{"id":19104,"date":"2016-04-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-013\/"},"modified":"2016-04-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-13T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-013","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-013\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 013"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[94],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19104","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-ephesians","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 013","sermon_date":"20160413","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3548,"sermon_slides":3551,"sermon_mp3":3552,"sermon_id":"41316197592","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":94,"chapter_and_verse":"1:3","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 13, Ephesians 1:3\n\nApril 13, 2016\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 3, if you have trouble with finding Ephesians just remember G<\/u>od\u2019s E<\/u>lectric P<\/u>ower Company, G<\/u>alatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.\u00a0 Or if you don\u2019t like that G<\/u>o E<\/u>at P<\/u>opC<\/u>orn\u2014Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.\u00a0 That way you\u2019ll be the first one to find the book and people will think you\u2019re so spiritual.\n\nBut Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 and we are tonight continuing on with our study of the doctrine of salvation.\u00a0 And we have spent a lot of time, probably about five or six weeks if I remember right, on God\u2019s one condition of salvation, which is what? \u00a0belief or faith.\u00a0 And Roman number V is really about how you acquire these blessings in salvation. And God, as we have said over and over again only holds up one condition for the lost sinner to satisfy, which is faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 So we kind of wrapped up that conversation last time and now we\u2019re moving into Roman numeral VI which is about the results of salvation.\u00a0 In other words, once you trust in Christ to receive salvation what exactly do you receive?\n\nAnd this deals with Roman numeral VI, the results of salvation.\u00a0 And so what you\u2019re going to discover in this section, and it\u2019ll take us several weeks to get through it, but you\u2019re going to discover you\u2019re filthy rich; your far wealthier\u2026 the average Christian has far more wealth than they probably have ever taken the time to consider or contemplate.\u00a0 But we\u2019re going to consider it and contemplate it.\n\nSo that\u2019s why I had you to turn to Ephesians 1:3 and let me just sort of set the table, if I could, by reading this verse.\u00a0 Paul says there, \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0 So that is an astounding verse, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 I have a few points underlined.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that God has already blessed us, see how \u201cblessed\u201d there is in the past tense, the way the English reading out of the NASB translates the Greek. So it\u2019s not a matter of\u2026 you know, a lot of people have this mindset that they need to go before God as Christians and plead,\u00a0 you know, God, bless me, bless me, bless me!\u00a0 And a lot of people\u2019s prayer life is that way.\u00a0 And what God is saying is I\u2019ve already blessed you, what else do you want?\u00a0 So our prayer life is not really to go before God and plead for blessings because the Bible tells us that we already have been blessed.\n\nAnd what has He blessed us with? See the word \u201cevery\u201d there?\u00a0 He has blessed us with what? \u201cEvery spiritual blessing,\u201d not 99%, not 96%, not 99.8%, but \u201cevery spiritual blessing.\u201d\u00a0 So a lot of times we go before God and we say Lord bless me, bless me, bless me, and He\u2019s already\u2026 He said I\u2019ve already given you everything I can give you, what else do you want.\u00a0 So the word \u201cevery\u201d there is very important.\n\nAnd a lot of times in charismatic circles or Pentecostal circles, which I\u2019ve been involved in in different phases of my spiritual life, they teach this doctrine of the second blessing and basically what they mean by that is the Christian has to kind of go on and through prayer seek something else from God, which they call the baptism of the Spirit, which they incorrectly define as something that you receive after you are a Christian.\u00a0 And so they call this the second blessing. So they have basically two categories of Christians, those that have received the second blessing and then those that haven\u2019t.\u00a0 And you can see how quickly that whole doctrine falls apart when you look at Ephesians 1:3 because it says there He has already \u201cblessed,\u201d past tense, \u201cus with every spiritual blessing.