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Sign him up, John.

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Thank you, Glenn, Nancy, and Matt.

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We appreciate that.

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That was good.

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Real good.

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Even John was tapping his toes.

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I want you to know that.

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Let's turn, please, in our Bibles to Ephesians,

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chapter 2.

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Learning secrets seems to be a fascination for most of us.

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Remember some of the early game shows that were built around that theme?

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Who can remember I've Got a Secret?

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Remember that?

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Oh, how old we are, right?

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Gary Moore, Henry Morgan, Bess Meyerson, and two others.

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I don't remember who they were.

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Yes?

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Do you remember To Tell the Truth?

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That may still be on some of the cables.

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I don't know.

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It's amazing what they resurrect on cable these days.

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What's My Line?

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Remember that?

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Was it John Daly?

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Was that the emcee?

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People like to find out secrets.

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I think our media today is really hooked on this.

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The media is just kind of tantalized by somebody within the inner circle of power, whether

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it be political or governmental or corporate, somebody who will give them a secret that

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they can sell.

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I was recently with a friend of mine who's in ministry but who has many, many contacts,

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which he did not name for me.

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But one of them, he said, is in the inner circle of the White House.

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I wonder if he is anymore, frankly, but this was a couple of months ago before some recent

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resignations.

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And we were chatting about the United States.

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He shared a couple of things with me that surprised me, shocked me, in fact.

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I don't know that it's classified.

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If I know it, it better not be classified.

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Did you know that our government, the best experts in our government, expect that Mexico

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will be a communist nation within five years?

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Coupled with that, did you know that right now today the CIA says that there are 15,000

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guerrillas in northern Mexico, northern Mexico, south of our border a few miles, from Nicaragua,

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South Korea, Libya, and Cuba, who are training squads of guerrillas to enter into our borders.

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They have plans already for all the southern cities as to how they're going to begin bombing

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in those cities.

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Now you say, hey, that sounds far-fetched.

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Well, maybe it is.

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Maybe it's not.

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All of us like to find out secrets, don't we?

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I read in the paper about one New Year's Eve party Wednesday night that's going to have

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a palm reader there.

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I thought, how ingenious.

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There are some secrets about ourselves that we seek to learn.

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Indeed, there are some people who spend lifetimes probing questions like, who am I?

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Where did I come from?

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Where am I going?

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The text that we have before us tonight in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4, 5, 6, and 7

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bring to our attention some important and suggestive insights regarding who we are and

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what our future holds, that is, as the children of God.

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It says beginning in verse 4, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with

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which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together

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with Christ by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with

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him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come he might

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show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

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The present position and the future destiny of the believer has been radically altered

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by the saving activity of God on his behalf.

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The apostle Paul, after reminding his readers of our past in verses 1 through 3, can no

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longer contain himself because he wants to get to the good news, and so he pivots on

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the words, but God.

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He gives to us a threefold description of God, something about God's person, his plan,

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his purpose.

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This threefold description of God, in turn, unveils something of your present position

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and your future destiny as a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

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Your past, present, and future are inseparably intertwined with God's eternal plan and purposes.

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Notice with me first in our text the description of God's person.

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There are three words that bring us to this truth, a triad of perfections about our God

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that are often found together in the New Testament, God's mercy, God's love, and God's grace.

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That describes the person of God.

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God's love is the most comprehensive of these three terms.

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God's love is the fountainhead of his mercy and grace.

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As you may know, the attributes of God are those words that we use to describe the nature

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of God.

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The attributes of God are often divided into two groups.

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There are, on the one hand, what are called intrinsic attributes of God.

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That is, what God is by nature.

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On the other hand, the relative attributes of God.

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That is, how he relates to his creatures.

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For example, one of God's intrinsic attributes is that he is truth.

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Because he is truth, he relates to his creation in faithfulness.

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Therefore, faithfulness is said to be a relative attribute.

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That's how he relates to his creation.

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One of God's intrinsic attributes is his holiness.

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Out of his holiness flows justice, which is the way he relates to his creation, a relative

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attribute.

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Likewise, love is an intrinsic attribute of God.

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It says God is love.

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He is that by nature.

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Out of his love flow these relative attributes, his grace and his mercy, by which he relates

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to us.

