The joy to which the believer
is bound to give glory to God was the change of tenor in verse
13 from that long litany of verses describing what you and I have
come to understand is the apostasy of the church and the emergence
of that man of sin or that system of lawlessness that will dominate
the world ultimately before Christ comes After the Apostle Paul
warns of a divine retribution for those who reject the gospel,
which such language as often troubles the believer, in verses
11 and 12, he then opens up in verse 13 with a very careful
but earnest turning of perspective. We look at what we call a contrasting
conjunction in verse 13, part A, but we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you. Whenever you read a verse like
that is often changing the nature or the tenor of what's being
talked about frequently in the scriptures. It will talk about
things as as never seen as apostasy and and god's wrath upon the
unjust and then god will say but as for you that little turn
of events on that that uh... that conjunction there is important
for us and before we go on to develop this further i want you
to see what i mean by going to hebrews chapter six hebrews six
will help you understand a little bit of what i mean and and what
i want you to do is to become more sensitive to the butts of
Scripture. It doesn't really take but one
word to change your perspective when it comes to Scripture, but
sometimes we have to have it called to our attention and I
want you to see that here as well. Now in Hebrews chapter
6 we have somewhat of the same warning of God's wrath coming
upon those who reject the gospel and who turn away from the only
hope of redemption that's in Jesus Christ. And I know some
of you have probably struggled with Hebrews 6 verses 6 and following
and listen to the language. In fact, it starts off at verse
4. For it is impossible for those
who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the
good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they
should fall away, and that's our saying language, apostasy,
or to depart from the truth, if they should fall away, to
renew them again unto repentance. Mark what the writer says. It's
impossible for an individual to have tasted, been enlightened,
made a partaker of the benefits of the Holy Ghost, having tasted
the word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they
shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance. And what
I would have you to mark in verse six is repentance is a renewal. Repentance is a renewal. So he
sets up a scenario worth marking. He says, if an individual has
actually come to the truth of the gospel, he experienced what
we call repentance, right? Repentance and faith towards
God, repentance from sin and faith towards God. And according
to the writer of the Hebrews, repentance is a renewing work. It's not just like a decision
that you make on an intellectual level. Repentance is a real conversion
of the soul where the soul now is in harmony with God by a work
of grace that allows them to walk now in unity, in consistency
with biblical truth. So it's not just like taking
on a new lead. So he says, if they shall fall
away to renew them again to repentance, it would be impossible according
to verse four, clause eight, seeing that they notice the language
crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh. Now, who here
hasn't ever heard that language in the Scriptures before? This
is the first time you ever heard that red note, so you guys are
all fairly familiar with the language. Now, it's important
for you to know the context here in order for us to benefit from
what we're going to be looking at in terms of the but down the
line. The context is that the writer
is writing to the Jewish people, the Hebrews. These are Old Testament
covenant people who were privileged in ways that the Gentiles weren't. And they were given special promises
and special privileges concerning Messiah. And they were all fulfilled. Jesus actually came to the Jewish
people, was with them for 37 odd years. He didn't die at 33
years old. He died in AD 33, but he was
about 37 or 38 years old. When he died, they had him for
three and a half years of ministry. They also had him throughout
his adolescent and pre-adolescent stage. We know that because the
scripture tells us he frequently went to the temple. In fact,
I'm going to talk about that tonight when we get back to what
it means to be elect. The law of God said that all
the male children were to come to the temple three times a year.
So Jesus would have gone to the temple every year from a young
child with his father three times at least. And then as an adult,
He entered into the temple frequently to do ministry. So Israel knew
Messiah in terms of his person and his work. Well, they had
more than ample evidence concerning what the scriptures would say
with regards to the Messiah who should come. This is the people
to whom the writer of the Hebrews is speaking. He's speaking to
people who saw Messiah, saw his miracles, saw his work, and yet
they crucified him. This is why they're using the
language here in verse 6. It would be impossible if they
shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing
they crucify to themselves the Son of God. Here's the phrase,
afresh. Do you see it? Afresh. So it's
important for you to know that you don't get to take this verse
and apply it to any human being who rejects the gospel. You don't
get to take this verse and apply it to any human being who rejects
the gospel. Every human being does not qualify
to fit the category of those who crucify Jesus. But the Jewish
nation certainly did, didn't they? And their crucifying Jesus
was their rejecting him. So I want you to hear the language.
When the writer says, if you have tasted of the Spirit of
God, if you have tasted of the world to come, if you've seen
the miracle working and supernatural working power of the Spirit of
God in an authentic way, I'm not talking about this religious
stuff that goes on in our churches today. Perish that. Most of what
you hear going on in your church today is a lie. It is not authentic. It is not authentic. Please understand. And the reason why I need to
make that qualifier is because Sincere and earnest believers
exposed to churches where they play games with God and put on
a religious show and are moved by some spirit, but not the spirit
of truth. Sincere and earnest believers
might feel in the day in which they find themselves stumbling
or tripping up with God, they might feel like they qualify
to be a blasphemer of the Holy Ghost or to have rejected him
in this kind of way. But the answer would be no. There
are very few people who have the kind of credentialed testimony
that the Jews in the first century had when it came to Jesus coming
in the flesh, Jesus performing the miracles he did, preaching
and healing in the fashion in which he did. Those are called
the days of the Messiah. You and I don't have those kinds
of Testimonies in our life about Messiah. So very few people today
you will meet who qualify to have Blaspheme the Holy Ghost
or to crucify Jesus afresh So when you take that little construction
to crucify Jesus afresh understand if you were a person who could
crucify Jesus afresh Well, ladies and gentlemen, what it would
mean is that you were there when you crucified him the first time
Are you guys hearing me? I want you to understand that
because religion does not handle the scriptures carefully enough,
particularly in these very germane and serious areas. This kind
of impenitent hatred and hostility towards God would require an
individual to have heard Jesus say in Matthew chapter 12, all
manner of sin will be forgiving you in this world, even against
the son of man, but blasphemy against the spirit of God, working
through Messiah to affirm what all the old Testament prophets
said would occur in that small window of time for you to call
the son of God, a demon would make you a blasphemer of the
Holy ghost. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? It's very important for you to know that you don't qualify
for that. You just don't. In that sense,
ignorance is bliss. Here, however, he says, seeing
that they crucified themselves, the Son of God afresh, and put
him to, in what? Open shame. Now that's, again,
is what we call a Hebrew idiom. Because the cross was an open
shame. It's what you did when you condemned
and condemned malefactors and criminals to a cursed death. Cursed is everyone that hangs
on the tree. So Jesus despised the shame,
remember? He endured the cross and despised
the shame according to Hebrews chapter 12. And then he sat down
at the right hand of God. So when we read this construction,
understand this only applies to a certain category of people.
