Episode 3 - So God Fixed It!

Tim 00:00:23 We've been talking about what I call some of the foundations of grace, and that is the first week we said we were sinners, we were born sinners because of Adam, and there's nothing, you know, there was nothing we can do about that condition when we were brought into the world. But then, I brought up that God gave us a good set of rules to show us how we could be righteous. And all we had to do was follow these 10 rules. Turns out there's, I don't, I, I think I heard this earlier, He didn't give us those 10 rules to show us how to be righteous, but to show us that we actually couldn't be righteous because I don't know about you guys, I mean, maybe you are better than me, but I don't know how much better than me. I've never been able to quite a Tim Mark 00:01:05 Quite a bit, but that's not the point. Tim 00:01:07 <laugh>. So, Mark, can I, can I say you've got, you've got your handle on the 10 rules. Mark 00:01:13 Oh, it goes, goes way beyond 10. Tim <laugh>. Tim 00:01:17 I can't Mark 00:01:17 Even do the couple my wife has for me. So forget that. <laugh>. Tim 00:01:20 Right, Right. Well, I mean, Adam and Eve couldn't do one in the garden. We couldn't do 10. Mark 00:01:24 I've got one law, The law of the spirit of life, as it says in Romans. Ajai 00:01:31 Yeah. In fact, even with the 10 Commandments, you know, the first commandment was thou shall not have any gods before me. Right? So that's the first thing. The Israelites broke as soon as, even the Moses didn't even come down with the commandments by the time, you know, they broke the first one, Mark 00:01:48 They were overachievers, Tim 00:01:50 <laugh>. So, you know, it seems like those 10 rules were kind of a cruel trick. Too many people, even today, are using those 10 rules as this is what you should be doing. You need to follow these rules. And, but we can't. So what, what then do we have to, what lifelines do we have to become fit for the kingdom of God, everlasting life? And that this is where the true beauty of the plan finally unfolds, right, there is a plan. It really wasn't, even though we've kind of tried to take and adopt it in so many different ways for us to become righteous on our own. God says, you don't. You can't you, but I love you. And no matter what state you're in, I love you so much, I did a thing so that you don't have to, and you can go forward from there. Ajai, I'm probably slaughtering some of this. I know I'm using generic terms and stuff, and we'll get into the real thing here. But, how far off am I? Ajai 00:02:49 No, you're doing, you're good, Tim. yeah, like you said, right? You know, we've been discussing you, oh man, you know, by birth, are sinners, and we all all know that, you know, in your conscience, you know, we are sinners. And also, you know, when we fail, we are sinners. And then we also, you know, talked about it, you know, there's nothing we can do to make ourselves righteous, nor can we do anything to atone for our sins. So, when we were in this helpless condition, you know, God, because of His great love for us, He sent His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus, right, to die on the cross for us to redeem us from our sins and to make us righteous, and to give us eternal life through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So this is a gospel, right? Ajai 00:03:36 You know, when we were helpless, when we could not help ourselves, God, in our sinful condition, He sent His son Jesus Christ to die for us. Just to quote a couple of scriptures on this thread, John 1 29. “The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Behold the lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world”. And in Isaiah 53, chapter 5, “But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities. The chastisement of all peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all”. So, this is the good news of the gospel, right? When we could not help ourselves, Jesus died to redeem us and to save us and to make us righteous, and to give us eternal life. Mark 00:04:32 Let me, let me ask you guys both, something sprang up in my mind, kind of off of what Tim just said and what Ajai said, is it's not as though God gave the law and His plan for us to become righteousness through the law failed, and so, he had to come up with a different plan. The, the gospel was the plan from the beginning, as I, my theme verse for the last month has been an Ephesians 1 where it says that “God chose us, in Christ, before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight”. The plan before the creation, before we were ever born, could ever do any one thing good or one thing bad. The plan was for us to be in Christ, which would cause God to see us as holy and blameless. And as Tim said, the law came not so that we could learn how to do it right, but to show us that we can't do it right and we need Christ. And it's a perfect plan, isn't it? Ajai 00:05:36 Yep. Tim 00:05:37 Yeah. I I'm really glad you brought that point up, Mark, cuz it isn't plan B, right? You know, this, this whole sending Jesus to die, take on our sins and make us put us back in right communion with God. It wasn't plan B, it