Matthew: In Adam/In Christ Part 2 (#77.2023.11.26)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:03

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, Then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the Bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Well, grateful to see all your Smiling faces, open hearts here this morning. You, give Beth and I encouragement. You're part of our Thanksgiving as we Rejoice on a regular basis that God brings you here each week and that you continue to come. Grateful for that both in person and online. So thank you all for your great encouragement to us.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:49

Yeah. For sure. So we are walking through The gospel of Matthew. And we are following up on the question to the lord Jesus. So which is the greatest commandment? And Jesus said, you shall love the lord your god with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and Foremost commandment, the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So we've looked at this whole idea of loving the Lord, with all our heart, soul, mind.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:19

People tend to think that in the Old Testament, it's all about the law Outside, but for sure, he talked often about the heart. In fact, be circumcised in your heart. Right? So love the lord your god with all your Heart. So we looked at that. And then we said, you know, when you think about how much does the Lord really love me, how how How loved and blessed are you? Right? How loved and blessed are you? And people would put a dot somewhere online. Right? Right? People would've put a dot somewhere in a line and say, this is how loved and how blessed I am. And then I said, well, we have to put perspective on that because how How you are loved indeed, the Lord says, as high as the heavens are above the earth. Right? Heavens above the earth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:11

That's how loved you are. Right? Right? As high as the heavens are, birthed the earth is is how far, right, he has created for me a measuring stick, a tape measure, A measuring rod to show us his love is about 90 not even 90,000,000, 90,000,000,000 Light years, which is unimaginable. Right? It's incomprehensible, the distance, But he's given the universe itself because people say, well, why wouldn't there be other life in the universe? Otherwise, it would be a waste. It's so big. No. Unless the Lord was using it to give us a picture, a picture of the difference between how he thinks in how we think, but also the difference between the picture about how much he loves us, and this is how much we think. Right? This is what we think. Right? This is how much we think in Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:10

Right? In Christ, we are loved as high as the heavens are above the earth. Does that make sense? Yes. Kind of. But it's hard to fathom. And the same way, when I I thought about it. If that's true, right, if that's true, how much we think, then this would be how much we Think how sinful and how lost we thought we were. It's probably likely the same That there's 90,000,000,000 light years between who we thought we were and who we were In Adam, who we thought we were and who we really were Full and how lost we really were, a matter of perspective. Right? So that led us on a journey to say, let's look at again afresh Who are we, right, and who we who were we, and who we who are we today? And so I would, as always, Speak to us as good evangelicals who want to fill in the blanks with the right answers to stop and and and let the answers wash over you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:21

Right? So this isn't about getting all the answers right as much as it is letting them wash over us And remind us because this right here, right, of course, is this, but this is the grace Of almighty God. This is the grace of God. The only thing that would take us from here to here. Right? So it's it's to get a good perspective about who we were, but also A reminder of who those we are, who we gathered together within Thanksgiving, who annoyed the heck out of us because they were seemingly blind and in darkness. Right? The frustration that occurred. So we're gonna start in Adam. We're gonna start in Adam, And I'll see if I can do this on the board. So everybody get your in Adam sheet out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:08

And in Adam, every person is born In Adam and in sin. Every person is born in Adam and in sin. So scripture says through 1 man, sin, let's read that, Entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. You probably heard this before. Doctrinally, what does that mean? That we are lost, right, not because we sin. We sin because we're sinners. Right? We're not lost because we're sinners, but we sin because we're sinners. So we're born in Adam, and We're born in sin, which means the old man is spiritually dead.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:58

Right. Spiritually dead. So depending on when you came to Christ, how many came to Christ under 10? Let's say under 10 years old. So if you look around under 10, anybody under 5? I think our kids around 4 or 5. You know, they kind of remember The time as Beth led them to Christ, shared, led them to Christ, not fully comprehending what, you know, That kind of unfolded. Any in their teenage years, 10 to 20. If you look around 10 to 20, different, right, different picture. Anybody 20 to 30? Right.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:30

Anybody over 30? So if you look at that, very different experiences for us. Right? What it says is before you came to Christ, you were spiritually dead. You're spiritually Truly dead. You're spiritually dead. So why is that? Well, first of all, we have the devil. We have the devil. And the devil says, you can be like God. You can be like God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:57

