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[0:00] I never, some of you know this, some of you don't, but I never met my biological father. I missed him just by about 10 or 15 minutes when I was just home from basic training back in 1954.

[0:18] And I didn't get to meet him then. But he died of his one and only heart attack.

[0:30] At the age of 42. And he didn't have any idea that he even had a heart problem. So when I hit my 40s, I became a little bit concerned.

[0:43] And when I hit my 50s, I became even more concerned. And then when I was in my 60s, I thought, well, I sure didn't expect to be around this long. What's the answer anyway?

[0:53] And I just came to the conclusion that I must have gotten my mother's heart instead of my father's heart. And, you know, this whole process of conception and birth and everything, every one of them is a miracle.

[1:08] It's just all over again. There's nothing more amazing than the human body and the God who engineered it and put it together. And you saw that from one of the earlier handouts that I gave you.

[1:20] So, long story short, we are all indestructible until God is finished with us. And when God is finished with us on this earth, what would you want to hang around for anyway?

[1:31] And that's pretty much the way I feel. And I think that's the Christian way of approaching it. We live and serve and have our being at his pleasure. And when he's finished with us, this world's got nothing more to offer.

[1:44] And it's time to move on. And I pretty much thought that time would come for me. And I cannot tell you what an incredible peace and resolve that it afforded me.

[1:58] And if the Lord gives us more time, there's some other things that I want to share with you about this amazing peace and the position that we have in Christ. And we still want to get underway with these 33 things that we enjoy as a result of what God has provided for us through Christ.

[2:17] And I'm not real sure how far we'll get through them, but we'll do what we can. And they are so marvelous and so soul-strengthening and so peace-giving and so settling and so comforting.

[2:31] It's just part of the package that God has provided for us. So I look forward to sharing those with you as far as we get. And we may get all the way through them and we may not. But whatever it is, my material is there.

[2:45] And what I'm going to do this morning, and I just scribbled down some notes here, which I'll probably ignore as time goes on. But I just want to revisit the subject that we started before we were interrupted.

[3:05] And it had to do with God being spirit and how he has made us and what he has provided for us. And we've elaborated on that a little bit.

[3:17] We just didn't even scratch the scratch on the surface. But I feel that we've got some unexplained things that we need to tend to, and we'll do our best to do that. But I just wanted to remind you, in case you didn't hear about it, I just catch a little bit of news this morning.

[3:35] And I thought this was quite remarkable. And it, in an indirect way, ties to my mother and father. And the fact that Wayne, my dad, was 21 and my mom was 19.

[3:54] And the hormones were raging. And they couldn't keep their hands off of each other and that kind of thing. And as a result, I became that love child. That was 1935.

[4:09] And that was back in the day when it was considered terribly morally embarrassing for the family to have a child born out of wedlock.

[4:22] Today, of course, there's an entirely different attitude about that. And in connection with that and my own testimony and what's taking place in our world today, I want to share a couple of things with you.

[4:36] And the reason I'm doing so is just because of a brief article that I caught on the news this morning. And I thought, that's really telling. Consider, guys, that since 2022, just within the last year, there have been 87.

[4:58] That's an 8 and a 7. There have been 87 attacks on pro-life institutions and services.

[5:13] Primarily, the pregnancy resource clinics. 87 of them attacked. How many attacks have there been on the pro-abortion centers?

[5:31] Any guess, anybody? Zero. Zero. Yeah, zero. Zero. Now, that should tell you something about the mentality of the people who are carrying out these attacks, as opposed to those who are protesting peacefully, demonstrating, pleading with people not to sacrifice their baby.

[5:56] There is a tremendous disparity here. And this whole abortion thing is wildly, wildly misunderstood.

[6:07] While some go to the ultimate extreme of calling it women's health care, which is total garbage.

[6:20] Because, guys, words mean things. Don't ever forget that. Words mean things. And what is really at the core of this abortion movement, and always has been, but I never hear anybody mention it.

[6:37] I don't even hear the pro-life people mentioning it. But understand, and I'm going to make this as clear as I can, what is really at the bottom of the pro-abortion thing.