But going on, they put him to an open shame. So what this would
mean, just to give some closure on this, it would mean that the
writer to the Hebrews is warning the Hebrews that their fathers
crucified Jesus. And some of these Hebrews very
well could have been there when that happened. After his resurrection
and after the preaching of the gospel, they were drawn to the
gospel as many people are drawn to the gospel. But now they are
vacillating and wanting to return again to the weak and beggarly
things of the Old Testament ceremonial system because of the persecution
that comes with believing on Jesus. Are you guys hearing what
I'm saying? And so the writer to the Hebrews
is saying, listen, don't you go back. Don't you return to
Judaism for to return to Judaism is to altogether crucify Christ
a second time. Is that making sense to you?
Good. It's important for you to know
that. So it's to this category of people he's writing. And here's
what he says. It would be impossible for you to have fully experienced
the illuminating work of the spirit, the manifestation of
the spirit of God in the person of Christ with all the kinds
of healings and things he did, a taste of the world to come
and therefore to embrace the truth of the gospel, that Christ
is the only way. And then to turn around and crucify
him afresh. Well, what it would mean is in
order for you to be renewed to repentance, Christ would have
to be crucified all over again. You guys got that? That's what
is called the logical syllogism here. And you're going to see
that when we go back to our text, that faith is not an intrinsic
gift of your own. It is the byproduct of the crucifixion
of Christ, that the death of Christ, the once for all atoning
work of Christ merited for you and I saving faith. When once
given to us, it would be impossible then for us to reject Christ
because the very faith that he gave us was a consequence of
his successful work on Calvary Street. You guys got that? I
may sink in in a moment. My, what a weak awakened due
to the brain, huh? Listen to these words. He uses
analogy and then we'll see it again over in verse nine, when
I'm talking about the important but. for the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh often upon it and bringeth forth herbs
meet for them by whom it is dressed receive it blessing from God
see the metaphor the rain comes down it hits the earth and It
germinates the seed in the earth and the seed brings forth herbs,
meat for those who dressed it, who tilled it, who kept it and
receive blessing from God. There's a natural product of
the rain and the seed in the soil. But that which beareth
thorns and briars is rejected. So he's using a metaphor that
goes like this. The rain that comes down is the
word of God. The soil is the hearts of men. The good seed that produces fruit
is the gospel that produces the fruit of faith and believing
God. God bless that. But there are thorns that happen
to come up out of the soil too, and those thorns are unbelievers. Even though the rain came down
and watered the soil, what it produced was unbelief. And so
you got two responses to the gospel, don't you? Some who believe,
and some who do not believe. That's the picture that's being
painted here. The same God raining down the same water, which is
the doctrine of truth, has two responses. One believes, one
does not believe. Now watch this. Verse 8, But
that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh
unto cursing, whose end is to be what? Now, that metaphor scares
us, because what it talks about is eternal destruction, right?
To reject the gospel results in eternal destruction. I was
listening to Rabbi Zacharias, and he received a question on
his dialogue program today, is the gospel compulsory? And he
took that question from a young man who actually set him up to
argue from a flawed premise, as far as I'm concerned. And
what he was saying was that unlike Islam, where they kill you if
you don't believe, hypothetically speaking, that there's a death
penalty for those who do not receive Allah in Islam. In Christianity, the hypothesis
is there is no compulsory judgment to not believing the gospel.
You are free to believe or not to believe. That's not true.
That's not true. The Bible is very clear in Mark
chapter 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned. Whosoever rejects the
gospel will face God in the judgment on the last day. That sounds
compulsory to me, doesn't it? There's a consequence to rejecting
the gospel. In other words, we're not free to reject it. It might,
it might be put in this small, low, narrow category that we
don't take people and exercise our execute capital punishment
on them. If they reject the gospel, they
get to live out their life, but they still got to face the great
judge on the last day, right? Why? Because God is God. And
the offer that's coming to the human race is the offer that
comes from sovereign God. And you and I don't get to just
shirt sovereign God, right? And so it's important for us
to understand that when we read verse 8, the latter part, whose
end is to be burned, it's just speaking the natural consequences
of a human race that will live and die rejecting God's testimony. Here goes the but that I was
talking about. But beloved, we are persuaded, what? Better things
of you. and things that what accompany
salvation though we are speaking in the manner that we are you
guys see that so he had been speaking for several verses on
what people have struggled with what it means to fall away and
why it's impossible to be saved uh be renewed again if we should
reject the gospel in this in this sense in which it's stated
but paul says as i'm writing to you i am persuaded i'm persuaded
of better things You then and things can concerning your salvation,
even though we are speaking this way So here's another but isn't
it? There are people who are going
to reject the gospel go back to first Thessalonians chapter
2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 There are people who are going to reject
the gospel, but isn't it so that there are going to be people
who believe the gospel Yeah, and this is where we're rejoicing
Because people do believe the gospel So we're going to work
through our notes and, uh, and, and try to see if we can make
some headway. Now I'm going to just briefly remind you by virtue
of your notes, uh, what we are dealing with. The reason why
Paul says in verse 13 of chapter two, but we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's
first 13. Why are they bound, obligated, indebted to give God
glory? Because God chose you. Because God chose you. And this is the emphasis. This is the turn. This is the
hinge pin that is actually changing the whole color of those previous
verses concerning people who reject the truth and therefore
are given over to a strong delusion. God chose you. And then it says
from, and I want to deal with this for a moment because there's
some language nuances that are important here. From the what? Beginning. So here's what Paul
is saying. to the Thessalonians, we are
rejoicing because whereas I'm talking to you about a whole
category of people who are going to be deceived because they did
not receive a love of the truth that they might be saved and
therefore God's going to send them a strong delusion that they
should believe a lie, we are bound to give God thanks unto
you because God hath from the beginning chosen you. Do you
see that? So here there's something about
being chosen that actually secures you from being deceived. There's
something about God's act and prerogative in choosing men and
women unto salvation that tells us that even though we are working
through and feeling the ominous nature of the apostasy that will
prevail around the world, if God has chosen you, you are secure
for salvation because that was the object for which God chose
you. Chosen you from the beginning. When we get to this area here
of the beginning, God chose you from the beginning. God chose
you from the beginning, which means you didn't choose yourself.