was plan A all along. I and I I was just gonna add, you can see this in as far back as like, I believe it's the 3rd chapter of Genesis where he says, to Satan, this who he is, made a serpent. He says, “And he will crush your head. You will, you will bite his heel, but he will crush your head”. That's Jesus. He is talking about all the way back before all these things came to pass. So not plan B. No, no plan B here. No. Mark 00:06:17 And, and in addition to that, the law is part of plan A, what you said at the beginning that also logically teaches that, that the law wasn't a different plan than the gospel. It was part of the gospel given to show us that we need a Savior. What do you think, Ajai? Ajai 00:06:39 Yeah, that is so true, Mark, one other thing you know about the gospel is, you know, Christ died for us, you know, when we were in our worst condition, right? When we were sinners, when we were without strength, Christ died for us. Yeah. So the Bible talks about it, right? You know, in Romans chapter 5, “for when we are still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly” and “for scarcely a righteous man, one will die. Yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love towards us, towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. So, I think that's very important to understand, right? You know, people think that in a way, only when we act up, you know, when we clean up our lives or, you know, start behaving, that's when God loved us. But, understanding that, you know, when we were still sinners, when we could do nothing about it, Christ died for the ungodly. Tim 00:07:35 And I will say, I will add, if you don't believe it, go look at the story of Paul. Paul wasn't just, Paul was a, a, a Pharisee, and he believed in the law, and he held himself righteous by the law. But he went out and hunted Christians. I mean, he literally went out to kill Christians. He, if you think you've done something bad and bad and God can't accept you, these, this is a person who was going out and killing His people. And God came all the way down, literally down to meet him on the road to Damascus and, and let him know, I, I love you, I want you, your mine, you know, in the long run. And Paul is one of the greatest. And there are others in the Bible, murderers and adulterers and all these things. There's nothing you can do that to separate yourself from the love of God, even without being a Christian. He loves you and wants you to be saved and come to Him no matter what. Mark 00:08:36 Ajai, I I love that scripture you just quoted. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. And that reminds me a quick little story I'd like to throw in here. When my son was about in sixth grade, I'm a worship leader by trade, by calling by giftedness, hopefully. His junior high asked me to come and lead a worship for the sixth, seventh grade classes. And that scripture is what I spoke on. And I, I can't remember the guy's name, but it's a quick story. During World War II, there was a boy, maybe 18, and his mother, his father had passed away and he went to fight the Nazis while he was fighting the Germans lobbed hand grenade into his group, platoon, whatever you wanna call it. And he threw his body on it for the love of his brothers. He threw his body on it and saved their lives, but he was killed. And I told the kids that story and I said, that's the part that says though, for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. I mean, most of us would probably lay our lives down for our wives or our children. You know, we might have the audacity and the courage to do that. But now imagine this, imagine those Germans taking their hand grenade to throw at the Americans, and as they threw it, it slipped out of their hand and fell into their mix. and then this same American soldier comes running in dives on the grenade for them, his enemies, and takes it. That's what Christ did for us. And nobody would ever do that. Tim 00:10:29 Good illustration. I like that, that I'd never, I've never thought of it that way. That's great. I like that. Thanks Mark. Ajai? Ajai 00:10:36 Yeah, that's so awesome, right? So, like I said, right, you know, this, also, you know, gives us the confidence that, you know, if God allowed me when I was a worst, right, there's nothing I can do to have God not love me. So sometimes, you know, as Christians, especially right, you know, once we come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, right, you know, when we sin or when we, disobey, you know, we think that, you know, God might love us less, but that's not the case. You know, having this confidence that in our worst condition, Christ died for us and there's nothing I could do for Him to love me less, or there's nothing I could do for Him to love me more. So that is our foundation that, you know, Christ died for us when we are still sinners. And the other thing is right, you know, many people look for the love of God in their experience, right? You know, when they have good days, they think, okay, maybe God loves me, and when they have bad days, right, when something goes wrong in their life, then they start doubting God's love. So, if God loved