The serpent was more crafty than any other beast. He says, surely, you won't die, for god knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be Open, and you will be like God. So we're born spiritually dead, and we're heavily attracted to the nature of sin is I wanna be God. I not only wanna be like God, I wanna be God. I wanna be God of my life. I wanna be God of my A future, I wanna be god. In my surroundings, I want to be god. Then we have the world.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:30

Right? So we have the devil, and we have the world system, The world system. And I remind myself it's a system because if we think the world, we tend to think, oh, the people in the world. Right? The people in the world know it's the world system. And it says let's read this together. In which you formally walked according to the Course of the world system according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. So the world system is overarchingly controlled by Satan. Right? The demon over the world system. He's the prince of the power of the air.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:10

Right? He is broadcasting all the time. It's not CNN that's the problem. It's not CNBC that's the problem. It's not NBC. It's the evil one. Right? It's the evil one. He is the prince of the power of the air. And his world system that he set up has 3 main courses in which it draws and keeps you in darkness.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:34

It is the lust of the eyes, well, lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. So think about that. Lust of the flesh is if it feels good, do it. If it looks good, Get it. And if it makes you feel better about yourself, right, that's it. I mean, that's those are the 3 Things. Right? If it feels good, you need to have it. If it looks good, same way.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:07

Right? So the course of the world system is built on lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Those are the things that keep People in darkness. Right? So they're at work. Born. Right? Everyone's born that way. And so there are Three components well, actually, 2. Right? You have the body. Right? You have the body, which is what? Your senses, what you see, what you smell, what you feel, touch, all of That.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:44

Right? Taste, all of that. And so lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life, what are those Always going after my senses. Right? Go after my senses. They appeal to my senses. If it feels good right? And, Essentially, the world system says, you can have it all. Well, that's good because I want it all. Right? I wanna be god of the were I wanna be god of my world, and I wanna have it all. I like that message.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:16

You can be like god. You can be god, and you can have it all. Right? And you think about look around the world system. What's the message? You can control your future. Right? And you can have But all, why wouldn't you not? Right? So you have the body and the senses, and, of course, all of this is appealing to the body and the senses. The evil one is and the world system is, isn't it? And it's very Appealing. Very appealing. And, of course, so we appeal to the senses.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:49

And from there, we The the senses impact the soul. The senses impact the soul, and the soul has 3 components. The emotions, which is what I feel. Right? What I feel. It's my emotions, which impacts my will, which is what I do, which then impacts my mind, which is what I think. Makes sense? Yeah. So So if you're under 10, maybe you can remember living like that. If you're in your twenties, I can definitely remember living like that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:22

I was actually Pursuing advanced degrees in what felt good. Nobody can recognize that, but that was it was advanced degrees. If it felt good, go for it. Right? And Go for it even more. Right? Go for it even more. And then you'd wake up from it and realize you were empty And not knowing, then you would medicate. The whole idea of this medicate is to keep yourself from being fully attuned to the fact that you were lost and and vacant inside. Right? Or you just the world system says, turn up the music, go louder, go faster, keep moving, because don't stop to think.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:00

Right? Because you recognize it's not the case. And you look around and you think some of the people we grew up with, Jimi Hendrix, one of the greatest Guitar players in the world comes to a place and he kills himself. You think, why would he do that? It just seems so weird. Why would he do that? All the people, you know, because music was a key thing that I always look to, and you see a lot in the music world. They'd get everything, and then they would have Realize right? So everyone's thinking if I if only I have more, I'll be okay. Then the few who get it say, I'm still not okay. So it must it must not it whatever it promises, I don't get. Right? Okay.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:41

So so the world system playing to my senses, says emotions, will, and mind. And it says that that if you look on there in the futility of their mind being Darkened. Darkened in their understanding, in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding. Right? So it says, if you look at this, right, so we're going out in the inn. Right? We end up in the mine, but the mine is dark. And there's a reason because down here, the spirit is dead. Right? There is no there is no spirit, no ability to communicate or fellowship with God. The spirit's dead.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:26

In fact, Ephesians 21 says we are spiritually dead. Right? Spiritually dead. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. So it says in Ephesians. Right? You were dead in your trespasses and sins. So here, if you see the body, it says we were indulging The flesh. We were indulging the flesh. Ephesians 2 2 and 3 says, among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:03

