Episode 47 - The 7 I Am's of Jesus - Pt 6

Speaker 1 00:00:07 Hi, and welcome to the unveiling. I'm Tim, one of the hosts, and along with Andrey and Mark, we are three guys discussing the one true gospel. We hope you're encouraged by this episode. Let's dive right in. Speaker 1 00:00:23 This is the unveiling with all three hosts, almost as always, usual, aj, mark, and myself. This is episode number 47. This is gonna be part six in our series of the seven I Ams of Jesus, which are found in the book of John tonight. That verse comes out of John 14. It is verse six, where J where it says, Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Now I'm gonna give a little bit of context and then pass this along to somebody else. In this scene, Jesus is with the disciples and he's, he's made it clear to them in a previous chapter that he's gonna be leaving them. And he doesn't go through the whole context about dying and going to the cross, but he lets 'em know I'm leaving and you know, I'm not always gonna be here. Speaker 1 00:01:21 And this scene is Jesus actually comforting the disciples because they got questions. They're like, you know, where are you going? Can we go with you? Why do, why won't you take us? And it does his best to answer some of those questions. Um, mark, you said I should probably start right at the beginning. So if you guys will bear with me, I think that's a good idea cuz I, to back up this context that I'm giving it, and I'll start with verse one and end on six. So it starts with, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me. Speaker 1 00:02:08 That you also may be where I am. You know, the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way? And then we get to our verse, Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth in the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. You know, I'm a little thomask sometimes I'll ask questions. Uh, you know, Thomas is known as the doubter. Um, you know, I think it's a little unfair. I think he just had questions, you know, <laugh>, because I have questions. Where are you going? Can I go with you? How do I get there? But anyway, that's, uh, that's where we're at tonight. Um, who wants to start us out tonight, guys? If Mark, yeah, I'll go Speaker 2 00:02:50 Ahead. I'll take it. I'll take it. Um, one of the things that really jumped out at me in that first paragraph before Jesus answered was how, um, first of all, he's, he's being honest with him. He's like, look, I'm, I'm preparing a place for you. I wouldn't have bothered to even told you about it if I wasn't going to come back and bring you there. He says, I will take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. And to me, that's kind of like the whole key, even when he answers, I am the way and the truth and the life, the whole point. And I, I think I wanna mention the more and more we do this podcast, I think all three of us would agree, as we dive deep into many different topics and subjects in the gospel, in the light of that gospel, all roads are pointing. Speaker 2 00:03:42 Everything is pointing to Christ, Jesus Christ and him crucified. He is the Christian life. He is the gospel. He is grace. He is what it is all about. And Jesus is saying, I'm gonna come and take you to be with me, to be where I am. I am the way in the truth and the life. He is the final destination. He is heaven, really. I mean, Jesus is the heaven, is the presence of Jesus. And even, even says, I love in revelation how in heaven we're not gonna need sunlight because the light of Christ is just gonna light up heaven and we're gonna be in his presence. So I just love how throughout this book, as we've been doing this, what will be a seven part series, all these statements are all bringing people back to him. You know, when uh, when Martha said, yo, I know that the resurrection will come on, the last day, Jesus said, okay, let's forget Sunday School, part one, I am the resurrection and the life. All these statements are bringing back to him that he is God. He is the one we were meant for and created for. And the life that is in Him was the very reason that we've been fashioned, was for life in Christ. He is our life. He is our way and our truth. Speaker 3 00:05:02 Yeah, Jesus is heaven. Mark, like you said, you know, without him, there's no heaven. Sometimes we think, you know, heaven is a place, but I think many of us don't realize Jesus himself, he is heaven. Um, you know, one of the things I noted as Tim, you're reading right? You know, um, Jesus said in verse four, I'm reading for New King James version and where I go, you know, and the way, you know two things, right? Where I'm going, you know, and then the way you know, then Thon says, you know, we do not know where you are going. And we don't know the way, but you know, it's Jesus just told about it. But you know, sometimes we, it's actually comforting, right? You know, Jesus tells them the exact thing, but they don't