\u201d\u00a0 So there is no more need to go before God and grovel and beg and plead for a few additional scraps that fall off the table because the Bible clearly teaches us that we have already been blessed, not just with a few blessings but \u201cwith every spiritual blessing.\u201d\n\nAnd a lot of people mistakenly, and they teach this on so-called Christian television, they give you this impression that you need to give to God financially so you can get blessed.\u00a0 Well, the fact of the matter is God has already blessed you with every spiritual blessing.\u00a0 So we as Christians, we don\u2019t give to God to get blessed; we give to God because we have been blessed.\u00a0 See the difference.\u00a0 I mean, we serve God, we give to God, we sacrifice and different things that God calls us to do, not to get blessed but we do it because we\u2019ve already been blessed.\n\nSo we have been blessed \u201cwith every spiritual blessing,\u201d now notice where our blessings are; they\u2019re where?\u00a0 \u201cin the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0 Now if you keep your place here in Ephesians and go back to Deuteronomy in the Old Testament for a minute, chapter 28, I want to show you the difference between our blessings and Israel\u2019s blessings, because we\u2019re not Israel, we\u2019re the church.\u00a0 God has two programs, one for Israel, one for the church.\n\nBut you\u2019ll notice that Israel\u2019s blessings were not in the heavenly places; Israel, God\u2019s special nation that we read about mostly in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Israel\u2019s blessings were not in the heavenly places, Israel\u2019s blessings were here on earth.\u00a0 So Deuteronomy 28 starts to describe the place, the things that Israel would receive when she was in the place of blessing.\n\nAnd just starting there at verse 1 it says, \u201cNow it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set\u00a0 you high above\u201d what? \u201call the nations of the\u201d what? \u201cthe earth.\u201d\u00a0 So Israel was going to receive political and financial and material blessings relative to the other nations of the earth.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why it describes Solomon\u2019s wealth in great detail; Solomon, the third king of the United Kingdom in Israel.\n\nAnd then you go down to verse 2 it says, \u201cAll these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the LORD your God: [3] Blessed shall you be in the city,\u201d see that, it\u2019s talking about an earthly city, \u201cand blessed shall you be in the country.\u00a0 [4] Blessed shall be the offspring of your body\u201d see how these are all physical things, \u201cand the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. [5] Blessed be your basket and your kneading bowl.\u00a0 [6] Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.\u201d\u00a0 You drop down to verse 7, \u201cThe LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated,\u201d it\u2019s talking about earthly warfare.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 and they will flee before you in seven ways.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 8, \u201cThe LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to,\u201d that\u2019s\u00a0 your physical hand to, \u201cand He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.\u201d\u00a0 So you can just read all the way through verse 14 there and you see the blessings that Israel had which were physical, material, and earthly.\n\n[Deuteronomy 28:9-14, \u201cThe LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.\u00a0 [10] So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you. [11] The LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.\u00a0 [12] The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. \u00a0[13] The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them<\/em> carefully, [14] and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.\u201d]\n\nNow going back to the New Testament compare that to Ephesians 1:3 in the New Testament, in the age of the church which we\u2019re in, it never promises us physical blessings the way Israel had them, but what it promises us is we have already been blessed with every blessing, where?\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear, not here on earth but in heaven.\u00a0 So the true ledger of your wealth, your true balance sheet of\u00a0 your wealth is actually heavenly.\n\nSo I\u2019m not diminishing physical blessings and earthly blessings, God can give those as well and many people He does give them to.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not part of the guaranteed package of the Christian because you see, all over this world, you know, we\u2019re here in America and we have a lot of material abundance but it\u2019s not that way in third world countries and other places where Christians are.\u00a0 And yet God wants those Christians living in third world poverty stricken countries to understand that although they may not be Americans they have every blessing in the heavenly places as well.