See how it ties together? So the the mind, Right? The the flesh and the mind are connected. You're in futility because we live essentially this way. Right? So we are existing outside in. We're existing outside in. Not even living. We're just existing. That'd be true. Right? We're existing outside in.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:23

We're unable to recognize that we're in the futility of our mind. We're darkened, separated from God, right, not even knowing. Right? So it it it suggest we have 3 ways To look at who we are. The first is let's read from 2nd Corinthians 44. The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. So first of all, we were blind. I once was blind. I once was blind, but now I See.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:59

I once was blind. K. Let's read from 2nd Timothy. If perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. So not only we blind, we are captive. When are we blind, but we are captive. And we're captive to whom? The devil. Captive to the devil.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:26

I don't know if you remember the process, but for me, It was be it was like the light started to shine, and then you realize, woah. This is darkness I'm in. This is darkness. I'm in a pit. I don't even know. I didn't even know I was in a pit. Right? Because you're swirling around, Being darkened in your understanding. Right? And then lastly, says, for when you were Slaves.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:53

Slaves of sin, you were free In regard to righteousness, righteousness had no place in your life. Right? You were free. So you're blind, captive, and a slave to sin. Well, that's good news. Blind, captive, and aslaid does. Well, it gets better. It says, for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in our righteousness. For even though they knew God, they did not Honor.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:22

Honor Him as god or give thanks. So unwilling. Right? We're unwilling to honor god or give thanks. Unwilling to honor god or give Thanks. Unwilling. Right? Because it says they suppress the truth. So there was there is part that sense The the truth, we're suppressing it. Right? Secondly, he says both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:47

As it is written, there are some righteous, Not even one. The boy that bugs some people. I mean, it just annoys some people who say, well, that's not true. I know so So and so they were seeking God or, you know, there's that scripture in Acts where that person was seeking God. Yeah. But I'm I I just am left with God had to Be working because it says there are none. None who understands. There's none who seeks for god.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:16

All have turned aside. There's none who does good. There's not even 1. So unwilling to seek God, unwilling to honor God and give than thanks unwilling to seek god. And as a result, they would say some would say you love sin so much you're unable to. Right? That sin has such you're such a slave to it. You're you're not only unwilling, you're unable, right, to not. But it does say for sure, you You are unable to please God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:47

For those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Enable, Please god. So, therefore, all are under god's judgment. All are under god's judgment for sin. All are under god's judgment for sin. In fact, God doesn't mince words as a result of this. You are a child Of wrath. You are a child of wrath by nature.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:17

It says by nature. What's that mean? It's in there. Just the you that's the way you were born. It is it is in your DNA by nature. Right? You child of wrath. And after death, what's the destiny? Separation. Separation from almighty God. So there's a penalty, right, for this sin and its separation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:47

It's separation from God. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory Of his power, from the glory of his power. So spiritually dead, the old man is Virtually dead, existing from the outside in. Right? Literally, blind, captive, slave of sin, Unwilling to honor and give thanks, unwilling to seek God, and unable to please him. Right? Literally, a slave of sin in Adam in sin. Even for us to say how sinful is sin how sinful is sin. And that's why Paul said, you know, when he says do not covet, This is to show the sinfulness of the sin. Then he says, well, the law came and sin increased.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:37

Well, it's the law's problem. That's what he's saying in in Romans. It's the law's problem that before you said do not covet, I didn't covet. Now you said don't covet. I covet. The law is the problem. He said, no. The law is sinless.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:51

Right? The law is perfect. The law is holy. It's to show how Sinful sin is, if the holy law comes and and you sin more, that shows how sinful sin is. Everybody get that? Oh, it's the law's fault. No. Just tell me I can't and I want. Right? And if you've studied sales at all, the number one thing everybody's motivated by different things. The number one thing everybody wants, What they can't have.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:22

We want what we can't have. That's the nature of sin. If I can't have it, I want it. Right? That's the nature of sin. I wanna be like God, and I wanna at all. I wanna be like God, and I wanna have it all. That's the deal. And I love darkness.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:37

I loved darkness. Loved, Literally love the darkness. We love it at night, but you love the darkness. Right? I did not want my deeds to be exposed. And As our as our scripture and then realize it's not just right? It's not just, committing adultery. It's lusting in your heart After a woman you've already committed. You know, it's calling somebody an idiot, a moron, a fool. Right? He says you're you're guilty enough.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:03