[6:50] The whole nine yards can be reduced to three letters. It's sex. Understand that? This is all about sex.

[7:01] It is all about the demand that people have for the freedom and the ability to engage in sexual relations outside of marriage or inside of marriage, but not having the issue gummed up, messed up with a baby or pregnancy.

[7:26] And here I am talking about something like this, and I'm the result of one of those. But that does not justify it. That does not make what my mom and dad did okay.

[7:38] Because I'm here, and therefore, that makes it fine. And some of you might even say, along with me, that we're grateful that mom and dad took that liberty, otherwise I wouldn't be here.

[7:54] But that's beside the point. And what I'm saying is, we cannot expect, guys, this problem, this issue is so big, we cannot expect those who are not in tune with God through regeneration to have the standards of those who do.

[8:18] And my mom and dad didn't have those standards either. Neither of them were believers at the time, and I still don't know to this day whether my father was, whether I'll see him in heaven or not. I have no reason to believe that I will, but I don't know.

[8:31] I don't know. So anyway, what this whole issue is about has to do with sexual freedom. And that's the one thing that I never hear anybody discussing on either side of the issue.

[8:45] And yet that's exactly what it boils down to. People want to be able to engage in sexual activity, which is wonderful. Hey, those of you who are married, sex is pretty neat, isn't it?

[8:58] You better believe it. It's a gift of God. And there's nothing dirty about it, but it has parameters. It has boundaries. And guys, keep this in mind because it's a truth that will serve you well.

[9:13] It's an ugly truth, but it's a truth. And that is, God has not given us, as humans, any good thing that we cannot corrupt.

[9:27] That's a sad truth. And that simply, again, brings into consideration this thing called volition and our responsibility and our will and the use of it, the exercise of it and everything.

[9:41] And the whole ball of wax is very, very involved. But that's precisely what this thing is all about. And I just wish people understood it more because bottom line is people want the freedom, whether married or single, they demand the freedom to engage in sexual activity without their life and future being complicated by a pregnancy resulting from that.

[10:11] And that's how they have arrived at the idea that abortion is a right. It is a human right. And that's what they call it. And they're just exercising their rights and so on.

[10:22] So I just wanted to get that off my chest. And I feel a lot better now. But I hope that you'll remember that. Okay. We're talking about revisiting the fact.

[10:34] And I started this, I think, three or four weeks ago. And we've got through two parts, but we didn't get it finished. And probably won't this morning either. But I'm going to cut it off here regardless. We've talked about God being spirit, which means God is immaterial.

[10:51] God does not have a physical body. And in this spirit form, which none of us understand, but which all of us possess, because we all have a human spirit.

[11:06] That's the immaterial part of our being. And guys, it is just as real as your physical body, with which you have no difficulty understanding as to its existence, because it is so obvious.

[11:25] But the immaterial is not all that obvious, and it tends to kind of be outside out of mind. And yet, you are made in the image and likeness of God, and that means that there is something about the deity that indwells us in a way that we don't understand.

[11:44] But we know that we have a human spirit, and it is our spirit that bears witness with his spirit that we are children of God, and so on. This immaterial part of our being is the boss.

[11:59] It's the boss of your body, whether you realize it or not. And whereas the Bible makes a great deal of the word mind, the noose, the mind, it never mentions even once the brain.

[12:18] And that suggests to me that whereas the brain is physical, you can weigh it and evaluate it and measure it, the mind is not physical.

[12:32] It is immaterial. And many in the academic community today, in the scientific academic community, tend to discount anything that is not material.

[12:48] Because if it's material, you can weigh it, measure it, see it, evaluate it, et cetera. But if it is immaterial, it is treated as if it doesn't even exist.

[13:01] It has no actual reality. And that causes them to put everything on the heart and the brain.

[13:12] And it's a big, big subject, and it is a lot bigger. Let me put it this way. If the finest neurologists and cardiologists, et cetera, have not really understood the depths of their own territory, how much further short of that do we fall?