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William Henriksen, who is one of my favorite commentators and whom I will quote tonight

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a couple of times, describes love as intense concern, deep personal interest, warm attachment,

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spontaneous tenderness.

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I like the way he describes God's love.

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But in truth, God's love cannot be defined.

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It cannot even adequately be described.

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The apostle prays that we by the Spirit might comprehend the love of God, which he confesses

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we cannot comprehend, we cannot know.

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God's love is described here as great.

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God's great love aroused him to love us and to take specific acts to achieve our good

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and welfare.

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Now we come to his mercy.

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Mercy is God's love directed toward sinners in their misery.

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Mercy is God's pity, the tender acts of God toward those who are sinful.

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Here he is described as rich in his mercy.

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That is, he is overabounding in mercy.

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He is loaded with it.

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It is an inexhaustible treasury of tender compassions toward those who are weak and

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helpless.

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And then God's grace.

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Grace is God's love undertaking kind acts toward guilty and undeserving sinners.

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It is pardon, but more than that.

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It is pardon plus justification.

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It is the removal of our offenses on the one hand, it is the gift of righteousness on the

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other.

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On the one hand, he takes us out of Adam.

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On the other hand, he places us into Christ so that our legal status before God is now

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one of righteousness.

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He declares that we are right with him through our faith in Christ.

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It is the opposite of human works and merit.

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Whether we talk about inherent goodness on the part of man, which really does not exist,

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or strenuous effort on his part, sincere effort to try to impress God, grace is the opposite

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of all of that.

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Mercy is when God does not give me what I deserve.

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Grace is when he gives me what I do not deserve.

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God's person involves love, mercy, and grace.

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Let's think for a moment about God's plan.

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He describes God's plan here, for we have a question to answer.

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If God is love, he evidences grace and mercy toward us, how would these perfections about

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God achieve their aim?

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How would God use these attributes of his to achieve our good and our welfare?

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The answer of course is that he planned a way to save us.

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It is based upon the principle of identification.

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If you can get a hold of that single principle in this doctrine of salvation, you will have

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a big handle on what salvation is all about.

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It is the principle of identification.

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You see really as God looks at the human race, he sees only two people.

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He sees Adam and he sees his blessed son, the Lord Jesus.

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No other person who has lived, does live, or will live is identified with either Adam

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or with Christ in God's sight.

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Salvation is, as I have already stated, when God takes us out of Adam and places us into

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his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Therefore we are identified with Christ and no longer with Adam.

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We are united with Christ, no longer with Adam.

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So that it can be said that whatever happened to Jesus has happened to me, to you as a child

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of God.

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Now get that in your mind.

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Whatever has happened to Jesus has happened to you because you are identified with him.

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Now the apostle points out three aspects of this plan here.

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He says for example in verse 5, when we come to the main verb in the sentence, he says

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but God made us alive together with Christ.

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That's the first thing he points out in God's plan.

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We were dead in our trespasses, but God made us alive together with Christ.

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Notice that, together with Christ.

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Before our regeneration we were dead.

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We were without spiritual life, alive physically, but as far as our spirit was concerned we

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were without life.

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We were cut off from God.

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But God regenerated us.

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He caused us to be born anew by his spirit.

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He made us alive with Christ.

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Christ died as a sinless substitute who became sin for us.

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He died our death and was raised from the dead to show that his sacrifice was accepted

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by the Father.

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Now we who have trusted him were made alive with him when his soul returned to his buried

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body in the grave.

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You say I didn't even live then.

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That's right.

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In fact you weren't even alive when Christ, or rather God chose you in Christ before the

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foundation of the world either.

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You were not alive 2000 years ago when Jesus came alive again in that grave.

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But in God's mind, remember God is apart from time, he is eternal.

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In God's mind when his Son came alive in that grave, you came alive.

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You were identified with his Son so that you were given life at that point.

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God says that he not only has made us alive, but in verse 6 it says he raised us up with

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Christ.

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It's not that we receive life only, but he has raised us up with Christ.

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God did not leave us in the graveyard.

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He caused us to ascend to the realm of heaven so that our identity today is not with this

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world, but our citizenship is in heaven from where we look for the Savior to return.

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Heaven now has become the focus of life.

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For the child of God, his thoughts, his motives, his prayers, his hopes, his commands, all

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about him are centered in heaven.