Right? Because you're murdering The person's dignity. Right? What the heck? What the heck? Then you realize, what the heck? That Sin is sinful. Sin is sinful. Lost in darkness. Right? And then all of a sudden, you are Down here, born again. It's my favorite question when they used to come to the door. You know? I'm here to talk about the kingdom of God. Oh, really? That's great.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:33

Love to talk about the kingdom. Have you been born again? No. I haven't been born again. I said, well, Jesus said you can't see the kingdom Unless you've been born again, how can you talk about a kingdom, right, you can't see? Right? But then you're born again, and you go from being in Adam to in Christ. You go from being in Adam to in Christ, in which case you are a new man, A new man. And scripture says, you are a saint and a son. You are a saint and a son. Ephesians 1, he says to the saints who are in Ephesus, to the saints In love, he predestined as as adoption to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:24

So it's not a gender thing. It's It's not sons and daughters. Right? Don't be lost in that. This is not about it's the fact that you were in line as a son, As a firstborn, right, all all the, the benefits of that through her a saint and a son. So a number of things happen when you come to Christ, when you're born again. So let's read from Ezekiel 36 over on the left hand side. He says, moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:05

Holy smokes. Okay? So you start to say, okay. So what happened here. Well, he says, I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. So if you think over here, body, soul, spirit, dead. No spirit. In other words, This is the place where fellowship occurs with God. No spirit spiritually dead.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:31

Now he says, I'm gonna give you a new heart and a New spirit. We now have a new spirit. Right? We spirit is alive, if you will. And he says, oh, by the way, I'm gonna put my Holy Spirit in you. Holy Spirit in you. Spirit himself watch this. Spirit himself testifies with Our spirit, that's where fellowship occurs. No spirit spiritually dead.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:59

No no fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and testifies to our spirit that we are are children of God, and we are now a new Creation. We are now a new creation, new things. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Right? We've been recreated recreated. What's that look like? Well, first, the righteousness Of God. That's pretty good. Well, how did that happen from here to here? Wow.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:39

The righteousness of God. And it says, we are justified, sanctified, And glorified. Lord Lord, I I think you got your verbs wrong in the scripture because those are past tense. As if they already happened, justified, sanctified, glorified. That's because by his doing, you're in Christ Jesus, who has become our wisdom from God, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. Right? In Christ, we are justified, sanctified, and glorified. And he says also that we are to be to the praise of his glory. What? From there to there? To the praise of his glory.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:20

Well, that don't make sense. That don't make sense. And so now we're being reordered. We live we're not only outside in, but we're upside down because we were living right Wrong way. So now the spirit here and the soul is here. Spirit comes alive in the soul. And the soul, of course, is the mind, which is what we think. Mind is what we think.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:50

The will is what we do and the emotions are what we feel. That's why Beth said couple weeks ago, right, we start with what's true. That's the that's the engine. The the emotions are the caboose. They come behind. They come behind. And, of course, those flow out into the Body. Those flow out into the body and then out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:15

Right? Out into life. So we are to be living inside. We are to be living inside Out. There's an interesting verse in Isaiah 11. It's talking about the lord Jesus, that the lord Jesus would come, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and counsel. The spirit of knowledge and strength. The spirit of of I've kept counsel and, The spirit of counsel and strength, spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:46

He would delight in the fear of the Lord, and he would not judge By what his eyes see nor make decisions by what his ears hear. So he's saying the lord Jesus is gonna Come in the flesh, and he's gonna show you this is what inside out looks like. He doesn't judge by what his eyes see nor make by what his ears hear, which means he's living inside out. So we've got the world around us coming at us, But he's saying he lives here, not that doesn't become your sense of reality and truth. Does that make sense? That's a very different Way to because we're so used to living outside in by what we feel and smell and taste and hear. Right? All those. It says the lord Jesus gives us that picture. He delights in the fear of the Lord.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:37

He will not judge by what his eyes see nor make decisions by what his ears hear. Well, that's hard, isn't it? Because we still have the devil. The devil. The devil still got the same message. You can be like god, and he's gonna do all of that Stuff. He's gonna do all of that stuff. What's that? Deception, accusation, and temptation. You can do all of that stuff.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:10