[13:40] We don't even have what they have. And they just have a little bare necessity of it. So we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And the supremacy of our being is in our spirit, not in our physical body.

[13:53] And that is telling in itself. And I've referred to 1 Corinthians 2.14. And it just, almost in passing, Paul mentions, for, he says, for what man knows the things of a man except for the spirit of the man that indwells him.

[14:21] And what this means is nobody, no other human being knows you. Like you know you. We all have a very, very private part to our being.

[14:38] And that is our human spirit. And nobody else knows the thoughts of a man and his mind except that man. We have an area of privacy, if you will, with which God has endowed us.

[14:53] And it is part of this immaterial spirit where this mind exists. Properties of our human spirit are also immaterial.

[15:05] And among those properties are, first of all, our volition. That is our will. That is our ability to assess information, reach conclusions, and decide a plan of action.

[15:22] That's all bound up in this thing called the volition and the will. We have a memory. Is there anything that is physical about your memory? Not a thing. Not a thing. So are we supposed to say, because a memory is not physical, you don't have one.

[15:39] Well, that's nonsense. You do have a memory. We don't much understand a whole lot about it, but we know that we have one, and it enables us to recall things.

[15:49] And it is marvelously complex how our spirit works with our brain. And there's a connection there, and we don't understand that, because the brain is physical, but the spirit isn't.

[16:03] How do you make a connection between the immaterial and the material? I don't know, but I'll tell you this. This is Doc Wiseman speaking.

[16:17] Okay? Take that for what it's worth. Somebody says, did you get a doctorate degree? I said, no, I didn't get a doctorate degree. Did you get a master's?

[16:27] No, I didn't get a master's. What did you get? I got a lowly bachelor's degree. I said, you're not a doctor then? I said, I'm not even a nurse, much less.

[16:37] But I do have a brain, and we've got this marvelous thing called the human spirit. It is immaterial. And your conscience, do you have a physical conscience?

[16:50] No, of course not. Nobody's ever seen your conscience. Well, then I guess you don't have one. Oh, yes, you do. You do. We all have a conscience. That's a memory.

[17:01] And it's part of being fearfully and wonderfully made. And we have personality, and we have a temperament. These things are real. And just because you can't weigh them and measure them doesn't mean they don't exist.

[17:13] They do exist. But they are beyond comprehension of the physical and, of course, our intelligence or our IQ. So let me move on. I've got notes here that I'm trying to follow, and I stray from them sometimes.

[17:27] Talking about God and God subsisting in three persons as our creator. And when we use the word subsist, we're not saying that God consists of.

[17:40] We're saying God subsists of three persons. And to subsist means to persist or to continue.

[17:52] And let me say it again, even though I've broken this record by saying it so many times. Guys, words mean things. Words mean things.

[18:02] They are the essence of communication. So God subsists in three persons. That means God persists or continues in three persons. And the deity, we call God, is referred to as the uncaused first cause.

[18:22] The existence. The existence of anything or anyone requires a point of origin.

[18:34] Now this isn't rocket science, but it's really important science. The existence of anything or anyone requires a point of origin.

[18:46] So, if we adopt the premise, which is a good scientific premise, I think, well then, if God made everything, who made God?

[18:59] Logical question. But here is where everything ends. Because we refer to God as the uncaused first cause.

[19:11] And let me just run through this. Here are our options. There are only two that I can think of. And I have transversed the psychological thinking of some of the best minds that God has given us down through the centuries.

[19:27] And nobody has come up with anything to add to this. So, we've got two options. Either the uncaused eternal being is responsible for the existence of everything.

[19:43] And by everything, that means animal, vegetable, or mineral. Those are the three categories that I think consider everything, take everything into consideration.

[19:57] Animal, vegetable, or mineral. Those three things. There isn't anything apart from those three that does exist. So, the uncaused eternal being is responsible for the existence of everything and everyone, or, here's your option, or, no one, or no thing, that is, non-existent man, or non-existent, non-intelligent matter, is responsible for all that exists.

