Salvation's 33 Blessings - 01

[0:00] I do not know how long it is going to take us to get through this, but I decided that it would be the better part of wisdom for us to at least begin it and get as far as we can.

[0:13] And who knows, we may be facing an undertaker or we may be facing an uppertaker. The latter would be preferred, but that too is within the Lord's hand.

[0:25] So we're going to examine this, Salvation's 33 Blessings, put together by Dr. Louis Ferry Chafer. For those of you who do not know it, he was the founder and the first president of Dallas Theological Seminary, which to this day remains probably the largest non-denominational type seminary in the world.

[0:47] It was a seminary upon which I had set my sights when I graduated from Cedarville College back in 1962.

[0:58] And I had planned to go to Dallas Seminary to further my education. But as the saying goes, the money kept going and the babies kept coming.

[1:11] So I never did get there. And in a way I've regretted that. But at the same time, I have availed myself of several of the, practically all of the volumes that the seminary faculty there has been able to produce over the last 50 years.

[1:30] And they line the shelves of my library, along with classics from the Puritans back in the 1600s, 1700s. So on my bookshelves are my best friends located there that I've enjoyed for many, many decades.

[1:46] And the writing of Dr. Chafer and his systematic theology occupies a premier place. This is a listing of 33 blessings.

[1:58] And they are spiritual blessings. And when we call them spiritual blessings, it is important to understand that they are not associated or connected with feelings.

[2:10] We're not talking about feelings. We're not talking about feeling anything. We're talking about realities, but they are not emotions. Many times, when a person comes to faith in Christ, and I am an example of that, on my wedding day on December 8, 1956, when I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ, I, for some time thereafter, questioned the reality of that decision because I didn't really feel anything.

[2:45] And I've heard people give testimonies about having come to faith in Christ. And they had a huge emotional feeling.

[3:00] Some wept and cried, tears of joy. Some said that they felt like a great relief had been taken off of their shoulders, that they felt cleansed, that they felt clean, that they felt new, that they felt this, that they felt forgiven.

[3:14] And I did not dispute any of those things. But I didn't feel any of that. And when I got up off my knees after just stumbled, bumbling through a prayer, the likes of which I'd never prayed in my life because the only prayer I knew was now I lay me down to sleep.

[3:34] That was the only prayer I knew. And I just stumbled through this prayer. And I got up off my knees and the pastor said, welcome to the family of God.

[3:47] And I said, is that it? Is that it? And he said, Marvin, did you believe what you said?

[3:58] Did you mean what you said in your prayer? And I said, yes, yes, of course. Of course I meant it. He said, well, then God has saved you.

[4:08] Welcome to the family of God. And I said, okay. That's good. And I didn't feel a great flood of emotion. I didn't feel cleansed.

[4:19] I didn't feel saved. I didn't feel happy. I didn't feel anything. And afterwards, when I would hear other people give their testimony of what they felt, I thought, gee, that didn't happen to me.

[4:35] And right away, the adversary and his henchmen hit me with, well, actually, you probably aren't saved. You probably really didn't mean it.

[4:45] It probably didn't take with you. And you have these doubts, you know, and you begin worrying and wondering about it. Did I believe right? Did I believe enough? Was I sincere enough?

[4:57] Why didn't I feel this? Why didn't I feel that? And, fellas, you need to know, and I can tell you that only after many years of experience, these are all common feelings. They're all common emotions.

[5:09] And we are all wired differently. And some of us feel some things very deeply, very emotionally, with a lot of attention, a lot of feelings and everything.

[5:21] And some of us don't. And we're wired differently. But the important thing is what really happens. And the basis for believing and understanding that is what God has revealed in his words.

[5:33] So we're just going to work our way through these. And I want you to feel perfectly free to raise any questions that you may have about any of the statements that are made. Because this is simply Dr. Schaefer's estimation of these things, accompanied with the scripture verses that he references.