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All of these things are focused on our homeland because we have been raised up with Christ

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in the mind of God, in the purpose of God, in the plan of God.

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We've been identified with Christ.

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When he died for us, we died with him.

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When he was raised from the dead, we were raised with him.

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When he ascended up on high, we ascended with him.

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And now the Apostle says in verse 6 again, he has seated us with him in the heavenly

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places in Christ.

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He has caused you and me to sit down together with Christ on his exalted throne of glory.

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For the Lord Jesus, that is the place of power and of rule.

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And you understand that what Paul is saying here is this, that you and I are identified

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with Christ where he sits today on that throne of power and of rule.

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And in Christ we have spiritual power and authority.

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While our physical position is on earth, our spiritual position is in the heavens.

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That is our present, beloved.

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That's our present position.

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All of these actions which God took in Christ were for our good, for our welfare, out of

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his love, mercy, and grace.

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He caused us to be so united with Christ that it can be said we died with him, we were buried

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with him, we were raised with him, we were exalted with him, and we have been seated

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with him in the heavenly places.

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You say, so what?

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What does all of that mean?

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Well, the more that you think about it, the more you meditate on it, the more you ask

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God to give you a handle on that, the more meaningful it will become.

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One who is young in Christ, those concepts that we've just passed through are high and

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lofty ones.

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They are seemingly incomprehensible.

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They almost seem impractical, like though it's just doctrine.

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But the more one walks with God, the deeper one comes to know the Lord.

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The more that one draws close to Christ, the more practical these truths become.

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In the first place, by this union with Christ, we have our own future bodily resurrection

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guaranteed.

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It is absolutely impossible for any child of God to miss the resurrection.

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As you see positionally in God's mind as he sees us, we've already been raised from the

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dead.

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In our lives, as we are living them out in time, we've not even died yet physically,

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spiritually been raised from the dead, and one day even physically, we will be raised

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from the grave.

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No matter if our bodies are completely disintegrated into dust, God will cause those bodies to

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be regathered and raised gloriously, like the body of Christ.

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This union also gives us present spiritual blessings, not just in the future at the resurrection.

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Right now we have certain spiritual blessings that are ours because of our union with Christ.

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In the first place, we are no longer slaves to sin.

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Because we've died with Christ, we have died to sin.

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Because we have been raised with Christ, we have been raised to walk in newness of life.

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So no longer do we have to follow the dictates of sin and the flesh.

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As we have said before on other occasions, we may by choice do that.

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But the point is we don't have to anymore because we have been freed from that slavery.

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We have now been made slaves to God and we are free to present ourselves to God as a

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living sacrifice and the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness unto God.

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Right now, presently also, we have power in prayer.

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Why is it that we pray in Jesus' name?

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Not just as three words tacked onto the end of a prayer.

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Why is it that we pray in Jesus' name?

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Because we are praying in the authority of Christ when we pray in Jesus' name.

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We are saying, I am taking my position as in union with Christ who is seated on his

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throne of glory, who is in the place of power and rule.

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As seated with him, I offer this prayer to you, Father.

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We also have power for service.

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As he is on the throne of glory and as he said, all authority is given to me in heaven

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and on earth, that's right now.

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Therefore, you and I right now, because we are identified with him, have all authority

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in Christ.

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The new life that Jesus Christ has given us has already begun.

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But it will be consummated in the future in its fullness.

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We will not experience that fullness in these bodies.

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For our bodies as they are cannot contain the fullness of the glory that God is destined

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us for.

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This mortal must put on immortality.

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This flesh and blood in which we dwell now cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

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That is why either in the resurrection or at the rapture, which I prefer, being caught

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up without going through death, when we who are children of God receive our new bodies,

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we will then experience fully the glory God has called us to know and inherit.

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Now we cannot, it's impossible, but then we shall know it.

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Hendrickson has an interesting statement about this.

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He says to be sure there is a time factor, not at once do we receive this glory in full

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measure, but the right to receive it fully has been secured.

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And the new life has already begun.

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Even now our life is hid with Christ in God.

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Our names are inscribed in heaven's register.

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Our interests are being promoted there.

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We are being governed by heavenly standards and motivated by heavenly impulses.

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The blessings of heaven constantly descend upon us.

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Heaven's grace fills our hearts.

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Its power enables us to be more than conquerors.