[20:33] So, you've got to have someone, or something, to be at the base of everything else. Your only other option is, no one, and no thing, is responsible for everything.

[20:51] Take your pick. Those are the only options that there is. Either intelligence, is responsible for everything, including other intelligence, and non-intelligence, or, non-intelligence is responsible for everything, including intelligence and non-intelligence.

[21:13] You don't have any other alternatives. You either have to have an uncaused first cause, or you have to have nothing responsible for everything. Take your pick.

[21:27] Now, hard as it may seem, to believe, the committed atheist takes option number two. Nothing, and no one, is responsible for everything.

[21:43] That's a pretty hard sell. Your other option is, there was, before the beginning began, the existence of the eternal being, we call God, as the uncaused first cause, and from him, all else has derived.

[22:05] Those are the only possibilities. And the consequences that issue forth from both of those are significant. For if there is an intelligent being that began it all, then, we have one to whom we can assign meaning, value, purpose, intent, and this, this intent thing is tremendous.

[22:35] There is, there is intentionality. There is purposeful, purposefulness. There is, a scheme, a plan, an idea, a concept behind the whole thing that was in the mind of this being, and this being brought it into pass, brought everything into pass.

[22:56] And, with intelligence, being responsible for everything, you have purpose. We say, God created all things. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

[23:08] Why did he do that? That's purpose. And, we have power. God created, there is purpose and power, created, he brought into existence, this is referred to as ex nihilo.

[23:25] Ex nihilo. It is just a fancy Latin word, ex, which means out of. Same word from which we get the word exit. You go out of. Ex, and nihilo is N-I-H H-I-L-O Nihilo.

[23:42] And, it means nothing. Nothing. And, we talk about, we talk about, we use the word annihilate. And, it's part of that root word.

[23:55] To annihilate something means to destroy it and reduce it to nothing. So, ex nihilo, God created everything.

[24:09] And, none of us, beginning with myself, has any idea of the power and the majesty of this being. He brought into being the universe, the heavens, the planets, the stars, the everything, all of which had no existence because before God created anything, he was.

[24:41] And, he was the only being there was. There were no people, no angels, nothing, no planet, no universe, no nothing that is physical.

[24:54] And, this immaterial, get a handle on this, guys. This immaterial spirit being brought into existence all that is physical.

[25:09] He himself being not physical. And, this immediately, by the way, suggests that the physical and the material exists at the whim or at the creation of the immaterial God behind it.

[25:31] And, this is a big thing for us to get our brains around because what it does is it appropriately places the immaterial, get that guys, immaterial, non-physical, at the head of everything including that which is physical or we call matter.

[25:54] And, because this thing called matter is so much with us with our physical bodies and this physical table and chair. This is our world, this physical world.

[26:05] The spirit world is not our world. It's going to be, but it isn't now. Our world right now is physical and we tie everything to what we can feel, smell, touch, taste, and all the rest.

[26:20] That's the physical. But, all of our physicality serves, serves at the behest and the direction of the immaterial.

[26:32] This means, guys, this means the immaterial is king. This means that the immaterial is the boss, not the material. But, you know how we look at it?

[26:43] Just like we look at everything that God does in an opposite way. Our ways, God says, God says in Isaiah 55, I believe it is, your ways are not my ways, saith the Lord.

[26:58] Neither are your thoughts my thoughts. Because we are creatures and he's the creator and there is necessarily an enormous gap that separates us.

[27:09] And I've likened this before, the difference between humanity and deity is greater than the distance between an insect and a human being.

[27:23] Well, how would you plot that? In how many different ways is a human being superior to an insect? Well, in more ways than we can count.

[27:35] And nobody would equate a human being with an insect or even come close. But guys, that which separates humanity from deity is even greater than that.

[27:47] It is infinite. So, this is what we're dealing with. And it is this spirit part of our being that God has actually enabled us to be cognizant of and make room for and understand the connection and that's why this is so important.

[28:09] And we talk about receiving Christ as your savior. How do you do that? What is it about you that does that?