[5:54] And we will look at them and you'll have opportunity to add to them or to ask questions about them. Did you know that 33 things happened to you at the moment you became a believer in Jesus Christ?

[6:10] Lewis Ferry Schaefer, the first president of Dallas Seminary, listed these benefits of salvation in his Systematic Theology, Volume 3.

[6:23] Here, dear. This is yours. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. You bet. And we are beneficiaries of his efforts and what he has put together here.

[6:35] These points, along with brief explanations, give the born-again Christian a better understanding of the work of grace accomplished in his life, as well as a greater appreciation of his new life.

[6:51] First of all, number one, in the eternal plan of God, the believer is foreknown, Acts 2.23, 1 Peter 1, 2 and 20.

[7:05] God knew from all eternity every step in the entire program of the universe. Now, right away, we are confronted with a decision that we have to make about all of these references.

[7:22] And I don't want us to spend all of our time just flipping pages through the Bible looking up these references. But we are simply going to, for the sake of those who are listening by audio and don't have this sheet in front of them, I'm simply going to list these references so that they will have them and be able to look them up wherever they are or wherever they're listening from at their leisure.

[7:49] And you can look them up if you want as we go through these and ask any questions that you may have about what is in the verse or a different interpretation of it or whatever.

[8:01] But the first one that begins is, the believer is foreknown. Well, that ought to be a given. Foreknown simply means to know beforehand.

[8:13] We don't really foreknow anything. We have a lot of expectations about things that we think are going to happen.

[8:24] But we all know that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. So what we sometimes think we know and expect to happen doesn't come to pass.

[8:35] Because we don't have a handle on that. We have expectations, but we have no guarantee that those expectations are going to come to pass. It doesn't work that way with God. Because nothing is hidden from his understanding.

[8:50] He is the God of the past, of the present, and of the future. He is referred to as the eternal I am. By the way, let me just inject something here. This is one of the telltale evidences of the eternality of the person of Jesus Christ.

[9:08] Who said in John 8, and I think it's verse 58, at the end of his little discourse, he said, Before Abraham was, I am.

[9:20] And the expression that is used there has to deal with a very present situation. Not past, not future, but eternal present. He's not saying, Before Abraham, well, when was Abraham?

[9:33] Abraham was 2,000 years before Jesus Christ walked upon this earth. And he said, Before Abraham was, I am. He didn't say, Before Abraham was, I was.

[9:46] But I am. He's the eternal I am. There is no point in the sphere of eternity where he was not. He is before all things, and by him all things consist.

[9:58] So his eternality is set forth immediately, and that is part of his foreknowing. References given are Acts 2, 23, 1 Peter 1, verses 2 and 20.

[10:11] God knew from all eternity, God knew from all eternity, every step in the entire program of the universe. In order for him to be omniscient, that has to be true of him.

[10:27] Omniscience, big word. The first part of it is omni, O-M-N-I, simply means all. It conveys the idea of completeness or entirety.

[10:39] Omni. And the omniscience that follows is a word from which we get the word science. And it means to know.

[10:49] So you put the omni and the science together, and it means to know everything. To know all. All-knowing. He is not a suspecting God.

[11:00] He is a knowing God. Nothing escapes his knowledge. Then we are told that everyone is predestinated. Romans 8, 29 and verse 30.

[11:15] A believer's destiny has been appointed through foreknowledge to the unending realization of all God's riches of grace.

[11:26] Now this is a word, big 25 cent theological word, that has created a lot of disagreement within the body of Christ.

[11:37] Predestination, foreknowledge, election, etc. And I struggled with this for many, many years. About predestination and foreknowledge and God's choosing and God's passing over, etc.

[11:55] And this is one of the five principles of what is referred to as classic Calvinism. John Calvin, who lived in the 1500s, was a theologian who's written many books, made a great contribution to the cause of Christ.