God chose you from the beginning. There are a couple of nuances
here that are also interesting because in the original language,
the term the beginning there has two Greek words that have
been translated two ways by the scholars. Arcae, and obviously
the word Arcae means first, our chief, our lead, leader. or head. And so our first chief
leader, head or beginning. But in many of the translations,
it's a parquet that's used. And the term refers to first
fruits. And I want to play on that for
a minute with you in your mind. First fruits. Listen to the construction
now. as it's rendered. There will
be masses of people in whom Satan will be working, primarily false
prophets and false teachers, who will be bringing signs and
wonders on a massive level, political, social, scientific, within the
realm of religion, all around the world universally through
all of the forms of technology you and I can even imagine and
not even understand that are still hidden within the framework
of certain parties and powers within our government that they
have yet to use to sway the masses with a sort of propaganda that
will ultimately bring people to worship the creature rather
than the Creator. But those who will be kept from
this delusion are such as God had chosen to become first fruit. Now, maybe some of your Bibles
have that in the footnotes. Maybe it doesn't, but I want
you to think about that for a moment because that's a truth that's
inherent in there. And good scholars have said that
that's a valid translation, but we're bound to give thanks always
to God, brother and beloved of the Lord, because God has chosen
you to become first fruits of salvation. first fruits of salvation. If that's the truth, what are
we talking about by first fruits? Well, I want to share something
with you. When it comes to your salvation and mine, you and I
are part of a huge plan that doesn't begin with you nor end
with you. And it can be described by some
of the old Testament language and disciplines that Israel went
through. Um, Year after year in their agricultural laws and
even in their ceremonial laws God when he told Israel to come
out of Egypt and he delivered to them through the hand of Moses
Out of Egypt into the wilderness. He gave them his laws. He gave
them his ordinances, right? He gave them his precepts and
one of the things that God disciplined Israel to do is upon every act
of relationship with God, whether it was the giving of sacrifices
in worship, or just the giving of the fruit of the ground that
God had blessed, God told them that they were to always give
the first fruits. They were to always give the
first portion of what God had blessed them with. Some of y'all
are inundated with that doctrine in many churches around giving,
right? But the first fruits principle in the Old Testament actually
was teaching a redemptive truth that's important for you and
I to know. And that's this, that God's objective in saving us
is to not only save you and I personally, but to save us in the process
of saving the whole universe. The whole universe is under the
redemptive purposes of God, but it's being done in what we call
a process. Everything that God plans to
redeem, He is not redeeming all at once. He's redeeming in process. In fact, the process really corresponds
in reverse to the way in which God created the heavens and the
earth. Do you remember what the Bible says in Genesis chapter
1? It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth. And it closes out in Genesis chapter two, verse one. So God
created the heavens and the earth in six days. And on the seventh
day, God rested from all his works, which he had done. Now,
God created the heavens and the earth in six days. And on the
sixth day, what did he create? He created man. Man was the final
culminating act of God in creation. He created the heavens, he created
the earth, he divided the heavens from the earth, he gave us sun
and moon and stars, he gave us vegetation, he gave us animal
life, all of the eloquent language of chapter 1 and chapter 2, right?
And then he created man out of the dust of the ground, breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, Genesis 2, 7. He made
him the crowning pinnacle of his creation process, right?
And then he gave man to have authority over it. Well, man
was the last act in the first creation of God's heavens and
earth. But in the new creation, man
is the first act of God's redemptive plan. In other words, the beginning
of God's new creation is not God changing the heavens and
the earth, it's changing the hearts of men. So what God did
in the Old Testament tutorial typology that was given to Israel
because Israel was God's servant to be a model of the gospel to
the nations, when he told Israel, you bring the first fruits of
all that you have, the first of your flocks, the first of
your grain, the first your children, all that come out of the womb,
the first born of your children are to be devoted to the Lord,
is to teach The redemption that would take place in Christ, who
would be for God, the beginning of a new creation. So that when
we think about first fruits, you think about Jesus. When you
think about first fruits, you think about Christ being God's
beginning process of a new creation. That when we think about anything
new, it has to start with Jesus. Anything new starts with that
seed called Jesus. He is the first fruit of God's
redemption plan. So I want you to see some verses
because they are important to underscore this. In the book
of Revelation, you'll see it. Go to Revelation 3, verse 14. I want you to see this. Keep
your hand here. So now what did I say? I said that in this thing
called redemption, it's a process. And it's really important, I
think, saints, for us to understand that. That you and I are part
of a process of redemption. And we have to be able to identify
these categories. And the reason why we have to
identify these categories is because if we don't, we might
think that there are things that should be taking place in our
life now of which they will never take place because they are not
part of that category of God's redemptive purpose. And so as
long as I am ignorant of these categories of God's redemptive
purposes, I might be expecting something that will not come
and I could be frustrated. But if I have come to understand
that salvation is a process that has categories of fulfillment,
then I can wait for those categories to be fulfilled. And thus, I
will not be frustrated in something that might take place in the
third category versus the first category. This is very important
for you to know. So in Revelation chapter three,
watch this. This is what Jesus says. Are you there? Verse 14
unto the church of the Laodiceans, right? These things saith the
what? Now stop right there. You know
why he calls himself the Amen? How come? Because he's the last
word of all of God's utterance. There's nothing after Christ.
What a name! The Amen. He's the seal on God's
promises. He's the final exclamation on
God's objective and purpose. After Christ, there's nothing.
You know, we close with what? Amen. It's done. And so he calls
himself the Amen, because there's nothing after Christ. Now watch
this. He says, these things say the
Amen, the faithful and the true witness, right? Here it is. Here
it is. Watch it. And the beginning of
the creation of God. Do you see that? and the beginning
of the creation of God. And the beginning of the creation
of God. That last clause is not describing Christ in terms of
the physical creation, but the new creation. He's the beginning
of the creation of God in terms of God's new creation. He's the source of the old creation.
He made the worlds. The worlds were made by Him.
They're made for Him. But He's the beginning of the new creation.