[28:20] Well, I'll tell you what, fellas, it's not your body. It's not your body. It's that immaterial part of your being that connects with God's immateriality, spirit to spirit.

[28:35] And this is what that passage means when it says that what man, what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man that is in him and that it is your human spirit that connects with God at the point of salvation that quickens and makes alive that immaterial part of your being on the inside that is responsible for adopting a whole new concept, a whole new game plan, a whole new everything.

[29:11] This is what Paul is talking about when he says if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. What are those things that have passed away?

[29:22] What's he talking about? What's passed away? Well, it's nothing about your physical body. That hasn't changed. Nothing about that has passed away. But on the inside where the boss is, your boss has now come under the direction and control of the ultimate boss.

[29:45] And his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. It is a spiritual, non-physical connection, but guys, it's just as real as the physical that takes place on the inside of you that gives you new interests, new desires, new powers, new strengths, new ideas, new everything when you come to faith in Christ.

[30:15] That's called regeneration. And just look at the word. Regenerate. It means to be re-gened. Aren't we all the results of genes and chromosomes?

[30:27] Huh? And when you come to faith in Christ, you spiritually get re-gened.

[30:38] We've got a new capacity and a new ability so that the whole world looks different. And it is different to us because we're coming at it from a different perspective.

[30:49] Well, that's not my message. I want to move along. Okay. This is a... All of these are big items, guys.

[31:00] We're all in this over our head. God is not a gendered being. But don't we always refer to him as he with a masculine pronoun?

[31:17] How absurd would it be to refer to the deity as it? Because when you talk about it, you're talking about non-personality.

[31:30] you're talking about a table or a chair or a window or something like that. But when you give it a gender, she or he, that brings personality into play and that's exactly what we're dealing with here.

[31:47] So when I say that God is not a gendered being, though spoken of in masculine terms, God is not an oversized, overly strong human.

[32:03] Not even close. As the uncaused first cause, he is virtually indescribable.

[32:13] He isn't male, he isn't female, he's God, he's deity. And yet in this deity, he subsists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[32:25] And there again is that word subsist. Be careful now, we're not saying he consists of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he subsists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[32:38] Why then are these terms used of him? Because if anything about the deity is going to be communicated to us so that we can grasp any part of it, it's got to be subjected and submitted to an area of language that we can at least begin to understand.

[33:01] And guys, I didn't say understand, I said begin to understand. And when we've been with him for who knows how many thousands of years, we will still only have just begun.

[33:15] We need to keep that in mind. We're talking about an infinite being, and that is just mind-boggling, just mind-boggling. So, I know that I'm on a questionable ground, and some would say that I'm out of my bailing way.

[33:32] All of this is out of my bailing way. But all I'm saying is God is not a man, and God is not a woman, and God is not an it. God is God. And there is something about him that completely transcends femininity and masculinity and everything else.

[33:52] We are talking about the uncaused first cause, one of a kind. What, Roger? Well, in the Bible it says that, I forget who told Mary that that holy thing that was in you, is there any other word that describes you?

[34:12] I mean, you just said God's... I don't know, and without having my Greek here, I can't even tell you how the word thing is translated.

[34:23] But if I were to take a guess, and I'm just a guess, and I could very well be wrong, but in the Greek, the word thing is masculine, or feminine, or neuter, and I'd almost bet the farm that it's masculine without being able to check it right here in the original language.

[34:45] So, but the angel did say that, and I guess he was thinking in terms of the egg, because the egg that Mary what shall I say, the egg that Mary protected in her womb, as it was then given to her of God, and we know this wasn't Joseph's egg, and Joseph knew it wasn't his, and it wasn't even Mary's, it was given to Mary, it was implanted in the womb of Mary, and she gave it the human nurturing and developing that resulted in the human being of Jesus Christ.