[12:13] But at the same time, he was just like us, just a human being, put his pants on the same way we do, one leg at a time. And he was a very brilliant individual, but he, like all the rest of us, functioned, wrote, studied with limited ability.

[12:30] We all have that. We all have a very limited ability and limited understanding. And he came up with a concept. Well, it was, I don't know if he actually came up with it, but it was assigned to him later, which is referred to as the tulip principle, T-U-L-I-P.

[12:47] And the T stands for total depravity. That means that man is utterly incapable, because of his depravity, to save himself or to justify himself.

[13:07] That he is a flawed creature, and his depravity, his nature with which he is born, the Adamic nature with which he is born, makes him unable to make himself acceptable to a holy God.

[13:27] He is utterly depraved. That means help. It doesn't mean that a man is as bad as he can be. And that's what we usually think of when we talk about somebody who is depraved. We think of some vile monster type person.

[13:41] No, somebody said total depravity doesn't mean that a man is as bad as he can be. But it does mean that man is as bad off as he can be.

[13:56] Helpless, helpless, weak, unable to rectify his position. And that is, that sphere of weakness is dependent upon an outside source acting and moving upon you so as to enable you to do something that you could not do before.

[14:23] And what does it enable you to do? It enables you to believe. Because apart from God's enabling power, you cannot believe. This was the basic idea of Calvinism that God elects or selects some.

[14:38] He chooses some on what criteria or what basis we are not told to be redeemed and recipients of his salvation.

[14:49] And others he has not chosen. He has simply passed over or ignored them. And you may think that choosing Christ was your decision, but it wasn't.

[15:05] It was God's decision that enabled you to make that choice. So it all starts with him. That's the basis of election. And there is another group that, of course, disagrees with that.

[15:18] And it was founded by Jacobus Arminius. And he is an Arminian. He was a Dutchman who took exception to what Calvin stated and said that man is responsible.

[15:32] And man can believe if he chooses to believe or he can refuse if he chooses to refuse. And I struggled with that for years. And I can remember arguing about it in class, pro and cons.

[15:46] And I don't know how many times my position has changed back and forth from one to another over the years. But I did come to a subtle conclusion that satisfies me.

[15:58] I'm not expecting or asking it to satisfy anybody else. But it does satisfy me and has given me a lot of peace. And I found great comfort in it. So I'll just share that with you.

[16:09] And it is simply this. There is a sense in which we are in Christ. And the phrase is used repeatedly by the Apostle Paul.

[16:23] And I hope you gain this from this study by Dr. Chaffer. Because you'll be bringing it out also. And the article that I shared with you, What's His Is Ours, also elaborates on this idea.

[16:37] And what it boils down to, guys, and this is incredible. This is something that only God could or would orchestrate. And that is that to be in Christ, the phrase that is so often used, means that Jesus Christ is yours and you are His.

[16:59] And it doesn't make any difference how you feel about it. If your faith and trust is in Jesus Christ, that's true of you. And because you are in Him, you are what He is.

[17:17] His righteousness. Now I ask you this. How righteous is Jesus Christ? His righteousness is bestowed upon you.

[17:36] So that when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, you are not possessing your righteousness, which is unacceptable and flawed.

[17:48] But you now possess the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. That is your position. It is not your practice.

[18:02] Your practice and performance remains flawed. Because even though you are in Christ, and that is your spiritual position, you still possess that old Adamic nature with which you were born.

[18:19] That includes your fallenness. It includes your faults and your flaws and your sins and everything else. God did not remove that from you.

[18:30] But what He did do is He placed His righteousness into you, infused it into you, so that Christ's righteousness becomes your righteousness.

[18:44] Not earned, not deserved, but possessed. As a gift. Not worked for, as a gift. Given to you, freely.

[18:57] There is an old hymn. It's fashioned in the south. I think it came out of the slave fields. Were you there when they crucified our Lord?

[19:12] Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross? Were you there when He rose up from the grave? What's all that saying?