listen. Right? They don't pay attention. They ask the same question that he just explained. Speaker 3 00:05:49 In fact, in of chapter 14, verse two, in my father's house are many mansions. And if it were not so I, I would've told you, I go to prepare a place for you. Where is he going? He's going to the father's house. And he clearly said that, right? So, but still, we don't know where you are going. And then he's going to the father's house. And our whole destination is the father's house. That is a reason, you know, lodges Christ came to us because we were separated from God. We are God's children. And we, um, because of our sin, because of what happened in the garden, we were separated from God. Jesus came to take us back home. So that is a picture of, uh, the, all the parables of salvation. The lost Son, he left the father's house. But you know, in the end of the parable, he comes home similarly, you know, the Lord, sheep, the shepherd goes, finds the sheep and brings back home here in know our final destination is actually father's home. Speaker 3 00:06:48 And of course, you know, that happens only in Christ unless we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we cannot be in the father's home. But, uh, the final is father's home. And then he says, you know, I am the way, I am, the way, the truth and the life. So in order to get to heaven or in order to get to Father's house, Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus the way I know we talked about the exclusivity of our Lord Jesus Christ. But it is very, very clear. Right? So I am the way, the destination is the father's house and the way to Father's house. He's our Lord Christ. Speaker 1 00:07:19 You know, aj I'm not sure in my heart if the disciples weren't listening, not paying attention if they were, I mean, that seems a little disrespectful for the disciples. I just wonder if, because of the way Jesus spoke in pictures, in parables and stuff like that, that they didn't always get it. They didn't, just didn't understand until he clarified it. And, uh, you know, I just, I don't wanna put too much of a negative spin on them being too lackadaisical to care about what Jesus was saying. They literally followed the man everywhere. Speaker 3 00:07:51 Yeah. Yeah. I didn't mean it that way. Right? So even for us, unless, you know, God reveals sometimes, you know, things are clearly plain in the Bible like we talked about. We read it several times, but, uh, every time a new verse pops out at us. Right. I'm not necessarily saying that, you know, it's a fault of disciples, but, uh, sometimes unless God reveals things to us, we cannot know and understand. Yeah. I'm not, uh, at all <laugh> saying that I, in fact, it's comforting for me. Right. That's the sense I was saying. I was not actually saying bad more than that. I'm saying, you know, even if the disciples didn't get it, it's okay if we don't get it. You know, God is patient with us and he has all the time to teach us. Speaker 2 00:08:32 And I think we're playing a little bit Monday morning quarterback. It's easy for us on this side of the cross to say we understand everything. Yeah. And like AJ just mentioned, this is an ongoing process until we are in his father's house. And with him, uh, getting greater revelation and understanding, and then I think we have to sympathize with them too, in that Jesus was like nothing anybody had ever experienced these, these were people with a worldview just like we are now. They grew up from the time they were babies under the law as Jews and that whole religious thing and everything that had been taught to them on the ma on who the Messiah would be was different than who Christ was. Not everything but most things. They were looking for a king to come and free them from Romes, uh, rule and just a triumphant like, like King David was just a great military leader. Speaker 2 00:09:36 Um, but he came and actually gave him way better than what that would've been. Um, so I, I gotta, you gotta be a little sympathetic with him, you know, cuz they had never encountered it. I'm sure we would be like literally astonished and marveling at everything they saw and heard and, and probably missing half of it, you know, <laugh>. So I'd like if I could, if you don't mind guys, just to read a couple lines after now where Jesus answered, I am the truth, way in the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And then he says, if you really know me, you will know my father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. That's a pretty bold straight, uh, straightforward, uh, claim of who he is. He is God. When you've seen me, you've seen the Father, you've seen Father God. Speaker 2 00:10:31 And then, and Phillips still doesn't understand <laugh> after he says it's so clear. Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. And I've always imagined a little hint of exasperation or incre, how do you say it? Incredulity, incredulity in Jesus' voice as he says this next, this next line. Don't you know me, Philip, even after I've been among you for such a long time, anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. He, he's so clear. Even after he gives the clear statement, then Phillip was like, well, show us the father. Wait a minute. I just said, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. So it's just very clear here, especially when he says it a second time. I have a question for the three of you. And this, this occurred to me as I was reading through this for, did I say three of you? Yeah. Well, <laugh>, the two of you. Oh, ge. When Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life, are these three separate things or are they three ways of describing the same thing? Just off the top of your heads. Speaker 1 00:11:40 I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with the highly spiritual cop out here and say it's like the Trinity. It's all one thing. And yet it's three distinct things. Mark. Speaker 2 00:11:50 Okay. So, so it's a, it's it's, well it's three different descriptions or outworkings of the same thing. What what's your opinion on that ij? Speaker 3 00:11:59 Well, I think they all are describing our logic, Christ, but um, he is talking about three things that apply to us, right? First of all, how do we get to the Father? It is him. And where do we find truth? It is him. You know, it reminds me of p asking the question, what is truth? Even, even now, many people are asking that question, what is truth? They're seeking the truth. And uh, Gandhi wrote a book called My Experiments with Truth. So people are thinking that, you know, they found the truth, but truth is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And the third one is we, like we discussed before, everyone is dead. And what they're really seeking is life. And again, the life is found in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the things that we need and we are seeking is him. I dunno if I answered your question, but <laugh>, Speaker 2 00:12:51 I think you did. Yeah. I'm I'm not even saying there's a right answer. I was just asking that question. Yeah. Are those three different things or three ways of describing this same thing? And I guess you could make a case for both from what we just did. Speaker 3 00:13:05 It's not the thing, but see three, uh, 3, 3, 3 descriptions of the same person, I guess the three applications that we need of the same person. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:13:16 Well the way is the truth and the truth is the life. So they're kind of intermittently. Cuz he could have just said, answered the disciples questions. I am the way when they said, show us the way. Instead he went on to say, I am the way and the truth and the life. So maybe it's like the way takes us into the truth, which brings us life. I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud here. <laugh>. So guys, uh, I I'd like to add a thing, another aspect as to how Jesus is the life also closely related. But I heard it teaching this week that jogged it in my mind. And it's from Romans five 18. It says, consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, it's talking about Adam. Of course. So also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. And I love that aspect of Jesus being the life in that Adam brought sin into the world and death by his one trespass Christ, by his one righteous act, which was an awesome righteous act of well, of going, of fulfilling the law and going to the cross for us, brought life for all people. And that's another way that he is the life by what he did for us in fulfilling the law and then giving himself as a sacrifice. Speaker 3 00:14:45 But that is the life. He's right. His resurrection life is our life. And that comes to us only through the cross. Yeah, yeah. When he is talking about life, I do not believe he's talking about the life, eternal life he has as God. He's talking about the resurrection life that he is to us for those who are dead. Sure. Speaker 2 00:15:06 Yeah. He gave us life in the first place and then gave us real life in the second place after the cross. Speaker 1 00:15:13 And in fact, the way Jesus spoke, he could be referring to both at the same time. You know, I mean, yes, as all as we've been going through these seven I ams, they have really been overlapping each other. He's saying who he is and he's using somewhat different words. And then some of the same words like we pointed out, uh, when we were doing, I am the life, uh, life appears in many of these, uh, but they all have some overlap. And together help paint a whole picture of who Jesus really is besides being able to just say, I am God. He's trying to describe to you and paint a picture for you. You know, as the shepherd, as the gate, as uh, as we're coming up, we're kind of behalf the vine. All these things aren't, this is the definitive picture of me is here's