. We have no hope. If you don't have the promises
of God, you've got nothing. And without God in the world.
So now, in Romans 11, don't turn with me, it says, this is my
covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. We are no longer strangers and
no longer don't have any part of the covenant of promise. Instead,
the Lord says, this is my covenant unto my people. This is what
I will do. I will take away their sins. In the Lord Jesus Christ,
we can find our righteousness. That's the only place for it.
And then in Romans eight, it says, the carnal mind is enmity
or hatred against God. We don't like to admit it, but
a lot of the things we do and say, they could definitely be
interpreted as we hate God. That's a really scary thing to
say, but when I say something in my mind or I think, you know,
I did a really good job with that. What I'm saying is I'm
the reason it worked. It's not him, he doesn't get
any credit for this. And so many other things like
that we say. The carnal mind is enmity, hatred against God,
for the mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can it be. So this passage says that not
only is our mind enmity and hatred against God, it says that our
mind cannot It cannot be subject to the law of God. We cannot
abide by His law. We cannot fulfill it, which we
all know is true. And then here in Ephesians 2,
look at verse 15. having abolished, this is what
Christ did, having abolished in his flesh, in his body, the
enmity, the hatred, the law of commandments contained in ordinances
for to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace. The Lord Jesus Christ and His
people, if we're found in Him, He has abolished the hatred in
us. The new man that we get, there
is no hatred for God. Instead, He's given us a love
for Him. Now, as men and women, we cannot
abide by the law of God. It amazes me that people even
think they can do that, that the Ten Commandments and the
law and the All the things, the precepts that are said in this
book, that people think they can actually abide by any of
it. But we know we can't, but that's okay. Because in this
flesh, outside Christ, we can't do anything. But in Him, this
is why He became a man, to live perfect, to abide by the law. So the only way that it says
that we can abide, we can fulfill the commandments of God, is in
Christ. He did it. That's the only way
we can do it. All right, look at verse 13. It says, but now in Christ Jesus,
ye who were sometimes far off. We are far off. We are a long way from anything
good. We can't do anything ourselves.
But if you continue that same verse, it says, are made nigh
or near by the blood of Christ. We are a great distance from
anything close to a righteousness, anything close to being holy.
But because of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him, all of those
things that we come up short, that we fail miserably, are all
successful in Him, being found in the Lord Jesus Christ, in
His blood. All right, look at verse two.
Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this
world, We walked. We try to accomplish everything
ourselves. A great misnomer in religion,
a great misconception is that somehow our walk in this world,
somehow the things that we do could possibly help us get closer
to salvation. That something we do might be
worthy of some commendation. Look at verse six. This is the
answer to it. And the second part said, and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Outside
of Christ is all we do is walk around, run around, trying to
figure out a way that we can do good, that we can save ourselves.
But if we're in Christ, we are made to sit down. We can rest. In Christ is where we find our
rest. Look in verse 10, we get a second
answer to this same want. Verse 10 says, for we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Now,
you just said that we walked and that was bad because we try
to do our own thing. What this is saying is that things
that were before ordained that we should walk in them in Christ. Our walk is done for us in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He did everything. When He came
to this earth and walked as a man, He fulfilled all the things we
couldn't do. So we don't have to do anything. We can just sit with Him because
He's provided everything we needed. The work is already done. Look
at verse 14. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. There is a great wall of partition
between man and God. We always try to bring ourselves
up and bring God down, to try to make it feel like we're closer
than we are. But there is a vast divide. There's
a great wall. There's no words that we can
use to describe the distance between those two things. But
in verse 14, it says that He broke the wall down. The Lord
Jesus Christ reconciled us to God. The difference, the gap
between man and God is so wide that we can't even describe it.
But in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're in Him. We don't have that
divide anymore because He did it. He brought the two together.