[19:24] It's saying that there is a profound theological reality involved there. When it says, were you there? Were you there? We say, well, of course I wasn't there.

[19:35] That was 2,000 years ago. I wasn't there. Well, if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you were there. You died with Christ.

[19:47] You rose with Christ. You ascended with Christ. You are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We look at that and we say, what are you, crazy?

[20:01] I'm not seated with Christ in the heavenlies. I'm seated here at Studebaker's restaurant having breakfast, listening to you tell this wild story about being crucified with Christ.

[20:13] Well, fellas, there are two different ways of looking at things. We can look at them from the human standpoint. We can look at them from the divine standpoint.

[20:24] And you've got to take into consideration which is being considered. And by the way, I just happen to have another handout for you next week that lays this out beautifully. And it too is one of my keep forever articles.

[20:37] But I don't want to flood you with these, but I'll give that to you next week. So, guys, what it means is when Paul said, Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ.

[20:50] Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, as opposed to the one I used to live in the flesh, I live by the faith or faith of or faith in Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for me.

[21:09] Guys, this is called positional truth. That means this is your actual, factual, legal position in the eyes, mind, and heart of God.

[21:26] You are in Christ. Everything that is His is yours. You are an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. What's His is yours.

[21:39] And we look at that and we say, well, I don't know. I just can't fathom. Well, I can't fathom it either. But our reason for believing it is not because you feel it and not because it's wish fulfillment, but because this is that beautiful, wonderful thing called positional truth.

[21:58] It is the way God views you as the way you view you. We are told in 2 Corinthians 5 that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself and has given unto us the ministry of reconciliation to wit.

[22:16] This amazing concept. Therefore, we are in Christ. And Paul goes on to say, we are given the very righteousness that we might be made or become the righteousness of God in Him.

[22:36] Guys, that's your legal position. If you show up at the judgment seat with one single sin assigned to your account, you're sunk.

[22:59] You're bound for hell. Just one sin. Because one sin in the presence of the Almighty would contaminate His presence to the extent that He cannot abide it.

[23:14] But in Christ, you possess not your righteousness, which is completely unacceptable, because all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

[23:29] But Christ's righteousness is perfect, complete, entire, flawless. That's the righteousness He gives to you as a gift.

[23:42] You didn't have it coming. That's what makes it so wonderful. It's a gift. You don't deserve it. You don't earn it. It's a free gift. And it is yours for the taking.

[23:56] It is an amazing thing. And, fellas, this is a concept that would absolutely free so many believers in Christ from the anxiety, the lack of assurance, the worry, the fret, the strain, all the rest of it.

[24:18] It would free them from all of that and allow them to enjoy what Jesus meant when He said, If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.

[24:32] There is liberty of freedom involved in this that all too many of God's people really do not enjoy.

[24:45] Most of us go through a period of doubt, of wondering, have I done this enough? Have I done that enough? Am I really saved it? God really saved blah, blah, blah.

[24:55] And that's all natural. That's all normal. Because it's such a tremendous transaction with such incredible consequences that we sometimes have trouble believing it's really happened to us, you know?

[25:09] But if you get a handle on this positional truth, you will understand that is the way God sees you. And when He looks at you, robed in the righteousness of Christ, He does not see you in your past, in your sin, in your failure, in your faults, in your misgivings and everything else.

[25:27] He sees you as perfectly clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And in Him we are forgiven all trespasses.

[25:40] Colossians 1. All trespasses. Why? Because Jesus paid it all. And He assigns to you the righteousness that belongs to Jesus Christ.

[25:55] So you do not stand before Him in your righteousness. You stand before Him in the righteousness of Christ. That is so amazing. So that's total depravity or inability to save ourselves.

[26:10] But when we exercise that faith and volition in Christ, we are saved. And then the U in the tulip is unconditional election.

[26:24] And that's where I have a real sticking point. And I'll just explain it to you as briefly as I can. Because unconditional election means that completely apart from your choice at all, God selected or elected you.