me, why am I going through this? Right? That is the common question. If God allowed me, why is there so much evil in this world? But you know, Bible doesn't tell us to look at our circumstances, to know God's love, so, we need to look at the cross. The cross is a proof. That's what the Bible says, right? God demonstrated His love on the cross. So, whenever we are feeling shaky about God's love, we go back and look at the cross. It's as simple as that. We don't look at our circumstances. We don't look at what we are going through on a good day or a bad day. The proof of God's love is a cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark 00:12:25 At the end of Romans chapter 8, which I know is one of Ajai's favorite books of the Bible, it says “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up, for us all. How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?” And I love that because while we were estranged from God dead in our transgressions and sins, his enemies, it even says God gave us Christ to die for us, which is of greater value than anything ever created. He wasn't created but of anything that God did create. So, if He loved us that much when we were His enemies to give His son who is of greater worth than anything, now that we're His children through Christ, how will He not graciously give us these smaller things. If He gave Christ while we were His enemies, won't He give us good gifts now while we're His children? That's just so, so, so powerful and transforming. Ajai 00:13:28 That is so true, Mark, you know, thanks for pointing that out. So, you know, we see the other flip side of things is right. You know, when something bad happens to us, right? Our immediate, reaction is that why is God doing it to me? Right? They immediately blame God too if something bad, happens. But you know, that is not true. You know, nothing, no evil comes from God. In fact, the Bible says that all good gifts come from the Father of lights. And the scripture you quoted clearly says, “If he gave us his son, how shall we not also give us all good things?” So, it's important to realize also, right, you know, when we go through bad things, it's not God doing it to us. So, since we are in this fallen world, you know, since we are, you know, ruled, you know, all our lives by sin and death, you know, we are kind of recovering from our old state, And as we go through this life, right, you know, there are several things that could happen and cause things not to go the way we want. But that doesn't mean that God is causing those things directly. In fact, one way to look at it is, you know, the world is throwing things at us, and God is the one who is constantly delivering us. But devil, you know, kind of tries to make us think, you know, deceive into thinking that you know, when bad things happen to us, that is God causing us. And then we go into this mode of, okay, now God is causing all these bad things, now what should I do to please God? Okay, maybe I should go back, you know, ask for forgiveness and set my life, right? You know, maybe I disobey somewhere. That's why God is punishing me. So now, I have to get right with God. But when we realize that, you know, it's not God who is causing bad things, you know, instead of thinking like, oh, my God, what should I do now to please God? You know, immediately run to God. Okay? The bad things are coming from the world and the enemy, and my protection is God. So, I run to him. He’s, my deliverer. Tim 00:15:28 Okay? So just to add to that and pile on, cuz I like, you know, I don't think we can over, over say, state this. God is the giver of good and perfect gifts is another one. And it doesn't say among other things, good and perfect gifts. He is the giver of good and perfect gifts. If he's to God of love, he can't give. I've heard a preacher tell somebody, well, you know, God gave you cancer, lets you get cancer for a reason. No, this is not what happened. Mark 00:15:56 Can I just finish on Ajai real quick there? Cause but you really can't over state this as a wise man once just said about 30 seconds ago, <laugh>. What I wanted to say was, people always use that argument, it's been around for centuries, you know, calling into question God's existence or His character because there's evil in the world and using it as an excuse not to come to God. And I would say, you know what, you're right, there's evil in the world because the, the world is filled with evil people. There are spiritual forces of evil in the world. The world is a dangerous place. That's a reason to come to God. That's a reason to come under his favorite, favor and protection. So, it's like, why would you use that as a reason not to come to God? Because there's evil in the world. You're right, there's evil in the world and you better have your Dad looking out for you. You know. Tim 00:16:50 There’s pieces of that that people just don't understand too. God created a perfect world in the beginning. In the beginning there was no death, there was no [yeah] natural disasters. There weren't this, that and the other. God had created a perfect world by sinning, we broke that. We, being humanity. [Yeah]. And we've inherited all