And here's the reason why. In the new creation, God starts
this time with a man. What are we talking about now?
If we were in theology class, we would be talking about the
doctrine of the what? Incarnation, right? The doctrine
of the incarnation. God coming into the world, assuming
a human nature. Listen, ladies and gentlemen,
is a new creation. That's a brand new thing. Well,
nobody like, there was no one like Christ before. But afterwards,
there are all kinds of people like Christ. Why? Because he's
the first fruit of a new creation. He's the beginning of the creation
of God. What creation? The creation of
men and women from every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue who
believe the gospel. Am I making some sense? So now
2 Corinthians 5, verse 17 ought to come to your mind. If any
man be in Christ Jesus, he is a what? But where are we a new
creature? In Christ! We are not a new creature
in ourself. Take a look at yourself. See,
this is what I meant by understanding categories, right? You have to
understand categories, because if somebody told you that you
are a new creature in yourself, you're hard-pressed to see anything
new about you. There's no empirical evidence
of your being a new creature. You still think the same old
thoughts, you still act. In fact, the law of diminishing
returns, the law of atrophy is taking place in your life. You're
getting older, you're forgetting things, right? You're getting
more cantankerous, right? You're getting more evil and,
you know, you just, you're short-tempered. No, listen, sin is still a very
real issue in your life. I know you don't want to accept
this because you're supposed to be so new that your feet don't
touch the ground. But the reality is, is you are
still very much in a body that is getting old and falling apart
because it's part of another category of redemption. It's
a part of another category of redemption. And if you fail to
understand those dichotomies, those distinctions, you will
try to reach over in that category and claim something that's not
true and make God a liar. So if any of you are being stirred
up right now, take the preposition in and the proper noun Christ. In Christ, that's the whole of
your salvation experience now. It's in Christ. So what that
means is for you to enjoy this first stage of your redemptive
experience requires you understanding everything that it means to be
in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. In Christ, old things have passed
away. In Christ, all things have become
new. Now I know that's true of me,
but it's true of me in Christ. I know it's true of me, but it's
only true of me where? In Christ. So in order for me
to benefit from that prophecy, I have to not look to myself.
I have to look to Christ, right? And when I look to Christ, what
I see is a brand new man. I see a perfect man. I see a
sinless man. I see a holy man. I see a righteous man. I see
a glorified man. Am I telling the truth? Now,
if I'm in him, he is what I am and I am what he is. But of myself,
I'm not there. So the triumph of the believer
is that by faith all that Christ is he is in Christ You guys got
that that's very important to know and so when we talk about
the term firstfruits The word can be translated firstfruits
are beginning. We are talking about our Position
in Christ as God placed us in him so that by faith we get to
see not only what we are But what we will be Our position
in Christ by faith allows us to not only see what we are,
because we are what we are in Christ, but what we will be.
That's the joy and the challenge of the believer till he hits
the dust. Revelation chapter 3, 14. Then
go with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8, 23. In fact,
stop at James. This is faster. Stop at James
chapter 1. I want to show you three or four
verses on the first fruits principle to help us understand why this
translation is a legitimate translation as well, even though most of
your Bibles will use the term beginning. In James chapter 1,
James describes our conversion and he couples the conversion
of the believer with the principle of first fruits too. Notice what
it says in James chapter 1 verse 17 and 18. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and it comes down from the Father of lights
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. This
is what we this is what we mean by faith faith as a gift from
God, right faith doesn't originate with us It's not intrinsic to
us when we come to believe the gospel God did something for
us that we couldn't do for ourselves, right? But now watch this watch
this this gift that comes down is Described as an act of God's
own will look at verse 18 of his own what of God's own will
of the Father's own will of See that next little word? It's a
verb, begot. See that term begot? That means
to be born again. It means to be quickened by the
Spirit. It has everything to do with
what it means to be a new creature in Christ. Of God's own will
has He made us born again. Now watch this, watch this. Of
His own will has He made us born again. With the what? Word of truth. You guys see that? This is why you hear me say,
no one can be saved by a lie. I know, you know, it's controversial
as can be, but I'm here to tell you false prophets and false
teachers cannot save anyone. When you have a word that is
contrary to the word of God, you don't have any power in that
word to make people a new creature in Christ because the DNA is
not in that word. The DNA is only in the truth
by which people are now changed into the image of Christ. Am
I making some sense? The father, therefore, of his
own volition, of his own will, by his own purpose, made us alive
again. And he did that by the truth. Now watch this. Watch this. Not
only did he do it by the truth, that's the instrumental means.
Here's the purpose. You ready? That we should be
a kind of what? First fruit of his what? Now
you see that word creature, you can translate that word creation.
Now you got the picture, don't you? The reason that God saved
us is out of his own prerogative and volition. The method that
God did it was the word of truth. What he did was make us a new
creature in Christ. And we became now first fruits
of his creative, redemptive purpose. You know what that means? When
you sow seed into a ground and you expect a harvest, you know
at the end of the harvest, there's gonna be a big field full of
wheat or corn or whatever you sowed, right? But at the beginning
of the harvest, there is what we call a first fruits in gathering,
right? This is the Old Testament Levitical
agricultural law. There is what is called the first
fruits and then the ultimate harvest. So when you gather your
first fruits, this is Leviticus 25, you offer the first fruits
unto God because you are thanking him for giving you evidence of
what will ultimately be a harvest. Are you guys hearing me? And
what that means then is in terms of our salvation, we thank God
for giving us the first fruits of his spirit by which we believe
the gospel because it is an evidence that we will reap the harvest
of everything that God promised ultimately one day. Am I making
some sense? It's very important for you to
grasp that truth. Where then does the joy lie in
all the promises of God given to us of which He says, there
are things that God has in His own mind that eye has not seen,
ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of
men. Those things which God has prepared for them that love Him.