[35:41] So, no, Mary was not a contributor, Mary was a carrier, because had she been a contributor, do you know what she would have contributed? Yeah, she would have contributed her own sin nature, because she wouldn't have any choice, that's the only kind she had, and Joseph certainly was out of the picture, because Joseph knew he wasn't the father, so what we've got is, that holy thing which shall be born of thee is from the Holy Spirit, and that sinless person, not contaminated with anything from his biological mother, and certainly not contributed to by Joseph, but solely the product of divinity, produced the sinless son of God, and by the way guys, that was absolutely essential, you must understand that, because had

[36:42] Jesus been born humanly, the way everyone else is born, he would have been born with the same nature, he would have been born with the contaminated sin nature, he would have thus been ineligible to be a sinless sacrifice that God could accept, because it was only that factor that enabled him who had no sin to be made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

[37:22] Where do we get that righteousness? We got it from the righteous one, Jesus Christ in his death on the cross was a perfect, therefore acceptable to God, was a perfect, sinless sacrifice, and it is because he in his deity and humanity as the God-man, the theanthropic person, was able to accomplish the otherwise unaccomplishable, I don't know if that's a word or not, but it is now, I just made it up, otherwise unaccomplished, yeah, and it was because Jesus was who he was and what he was that he was able to do this, and by the way guys, this is why, listen, you need to be willing and ready to take this to the map when we're talking about the exclusivity of salvation, don't let anybody deter you from that,

[38:35] Jesus Christ is not a savior, he is the savior, and there is no other savior, do you know of anybody else that is eligible to wear that title, savior, thou shalt call his name Yeshua, Jesus, why, because his main job description is to save his people from their sin, that's what the savior does, now I just want to ask you, who else does that?

[39:13] Not Buddha, not Gandhi, not Muhammad, not anybody, this is why we Christians do not have the right to cave on this, to satisfy or make anybody else happy, or be agreeable with anyone, no, no, it is Jesus and Jesus alone, he's the only one who paid that price, and guys, he's the only one who was able to pay that price, he was the only one who had the price that enabled him to pay it, and he was willing to do that, you know why he was willing to do that?

[39:57] to save you from your sin, because your sin would condemn you forever from a holy God because God cannot abide sin in his presence, that's who and what he is, that's why he's called holy, and the word holy simply means separate, separate, totally separate, and that's exactly what we are in Christ, and this righteousness that Jesus Christ possessed that made him and him alone eligible to make that payment is, get a handle on this guys, is the very same righteousness that he then gives to you so that you might become the righteousness of God in him and don't leave out those last two words because they're everything in him this means when you put your faith and trust in

[41:05] Jesus Christ in a way we don't understand and in a way we totally are undeserving he takes his standing with God his righteousness with God and puts it into you and your spirit and assigns it to your account so that you become the righteousness of God in him 2nd Corinthians 5 I think it's 17 unless it moved if it moved it might be 19 but it's 2nd Corinthians 5 that we might be made the righteousness of God what does that mean guys that means you possess as a gift the very same righteousness that made Jesus Christ who and what he was and is fellas anyone who shows up anyone who shows up before

[42:14] God with one one single solitary sin on their record is doomed doomed doomed that's why the righteousness of Christ is complete so that we are lacking nothing now you know yourself well enough to know first of all you don't deserve that and secondly you know that you don't live that none of us do it is the position that you have it's not your practice it's not your performance it's your official position and that is everything that is what enables God to look at you and me who in and of ourselves and in our performance are sinners unacceptable to

[43:14] God and yet we are clothed guys we are clothed with the very righteousness of Jesus Christ that makes us fully totally completely acceptable to God we are cleansed of our sin we have those robes of righteousness that is our official position and you know what it is unchangeable it is unchangeable someone said well what if you do something terrible as a Christian and you no longer deserve to be saved well my dear friend you never deserve to be saved in the first place there's nothing about it deserves you know this is why this is why it is the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all not most but all sin and

[44:19] Jesus Christ gave you a righteousness that makes you squeaky clean yeah squeaky clean you are robed with the very righteousness of Jesus Christ that's what makes you acceptable to God you're standing there not clothed in your righteousness which is rags and filth like Isaiah said all our righteousness are as filthy rags before God but when you come to faith in Jesus Christ he cleanses you he forgives you he pardons you he gives you a position for eternity it's eternal life and it is yours and it is a gift that's what makes this so incredible a gift undeserved unearned but a gift that becomes your own personal possession and