\n\nSo this is the great error of the prosperity gospel that you hear a lot on television, so called Christian television and radio, some on radio, more prominent on Christian television, where they take the promises related to Israel in the Old Testament which were basically physical and material and they make it sound as if you give money to their ministry then God is obligated to bless your bank account.\u00a0 And that is intermingling or confusing God\u2019s program with Israel, which is His earthly people with God\u2019s program for the church which is His heavenly people.\u00a0 So we are not Israel, we are the church.\u00a0 And as far as heavenly\u2026 and I\u2019m not saying God is unconcerned about physical things, He does promise to supply our needs and things like that.\u00a0 But if you look at your blessings as a Christian just as physical things you totally miss the picture here.\u00a0 The picture is we have indescribable wealth as God\u2019s heavenly people, the church, in heavenly places.\n\nAnd then it goes on at the end of this verse and it says these blessings are ours in what? \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, you can summarize all of Paul\u2019s theology with those two words, \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 If you are \u201cin Christ\u201d and we talked about how to enter into a relationship with Christ, you know, by faith alone, if you find yourself \u201cin Christ\u201d then you have access to all of these blessings.\u00a0 If you are not \u201cin Christ\u201d by way of faith then none of these blessings are yours.\u00a0 So being \u201cin Christ\u201d is really the ticket, if I can use that expression, towards accessing these blessings.\n\nSo that\u2019s what the results of salvation is designed to communicate.\u00a0 Looking at our spiritual assets, looking at our spiritual balance sheet, trying to figure out what it is we own, because God has told us that we have been \u201cblessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0 So go over, from there go over to Revelation 2 for just a minute, the book of Revelation, chapter 2 and verse 9, this is Jesus speaking to the church at Smyrna, the actual words of Christ to a first century church called Smyrna in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey.\n\nAnd Jesus, through John, says this: \u201cI know your tribulation and your poverty\u201d now the word \u201cpoverty\u201d there in Greek is the lowest level of poverty you could ever descend to as a human being.\u00a0 So that\u2019s where these people were at in Smyrna; they were at an extremely low level of poverty.\u00a0 And yet notice what Jesus says, \u201cbut you are\u201d what? \u201crich,\u201d and then He goes on and He describes the fact that they not only are poor but they are being persecuted, He says, \u201cI know \u2026 the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.\u201d\u00a0 So these folks were basically being persecuted by unbelieving Jews and beyond that they were at a very low level of poverty, they had almost nothing.\u00a0 And yet Jesus tells them in the midst of all of that that \u201cyou are rich\u201d.\u00a0 Why would He say \u201cyou are rich\u201d? Because their riches are where?\u00a0 Going back to Ephesians 1:3, \u201cin the heavenly places.\u201d\n\nSo this is the great thing about being a Christian, is the stock market can tank, the economy can go south, we can enter another great depression, you can lose your job and all sorts of economic bad news can come your way, we can to into hyperinflation, and yet God is telling us that our riches, because they are in heaven, are not impacted at all.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why He could look at a church like this and tell them that they, in fact, are wealthy.\u00a0 And so the results of salvation communicates that to us; we are fabulously wealthy.\n\nSo what exactly do we own in terms of our spiritual blessings?\u00a0 And I\u2019m so glad you asked that.\n\nDr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, in his book, Salvation<\/em>, pages 59-65 of that book describes 33 blessings.\u00a0 These are 33 things not that you have to go and ask God for; these are 33 things you already have.\u00a0 So just to kind of survey the landscape I\u2019m going to just read through these very quickly, just to give you a broad sweep of them, and then I\u2019m going to come back afterwards and drill down on a few of them.\u00a0 And probably tonight we won\u2019t get through but two or three if we\u2019re lucky.\n\nSo what exactly do you have?\u00a0 Well, number 1, you are in the eternal plan of God because Romans 8:28 says we are foreknown, elected, predestined, and called.\u00a0 [Romans 8:29-30, \u201cFor whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be<\/em> conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. [30] Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.\u201d]\n\nNumber 2, you have been reconciled to God, we\u2019ve talked about that word \u201creconciliation\u201d when we were talking about salvation words, which means you have perfect peace with God, positionally.