But God has given us a token of that when He gave us His Spirit,
when He made us new creatures in Christ, when He planted faith
in our heart, so that we can see Jesus and see in Jesus all
that we will be, right? That's where our joy lies, because
to see Christ guarantees for me a harvest. But until the harvest,
I have to live with the principle of the first fruits, right? So
between first fruits and harvest, between first fruits, which is
the redemption of my soul, And harvest, which is the redemption
of everything including my body, I have to walk by what? Just
like the laborer sows the seed, he gets that first fruits of
his harvest, but he still has to go through 6, 7, 8, 9 months,
right? 3, 4, 5 months before he enters
into the full harvest. He still has to believe God for
bringing to fruition everything that God says, but God gave him
a token. And so I'm saying to you, God
has been pleased to bring into a redemptive purpose the salvation
of sinners by making them the first fruits of his ultimate
redemptive plan. This answers the difficult dilemma
of why the world is still as bad as it is. It really does,
because on all kinds of levels, we don't see anything but the
curse reigning everywhere, right? We see the curse prevailing in
our world ecologically. We see the curse prevailing in
our world socially. We see the curse prevailing in
our world spiritually and morally. I mean, the curse seems to be
spreading. But where the curse has had no power is in the heart
of redeemed sinners. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
The curse hasn't been able to take our heart and our minds
because we've been regenerated. We've been born of God. We've
been born of God. So even though the curse may
take my body, it won't take my soul. Because
I've been born of God. I've been born of God. And it's
within that sphere am I rejoicing in my election. This is a good
study whether you know it or not. Because it helps you understand
the scope of your contemplation so that you don't try to reach
beyond the parameters of what God has called you to think about
in terms of your salvation. Come on now, tell me the truth.
Isn't it miserable to be thinking something contrary? About what
you expect from God then what God's Word says and when that
thing is not coming to pass of what you expected Aren't you
in conflict? Don't you want God to do things
for you that you aren't seeing take place in your life now and
Might it not be more comforting to know that some of the things
that I want God to do He's not gonna do until I get into that
category. I Right? So what I need to do
is back up and find out what are all the privileges and blessings
that are mine in this category of things. Because I'm not in
that category yet. And I may not get there until
some other time, until death or until Christ comes again.
And so I need to know that. I need to know that. I need to
know that God chose me to be a kind of first fruit of his
creation. You know what that means then,
Saints, as you turn now in your Bible to Romans chapter 8. You know what that means? Every
believer who is able to articulate the gospel because God has revealed
himself to him in Christ and that person is operating out
of a living hope. He's telling men and women that
he's saved, she's saved, delighting in the glory of God in Christ
and they they hope in the glory of God in Christ you are a promise
to the world that everything that God says he's gonna bring
to pass see remember the priest in the Old Testament waved the
first fruits of the wave loaf offerings before God this was
right before Passover and unleavened bread they were to take the first
fruits and they would take some of it and to make two loaves
of bread. And the priest would wave the loaves, these were called
wave loaves, before God. And when they waved the loaves,
what they were saying to God is, God, we believe you, here's
the evidence, we believe you. And when God makes men and women,
new creatures in Christ, you know what God is doing? He's
waving the loaves of his promises before the world, letting the
world know, just like you see these loaves here, I'm gonna
bring in the full harvest eventually. Every believer is a wave loaf.
Every believer is a wave. And Christ is the one that's
waving us. He's our great high priest waving us before God and
before the world to let the world know that everything that God
says is true. The believer, the church, the
kingdom of God in the church is the only evidence of the reality
of God in this world. So it says in Romans chapter
eight, these words, and you heard it before, but I want you to
see it again. Now watch this. Now see, this is actually going
to sum up the conflict that I say is in us because we want God
to do things for us now that won't take place until we reach
that other category. Obviously, Romans chapter 8 describes
for us how to live triumphantly in Christ by the Spirit, right?
So we read in verse 18, for I reckon that the suffering of this present
time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in us. Do you see verse 18? Verse 18
is a dichotomy between what takes place now and what takes place
then. Verse 18 says, I'm suffering
now. It also says, but I will experience glory then. Isn't
that verse 18? Listen to it. This is a theology
we don't like to really have permeated in our head, but it's
essential to Christianity. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. See that last clause,
which shall be revealed in us, that's called a future tense.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, present
tense, are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be,
future tense, revealed in us. Wow. You know what Paul just
said? Don't even try to compare what will be with what is now. Do you understand the trouble
we get into when we actually try to do that? When we try to
take what is now and compare to what will be? We fail by virtue
of not knowing what will be with what is now. And the promises,
the sufferings that we go through now don't even bear the capacity
to even relate to the glory that shall be revealed in us then.
Now, if I really believe that, I would never, ever, ever, ever
complain. Right? If I really believe verse
18, that there is such an exceeding glory, such a stupendous glory,
such a an insurmountable experience of glory, a surpassing glory
that doesn't allow me to equate my sufferings with it, then I'd
stop equating my suffering to that glory. And I'd see my sufferings
as so miniscule, so unimportant, so irrelevant that I probably
actually could more successfully redeem my suffering rather than
find my suffering to be the burden that I am constantly looking
at when I don't understand the far exceeding glory that waits
me down yonder. See what I'm getting at? And
again that's 2 Corinthians chapter 4 too. This light affliction
that we are going through which is but for a moment It works
for us a far greater and exceeding weight of glory So if I really
have my head on right I would embrace my suffering because
I know that what that does is it creates more glory That's silence there I understand
I understand the silence Yeah, can you see we would be ready
to lock up a profoundly spiritual brother or sister who got hit
upside the head by some knucklehead with a two by four and they went,
Oh, glory, glory. Hallelujah. They are just so wrapped up in
that rate of exchange between saw another weight of glory.
Hit me again. But the thinking would be profound,
wouldn't it? Now watch this, and if it were
possible to take that on a more practical level, wouldn't we
be better believers? If we could take that principle
and apply it on more practical levels, rather than fighting
and arguing at opposition and conflict that comes for us, towards
us, if we can embrace it and understand that it actually increases
the weight on the scale, because see this is a scale, on one side
suffering, On the other side, glory. The glory gets heavier
and heavier as you put more weight and trouble on the scale. And
if we could somehow understand that rate of exchange and operate
on it pragmatically, we would be another kind of believer,
wouldn't we? We would be in our mind and in
our heart, in our attitude and in our life. Our thinking would
be profoundly and radically different. If we could think God's thoughts
after Him, but we don't. We don't. We are simply too carnal.
So listen to this. Listen to what he says. For the
earnest expectation of the creature. See the phrase creature? That's
creation. It's waiting for the, here it
is, manifestation of the what? Do you see the phrase manifestation?