that. But now God wants to restore a piece of that. Our re the relationship that Adam and Eve had in the garden with God was perfect and He'd like to restore that now to each individual, so, the, the, the not plan B, the original plan then was He was gonna send His Son so that no matter who believed in Him would get that relationship back, receive life, everlasting life even. But in, in the end, you know, in the world there are people who don't accept that, and God is not gonna take away our free will. He gave us free will. We choose good or evil, life or death. And people out there are people out there who choose to hurt other people. They choose to lie, steal, cheat, covet, all these things, and sometimes it what they do makes it look like they're winning when they're not. Cuz what, what does it gain you if you gain the whole world but lose your soul? But the answer to all this is Jesus Christ came, gave Himself up as a perfect sacrifice, got punished for sins He never, ever committed on our behalf. So that when we said we accept that and we accept, you know, this relationship, we choose life, but we still have to have live in a world where the world has broken their natural disasters. People can be evil, people can be mean, people can be cruel, things can happen that are just not, you know, would take away free will, that God's not willing to do that. So, this is how we get to the point where we lose our sin, we gain life, and we get into this perfect relationship with God again, I don't think we've just ever said it out front to end like that. And I wanted to state it at least once. Mark 00:18:55 Tim, you mind if I split a hair here with you? Tim 00:18:58 <laugh>? No, I never mind when you split my hair with me, Mark. Mark 00:19:00 Okay. One, one. And you know, you and me both like words like 'em or dislike them very much depending how I rub us, but I don't like the word. [Right] I love what you just said, but to me the word accept is too weak. Accept is just like a nonchalant, oh, okay. Christ died for me. Receive is a stronger word when I receive Christ in what He did for me. To me that's a stronger picture of what's actually going on. We receive Him, Himself. So, Tim 00:19:32 And ladies and gentlemen, that is iron sharpening iron. He's absolutely corrected, and I take my correction happily and receive it with all joy Ajai 00:19:39 Yeah. So yeah, I also totally agree with that Mark. You know, receive, you know, Jesus came to give us a eternal life, right, and forgiveness of sins all parties to receive. So, this acceptance has a little bit of connotation of, you know, we are kind of judging what Jesus did and, you know, grading Him and then approving of His work. You know? So that's not our situation. Our situation is we are helpless sinners, we are in need of salvation, and there's a Savior who left heaven and came down to this earth to save us, and all we need to do is, you know, we receive the salvation that is given to us freely. Mark 00:20:21 But to all who believe and received, he gave the right to be called children of God. Yeah. That's in John, isn't it? Ajai 00:20:28 Yep. John 1 12. Yeah. So since you, Tim, you know, you already touched on it, right? So why there is evil in the world? I think it's very important to understand that, right? I think the points that we have been discussing, like we all became sinners because of Adam sin, that also addresses why there is evil in the world. That's very important, right, because people are constantly getting mad at God as if God created the evil in the world. But what happened was, you know, in the garden, Adam sinned against God and with the Adam's fall, the whole world fall fell because the whole world was created for man. So, if you look at the order of creation, right, God created everything first, everything. He prepared the world for the man and then created the man last. And because the world that was created for man, Adam, basically, you know sinned away what God created for him. So, when Adams sin, the whole world fell. And that's of the sin enter not only the, human beings, but the consequence of sin. You know, it also kind of, entered into the whole world. That's why, you know, there's evil and darkness and depression and sadness everywhere, and we need to realize that you know. Jesus came into this world to save us from this sinful existence, right? It's not God who is, who has created the evil, neither God who is actively, giving us evil. But it's exactly the opposite. You know, God is actively saving us from the evil that was brought up upon us by the sin of Adam. Mark 00:22:07 And here's a little bit of a thought that never occurred to me. It's not God who is the power of sin and death. It's the law that's the power of sin and death. Not that there's anything wrong with the law, but because of our sinfulness, it puts us to death and brings these bad things in the world. What do you think of that Ajai? Am I off base on that? People are like blaming God for the sin and death that's in the world, Ajai 00:22:34 Right? Right. Yeah. So the Bible says, you know, the law came that sin may abound. And the Bible also says, you know, before the law sin was in the