[26:40] And it was not upon any conditions, not upon anything you did or didn't do. It was God's sovereign choice. And unconditional election means you didn't have anything to do with it.

[26:51] You say, well, I did too. I believe. No, you didn't believe. Jesus Christ enabled you to believe. That's the extreme Calvinist point of unconditional election.

[27:03] You may think that you believe that it was your decision. But it wasn't your decision. It was God moving, enabling you to make that decision because He gave you the ability to do it.

[27:14] And if He hadn't done so, you wouldn't have made it. So you are elected Him. That's the idea of unconditional election. And the L in the TULIP stands for limited atonement, which means that when Jesus Christ died on that cross, He did not die for everybody.

[27:36] He only died for the elect. He only died for those who would come to faith in Christ.

[27:47] And for those whom He did not elect, they are all bound for hell, and that's what they deserve. But God elected you, and He did so without your believing or your consenting or anything else.

[28:03] That's called unconditional election. And the I is called irresistible grace. The grace of God came to you and overpowered you because you couldn't resist it.

[28:19] In other words, when the claims of Christ were presented to you, you may have rejected them initially, but eventually you came around and you submitted because God's grace is irresistible.

[28:34] You couldn't resist it, even if you wanted to. And if you didn't want to, it didn't matter because you were selected, elected, and God's grace, you could not resist.

[28:48] You had to say yes to Christ because you weren't able to say no. And P in the tulip stands for perseverance of the saints.

[29:00] That means if you are a saint, if you are a saint, it's simply someone who is set apart. A saint is someone who is taken, lifted out of the world of humanity, moved over here, and placed down in this new entity called the body of Christ.

[29:20] And that is the concept of being in Christ, you will persevere because you are in Christ.

[29:33] and that means you will, you will sustain whatever the world has to throw at you and overcome it because you will persist to the end of salvation.

[29:46] So, that was what I bought into as an early Christian, all of those things that I just shared with you, and I accepted them. And do you know the main reason I accepted them?

[29:57] I'll be honest with you. The main reason that I accepted all of those things was because my heroes accepted them long ago.

[30:12] For instance, one of my heroes, and I've got just about everything he wrote, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. I don't know that anybody ever delivered the word of God like C.H. Spurgeon.

[30:26] Back in the 1800s in Great Britain, incredible man, incredible teacher, incredible preacher, and he was a thoroughgoing Calvinist. And John Calvin himself, brilliant man.

[30:41] Many others, as I look over my library, so many of those bought this whole concept of election because there are places, plenty of them, in the Bible that seem to teach this.

[30:55] But over the years, and struggling with this, and I went back and forth and I looked at it and I thought, good night. Mark, who do you think you are? You're going to contradict Charles Haddon Spurgeon?

[31:12] Somebody whose library you've got? You know, all of these, all of these pilgrim writers? Who do you think you are anyway? Well, you can't, you can't, you can't go contrary to what these men believed.

[31:25] These were, these were great men of God. What are you? Who are you? You're, you're just an obscure preacher in an obscure church in an obscure town in an obscure, and, and yet, I did come to grips with the idea that, like for instance, the unlimited, the you, the unconditional election, and the limited atonement.

[31:51] What are you going to do with that? I struggled with that. And I, by the way, that's why even from the beginning, I was known, I was known as a four-point Calvinist.

[32:02] Because I just could not buy all five points. And, of course, my Calvinist friends, and I still have many Calvinist friends, they just haven't seen the light yet.

[32:13] But, but they say, well, Wiseman, if you're a four-point Calvinist, you're not a Calvinist at all. You've got to be five-point. And one of those five points is unlimited, or the L is limited atonement.

[32:28] Which simply says, Christ did not die for the whole world. He only died for those who are elect, for those who are ultimately going to be saved.