\u00a0 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.\u00a0 [18, \u00a0\u201cNow all these<\/em> things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, [19] namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. [20] Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.\u201d]\n\nNumber 3, you have been redeemed which basically means you have been purchased out of the slave market of sin.\u00a0 Romans 3:24, Romans 8:23.\u00a0 [Romans 3:24, \u201cbeing justified as a gift by His grace thorough the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;\u201d Romans 8:23, \u201cAnd not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of the body.\u201d]\n\nNumber 4, you are related to God through propitiation, and you might recall that was a salvation word that we went over, which essentially means that God\u2019s anger against you because of your sin and my sin has been satisfied completely because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.\u00a0 Which means that the only attribute left for God to express towards you is not wrath, because His wrath has been satisfied. But it is His love.\u00a0 So therefore everything that happens to you as a New Testament Christian is an expression of God\u2019s love toward you; even the trials that we go through.\u00a0 We think God is punishing us because we\u2019ve been bad or something but the wrath of God has already been satisfied.\u00a0 He sends us through tribulations, not to make us bitter but to make us what?\u00a0 Better!\u00a0 So even trials and tribulations we go through are a manifestation of His love, because of propitiation.\n\nNumber 5, all of our sins have been covered by the atoning blood of Christ, past, present and future; every sin is under the blood.\u00a0 1 John 2:2, [\u201cand He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.\u201d]\n\nNumber 6, we are vitally joined to Christ, this is what\u2019s called our baptism into Christ, when He died who else died?\u00a0 I did!\u00a0 When He was buried who else was buried?\u00a0 We were. When He rose who else rose?\u00a0 We rose. When He ascended to the right hand of the Father who else ascended to the right hand of the Father?\u00a0 We did. \u00a0Ephesians 2:6 says that\u2019s our position right now.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:6, \u201cand raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.\u201d]\u00a0 We are legally at the right hand of the Father because we have been joined into the transaction of Christ.\n\nNumber 7, we are free from the Law.\u00a0 We\u2019ll talk a lot about that a few sessions down the road.\n\n[8] We are children of God, we\u2019re going to talk about that one tonight.\n\n[9] We have been adopted as sons, or daughters, we\u2019ll talk about that one tonight.\u00a0 [10] We acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, in other words, God the Father looks at you the same way He looks at Jesus.\u00a0 Just like He looks at Jesus and sees purity and perfection, that\u2019s what He sees in you.\u00a0 Now you say well, I don\u2019t deserve that.\u00a0 You don\u2019t deserve it, none of us do, we receive it by grace or imputation because it has been transferred to us.\n\nNumber 11, we are justified by faith, that\u2019s announced innocent, we\u2019ll be talking about that one down the road.\n\nNumber 12, all of our sins have been forgiven, past, present and future.\n\nNumber 13, we\u2019ve been brought near; you see, formerly we were enemies of Christ but now we\u2019ve been brought near, in fact, into the very household of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s number 13. [Ephesians 2:13, \u201cBut now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.\u201d]\n\nNumber 14, we have been delivered\u2026 the way the Bible describes all of these, these are things that already happened to us.\u00a0 And see, most Christians go through their Christian life not understanding what they have.\u00a0 And they have a very low image of themselves as a result.\u00a0 But you see, the Biblical approach is to understand what you have and then guess what happens with your life; your life, if you understand your wealth isn\u2019t it interesting how our practice starts catching up with our position. In other words, if I\u2019m really holy like God has decreed me to be maybe I should behave that way in my daily life.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 But if you don\u2019t see yourself as holy, positionally, then there\u2019s really no incentive to live holy.\u00a0 So we act consistently with how we view ourselves.\u00a0 So we have been delivered from the power of darkness, in other words totally liberated from Satan\u2019s realm.\n\nNumber 15 We have been translated into the kingdom of the Son of God, Colossians 1:13, [\u201cFor He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.\u201d]\n\nNumber 16\u00a0 We are all on the rock of Jesus Christ, and we\u2019re building on the right foundation because of what Jesus has done for us, 1 Corinthians 1:13. [\u201cHas Christ been divided?\u00a0 Paul was not crucified for you, was he?