[45:20] Jesus Christ is your ticket and he's the only ticket you got he's the only ticket you need boy this is you know I entered into this December the 8th 1956 and I've never gotten used to it it is just so I'm married my wife and I'm married my savior the same day within a couple of hours two greatest transactions of my life man and one of them is temporal and one of them is eternal have have you after after all of this disorganized whatever has anybody heard enough that enables them to ask a question Roger what can we say because of the righteousness of Christ put to our account that God the Father cannot see us as sinful oh absolutely absolutely we can't we're under his call yeah absolutely he sees us through

[46:28] Christ he sees us this is what Paul means when he uses the phrase over and over and over again you have to read Paul's epistles and see how many times he uses the phrase in Christ in Christ in Christ in Christ what does that mean it means exactly what it says we are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh spiritually we are in Christ we possess the very righteousness of Christ and somebody says oh I don't think I'm that good well that misses the whole point guys we're talking about your position not your performance and it's the illustration I used before let me just run through it again if you're called into court for a crime that you committed okay whatever the crime is something that you did that you shouldn't have done and the prosecution presents the case and the what's the other guy the defender thank you the defender presents his case and the jury is listening to all of this and the jury the jury convenes and they talk about the case they talk about what the defender said they talk about what the prosecutor said and you really are guilty but the defender did a really good job convincing the jury and you know what the jury comes out and says we find the defendant not guilty and you sit there and you say wow they call me not guilty but I know

[48:10] I know I did the crime I know that I did that but they said I'm not guilty but I am guilty well you are guilty practically now here's the issue are you guilty legally no you're pronounced not guilty fellas it is the official verdict that counts and we all remember OJ Simpson years ago we all remember the incident we all remember the deliberation we all remember the defense and the prosecution and you all know as well as I do the way it looked was OJ Simpson really guilty of murder or not you know what I've got my opinion you've got yours but you know what the answer is it doesn't matter what matters what matters all that matters is what the jury said well the jury was wrong no no no no the jury has the last word in our case as believers who's the jury

[49:37] God is the jury who's the judge God is the judge who's the defender Jesus Christ is the defender he has pled our case before the father and in essence what Jesus has said in essence to the father is father Marv Wiseman is guilty but I paid the penalty he ought to pay I paid it for him in his place therefore I'm free my debt my sin debt has been paid and it has been paid by the only one who was in a position to pay it because he had no sin debt of his own that's what made Jesus eligible and that is so marvelous guys this this is everything this is everything

[50:37] Christ I this is why Paul said I determined to know nothing among you nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified because that's everything as I told you it's just as if the apostle Paul had a fiddle it just had one string on it and he played that one string for all it was worth this is what he meant when he said I determined to know nothing among what does he mean nothing he taught all kinds of things what does he mean he means by comparison by comparison there is nothing else that mattered except Jesus Christ died for your sin compared to that nothing else matters not who you are not where you live not how much money you have nothing that matters Christ is all and in all and the only reason that he was able to do that was not only because he was sinless but because he was who he was we look at this in a very human practical way and we say what do you mean when you're talking about

[52:00] Christ died for the sins of the world how is it possible for one human being to die and pay the sin penalty for billions of people how can that be and the only way it can be is in the identity of the one making that payment this is why Jesus Christ is called the God man this is why he's called Emmanuel which means God with us God in the flesh because he was who he was he was able to do it and because he loved you he was willing to do it greater love hath no man than this man lay down his life for his friends okay but what about a man who lays down his life for his enemies that's what Jesus did that is just so mind boggling you know what what little time we've spent discussing this not only have we not scratched the surface we haven't even scratched the scratch on the surface but again the food is here thank you to our devoted

[53:19]  Michelle we'll all benefit from what you put on these tables thank you my dear and enjoy your day guys next week we're going to start on the 33 things bring your sheet with you I'll have extras in case you forget it I'm sure some of you will thank you all for being here today is