He's talking about the bodily manifestation of those who are
already God's elect. Now, some people love to use
this and spiritualize it and simply talk about believers coming
into salvation and opening their mouth and doing religious exploits,
but that's not true. The creation of the world, the
creation of the universe is in waiting for the full adoption
of every one of God's elect, which is the total redemption
of their body and soul at the return of Christ. Let me help
you with that because I want you to get this. Can I stay here
for a moment? In the doctrine of adoption, I've talked to us
about this before. In the doctrine of adoption, there are two stages.
The doctrine of adoption basically teaches the humility that you
and I are not ontologically or by nature compatible with God. That God is unique to himself.
This is why we call him holy. Intrinsic to God is his own unique
essence and being and substance of which he is totally distinct
from his creatures. Of himself, he creates all things
and they have their existence in God. But God is other than
his creation. And so in order for us to have
a relationship with this otherness of God, he has to impart his
nature to us. We can't impart our nature to
God. He's holy. We're unholy. He's righteous.
We're sinful. God's perfect. We are imperfect.
There's nothing about us that would make us compatible in terms
of a relational ontological connection with God. We couldn't become
God's sons by nature. By nature, we would be the devil's
sons. Are you guys hearing me? You
and I cannot become God's ontological sons by nature. This is where
the doctrine of adoption comes in. A man sees a child which
is not his seed. and through a legal process,
purchase that child right out and brings him into his home
and gives him his name and thus the child becomes his legally
and is privileged to have all of the rights of the inheritance
of the family because he is adopted into that family. Well, that's
the way it is for you and I. You and I are adopted into the
family of God by the legal right of a substitute in Jesus Christ
who stood as a mediator between us and God. He having the same
ontology of God, assuming a human nature, that's part of the adoption
process, and thus having the same ontology as us, and now
can bring us into the family of God by right of his association
with the Father. Am I making some sense? This
is a legal act on God's part to make us his children legally. We are God's children by, what's
the word? Faith. We are all sons of God
by what? You better get that. Faith is
the substance of things, what? The evidence of things, what?
So if you are a child of God by faith, how are you going to
tell somebody, look, I'm a child of God. Did you get that? Did one person
get what I just said? If you are a child of God by
faith, and if faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen, how is somebody gonna see my sonship? They can't
see it. They can take my word for it,
but if they wanted pure empirical evidence, they wouldn't be able
to see it. There's nothing about you and I that was so radically
changed on a miraculous level that people could empirically
see, ah, you look different than the rest of us. Right? Since you've been saved, girl,
you know, you didn't lost weight, you didn't got taller, your skin's
perfect and... No. No. Watch this. You just adopted. That's all. You adopted. You're
adopted. You know, you're adopted. You
were left to die in your sin because your mom and your daddy
abandoned you and God took you up. That's the mercy of God,
right? And we're happy to say I'm God's
child. Look, I got the paperwork to
prove it, but you can't see it in my physical personage. There's
no empirical evidence, right? Now, the document to prove it
is the scriptures. And the internal evidence is
the spirit. But once again, we are talking
about a thing not able to be seen by the human eye, right?
This is what Jesus said in John chapter 15. The world sees him
not and the world knows him not. But you know him for he is with
you and he shall be in you. So when we talk about the spirit
of God, this too is another borderline blasphemy on the part of the
church where it thinks it can prove to the world the existence
and evidence of the spirit. The world can't see the Spirit
of God. Can't see it. Can't be seen. Spirit is Spirit. Spirit is comprehended. Spirit is perceived. Spirit is
experienced. But Spirit is not seen. Did you
guys get that? Comprehended, perceived, experienced,
not seen. The world cannot see Him and
it does not know Him. Am I making some sense? And so
it's very important for when we talk about having the spirit,
having to come, let me show you. I want you to see the spirit.
Whatever they're seeing is not the spirit of God. Be sure of
that. Be sure of that. And so it's
important for you to know the adoption process comes in two
phases. And here's how this goes. You and I, when we are born again,
we are spiritually adopted. There's a spiritual adoption.
We have received the spirit of adoption by which we cry. What's the word? We never did
that before. We never did that before. We
never did that before. God invaded us. He established
a filial relationship with us in the spirit by which we can
call him father. Never were we able to do that
before. And people can challenge us on that, on that up on that
claim because they can look at us and still see the old Jack
and Jill, right? But having been born of God and
receiving of His Spirit by which we cry Abba Father, we know whether
we have a relationship with God or no. Am I making some sense? And this is part of the first
fruits principle. You and I are firstfruits unto
God. Now watch this, here's another
one, another truth I want you to get on this. If I am a first,
if I am a kind of firstfruits unto God, James chapter one,
verse 18, right? Of his own will, hath he begot
us again by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits
unto God? Does it matter whether anybody
else in the world know I'm a firstfruit other than God who did it for
himself? Did you guys get that? I am a
kind of firstfruits unto God, which means the relationship
is profoundly personal. Now, the reason why I'm exercising
you on this is because it's very often that what we do with faith
is we dissipate the energy that we receive from the doctrine
of faith out there towards people and things rather than using
the energy of faith to secure all that God has done for us
in us and in himself. The vast majority of your faith
exercise should be to your knowing God and God knowing you. Did
you get that? The vast majority of your faith
exercise should be to your knowing God and God knowing you. Not
other people knowing you know God. Who cares at the end of
the day? Fundamentally, the objective
of God is that you and I enter into the blessings of the covenant
and understand what God is doing in our life individually. And
as an overflow of that revelation, let other people now be disturbed
by how happy I am in Jesus. Did I make some sense right there?
But don't try to get excited for people so that people can
affirm your sonship. You're going to be disappointed
and they're going to disappoint you and you're going to disappoint
them. Because if you need them to affirm your sonship, well,
some days they're just not going to do it because they don't like
you. And other days you're going to ruin that opportunity because
you're going to be all messed up. If you make the people mad
that you want to affirm your sonship by doing something stupid,
well, you're setting yourself up for disappointment, aren't
you? Am I making some sense? This is very important. So I
just want you now as we begin to move away from this portion
of scripture and understand Paul's joy. See, really where Paul is
coming from is back in first Thessalonians where he said,
listen, you guys, when we preach the word of God to you, you received
it. it was in truth the Word of God
not as the Word of men but in very truth the Word of God and
it was working in you effectually and it caused you to believe
the gospel and you were Conformed to the image of Christ and you
began to suffer for Christ's name and we know that you are
elect based upon these things so see Paul is not just pontificating
our excogitating phrases and terms here in 2nd Thessalonians.