another facet, here's another piece. And they all work together into one big picture. Speaker 3 00:16:07 Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:16:08 I I think it's one of the many examples of Jesus' brilliance as a teacher because he's trying to describe heavenly spiritual truths in the kind confines of the human language. So he used a lot of parables and he used a lot of comparisons like, like the vine and the bread of life and things like that that people could relate to. So Speaker 3 00:16:33 Yeah, I want to go back to what you just said, mark. You know, if you have known me, you've known the father so many a time, we think, you know, the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament or New covenant. And you know, he's all wrath and punishment and judgment. And somehow suddenly when we come to, uh, the New Testament, he changes. And secondly, we also think that in fact, you know, I used to think like that. Right? Most of us are, when we think about Jesus, right, there's no fear. We like, okay, he's my friend, he's my shepherd. He went to the cross for me. So we can relate without fear with the Lord Jesus Christ. But when we think of God, especially the God of the Old Testament, the 10 Commandments and all the punishments of the old 10 uh, testament, we feel like, oh my God, God is somebody I need to be scared of. Speaker 3 00:17:22 But Jesus is okay. Right. You know, he's my friend. But, uh, in order to really know God, the only way in fact to know God, he is through our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus God the Father is exactly like Lord Jesus Christed. It says, you know, he who has known me has known the Father. And he who has seen me has seen the Father. In fact, God is a spirit, right? I think, you know, sometimes we think when we go to to heaven we will see God, but God is a spirit in a what form you can, um, put him in. You will still see Jesus in heaven. And we only see God through Jesus Christ, Stephen in heaven. So, um, so it's, uh, I think it's, uh, important to realize that I think, mark, I don't know we're going to say something. I think quite Speaker 2 00:18:08 No, I I I really like that point you made because like you said, so many people see the God of the Old Testament as this vengeful wrathful, you know, 10 Commandments movie voice booming and you know, but Jesus says no when you see me, you've seen him. Yeah. Yeah. That's the same loving, sacrificial servant is who God the Father is. And really that I, I've, I believe that that's a mistaken, uh, impression of the Old Testament cuz I've read it a couple times all the way through. And what re and I had that perception before I ever read the entire thing. And when I did read it, it struck me just how much grace is in the Old Testament as well. And everything God did with Israel who was under covenant law, and whatever happened to them, they deserved because they were living by the law. They said, yes, we can do it. And time after time, they turned away from him. But everything he did was always with the purpose of bringing them back to himself until he finally did that perfectly through the cross. Speaker 1 00:19:20 Oh, God says, I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. Speaker 3 00:19:23 Yep, exactly. Speaker 1 00:19:25 And he's the God of the Old Testament also says that we should call him Abba, which is the Jewish word the children use to call their father. And it means English. Closest meaning is daddy. You don't call somebody daddy who you're not close to who you fear. That's, that's reserved for someone whom you love and is dear to you. So I mean, it, it doesn't matter if you're talking to God or to Jesus or the Spirit, it's the same. They're the same and they've always been the same. Speaker 3 00:19:54 Yeah, they're the same. But in the Old Testament, we didn't have the full revelation of for Lord Jesus Christ. Even now, unless we come out of the law and under grace, we really can cannot see God for who he is. God is still the same, but our view of God changes as long as we are under the law and under the wages of sin, of course, you know, we feel the wrath of God. But the very reason He is the God of love is because, you know, he sent our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us from the wrath of God and from the punishment and from sin and the law. So to fully understand for who He's, we need to finish to accept the word that Lord Jesus Christ did for us. Speaker 2 00:20:39 And even I would, I would add this even when we were under that wrath because of the law, because we're all law, even in the midst of that, he still loved us. Of course, he had not yet become our father until the cross, but we were still the objects of his grace and love. That's the reason he sent Christ in the first place. So even when wrath existed in, in Old Testament times, he loved those people, wanted them to come to Christ. And everything he did in the Old