\u00a0 Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?\u201d]\n\nNumber 17 \u00a0We are a gift from the Father to the Son and you\u2019ll see that in John 17:6. \u00a0Chafer liked to use the King James so it reads they were thine,\u201d they were Yours in other words, Father, as Jesus is speaking, \u201cand Thou\u201d or \u201cYou gave them to me.\u00a0 So it\u2019s almost like we are of such value that the Father took us as a present and gave it\u2026, one member of the Trinity gave us as a gift to another member of the Trinity.\u00a0 \u00a0[John 17:6, King James, \u201cI have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s number 17.\n\nNumber 18, we have been circumcised spiritually in Christ.\u00a0 [Colossians 2:11, \u201cand in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;\u201d]\n\nNumber 19, we are partakers of the holy and royal priesthood.\u00a0\u00a0 Did you know you were a priest?\u00a0 Revelation 1:6 says that.\u00a0 [Revelation 1:6, \u201cand He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father--- to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.\u201d]\n\nNumber 20, we are a chosen generation and a peculiar people.\u00a0 Titus 2:14 says that, [Titus 2:14, \u201cwho gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.\u201d]\n\nThat\u2019s why we don\u2019t really fit in with this world, because we are a peculiar people because we operate by a different value system.\u00a0 [1 Peter 2:9, \u201cBut you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.\u201d]\n\nNumber 21, we have access to God, so the Bible says \u201cFor through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s why Earl could lead us in prayer and Greg prayed and others pray, because we have direct access to God because of what Jesus has done. \u00a0(Ephesians 2:18; Romans \u00a05:2; Hebrews \u00a04:14-16;\n\n[Ephesians 2:18, \u201cFor through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.\u201d \u00a0Romans 5:2, \u201cthrough whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.\u201d\u00a0 Hebrews 4:14-16, \u201cTherefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet<\/em> without sin. [16] Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.\u201d]\n\nLet me tell you something, in the Old Covenant they didn\u2019t have access to God.\u00a0 In fact, when you study the Tabernacle and the Temple you learn that the Most Holy Place was separated by a veil and the only person that could go behind the veil was the high priest, and he could only do it one time a year, the Day of Atonement, after the right animal sacrifice had been offered for his own sins.\u00a0 And if anything went wrong the priest was struck dead.\u00a0 And you could not go back into that Holy of Holies because of the righteous character of God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why, according to Jewish tradition, there was that rope tied around the priest\u2019s foot because on his garment, the hem of his garment were bells but if you didn\u2019t hear the bells ringing as he was behind the veil you would think oh, my gosh, something went wrong, maybe he\u2019s dead, you didn\u2019t just charge in to get him or you\u2019d be dead too.\u00a0 So the rope was there to pull the priest out so your life could be spared.\n\nAnd when Jesus died on the cross, Matthew 27:50-51 says what happened to that veil?\u00a0 It was torn asunder from top to bottom signifying that the sin debt has been eliminated so now we can just go on into the throne room of God any time we want to.\u00a0 But we\u2019re too busy to pray; we\u2019re living beneath our privileges.\u00a0 So this access to God is a tremendous part of\u00a0 your wealth that you have.\n\n[Matthew 27:50-51, \u201cAnd Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. [51] And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.\u201d\n\nNumber 22, we are within the \u201cmuch more\u201d care of God.\u00a0 In other words, if God did the greatest thing already, isn\u2019t He going to help you with the little things?\u00a0 Like one of the prayer requests was the sale of a house, I mean what\u2019s the sale of a house to God when He\u2019s done everything He can do in Jesus Christ to bridge the gap between you and God.\u00a0 If He gave you the greatest thing already He\u2019s going to help you with the sale of a house.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what Chafer means by the \u201cmuch more\u201d care of God.\n\nNumber 23, we have an inheritance, an inheritance is something that is legally ours, we just haven\u2019t entered into its fullness yet. 1 Peter 1:4 says that our inheritance is kept in heaven and it can\u2019t fade or be defiled, so inflation can\u2019t corrode it, thieves can\u2019t break in and steal.\u00a0 So we have this\u00a0 inheritance coming to us. That was actually number 24, our inheritance and there\u2019s the verse up there, 1 Peter 1:4. \u00a01 Peter 1:4 says an inheritance that fades not away, \u201creserved in heaven for you.