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And to heaven our thoughts aspire and our prayers ascend.

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What is God's plan?

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What have love, mercy, and grace done for us?

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Well beloved they have united us to Jesus Christ, resulting in all that we've talked

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about and more.

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But we must go on now to a third aspect of God that is described here, and that is God's

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purpose.

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Why has God done all of this?

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Is it so that he might rescue us from the hell that we deserve, the condemnation and

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death that is rightly ours?

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Yes, it is partly that.

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Has he done all of this to populate his new creation, the new Jerusalem, so that he might

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have citizens there to worship him?

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Yes, yes it's partly that.

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But preeminently and primarily God has done all of these things for us to the praise and

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the glory of himself.

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Notice that that's what is said in verse 7.

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God has done all of these things described in verses 4, 5, and 6 in order that in the

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ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us

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in Christ Jesus.

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Why has God done what he has done so that he might display himself, demonstrate himself,

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show himself?

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You say, well isn't that selfish of God?

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Isn't that egocentric?

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No such sinful motive could ever be attributed to God.

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For God to desire to reveal himself to his own creatures is not only his prerogative

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and right, but it is also a gracious act on his part.

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For God does not have to show us anything of himself.

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For him to desire to do this, for him to desire to show us the fullness of his glorious grace,

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my that is a wonderful thing.

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It is not at all selfish.

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It is not egocentric.

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In fact it is for our good that he is doing this.

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His display involves what it calls here the surpassing riches of his grace.

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This is one of those Pauline expressions.

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Paul is saying here, God desires to show you his grace that has no boundaries.

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It goes beyond any boundaries that you might set.

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Do you say God's grace is this big?

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He says let me tell you it goes beyond that.

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Do you say it is this high?

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It goes higher than that.

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There is an inexhaustible reservoir of kindness which he shows to those who do not deserve

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it.

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The same thought is in Romans 5.20 when he says where sin abounds, grace does much more

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abound.

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The same thought is found in Philippians chapter 4 about God's peace when he says that God's

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peace will surpass our ability to understand it.

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God's grace is not narrow, God is not stingy.

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It is not that he has barely enough grace, but his grace is so full, he is so rich and

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exhaustively wealthy in grace that he is able to embrace both Jew and Gentile.

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He can reach down to the chiefest of sinners which Paul called himself.

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God's grace is so glorious that it changes and enriches every life that it touches.

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What is the purpose of our salvation?

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It is that God might manifest this grace.

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Specifically it says here through kindness toward us.

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Now that is not defined more specifically than that.

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Eye is not seen, ear is not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things

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that God has prepared for those that love him.

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I don't know what God is going to do, but I know this that God has in store kind acts

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yet unknown.

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You and I are going to serve as God's eternal exhibition of his grace.

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I quote Hendrickson who says, we are God's sparkling jewels.

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Let me illustrate, he says, a Roman matron when asked, query your jewels, calls her two

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sons and points to them and says, these are my jewels.

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So also throughout eternity, says Hendrickson, the redeemed will be exhibited as the monuments

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of the marvelous grace of our loving Lord who drew us from destruction's pit and raised

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us to the heights of heavenly bliss and did all this at such a cost to himself that he

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spared not his own son.

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And in such a manner that not a single one of his attributes, not even his justice was

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eclipsed.

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When is God going to do this?

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When is he going to show his exceedingly rich grace toward us in kind acts?

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It's in the future, in the ages to come.

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Notice the ages in the plural, which seems to mean all future times.

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It may well include the age in which we are now, which is sometimes termed the age of

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grace, but it doesn't stop there.

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But the ages unfold in eternity to come, thousands and thousands of ages upon ages.

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God's grace will still be manifested toward us in kind acts.

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To all of his creatures, whatever they are, whoever they are, wherever they are, God is

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going to continue to display you and me as vessels of mercy and grace.

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He is going to be able to show and demonstrate what his love, mercy, and grace mean to creatures

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who have never fallen into sin, who don't know what God's grace, mercy, and love are

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in experience.

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They've had no need for that, you see.

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These creatures of perfection are going to look at you and me and are going to marvel

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at the grace of God.

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That's God's purpose for us.

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What does your future destiny hold?

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It's more than your being a museum piece.

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It's not that God is going to set you on a shelf somewhere and point to you that way.