Testament was pointing to that. It was a shadow of the good realities to come in Christ. Speaker 3 00:21:15 In fact, you know, one of, uh, the things our pastor always says is, uh, it in Revelation he loved us and washed us with his own blood and made us clean. He did not love us because he watched us, but because he loved us, he watched Speaker 2 00:21:30 Us. That's a good, uh, stipulation there, Ajay, in the past, I've heard you, um, say something, refresh our memories if you can. I know it was kind of a beloved theme of yours, how it's righteousness that brings life. Yeah. Do do you remember talking about that once or Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Remind us of that. Speaker 3 00:21:51 Yeah. So the words that you pointed out before, I think we can, there are several verses, but, uh, if you, uh, go to the same words that you're pointing, uh, Romans five 18, in fact, if you go back and, uh, read Roman chapter five, right? The second part of Roman chapter five is all about, uh, the contrast between what Adam did to us and what Christ did to us, right? Or Christ does offer to us. The only difference is what Adam did came to us automatically. I didn't have to choose death when Adams sin, the whole humanity died and death came upon us. So the consequence of sin is death. And the only way to be, um, delivered from the consequence of sin is that sin has to be removed from us. Right? The Bible says, behold the lamb of God, that takes over the sin of the world. Speaker 3 00:22:48 And when Cindy's not attached to us, then we become righteous. In other words, unless we are made righteous, we cannot have life. In fact, uh, the whole testament, the whole purpose of the law in due to in many places it says, if you obey all the commandments of the law, then you will be declared or deemed righteous. And they were not keeping the law just to be declared as righteous or to have a badge of honor. But the consequence or the, or the reward of the righteous is life. So that's why they were actually keeping the law so that they can become righteous and get the life as regard. So unless you are righteous, we cannot have life because of wages of sinh death. And, uh, and, uh, God cannot, you know, um, um, contradict himself, right? So the wages of Sinh death, that's the only way we can have life, is we should go from sin to righteousness. Speaker 3 00:23:48 And that's what, uh, uh, the cross is about, right? He took our sin. He knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. And where did we become righteous on the cross? And that is a reason God was able to raise Jesus from the dead. So he did not raise Jesus from the dead for himself because even before going to cross, he was with God with eternal, eternal life. So he raised Jesus from the dead as a reward of his righteousness so that we can be raised in him. So, and I think going back, I think the words that you just said, uh, is, uh, uh, Romans five 18, therefore, as through one man's often judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation. Even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men resulting in justification of life. So it's a justification that results in life. Without that righteousness, without the justification, we would still be dead. Speaker 2 00:24:48 Yeah. The reason I, uh, asked you to refresh our memories on that one is I found, well one you already know, but I found an Old Testament proverb that really hits it on the head. It's Proverbs 1228. It says, in the way of righteousness, there is life along that path is immortality. Yep. And then when you combine that with Romans eight 10, that says, but if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the spirit gives life because of righteousness. Yep. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you. Yep. That's, uh, so powerful and so clear, even our mortal bodies, Christ is so much life that even as we live with his spirit and it's now he's giving life to these mortal bodies, that one day he will bring true life when we're swallowed up by life and given a, a heavenly body that far surpasses this one. Speaker 3 00:25:56 Yeah. So Mark, just to again, I think that's a great point, right? So when we talk about righteousness, many people go back to work's righteousness, even among the gospel preachers when, when, um, anyone says righteousness, right? Immediately enough for them it is works righteousness. Okay, let us live a righteous life. You know, let us do righteous things. Speaker 2 00:26:17 Get rid of sin in your life. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:26:19 <laugh>, if we live a holy life, then you will have the gift of life or you will die, right? Otherwise you'll go to hell. But, uh, there is no way we can become righteous by works. It is so clear the whole Roman is about it. So the righteousness, the only righteousness that that we can have is the righteousness of Christ, that God himself prepared that righteousness for us and offers it as a gift. And when we receive that gift, then we have life. In fact, you know, if you go back one words Romans five 17, if by one man's softens death, reign through the one much more, those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life. You know, many people think of, uh oh, okay, what is a secret to holy life? What is a secret to living a God life? You know, it is right there in one verse, but I think most of us don't see it. It is those who receive the gift of righteousness will reign in life. You know, it's as simple as that. If we are reigning in life is basically living by the life of Lord Jesus Christ, his nature, his attributes will show up in us. Jesus does not sin. His life does not sin in us. So we don't have to be worried about sinning, so we will be reigning in life. Speaker 2 00:27:33 You made an awesome, well, many awesome points, Ajay, but one in particular that perplexes me as to why so many Christian leaders and preachers and just everyday laypeople spend so much time and energy and words on getting people to work for righteousness. There is only one righteousness that exists, and that's the righteousness of God. Martin Luther said that the only righteousness in his Latin term was, was, uh, extra nose means it comes from outside of us. It's an alien righteousness. So it's just pure futility for any Christian leader or Christian to try to help somebody else to live more holier, to get rid of sin in their life so they can be more righteous. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:28:23 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:28:23 That does nothing. In fact, you're, you're, you're shutting down the conduit of righteousness through what Christ did did for us by trying to bring your own flesh into Speaker 1 00:28:33 Paul's pretty clear about, uh, defining our righteousness as dirty rags. I believe we've used the term a lot like dirty diapers in comparison to what actual righteousness is. Like Speaker 2 00:28:47 AJ has the patent on that. So next time you use, you're gonna have to pay him Tim Speaker 3 00:28:50 <laugh> <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. Well, uh, one more point before we move off of this, right? Even those who understand righteousness as a gift, they're kind of limited to the point of salvation, right? To the gospel. They kind of make it more like a judicial righteousness that is attributed in God's court, right? And that's all. And then they think that, okay, now I have to, now that I'm righteous, I have to work on my own holiness. Now that I'm righteous, you know, I have to obey God and you know, work out my holiness. But the thing is, the Bible is clear again, if you receive the gift of righteousness, we will be reigning in life. It's not just a judicial righteousness where God sees us as righteous, and I am like, nothing happens to me. It's not like that. The more we own this righteousness, because the moment we receive the gift of righteousness, we also receive the gift of Holy Spirit and we receive Christ himself in us, and we have access to this life of Christ. Speaker 3 00:29:52 And the more we receive and rushed in this righteousness, we will start reigning in life. And in fact, the other day, again, our pastor said something awesome, holiness is the fruit of our righteousness. It's not something we work out separately. It's not that, oh, okay, in God's court, I'm righteous now, and now I have to work on my holiness. You with the help of my own flesh. You know, if you do that, the flesh will be triggered again and you will again go back under the law. There's no difference between living by the flesh or living under the law. It is still you are trying to do something. The moment you try to do something on your own, law kicks in and um, and then the result will be the same death. So only when we are rushed in the gift of righteousness, we will start reigning in life. In fact, the secret of holy life is a gift of righteousness. I think many do not connect those two dots. They think they see righteousness and holiness as separate things. Speaker 2 00:30:46 One of the sneaky things about trying to earn your own righteousness is that many do it grossly. They'll even come out and say that's what they're trying to do. But it's also subtle, many subconsciously are doing it just by their attitudes, the way they judge others that don't believe the way they do, the way they speak, the way they think, the guilt and condemnation they inflict on their self. They don't even realize that they're doing it. And uh, that's why I love the, you know, and the reason we named this, the unveiling is a veil isn't always thick and black. Sometimes it's very sheer and you don't even notice it's there. And you know, and so it's like a constant refining of our gospels and our thinking of transformation so that we can see Christ clearly. And sometimes those veils are thick black curtains. Other