All right, look at verse 18. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." Not only is there not
a wall of partition to divide us, something we can't get through,
we can't get around, but in Christ we have access to everything
we need. And now this is not access in
the sense that if you have a question, you have access to the library
to go look it up. Now, this is access in the sense
that you're in Christ and He already has everything that you
need. We don't go and look up things. We don't go and fulfill
things or do anything. If we're in Christ, we have it
all. He has everything that gives us access to the Lord, to God. Look at verse 1. And you hath He quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin. We were dead in our sin. That's
a pretty bad state to be in. In verse five, it even says,
even when we were dead in sins, but we have an answer. We have
a counter to that in verse six. He hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We were
dead in our trespasses and sin, and that's where man will always
be, unless we're found in the Lord Jesus Christ. When He rose
from the grave, His people that were within Him rose with Him,
victorious over sin. And then in verse 8, it says,
For by grace are ye saved. The grace that He's given us,
the grace and mercy and faith that the Lord Jesus Christ has,
that's our grace, our mercy. We get all the things, we inherit
all of this from Him. Okay, just a few more. Look at
verse 2 in this. The second part says, According
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, We followed, we didn't just not look to the
Lord, we followed anything that was contradictory to Him. We
don't just not worship Him, we go against Him. But if you look
in verse 20, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom in Christ ye
also are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit." If
we are in Christ, we are found in Him, we are built in Him,
we have our foundation in Him. We are in Him, we can't get out. We're locked in. We're closed,
we're held, whether we use the hand as a description, His bosom,
and the cleft of the rock, His foundation, the chief cornerstone
is secure. And if you're in Him, there is
no more secure place. Look at the end of verse 3. and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others." We are an angry people. We really
are. The world today feels like we
are as angry as we've ever been. Everyone wants to find fault
in something. There's never a good side of things. Everything's
just always so angry and so frustration, so much frustration. And that's
our sin. That's who we are. That really
is who we are. But if we look at verse 14 in the beginning,
it says, for he is our peace. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
peace. We will never find peace ourselves. The only place to have peace,
and I don't mean find it, the only place to have peace is in
Him because He is the author and finisher of it. So the only
place is to be in Him. And all these things that I'm
describing that we're saying are in Christ. I don't mean to
imply that we all of a sudden act this way, we all of a sudden
feel these things and stuff. But if you're found in Him, you
have these things. The sin, our old nature keeps
us from truly feeling the benefits for the most part. How often
do we find wrath and anger filling us up? when we have no reason
to be. There are so many things that
happen to us in this life and sometimes they're really small.
I got so mad the other day. I was doing something and a fruit
fly was flying around and I couldn't catch it to save my life. And
most of the time I try to catch it and then it's gone and you
don't find it. Well, Where I was was a white
surface and a white wall. So I saw the thing the whole
time and I tried to get it and I'm walking around and after
about two minutes I was fit to be tied. You would have thought
that I just had the worst thing ever happen to me and it's this
tiny little minuscule thing that you can't even see it unless
there's something white behind it. And at the same time, I am
preparing a message where I've written down on a piece of paper
that says, He's our peace. We don't need to be angry. And
I get angry at something like that. So we don't feel these
things often. But the thing that's so wonderful
about it is that doesn't matter. Again, we don't have it outside
of Christ. So we can't be mad and we can't
be frustrated and we can't let it bother us that we don't feel
that. What's so wonderful is that we
still have it. Just because I feel anger more
than I feel peace doesn't mean that I don't have peace, because
the Lord Jesus Christ is our peace. And if God chose us, and
since the Lord Jesus Christ lived perfectly, died, rose for those
people, and the Spirit calls them. If you're in Him, you have
peace. You just have it. And it's such
a wonderful thing that we can't do anything to mess it up. All
right, in Isaiah it says, We are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. I'm gonna read
a few to you here that are common things that we know. So everything
that we do, everything we touch, and especially our righteousness,
our works, they're as filthy rags. Yet at the same time, there's
a leper that comes to the Lord and says to him, if thou wiltest,
thou can make me clean. A man walks up to the Lord and
says, ìIf thou wilt, thou can make me clean.î Remember, everything
we touch and do is filthy. Itís filthy rags. Well, the Lord
answered him, and this is written three different times in the
Scripture, a very simple answer, ìI will be thou clean.î Nothing
he had to do. It was just a declaration. ìIf
you will, Lord, I will be clean.î Everything we do is filthy, we're
filled with sin, but in the Lord Jesus Christ we are clean, we
are robed in His righteousness, secured in His sacrifice. In
Romans 3 it says, There is none that doeth good, no not one.
We all know that one. The Lord said this, Why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one, that
is God. There's none good, no not one.
So obviously we don't count. And the Lord even said there's
none good but God. In Colossians it says this, every
man is perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not good, but
if you're in Christ, He is. And we get the benefit of being
perfect in Him. Philippians says, Who shall change
our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious
body? How can we change this vile flesh? Vile is a strong word. It's awful. It stinks. It smells. You don't
want to look at it. And in Corinthians it says, For
we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved. We, this body, is always going
to be vile. But it says, for we are unto
God a sweet saver of Christ. What that's saying is, Christ
is a sweet saver to God. And if we're in Him, we are a
sweet saver to Him. Outside of that, we will be vile.