So scripture says beyond the Yes, sir. Alert your Adversary. So underline that. He ain't your friend. No. A friend of the devil is not a friend of mine. Right? Think about that. Right? Think about that song.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:26

Right? We'd sang that in college. A friend of the devil is a friend of mine. Sound great tune. Right? Memorable friend of the devil. No. Ain't a friend of mine. He prowls around Like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, there is only one lion of Judah. And it ain't the devil.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:52

So he does that that that doesn't mean you you discount his ability, but He's not the lion of Judah. He he prowls around like a lion, just a reminder. And Satan disguises himself. He Disguises himself. What's he disguise himself as? And by the way, he's really good at disguising himself. See, he's he's been he's been deceiving humans for 1000 of years. He's very Good. Right? He he is very good.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:27

And so he promises, right, the angel of light. You notice what's in the angel of light. Just To reminder, he's come to kill, steal, and destroy. He is a liar. He's a liar from the beginning. Then, of course, we have the world system going on out there. World system. And the world system says you can have it all.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:53

You can have it all. Have it Your way. Have it your way. I like to have it my way. Have it your way. Right? Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, those things that make me boast about myself. So we have the devil. We have the world system, and we also have Dang flesh.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:25

The dang flesh. So Paul laments. That's not Romans 5. So that's wrong. It should be Romans That's Romans 7. So let's read that. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. Everybody see that? The inner man.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:41

But I see a different law in the members of my body waging war Waging war, not not with water guns, waging war. Waging war against what? The law of my mind. Watch this. The law of my mind. So watch what's happened. So he has flipped us because down here, the mind is At the end of the trail, and it's in darkness. Here, he's flipping us right side up the spirit. Our mind gets gets at the top.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:15

Right? So the flesh is waging war against the spirit and the law of the Mine. The truth. Right? The law of the mind. Right? And making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members. He goes on, a wretched man that I am. For what dwells in my flesh? No good thing. No good thing. It's hard to imagine that my flesh is Still in there, but he says thanks be to god who reconciles us and frees us.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:45

For the flesh, lust against The spirit spirit against the flesh. We are at war in our flesh. I had hoped that the longer I went with Christ, the less this would be the case. It's not. I hate to tell you. The longer the more you press into Christ, the more this is a battle. And sometimes it feels like the flesh wins a lot. Right? Because the the feelings and you know, we talk about this so much of The way we're wired is to go by feelings, to go by feelings.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:20

This feels right, whatever that is, and so the battle. Right? So it doesn't get easier. So how do we do that? Well, worship, the word, and the spirit. Worship, the word, and the spirit. So he says beholding the glory of the lord. What's that? I'm telling you that's your personal worship Is is is fellowship and corporate worship and all of that key? Yes. But I'm telling you, it's you getting with the Lord. Right? Beholding As in a mirror, the glory of the lord, as in a mirror, that's personal.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:56

We're being transformed. What are we being transformed into? Same image from glory to glory. Right? Do not be conformed to this world, but be Transformed. Transformed. How are you transformed? By the renewing of your mind. How do we do that? Right? Through scripture. Right? So we have the word of God here, worship the word, and if by the spirit, you're putting to death the deeds of the body. Worship, word, and In the spirit.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:26

So when you were born again down here, right, when you were born again, whatever whenever that happened, right, first of all, you were justified. I heard this before. What does justified mean? Justified mean we're free from the penalty of sin. This is free from the penalty of sin. John John 5/24, we passed out of death into life. Right? Out of condemnation. There's therefore now no condemnation. We're free from the penalty of sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:58

At death, right over here, death No longer has a sting. Why? Because there is an eternal destiny for us. And what is that? Glory. That's glory over here. That's our eternal destiny. What's the scripture say? What do we wait for? We eagerly wait over in the For a savior everybody see that in the box? Savior of the lord Jesus Christ who will transform. What's he gonna transform? The body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory. What does that mean? When we are glorified, We are free from the presence of sin, free from the presence of sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:41

Think about how critical that is. If you put us back in the garden again, what would we do? We'd fall again. So Adam was created sinless, but he fell. He's going to transform us into conformity with the body of the lord Jesus Christ's glory, which means you Can never sin again. You're free from the presence of sin. This is super critical because it's not just sinless. We we are freed from the presence of sin eternally. So born again, die.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:21