times we don't even know they're there. Speaker 2 00:31:42 And I gotta say my real in relationships with other believers, like I'm thankful I have the two of you guys who are out from under the law and not trying to earn your own righteousness by, by turning wholeheartedly to Christ because we hear it in each other better than we hear it in ourselves. Marriage is a great place when you have a husband and wife that both understand the gospel of God's grace. And me and my wife hear it all the time. I'll speak something out and she'll call me on it and you'll be, I'll be like, Ooh, you're right. That's the old way of thinking. That's not, that's not the gospel. So it's tricky, it's subtle, and I don't think any Christian is completely immune from it. If, if at least just subconsciously, Speaker 1 00:32:26 Mark, I agree with you completely, but I'm gonna bounce off of a point AJ made a little bit, uh, before you. Sure. And that is that, uh, we are, we are, we become the righteousness of Christ. And yet from the pulpit we hear that God cannot abide sin and that he will turn his back on us. But you know, it's, it's really a gift. God can't abide sin. So he gave us the righteousness of Christ. We can't do anything to take that righteousness of Christ away. That's another implication that we are always forgiven because we can never suly ourselves so that the Holy Spirit can't dwell within us. And I don't, I don't know why that doesn't become clear or seen by people who are preaching what appears on the outside now to be two different messages. Speaker 2 00:33:16 Yeah, Speaker 3 00:33:17 I think it's, uh, sorry. Uh, I think just to underst stems your point, why it becomes, uh, difficult because in this body, in this life, because of the flesh and our old way of thinking and the temptations of the devil, right? So we even after being born again, right, we do things that are sin, right? Considered as sin. When that happens, that's when I think the conflict begins. If I am righteous, you know, why am I still doing this? You know, a righteous man commits righteous acts. You know, why am I still sin? That's where I think we need to separate our identity from our actions, and we need to embrace by faith. God made me righteous without my works. So I cannot lose my righteousness also without my works. And the more we embrace the righteousness and the more we rest in the finished work, the more the life of, uh, Christ himself manifests in us. So as long as we are in this body, we'll have this flesh, but we also have the spirit of God living in us. So do we live by the life of Christ in us, or do we live by our flesh? You know, that is where the conflict comes. But uh, that's where I think, you know, we just have to take by faith what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us. Speaker 2 00:34:30 That's really the gerbil wheel we've talked about many times. Uh, Tim's preferred Rodin is hamster, hamster wheel. But, um, it's that if we're in that works mentality, when we sin, we're sinners. But wait a minute, we're complex people. We also do righteous things that doesn't make you righteous either. So if you're under a work thing, when you're doing something sinful, you feel like a sinner all guilty and con, self condemned and condemned by God, and then you do something righteous and Oh, look at me, man, I'm holy, I'm spiritual, I'm pious. That system doesn't work. That's the gerbil wheel because you might be able to uphold that righteousness for an hour or a minute, but then you're gonna hit. And so you got the struggle going back and forth, back and forth. And uh, that's what why Paul said, who's gonna rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God for the victory we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He takes us out of the hamster wheel and gives us everything. So we thank you for that, Lord. Speaker 3 00:35:35 So one of my favorite teachers told this, we don't judge those who are righteous in Christ, right? By the gift of righteousness. We don't judge our state based on our actions, but it's another way we judge our actions based on our state. Our state is permanent righteousness in Christ. So when we do something that is, does not align with our state, we judge the actions based on our state. I am righteous. You know, these things don't belong to me. Right? It's not the other way just because I committed something bad. I don't become a sinner because I am righteous when I do something that is sinful that doesn't really align with who I am. So we judge the actions based on our state. It's not the other way. Speaker 2 00:36:19 Yeah. I just got the picture of, of a duck, you know how water rolls off the back of a duck because he's a duck. And you know, when we're the righteousness of God, sin can't stick to us. It's already been moved as far as the east is from the west, and God doesn't, he has chosen not to remember it. So, so we're all ducks is my point. Speaker 