[32:41] Well, what about all the rest of the people? He didn't die for them. They didn't believe and they couldn't believe because they were not elect. But what are you going to do with, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

[33:00] What are you going to do with that? Well, the Calvinist standard answer was that he died for the sins of the whole world, but that means the Christian world.

[33:17] Oh, where does it say that? I didn't see that word Christian in there. Well, it's implied. It's supposed to be there, and it is there in meaning, even though it isn't there actually.

[33:34] God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, what, what is this? Whosoever.

[33:45] That means whosoever of the elect. oh. Well, fellas, words mean things, and we don't have the right to tinker with the meaning that is assigned to it and has been assigned to it all over these years.

[34:07] Christ died for the sins of the world, and that means everybody. That brings up an interesting concept, and I haven't too much time, I don't think, to go into it, but let me deal with it at least, at least superficially, and that is that the propitiation that Christ made, the sacrifice that Christ made, the price that he paid, was sufficient or more than sufficient in its positive aspect to overcome the negative aspect of human sin that began in the garden back in chapter 3 of Genesis.

[35:02] And it is a it is a it is a glorious thing to consider that Christ dying for the sins of the entire world simply provides the basis for the salvation of anybody and everybody and no one is excluded.

[35:27] That simply means that the vilest person who ever believed, who ever lived, and who would who would that be?

[35:39] Well, we think of we think of Hitler and we think of Mao Zedong and we think of people like that we think of Jack the Ripper and we think of people who were murderers and so on and the Apostle Paul thought of himself that he was a violent persecutor and one who was considered to be as bad off as he could be that the death of Christ and what it accomplished was more than sufficient more than adequate to pay for the sin debt of the entire world and that's exactly what he did.

[36:27] That's exactly what he did. He paid the sin debt for all of humanity which means that the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Christ a pardon receives.

[36:49] if that is not true then the price that Jesus Christ paid his propitiation was not adequate was not great enough to care for the vilest of sinners which means in effect that the sinfulness of man out sinned and outweighed the ability of Christ to cover it and to atone for it.

[37:24] And I am here to tell you that when Jesus said it is finished he meant it is finished. The debt is paid in full for everybody and what that does is it makes everyone savable savable.

[37:47] Please get the distinction between everyone being saved and everyone being savable. The difference is tremendous.

[38:00] Not everyone is saved but everyone is savable and if not then Jesus didn't pay it all. Maybe he just paid most of it.

[38:13] No. He paid it all. and that through the way of access wide open to whosoever will may come.

[38:26] Even the vilest offender. We look at that and we say but there are so many people so wicked and so evil they don't deserve to be saved.

[38:41] you do. You do. You do. No. None of us do. That's why grace that's why grace is so important.

[38:56] Grace is dispensed not on the basis of your desserts. It's dispensed on the basis of the grace the goodness and the mercy of God.

[39:06] question over here. When you were talking about that whosoever will I immediately thought of Joseph Stalin or Hitler and all the millions of people that they're responsible for.

[39:25] I'm trying to picture one of these guys sitting or standing and asking for forgiveness. It's pretty hard to imagine.

[39:37] It is. It is. In fact for us humans I'd say it's well not impossible to imagine. We look at these vile vile multi-murdering individuals with vile deceitful hearts who never did anything really good for mankind and we look at them and we say you mean to tell me that if Joseph Stalin on his deathbed and by the way you're probably not aware of this but Joseph Stalin in his earlier years was trained in a theological school.

[40:23] Where did that change? Where did he go wrong? Well fellas I doubt very seriously I doubt very very seriously that we'll see Joseph Stalin in heaven but I'm here to tell you this the price that Jesus Christ paid on that cross would have made that possible not probable not probable but possible why?