In Daniel it says, thou art weighed in the balances and art found
wounding. Let me turn over here real quick.
Colossians says, ìFor in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily in Christ, and ye are complete in him which
is the head of all principality and power.î Iíve heard that scripture
from Daniel quoted so many times. ìThou art weighed in the balances
and arenít found wanting.î Youíve been put on the scale and youíve
come up short. Youíre just not good enough.
You donít make the cut. But then in Colossians, it says,
you are complete in him. Complete is a final word. Complete implicates there's nothing
past the word complete. Because if it's complete, it's
done. You can't add to complete. It's
already done. If a glass is full of water,
it doesn't matter how much water you pour on top, it's still full.
It doesn't go any more than that. Complete in Christ means that
there's nothing we have to add. There's nothing we have to do.
There's no part that we play. If you're in Christ, you are
complete. And then finally, in Psalms 130,
it says, Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. And then turn with me to Psalm
130 here, and we'll close in just a second. Psalm 130 verse 1, Out of the
depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. And then let me read you something
from our text. It says, Christ hath raised us
up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. We're in the depths and we're
crying out. We're stuck. We can't get out.
We've got no way. But it says here that the Lord
Jesus Christ has raised us up together and made us sit together
in heaven in Him. All right. Now, in closing, turn
with me to John chapter 17. And we'll read a few verses in
this chapter, and these are the words of our Lord. This whole
chapter is Him speaking. So we're going to go through
the same thing, that God chose a people, the Lord Jesus Christ
declared it was finished, paid the debt for them, the Holy Spirit
calls His people. And we'll close with this. John
17, look at the last part of verse 24. for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world." Being in Christ was something
that was done, chosen before the foundation of the world.
Look at verse 9, I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all
mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.
This verse is so definitive, and it says, I pray not for the
world, but I pray for them which thou hast given me. Those that
are in Christ are the ones that are being prayed for. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the only one, the only person who is sufficient.
He's the only one that could do anything, that could require
the debt, or that could pay the debt, require all the things
that God needed, or that God demanded in His holiness. Look
at verse 14. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. It says, I gave them the word.
The word was given to us, and we didn't look for it, we didn't
find it. He gave it to us, and we're hated because of it. Look
at verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep them from
the evil. They are not of the world even
as I am not of the world. It is very obvious that all of
us are of this world. We all live in it, we're all
in it right now. But we're not of this world because
we're found in Christ and He's not of this world. The differentiation
in all of this is the in Christ. Okay, look at the first part
of verse 21. that they all may be one, as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us. This is such a glorious passage
that all the chosen will be made one, as thou, Father, art in
me, as God and the Lord Jesus Christ are one. that they also
may be one in us. The only way that can happen
is if we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. But how glorious of a
thought to think that they, that the child of God, may be one
in the Lord Jesus Christ and in God. Okay, look at verse 19. And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
He's saying, for their sake, for the child of God, I will
sanctify myself. And that means I will make myself
holy. I will be holy for them, that
they also might be holy through the truth. Who's the truth? The
Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. He says, I will sanctify myself. I will do what they can't so
that they will be holy in me. Verse 22, ìAnd the glory which
thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even
as we are one.î We get the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. ìThey
may be one, even as we are.î Look at verse 23, ìI in them,
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.î If weíre
in the Lord Jesus Christ, weíre perfect. and that the world may
know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, and thou
hast loved me." And in closing, the rest of the chapter, Father,
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where
I am. That we may be with the Lord
Jesus Christ wherever he is. And where is he now? He's ascended,
sitting on the throne in glory. And that's where his children
are. They're with him. that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. The world doesn't know him, but
the Lord Jesus Christ knows him, and he's the only one. And the
only way we will know him is if we're in him. And verse 26,
And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it,
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them. The love of God towards the Lord
Jesus Christ is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to those that
are in him. God looks at the chosen that
are in Christ and he sees his son, he sees his beloved, he
sees the perfect representative, the one who paid the sin debt
for us, We in Christ have all these wonderful things that we
hear. If we're not in Christ, we have none of them. Everything
goes again on one side or the other. There's no partial, there's
no middle ground. If you're in Christ, we have
everything. All right.