world, even though we did not sin like Adam did, in Roman chapter 5, it says, you know, everybody was under the reign of death. So, law has does not in the sense, you know, law is not killing us, right, it's not that we had life and law came on the scene and we disobey the law and we died. It's not like that. So, law is like a mirror. We are already dead. And when the law came, it is showing us how dead we are. It's like, we talked about it, right? Someone, a paralytic person, right? He's lying on the bed, he cannot move. And maybe he does not realize, oh my God, I have paralysis. But someone comes and tells him, Hey, you know, can you jump or, or can you walk? Can you get up and pick up that water? That's when he realizes, Oh my God, I'm a paralytic. So that's how, you know, law kills us. Law basically is showing us that, you know, we are already dead Mark 00:23:42 In a spiritual sense, though I think, think the law does kill us, doesn't it, Ajai? I think that's what Paul's talking about when he says that the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. Ajai 00:23:55 Right? So the sting of death is sin, right? So the sin actually the sting, the death using sin killed us, right? Mark 00:24:02 Right. But it would have no power without the law, although, so what I'm asking is I see what you're saying. People were, and it says that before the law came, death was still in the world. Yeah. Because sin was in the world. But then what do you think it means that sin is, is the sting of death, but law is the power of sin that without the law, sin can't, doesn't have any power anymore, since it had some power before the law came, right? Ajai 00:24:35 Yeah. So I think, well, I think maybe, you know, we can read the scriptures. Mark 00:24:41 What a novel concept. Ajai 00:24:43 <laugh> <laugh>. So Roman chapter 5, it says, I think, I think we are going a little deeper, but I think the net effect is whether law killed us or we are already dead when the law came, we are dead because of sin. But I think it's good to look at the scriptures. Roman chapter 5, it says in verse 12, “So therefore, justice through one man, sin enter the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men. Because all sin”. And then it goes on to say, “for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is the type of him who was to come. So here it says, “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed”. So, what law does is, you know, before, I think one way to, probably, you know, look at it is, before the law came, right, we did not realize we were sinners, and we did not realize we were under the reign of death. So, we were thinking, we are all right and we probably did not realize our condition, how bad we are. But when the law came, sin revived and I died. So, in Romans chapter 7, it says, right to know, “without the law, I I was alive”. Right? That's what it says in Roman chapter 7. But when the law came, sin revived and died. Died. So, I think it's probably, us not realizing that, you know, how dead we are, and we are thinking everything is fine, but the moment the law comes on the scene and tells us to do something right, that's when we realize, you know, that's when we sin. And in a way, you know, that's when the sin is imputed to us again, right, in our own knowledge, sin is imputed to us and then we die. I think it's in that sense. Mark 00:26:37 Yeah. It also says, I think in that same area that before the law came, and now that we're no longer under law, again, it says before the law came, sin was not charged, inputed, is another different translation, but it says, sin was not charged to anyone's account. [Yeah]. Okay. And God is the only one keeps a count of our, you know, would keep. It's our relationship with Him. It's not sins not imputed by Him when as far as He looks, but sin in and of itself causes death. That's why even now we're not under the law now, even now, the law has been done away with by Christ fulfilled is a better way of putting it, but we're no longer on a under the law. And Paul said, where there is no law, there is no transgression. So, we, when we sin, it's no longer bringing, it's not no longer making us unrighteous in God's eyes. We, we haven't lost our standing as His children. We're not, we haven't lost our holiness and our blamelessness in His sight. But still sin has consequence on this earth. We may not lose our salvation or our standing with God, but we might lose our standing with each other or our wives, and that's a form of death right there too, beside physical death, you know, death to relationships. Tim 00:28:01 This is a real life conversation because we can get off a little bit off track and, and get into a little bit into the weeds here. I want to kind of bring us, that's Mark 00:28:09 Weeds, baby <laugh>, that's the wheat <laugh>. Tim 00:28:13 But I wanna bring us back onto the track of what we were discussing, and that is as, what was that? You put it receiving [mm-hmm] <affirmative> the gift. And, and, and what does that, So, what does that give us? We've talked a lot about sin, death, the law, but now we receive God, Jesus died on the cross. He took all of our sins on Him, and those