But in between, we are being Sanctified, which feels like sanctified. That's why. Because we're battling, right, the power of sin, Which often feels like it's winning, doesn't it? It just feels like it's winning. We're in the middle of battling. We battle the power of sin. We know our eternal destiny. Our eternal destiny is glory. Right? We'll be free from the presence of sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:47

The good news is we've been free from the penalty of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We passed Out of judgment, we pass out of death into life. Why? Because we are in Christ. So he says let's read first Thessalonians 5/23. Now may the god of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our lord Jesus Christ. So may God sanctify you entirely. And notice he says, right, sanctify you spirit, Soul, body in the right order.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:33

Inside, out. Inside out. Right? Inside out. So he's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Right? We are sons. We're a saint in the sun. We have a new heart and a new spirit, And he's put his spirit within us. He is he is reconstructing us from the inside out.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:55

Right? And he has given us, right, the ability to worship his word and his spirit to help with the battle against the devil, the world, and the flesh. Right? Devil, the world, and the flesh. And we're justified, we are sanctified, and we are glorified already, past tense. And it's likely if you're a believer and you've been one for all, you know all these answers. Nothing surprising here. So let the truth wash over you. Right? Because it's the nature of sin to take that which is glory and make it pedestrian. That which should take our breath away and each day remind us, right, to be in awe and say, yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:38

I know I know that. Right? I know that because I'm like God. Right? Knowing good and evil. Right? So we have to be careful of that. So be in awe for you are in Christ. Write an insight and we'll share a view. We are born into yeah. We're born into sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:56

This is who we are. Right? Yes. I would. Yes. Yes. And then you have Unable to please God. Yeah. In France I've never heard that way, like, yeah, way above Way above.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:07

Right? Yeah. And so this this whole idea, can I save myself? Can I can I can I rescue myself? Can I redeem myself from this? Right? And so if you're here, just this is what's happened at the cross. I mean, this is this This is what's happened at the cross, right, which is to close this gap, which is 90,000,000,000 Light years between you and the glory of God, the holiness of God. Right? That's the the awesome thing that he's done in us. So So we're likely more blessed and more loved than you believe you are, and you were rescued from a more sinful and lost place than you thought you were highly likely. Because infinity is is infinite. There there's no beginning, no end. No.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:59

The 90,000,000,000 light years are about how big they say the universe is today. Right? That that if if if they were able to measure it, it would be It would measure 90,000,000,000 light years. If we sent a sonar signal out to the edge of the universe, it would hit the edge and come back. Right? And there would be 90,000,000,000 light years. And so to me, it's God's tape measure. It's his right? He he's made a model for you. Right? And I always I always say it's when we came back from New York City, I brought back we went into the Statue of Liberty, and I brought back a little one. And I said to my friends, we're in the Statue of Liberty.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:35

And they said, well, that didn't seem amazing. No. There was a zill yeah. I mean, there's all these steps, and, you know, it's a yeah. But gee. So we look at it, and we go, yeah. Oh, yeah. God's love.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:45

Yeah. And it's like, no. You're it's 90 it's like 90,000,000,000 lives. Oh, yeah. I know. But, you know, yeah. Okay. Amazing.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:53

Right? So he's given us the universe as as a model, if you will. It's god's ruler for you to see, hey, by the way, that's it. Right? And by the way, my love is infinite, so it's even more than that. It's even more that because there is no sonar signal that reaches the edge of his love and comes back. And by else, it is unfathomable. It is unfathomable. Would I rescue myself if I were that? No. I wouldn't.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:24

And not just he didn't just redeem you. He made you a saint and a son. See the difference? Right? Because he could have said, hey. Your sins are forgiven. Just stay over there. Or your sins are forgiven, and you can be over there, Not at my right hand. He made you a saint and a son. He put you in Christ to share his inheritance.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:48

Amen. And may the god who adopted you, may he bless you. May he keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance Vincent grant you shalom deep in your soul. May the grace of the lord Jesus Christ, the love of god the father, and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with to you now and all day, all week, all your life. Amen. Thanks for listening.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:13

I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the Bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may the Lord lift this countenance on you, and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time. May god bless you and keep you.