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Peter 1:4, \u201cto obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.\u201d]\u00a0 And then we, going back to number 23, are actually His inheritance.\u00a0 So we are of such value that God looks at us as His own inheritance, if you can think of that astoundingly.\n\nNumber 25, we have a heavenly association because we\u2019re partners with Christ\u2019s life, position, service and suffering, many verses talk about that.\n\nNumber 26, we are heavenly citizens.\u00a0 I love America but the fact of the matter is I\u2019m just an American citizen here on earth; my ultimate citizenship is in heaven.\u00a0 I have actually dual citizenship in that sense, I\u2019m an American citizen but I\u2019m a heavenly citizen as well, Philippians 3:20.\u00a0 [Philippians 3:20, \u201cFor our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d]\n\nNumber 27, we\u2019re of the family and the royal household of God.\n\nNumber 28, we\u2019re light in the Lord.\n\nNumber 29, we\u2019re vitally joined to the Father, to the Son and to the Spirit.\n\nNumber 30, we\u2019re blessed with the first fruits or the earnest of the Spirit.\u00a0 Now first fruits or an earnest, some Bible translations call that a down payment.\u00a0 You know, if you make a down payment on something you\u2019re guaranteeing to the seller, as the buyer, that more payments are coming.\u00a0 So the fact of the matter is God has already given you a down payment, it\u2019s called the Holy Spirit inside of\u00a0 you, and the Spirit of God inside of us that convicts us and directs us and prompts us and empowers us is God\u2019s guarantee to us that we\u2019re going to get the whole rest of the package one day.\n\nAnd number 31, we\u2019ve already been glorified, Romans 8:30 says we are already glorified.\u00a0 [Romans 8:30, \u201cand these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.\u201d]\u00a0 Now you might look in the mirror and say I don\u2019t look glorified and actually you\u2019re not yet in glory but legally you\u2019re in glory.\u00a0 See?\u00a0 And God can look at you as if\u00a0 you\u2019re already glorified.\u00a0 That\u2019s why going to God and begging and pleading and saying Lord, it\u2019s just me and we have this kind of warm theology, I know God, You don\u2019t want to hear from me, I\u2019m such a bad person, but can You please help me out of this one.\u00a0 You know, we have this attitude and God is saying what are\u00a0 you talking about, I\u2019m looking at you not the way you see yourself, I\u2019m looking at you legally as already in a state of glory.\n\nNumber 32, we are \u201ccomplete in Him,\u201d now a lot of churches will give you the 95% theology, you\u2019re 95% complete but here\u2019s the rest of the stuff you\u2019ve got to do on your own.\u00a0 And it\u2019s usually pay, pray and obey.\u00a0 So you spend the rest of your life saying have I prayed enough, have I paid enough and have I obeyed enough.\u00a0 So there\u2019s no assurance of salvation in that kind of thinking because how can you subjectively tell if you\u2019ve done enough?\u00a0 But the Scripture, on the other hand, says that we are \u201ccomplete in Him.\u201d\u00a0 Colossians 2:10 and many other verses.\u00a0 [Colossians 2:10, \u201cand in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.\u201d]\n\nAnd finally, number 33 is the verse that I started with, Ephesians 1:3, we already have been blessed, past tense, \u201cwith every spiritual blessing.\u201d\u00a0 So I hope you feel wealthy.\u00a0 I hope you feel better about things because that\u2019s what the Bible says about you if you find yourself in Christ, if you\u2019ve trusted in Christ.\n\nSo one of the things that we struggle with as human beings and even as Christians is a low self-image because we bought into what I would call a quality of life mentality.\u00a0 We ascribe worth to things or people if their life is of a certain quality, if they look good, if they\u2019re young, if they\u2019ve got money, if they\u2019ve got career prospects, if they\u2019re healthy, those kinds of things.\u00a0 And so we say well so and so is valuable because they have all these things.\u00a0 They have talent, they have money.\u00a0 But you see, all those things can disappear, your health can disappear, your career prospects can disappear.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re ascribing self-worth to yourself based on quality of life then you\u2019re going to be like an emotional roller coaster; some days you\u2019re going to feel great about yourself, other days you\u2019re going to feel bad about yourself because we\u2019re living in a fallen world where things that are temporal can be taken away just like that.\n\nAnd God is trying to move us out of that mentality and trying to move us into, not a quality of life mentality but a sanctity of life mentality where all of us have value because of what God says about us.\u00a0 What God says about you is what gives you value, not what the world system says about you.