He has a whole lot of information behind the joy and confidence
that he has. And I want to go on to make sure
we get to verse 23. For the earnest expectation of
the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. That doesn't
happen at conversion, that happens at glorification, okay? We may
call ourselves sons of God, but in 1st John chapter 3 we are
told Beloved, it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Are
you with me? So you can go around telling
people what you are, all you want, but it just doesn't appear
that way. And God wants you to understand your job is not to
claim something that comes in another category of the redemptive
process. See what I'm getting at? This
is what I was saying earlier. So I know I'm tying the knots
now. If I were to persuade people through an articulation
of biblical concepts that somehow it's possible for men and women
to evidence my manifestation of sonship, when in fact that's
not possible, two things will occur. I will have lied about
a category of which I could have no real ultimate experience until
somewhere down the line. And secondly, I will diminish
the glory of that thing that's reserved for me in that other
category. In other words, if God is waiting
for a future date to manifest my sonship, it must be glorious
for God to be waiting. If I attribute to myself that
manifestation now, well, this is all you get. I've both lied
on the experience and I have diminished God's glory, haven't
I? Because it's part of God's glory to glorify me together
with Christ at that time of which not only will the elect saints
say, man, look at Jesse, man, look at, but the angels and the
devils in the perishing world will too. when they see the trophies
of God's grace perfected in Christ at a time in which God chooses
to be glorified in his saints. Remember that 2 Thessalonians
2, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints. when he shall
come to be glorified in his saints and therefore I want to discipline
myself not to take away from that process of glorification
by assuming something now that cannot be because I would both
be lying and diminishing the glory of that event and thus
diminishing God's glory in doing so. So it goes on to say, I've
beat that horse enough, it goes on to say For the creature was
made subject to vanity, not willingly, verse 20, but by reason of him
that subjected the same in hope. You guys understand that verse
20 is part of the fall in Genesis 3, right? For the creature was
made subject to vanity, not willingly, the earth, the heavens and the
earth didn't willingly sin, but they came into subjection to
the curse when Adam and Eve sinned. You remember in the garden? They
sinned against God. What did God say? Cursed is the
ground for man's sake, right? God cursed the ground for man's
sake, in order that God might redeem the ground for Christ's
sake. So the ground is cursed because
man sinned, but the creation will be redeemed because Christ
was obedient. Now listen to it. Because the
creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption.
Remember now the creature really is another word for what? Creation. Because the creature itself shall
also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. See that? This is interesting.
Because the creature itself will be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Now, it's not called the manifestation of the sons of God, but the glorious
what? Liberty. Liberty of the children
of God. The glorious liberty of the children
of God, which gives us something of the nature of what will take
place when we are glorified. there will have been a liberation
from all of the toil of sin and corruption that we go through
now, right? The glorious liberty of the sons
of God. In that day, there will be a
liberation from the toil of sin that we go through now, of which
liberation the creation will enter into. The creation will
enter into the same liberty and freedom from corruption and sin
that we, the believers, will enter into. Well, this is simply
a reversion of the order. Remember, God created the heavens
and the earth first in the old creation, right? Then he created
man, didn't he? But he created man where? Out
of the dust of the ground. There's a relationship between
the earth and the man, right? And because man didn't do right
by either God or the earth, God cursed the ground. But in that
God had purpose to redeem man, he also purpose to redeem the
universe. So the universe is going to enter
into the blessing of the liberty of the sons of God on that day
too, which means it doesn't matter how hard you work, how much money
you gather together, how much technology you acquire, the earth
is going to remain corrupting until Jesus comes. It doesn't
matter how hard we work politically to change the geographical landscape
and all of the pollutions and all of the troubles that our
world is going through. It's going to corrupt, corrupt,
corrupt, corrupt until Jesus comes. Now, I know our politicians
don't believe the answer is Jesus, but the church better believe
the answer is Jesus. Am I making some sense? See,
and I know we can start thinking technology can do this thing,
but technology can't fix this thing. Can I tell you another
little secret? This will make you laugh, but
it's important for you to know. The big wigs, the G20 and the real
money bearings in our world. You're a hyper money bearing. I'm talking about your wealthy,
wealthy Rothschilds and Bilderbergers and all of those cats way at
the top. You know what they're doing?
They're making spaceships so they can leave this earth.
Because they know that this propaganda that they're talking about cleaning
up the earth, making it green again, is a bunch of crap. Are you guys hearing me? Of course
it's a secret. You don't hear anybody talking
about abandoning the earth. All these satellite missions
and sending folks trying to get to Mars and in all of this elation
about finding water on different planets. Listen, the wealthy
folks, they trying to get off this planet. I want you to know,
and they're talking freezing their bodies and locking them
up in storage and throwing out in the next millennium. Now I
know it sounds funny, but the reason I share that segue with
you is because innately man knows the futility of seeking to try
to make this world a better place. He knows it. Innately, the scientists
know that the law of sin, that second law of thermodynamics
that causes everything to waste away, it's just happening. You
can't do anything about it. It's just a law. You can't do
anything about it. And for them, it's a dreadful
thought to be part of this consumption process without any hope. But
that's not the thinking of the true believer. The thinking of
the true believer is our escape is in Christ. And our escape
is the fact that there's a sovereign God who will intervene before
this thing disintegrates. That's good news, isn't it? One
more thing, I'll open the floor for questions before we close.
Notice what it says. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth, do you see that? And travaileth in pain together
until now. See verse 22? You can write on
top of verse 22, M E. So you can act like it's just
the earth groaning and travailing. But the reality is, is you are
groaning and travailing too. Because you and I are so identified
with this physical earth. So identified with the curse
that's taking place in it. To remind us that our redemption
is in a process. It's in a process. And the older
we get, the more we grow, and the more we wear away. It's just
true. It's just true, isn't it true?
We get slower, we bow over. If you need a text to really
permeate and bring this home, read Ecclesiastes chapter 12.
It will bring it home to you in the most vivid, illustrative
way. All of your body parts, outward
and inward, systematically dismantling before your eyes every day. Now listen to verse 23, and I'll
open the floor for questions and we'll close. And not only
they, here it is, but ourselves, see it? We've grown and travailed
too, don't we? And yet notice what he says.