1 00:36:41 Well guys, I'm looking at the clock and we're coming up on time here. So I want to give you guys a chance, as usual to summarize in your own ways. AJ, why don't you kick it off. Speaker 3 00:36:52 Yeah. Mark, I want to touch on, uh, something, uh, you said in closing you said this righteousness, it's not this self-righteousness trying to work out our own righteousness. It's not always, uh, clear and blatant, but sometimes it's subtle. One of the ways it shows up in a very, very subtle way, right, not in relation to others, but within ourselves is guilt and condemnation. So when we are feeling guilty and we are condemning ourselves, that is still a form of self-righteousness because you are still attributing that thing you did to your own ability. Oh, I'm supposed to do that. I didn't do it. And then you blame yourself. But the thing is, that thing that you're supposed to do already was laid on the cross and lodge. Jesus Christed paid for it, and the blood cleanses it. So it takes some time, uh, to get into that. But it is not where fear are following in guilt and condemnation. That's a form of self-righteousness still. So yeah, I think that's probably, I think the closing comment is, thank God for the gift of righteousness, right? The more we embrace, the more we live. Speaker 2 00:38:02 Yes. And that works out through our lives, intangible things that are the fruit of the spirit. So it's like we get our cake and our eat it, eat it too. When we let go of trying to do ourself and live in the spirit of Christ, those things start to come out of us as fruit. I just wanted to reiterate something I said at the beginning, after 47 episodes of this podcast, oh, servers and servers full of signal texts, <laugh>, and, and as deeply as we constantly talk and look into the gospel and search the scriptures, the more and more we do this, and the, the more podcasts we do and are reflecting on this contemplating the Lord's glory as Paul instructs us to do and really summarizes the Christian life, is that more and more so crystallized Jesus Christ and him crucified. Everything is a focus on him, not just a focus. Speaker 2 00:39:02 It is him. Like you said, you know, I am, I'm not gonna show you the way, I'm not gonna tell you the truth. I'm not gonna teach you how to get life. I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life. Everything is just, we can never go wrong. You know, even if we don't go to church, if we don't understand all scripture, we can never go wrong. If we make him our only focus, our joy, our all in all, and we turn our eyes to him and just commune with him, talk to him, get to know Him. It's just, and it's a joy. That's a joy trying to do it myself by my works and earn it. That's, that's, that's just exhausting and futile. So that's all I have to say. Jesus and him crucified. Speaker 1 00:39:49 Amen. Speaker 3 00:39:50 Yeah. Take your eyes off of yourself and look at Jesus. That's all we need to do. Speaker 1 00:39:54 Yeah. Well, guys, that's been a great episode and I will iterate, uh, something that I've heard both of you kind of say. The more and more and more we study, we talk, we converse. It's amazing how much we started this podcast because we wanted to help people learn the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We wanted to teach the one true gospel that the message of grace and of Jesus Christ. But we, I get more out of this every week than I think any of our listeners ever will. Digging into the word, uh, studying, trying to make sure I understand things I'm learning, I'm learning so much. And it really does always come down to that one simple statement. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth to life. It's all about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I mean, these little statements sprinkled throughout the New Testament and the little glimpses of it in the Old Testament, it, it's clearer and clearer and clearer to me all of the time. Well, guys, time's up for tonight. Uh, next week we are gonna finish up this series with our number seven, which is Jesus is the Vine. And for aj, mark, and myself, we thanks for you listening to us this time, and we look forward to talking to you again the next time. Speaker 1 00:41:17 Tim, again, thanks for listening today. We hope you were blessed by today's message. If so, we encourage you to subscribe and share our podcast with your friends and family. Our entire catalog of episodes can be found on our website at www.theunveiledgospel.com. Or you can listen and subscribe on most popular podcast apps. If you have any feedback or questions, you can send us an email to the unveiled gospel yahoo.com. You can reach out to us on our Facebook page, the Unveiling Podcast, or you can leave a questionnaire, comment on our listener line, 3 5 2 3 9 8 0 0 8 9. Maybe you'll hear yourself on a future episode. That's it for today. As always, God bless and we will talk to you the next time.