who receive Him. Well, what's our benif, what do we get from here? Mark 00:28:41 Go for it, Ajai. This is one of your favorite areas. Ajai 00:28:46 Yeah. So yeah, by receiving Him, right, you know, we become righteous and we have eternal life, right? And we become the children of God. So, we can probably go much more into it, in the next podcast, Tim. But just to, to summarize, right? You know, everything changes about us when we receive the gift of salvation or the gift of righteousness. You know, Paul says in Acts right, you know, through this man, he's preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. Everyone who believes he's justified from all things from which they cannot be justified by the law of Moses. So, what it means is, you know, in God says, we become perfectly righteous and we have the life of Christ. Lord Jesus comes to live in us, and we are placed in Jesus. And the Holy Spirit of God comes to live in us, and we become the children of God, and we have this hope of salvation. And when we close our eyes on this earth, you know, we know that we will be seeing Jesus face to face to live with Him forever. And even as we live on this in this world, right, and we know that God is our Father and He will never leave us, not forsakes, and He will be with us in everything that, we go through on this earth and holding us and keeping us, and delivering us and blessing us in every way. So, there is so much, that's why the Bible calls it, so greater salvation. And I'm sure, you know, we'll talk a lot more about that. Mark 00:30:17 Well, I would just say something, I I don't remember if we did it on the podcast, but I know in our conversations, another recent theme I've had is that, you know, Ajai talks about that we were for, he likes to talk to show the difference of being, we were for forgiveness of sins we received, but we also were imputed the righteousness of God. And my my way of thinking of it is that we didn't receive, we weren't saved to neutral, we weren't forgiven to neutral, we were forgiven to the declaration of the righteousness of God forever. And man, what a treasure. You know, it's not like we just got a new start or a second chance. It's that that way of looking at us according to how well we're doing has been thrown out and there's a much better system now, and that's Christ Himself. Tim 00:31:14 Amen. So, when you say we're not saved to neutral, you know, you're saying we're not just forgiving our sins up to that point and then, set adrift again. Mark 00:31:25 Well, the, the illustration I used, I can't remember. It was like I said, a podcaster in person, so I repeat myself all the time anyway, so whatever, <laugh>, but, it's not like God was up there before we were saved with a chalkboard, and he's writing on the slate every sin we ever did, and then when we come to Christ, he just erases it all. But he's still got the chalkboard in his chalk here. Now that you're a Christian, you better not sin anymore. I'm gonna write it on here again. No, he erased it and took that chalkboard and just flung it into the bottom of the deepest sea and said, you are the righteousness of God. And something up until about a day ago, I've always said it that seemed very logical to me, was that when Christ died for us, He knew every sin we would ever commit, past, present, and future. So, it's not like He just died for the ones up until we became Christians, and now we've got no excuse. But just recently, like literally a day or two, I came, wait a minute, that's not right either. He didn't die for our past, present, and future sins. He died for our past and present sins because once we come to him, we're not sinners anymore, so we don't, we don't need forgiveness anymore because we are now the righteousness of God. We're not under law. And where there is no law, there's no transgression. Tim 00:32:51 That's a very good point. And one, I know we're gonna dig into a lot in the future, but I want to just go back to one point on that. Go back to one point on that is, all means all. And he says it's not just forgiving them it's he takes them and throws them, as far as the east is from the West, they don't exist anymore. So, we, we don't have to keep bringing up, Oh Lord, I know I was this person back then. He's like, What are you talking about? All I see now is the righteousness of my Son all over you. That's it. Mark 00:33:26 He also says, I will remember their sin no more. And I always say, why in the world would you want to remind God of your sin that He's already chosen in Christ to remember no more and to forget why. It's like if your dad forgave you, like you cracked the car up. And he said, all right, you were wrong. But I forgive you. Would you bring that up every week? <laugh>? Remember that time I cracked your car up? Yeah. You know, No, come on. You've already been forgiven and forgotten. Tim 00:33:58 Ajai, you've been oddly silent, Ajai 00:34:00 <laugh>. No, I am just listening to you guys and enjoying what you're saying. So really, really good stuff. [Yeah] <laugh> [Yeah]. Like you said, you know, the gift of righteousness is, extremely important because even after we are born again, right? We, we sin