Here's the qualifying factor of which I was saying, which
have the, what's your term? First fruit of the what? Even we ourselves grown within
ourselves. What are we doing waiting? Ah
That nails my thesis on categories of our redemptive process doesn't
it affirms? It doesn't see because the believer
knows The one who is informed knows that the thing that we
are to do is wait Right. We don't have to fight this thing.
All we have to do is wait and We have the spirit, we have communion,
we have fellowship, we've got the promises of God. God can
work in us the will and do of His good pleasure, even in this
old crickety, crackling, breaking down house of ours. He can get
the job done and He has. And in fact, He does it that
way in order for us not to steal His glory. Got it? I know that some of us, if we
were just super strong, If there were steroids running through
every fiber of our being, if we could just leap over buildings
in a single bounds and outrun locomotives, if we could think
faster than the sharpest PC computer, if we were just sharp as a whip,
you know what we would do? Steal God's glory. Jim, wouldn't
we steal God's glory? We would just steal his glory,
wouldn't we? So what God does, He exalts himself in your life
while he humbles you in your body. Not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves
grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the
redemption of our bodies. We are first fruits unto God.
He gave us the first fruits of his redemptive plan called the
spirit of God as a consequence of Christ's work. all because
he chose us in Christ before the world began. That's where
we spend the preponderance of our time thinking through this
great and glorious work. And I just want to say as a practical,
functional aspect of what I'm talking about, because I know
in some churches where they teach a very triumphal doctrine of
salvation, you know, that once you get saved, you know, you're
not supposed to be sick anymore. You know, you know no pain that
you if you just have enough faith just enough faith You don't have
to have no pain, you know, you can just jump up 80 years old
jump up and run around the building and Now watch this Watch this now
if you if you really if that was really the plan Do you know
how alien you would be to the rest of the centers of the world
to whom you are called to reach the gospel? Do you have do you
know how much more they would want to have nothing to do with
you? Are you am I making some sense? I wouldn't want to have
nothing to do with you saints if y'all were perfect and I'm
broke Do you understand what I'm saying? I need a man or woman
just like me Afflicted like me but knows how to bear the affliction
in the hope of the gospel now that'll give me some hope who
can talk to me about the struggle of sin and the struggle of doubt
and the struggle of fear and the pain of sickness and all
of the, the, the, the unknowingness of a falling apart body with
the, at the same time being able to point me to Christ and, and,
and establish me on a solid rock of biblical principle. That's
the kind of person I want to hear from. I want to hear from you
folks that got it all squared away. I want to hear from you.
I want to hear from real redeemed centers. Questions before we
close. Anybody got any questions? Y'all ready to go home? All right,
let's stand. Okay, right here. I can hear you. Jude 1 7 says a Sodom and Gomorrah
and the cities around them in a similar manner to these haven't
been given themselves over to sexual morality and gone after
strength. Strange flesh are set forth as
an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. That one. And then I jumped one, which
was for for certain men have crept in and notice who long
ago were marked out for this condemnation and godly man. We
turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord
God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Uh huh. What's your thoughts
on that? What do you want? Which one, which one do you see a connection
between verse seven and verse four? Or do you just need an
explanation? Because what you're getting are
in Jude is a series of examples that priest, that priest go beyond
or proceed the warning of certain men of corrupted and unawares.
And they've turned the grace of God upside down, and they've
essentially said that you're saved, and therefore, because
you're saved, you can live like hell. And then he uses the example
of all cultures that are in the Old Testament that live like
hell, that perished, to let us know there's no such thing as
a grace that allows you to live like hell and still go to glory.
OK? So what did you need? because
so what he's setting up is what we call a parallel by virtue
of analogy he's saying if if you believe a doctrine that says
as long as I just believe that Christ did it all you know then
I'm good to go even if I find myself immersed in the same type
of perverse sexual preoccupation that the Sodomites were in or
the Egyptians because those two categories are like your model
of apostasy Egypt and Sodom, Sodom and Egypt, that's Revelation
chapter 11 Then then then then God would owe Sodom and he would
owe Egypt an apology if after he gave his son on Calvary's
tree That men and women who believe the gospel after the such a cost
as the death of Christ would still live Like the kind of hell
for which he consumed both Egypt and he consumed Sodom and Gomorrah
He would owe them up an apology wouldn't he? And what would that
mean in terms of the power of the gospel of the cross of Jesus
Christ? If in the proclamation of the gospel that you and I
are new creatures, nothing has really changed in terms of our
affections, our passions, our desires and the work of the Spirit
of God in our life to be able to live out a life that respects
and glorifies God. So Jude, right along with Paul
in the book of Galatians and Paul in the book of first Corinthians.
Well, let me put it like this now. This is the best way to
put it. One of the reasons you have in
the New Testament, this tension between the free grace of God
preached to everyone, believe, believe, trust Christ and the,
the seemingly relentless warning of the apostles. but see to it
that you live a life that adorns the gospel with good works is
just because the gospel is such a magnanimous message of freedom
and liberty for the sinner that the sinner could make the mistake
in believing that he's free to live like hell because of what
Christ has done for him. But no, when Christ has redeemed
you, you're not free to live like hell. You're free to leave
the hell you lived in. You understand that? You're free
to leave that hell. And you're free now in Christ
to walk in the liberty wherewith Christ has set you free and to
honor Him with a life committed to good works. And those good
works are just a desire to honor Jesus like the woman with the
alabaster box of ointment did. Are you guys hearing me? She
wasn't doing it to merit favor. She was doing it to glorify the
Son of God. And the church should be doing
it to glorify the son of god and I can tell you of truth.
You can know that you're not converted If the primary motive
of your life is not how does this honor god? You're not converted
yet. It's still all about you Any
other questions we want to shut it down. All right, let's stand
in prayer Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for this study. Thank you for the study on the
first fruit. You chose us from the beginning to be first, a
kind of first fruits unto you through Jesus Christ, who is
the beginning of the new creation. And we look forward to the final
process. But in the meanwhile, we ask
that you keep us every day, Lord, change us into the image of Jesus
Christ, transform our thoughts, help us to think your thoughts
after you give us a priority to love you, love your word,
love your people, love centers. and love to share the gospel
with them. As we go our way, give us traveling mercy, prepare
us to worship you on Sunday. We pray in Jesus name, amen. God bless you.