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It is that in our involvement with Christ in his eternal reign and in kind things that

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God is going to do for us, the other creatures of God's universe, unfallen, will behold and

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marvel, they will ooh and ah as they see the grace of God poured out in what God does for

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us.

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What God is cannot be separated from who you are, where you came from, and where you're

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going.

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God is love, and thus he is provided by grace and mercy, not only a way to escape judgment

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that we deserve, but he has provided for us a destiny that is unthinkable for creatures

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like us.

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God is also holy, thus he will surely judge all sin.

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That which has not been dealt with at the cross and covered there through the blessed

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blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that sin which has never been brought to the cross for cleansing,

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will one day be fully dealt with by a holy God.

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Every person, every person will ultimately glorify God, either proclaiming his love,

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or mercy and grace in heaven, or proving his justice, righteousness, and holiness in hell.

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But God will be glorified in both, because you see both heaven and hell reveal something

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of the nature of God.

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I think the question is this, where are you going to spend eternity?

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And how is it that you will glorify God?

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Will it be that against the heart of God and the desire of God, you will go stubbornly

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on your way into hell forever?

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And remember, God does not delight in the death of the wicked, but will you force it,

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will you go that way in your own stubbornness and sinfulness, and thus glorify God in his

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justice, his holiness?

394
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Or will you tonight bow the knee and trust the Savior, and come to know his grace, the

395
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love, the mercy he desires to pour upon your life, not just in this life, in this world,

396
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but in the world to come, in eternity, will you receive that grace tonight?

397
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Will you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior?

398
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How God's heart desires for you to do that.

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When you do, then, in eternity to come, you will be in heaven, bringing glory to God for

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his grace.

401
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He's manifested to you.

402
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Let's pray.

403
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My friend, what is your future destiny?

404
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:13,920
As much as you understand it tonight, with our heads bowed and eyes closed, I wonder

405
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:23,880
if you can say, yes, I know, not by any goodness of mine, any work of mine, but by the grace

406
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of God.

407
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:33,360
I know that because I have placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that I am going

408
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to be in heaven and will there glorify God for his love, mercy, and grace.

409
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I know that that is my destiny.

410
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Can you say that tonight?

411
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If you can, my friend, lift your hand as a testimony of your own assurance in your heart.

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You know that.

413
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Amen.

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Now, if you can't say that, if you don't know for sure, would you tonight settle that matter

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of your salvation?

416
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You have tonight the ability to choose life or death, heaven or hell, grace or justice.

417
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Which will it be?

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Will you pray something like this, Lord Jesus?

419
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I confess to you my unworthiness and sin, and I receive you as my Savior.

420
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I do here and now open my heart's door.

421
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I ask you to come in and save me.

422
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I place my faith entirely and solely upon you for my eternal destiny.

423
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Forgive me of my sin and give to me the gift of eternal life.

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Would you pray that right now?

425
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Words to that effect.

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Is that your heart's attitude?

427
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My friend, if it is, would you by the uplifted hand indicate that that's your prayer?

428
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Would you say, yes, that tonight is my heart's desire?

429
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I want to know that I'm saved.

430
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I'm on my way to heaven, and I do tonight make that my heart's prayer.

431
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Is there one here?

432
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Father, how we rejoice and bless you for your grace, for the great God that you are, and

433
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what that means for us, not only in our present but our future.

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Thank you that you have revealed to us so much, yet our hearts are tantalized by the

435
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prospects of those secret things that you've not told us.

436
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Lord, what are those kind acts that you will exhibit toward us by which you will prove

437
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and manifest your grace to the rest of your creation?

438
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Our minds are left to wonder, but we bless you and we praise you for it.

439
00:36:03,380 --> 00:36:08,920
Thank you for all that you are and all that you've called us to be in your Son, the Lord

440
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Jesus Christ.

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Lord, tonight we want to give ourselves to you afresh and anew.

442
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We confess that we are objects of grace, and we desire that your grace might be manifested

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in our relationships, in our walk of faith, in our obedience to your word, in the joy

444
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that we know, Lord, in every aspect of our being.

445
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May we experience fully the grace that you have for us in our walk in this world.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

447
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I'd like us to close by singing number 524, the words of a Bible teacher of another generation,

448
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:09,320
William R. Newell.