daily, right? So, unless, you know, we, understand that, you know, that sin that we are sin daily is not counted against us, right? We will go back again into condemnation and guilt, and then we'll repeat the cycle of, you know, sin more and more. So, it's the more we understand that we are righteous, the more we have the power to live the righteous life. So, it is like the gasoline in the car, right, so the righteousness is our new power of God that, that helps us to, enjoy the salvation of God and also to live the victorious life that, Tim 00:34:55 I'm gonna, I'm gonna play Mark here for a second and split one of your hairs. Once we're saved, we don't sin anymore. You said we keep sinning. Well, we don't, but that's a, that's for another podcast. I know Mark's ready, if I can see Mark gearing up over there, <laugh>, it's gonna be a side topic for another podcast, but I, that's, that was my hair to split tonight. Mark 00:35:16 All right, let me, I gotta, I have to have a rebuttal, like in a presidential debate. What I meant when I said is we don't sin anymore, is that we don't sin against God anymore. Sure. He doesn't see it as sin. He doesn't take it into account because we're not under law. We're not judged by doing right, doing wrong. Sin still exists in our horizontal relationships with each other, and that's why the Bible says many times to confess your sins to one another, to forgive one another. We were still in need of that. So that's what I meant, Tim. Tim 00:35:53 There you are. Mark 00:35:54 Glue those two pieces of hair back together. All right, Tim 00:35:58 <laugh>. Ajai 00:36:01 All right. Mark 00:36:04 All Tim 00:36:04 Right. Well, you know, so we've got, we now know what God's plan was and how we can be a part of it. So, any last words you wanna say to help wrap some of this stuff up? Mark 00:36:16 Go for it, Ajai. Ajai 00:36:17 Yeah. You know, like we discussed, right? You know, what we are looking at is, the love of God for us and the work of Christ. And when we were in utter sinful state, we could not save ourselves. We could not become righteous. We could not, atone for our sin. In our worst condition. Our Lord Jesus died for us, and there's nothing we need to do to receive what Lord Jesus did for us. I think we'll talk more about it later, but the point is, you know, we can come just as we are empty handed, receive Christ, and be saved, and just, enjoy the salvation forever and enjoy the fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. So that is the greatest news in the world, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing, nothing better than this. Mark 00:37:04 And I, I would finish with, there is such a freedom and a joy in knowing that in God's eyes, you are righteous and can never lose that. Not because of anything you did or didn't do, but because of His love in you that He showed on the cross. And as Ajai said, once you know that, that that's who you are, that's your identity, that has an effect on who you are and everything you do and say. And it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy, really, you know, once you realize you are the righteousness of God, you don't walk around with this guilt on your shoulders. So many Christians, as my last pastor, used to say, they look like they're constipated. They're just not happy people. They're grumpy. And obviously, these are people who haven't come into the freedom of a one true gospel. They're people that are trying to still add the law and live by it. And you're never gonna have the same experience trying to do that. And because the Holy Spirit's not in that, this Holy Spirit is in the gospel. Tim 00:38:10 So let me add my last 2 cents. I'll give you a ten second rebuttal at the end. If, it doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, where you've been, it doesn't matter if you've, if you're sitting in jail, if you're a drug user, if you're, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you've done. If you think God doesn't know what you were gonna do before He even created you, He still loves you. It doesn't matter to Him. And He wants to have that relationship with you. Don't stop and say, “well, you know, that sounds like a pretty good idea, but let me see if I can get myself together first or get, you know, clean my life up or make, make atonement for what I've done”. Doesn't matter. Don't do it. Don't wait. Don't, don't come as the, as the, as the scriptures in the song say, just as you are. He wants you. He wants a relationship with you. And if you, you know, if you, if you want more information on how to do that, I will tell you this. It is literally, just receive it. Just tell God you receive it. And if you need more information that find our website, find us, you know, drop us a message. we'll, we'll wa we'll help you get there. It, there's nothing we can do to help, you know, to really get you there. It's literally you just saying, Okay, God, I receive it. I receive it. There's no magic incantation. There's no, you know, you don't have to go out and get dunked in a river or anything. You just have to receive. And God wants to have that relationship with you no matter what you think of yourself.