\u00a0 So the guy that\u2019s living under a bridge that\u2019s got alcohol all over his breath, that can\u2019t hold down a job, he has just as much value as the richest person in Houston, the richest, healthiest, quote \u201chappiest\u201d person in Houston; that person has the exact same value in God\u2019s eyes as the wino living under the bridge because of a Scriptural teaching called sanctity of life.\u00a0 We don\u2019t really think this way because we\u2019re in a world system that speaks of quality of life.\n\nSo there\u2019s going to be times in your Christian life when you\u2019re going to get really discouraged and down on yourself and the best solution to that is to go back and apply\u2026 I printed these out for you, I want you to have these, and I gave you the verses where you can go look these things up on your own, and you can see I\u2019m not making things up.\u00a0 The best solution when you get down on yourself is to go back and review your wealth.\u00a0 Start looking at yourself the way God sees you, rather than how you see yourself or how other people see you, or how you see other people. We have to start looking at ourselves the way God sees us.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what these riches describe.\u00a0 So this is a section that we call the results of salvation.\n\nNow Chafer had 33 things, I kind of shortened his list to about 10 or 11, just for purposes of time.\u00a0 And even with these 10 or 11 you\u2019re going to see, it\u2019s going to take several weeks to get through just these 10 or 11, so I\u2019m going to basically drill down on some of the ones that you may be less familiar with.\n\nThe first on my list is our sonship or adoption.\u00a0 That is item of wealth, spiritual wealth, number 1, our sonship or adoption.\u00a0 If you have your Bible with you, you might want to try to follow me around here as we look at a few verses.\u00a0 But according to Ephesians 2:19 it says, \u201cSo then you are no longer strangers and aliens.\u2026\u201d\u00a0 What gives us access to these blessings is being \u201cin Christ\u201d as we saw.\u00a0 So what was I like before I was \u201cin Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Well, I was far from the household of God, I was, in fact, a stranger and an alien to God.\u00a0 And then came that time in my life where I trusted in Jesus Christ and suddenly I moved from position of stranger or alien and I was brought into a brand new family of God.\u00a0 We are part of the royal family of God.\n\nAnd it\u2019s very sad because many people grow up in dysfunctional families so they extrapolate their bad experiences in their earthly family to God\u2019s heavenly family and they think God\u2019s heavenly family runs by the same rules as their dysfunctional earthly family.\u00a0 By the way, every family on earth is dysfunctional, it\u2019s just a matter of degree, as we\u2019re told.\u00a0 So the problem is we transfer dysfunction in our earthly family, like if you had a bad relationship with your parents of something, we think God treats us the same way and that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why we need our minds renewed through the Scripture so that we are understanding God as He has expressed Himself.\u00a0 So what happened is I was, the moment I trusted in Christ, brought into a brand new family.\u00a0 And if you look at the second part of verse 19,\u00a0 formerly I was a \u201cstranger and an alien\u201d but now I am a \u201cfellow citizen with the saints, and\u201d I am \u201cof God\u2019s household.\u201d\n\nSo God looks at us as family. Now we treat family differently than strangers, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Even in our dysfunctional families. You know, we invite people over for Thanksgiving, not complete strangers we invite family over.\u00a0 And when you set up a will or a trust you typically don\u2019t leave your wealth to a complete stranger, you leave it to a family member.\u00a0 So we understand that if you\u2019re in the family you\u2019re treated with greater privileges and that\u2019s essentially what God is saying about us.\u00a0 We are in His family.\n\nAnd remember what Jesus said over in Matthew 12:48-50, one of the disciples I think it was, says your mother and your brother, they\u2019re waiting for you, and remember what He said?\u00a0 Who is My brother, who is My mother, who is My son, who is My daughter, are not they the ones that do the will of\u201d what? \u00a0My Father in heaven.\u00a0 [Matthew 12:28, \u201cBut Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, \u201cWho is My mother and who are My brothers?\u2019 [50] And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, \u201cBehold My mother and My brothers! [50] For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.\u201d]\n\nSo right then and there He was speaking of a spiritual family that transcends physical family lines.\u00a0 So the moment that you are in Christ you are a part of a family of God, you\u2019re still a member of your physical family but you\u2019re actually a member of a higher family than just your physical family.