[40:53] Because if it isn't then Joseph Stalin succeeded in out sinning the grace and mercy of God and that's intolerable that's intolerable there is a huge difference between being savable and being saved and the price that Jesus Christ paid you mean to tell me that the death that the death of one man could pay the sin debt for billions of people that's crazy well I guess that is crazy that is crazy but if you word it this way that the death of one God man Jesus wasn't just a man he was the God man he was

[41:54] Emmanuel God with us God incarnated God was in Christ it was and how is it possible that this one individual could make that payment of that magnitude it was all related to who he was and his credentials what were his credentials number one he was sinless that enabled he who knew no sin to be made sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him fellas it is because Jesus was who he was on that cross that he was able to do what he did and that is he paid the sin debt for all eternity because he made an infinite sacrifice and how great was our sin that too was infinite but the payment that was made was more than enough to cancel the sin debt this guys this is why it's called the gospel this is why it's called good news this is it this is the good news

[43:24] God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself this meant everybody was savable because the sin debt that was paid was more than enough to cover the bill think of that that is that is that is priceless absolutely priceless did somebody have a comment or question yes it it's hard for me to wrap my head around for Jacob think about the Calvinistic doctrine yeah yeah okay those that makes sense yeah absolutely that's a very good question Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated what does that mean I thought God didn't I thought God loved everybody how is it that he hated Esau what's this all about it's tied to the part and parcel of an expression used in first century among the

[44:31] Jews and it is set forth as a relative thing and it is intended to convey that way Jesus said unless you follow me and love me and a man hates not his relatives etc he cannot be my disciple what is that about Jesus is telling us we're supposed to hate somebody no no no no that's that's our English interpretation and way of looking at it when he talks about love and hatred he's talking on a comparison basis and he's saying that if you love me keep my commandments and and the concept is a relative thing that our love for Jesus Christ is to be compared as hatred in our love for everything else what does that mean it means he's number one he's number one by comparison everything in comparison to our love for

[45:36] Christ is to be as hate to others so you could be sure do you think do you think that Jesus is going to say love your enemies well now how does that square with hate well it doesn't square and that's why guys this is a perfect example and I appreciate you bringing that up Jeff because it means that to interpret any passage of scripture any verse of scripture it must be interpreted in the light of and in connection with everything else in the Bible this is why I say guys everything in the Bible is connected to everything in the Bible it's all interrelated and the more you are able to see and appreciate the connections the more light you will have to understand and the more light you'll have to live in and to enjoy this is this is this is the whole rationale for

[46:41] Bible study guys from my part this is why we're here this is why we're here I hope none of us look upon this as well it's a little religious exercise and a good way to start the day baloney baloney we are here to learn so that we might know so that we can appreciate so that we can so that we can it's just part and parcel of our being and you know what this is all called what this is all about it's spiritual growth it's development it's growing on the inside it is gaining a greater appreciation for who and what you are in Christ so the hatred thing and we could elaborate on that and develop if it's not satisfactory with what I've given you we can explore it more but we won't have time now anything else anybody okay we can look at that next week go ahead Larry yeah yeah absolutely get in touch get plugged in there is so much to appreciate and fellas it is freeing it is liberating this is part it's just a part of what

[48:10] Jesus meant when he says if the son sets you free you shall be free indeed because apart from Jesus men and women are in bondage and they don't even know it part of being in bondage is being clueless they don't even have a clue that they don't have a clue wow that goes back to not as bad as you can be but as bad off as you can be that's a pretty bad position to be in and it's it's the entrance of thy word that gives light well why is that needed darkness darkness darkness that's why light darkness hey guys do you really have any trouble believing that this world is bathed in moral and spiritual darkness have you heard five minutes of today's news have you read the front page of the newspaper

[49:25] I mean good grief what does it take to wake some people to reality this is not the way things are supposed to be why not why is it that way it's a fallen world it's darkness darkness but if the sun sets you free you shall be free indeed and have the light of life man this gospel is it is it is beyond comprehension but the more the more we learn of it the more we will appreciate it and the more we'll respond to it hey guys thanks for being here this morning I really appreciate your attention