\n\nAnd Jesus is actually your brother, spiritual brother. You say well where does it say that in the Bible?\u00a0 I\u2019m glad you asked, Romans 8:29.\u00a0 Romans 8:29 says this: \u201cFor those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He\u201d that\u2019s Jesus, \u201cmight be the firstborn among many brethren.\u201d\u00a0 So Jesus is the firstborn, in a sense, and all of us that are born \u201cin Him\u201d are His brethren, or brothers, or sisters in Christ.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what kind of kinship we have with Jesus.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll see the same kind of teaching in Hebrews 2:11-12, where we\u2019re called the brethren, or brothers of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:11, \u201cFor both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father;<\/em> for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, \u00a0[12] saying, \u201cI WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING\u00a0 YOUR PRAISE.\u201d]\n\nEven though He\u2019s in a different position than we\u2019re at because he\u2019s deity, that doesn\u2019t change the fact that we are also His brethren.\u00a0 \u00a0And we, at that point of personal faith in Christ, become God\u2019s very own child.\u00a0 So the family relationship is so tight that God looks at you as if you are His own child, spiritually speaking, and notice the Gospel of John, chapter 1 and verses 12-13.\u00a0 John 1:12-13 says, \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, [13] who were born,\u201d watch this, \u201cnot of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d\u00a0 What makes\u00a0 you a child of God is the spiritual birth, which is something we call regeneration, which we\u2019ll be talking about, probably next week.\n\nYou hear politicians and people of the world say things like \u201cwe\u2019re all God\u2019s children,\u201d referring to everybody in the world, six\/seven billion people on planet earth, \u201cwe\u2019re all God\u2019s children.\u201d\u00a0 Well, the Bible says we\u2019re not all God\u2019s children. We\u2019re all God\u2019s creation but we\u2019re not all His children.\u00a0 In fact, Romans 5:10 says if you\u2019re not in Christ you are actually God\u2019s enemy. \u00a0[Romans 5:10, \u201cFor if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.\u201d]\n\nYou don\u2019t actually become His child until you receive the new birth, or you\u2019re born spiritually.\u00a0 So 1 John 3:2 tells us that we are children of God.\u00a0 [1 John 3:2, \u201cBeloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.\u201d]\n\nAnd if you\u2019ll follow me over to the book of Galatians for just a minute, because we are children of God we are given the privilege of sonship, sons of God, or with the female obviously daughter of God.\u00a0 But notice Galatians 3:26.\u00a0 Galatians 3:26 calls us sons of God.\u00a0 It says, \u201cFor you are all sons of God through\u201d what? \u201cfaith in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Now if you go over to Galatians 4:5-7 it tells you what privileges you have as a son of God.\u00a0 Notice what it says, Galatians 4:5-7 says, \u201cSo that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.\u201d\u00a0 So we have been adopted into the royal household and family of God.\u00a0 Verse 6, \u201cBecause you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,\u201d so because I\u2019m God\u2019s son God says I\u2019m going to put My Son in you, through the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 And look at this next expression, \u201c\u2026into our hearts, crying, \u2018Abba! Father!\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now \u201cAbba\u201d is an Aramaic word and basically what that word means is Daddy.\u00a0 We are of such close kinship to God that we can actually call God \u201cDaddy.\u201d\n\nAnd I know that when my daughter, don\u2019t tell her this, says \u201cDaddy,\u201d that is such a heartwarming experience as a parent you will do anything that kid wants you to do at that point, won\u2019t\u00a0 you.\u00a0 Anything she wants, if she calls me Daddy I\u2019ll probably end up doing that for her because there\u2019s nothing more warming and intimate and personal than your own descendants calling you Daddy.\n\nSo we actually can call out to God the Father and call Him Daddy.\u00a0 And think how that warms His heart.\n\nAnd it goes on here and it says, [7] \u201cTherefore you are no longer a slave,\u201d now what was a slave?\u00a0 Someone that worked for the master but was not an heir; \u201cyou are no longer a slave but a son\u201d look at this, \u201cand if a son, than an heir through God.\u201d\u00a0 So we, as sons of God, have the privilege of heirship.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say, Bill Gates started Microsoft; who you rather be?\u00a0 Would you rather be Bill Gates, top CEO, now think of all the money that would entail, you would have stock options, you would have\u2026 think of the salary you would have, I mean, that would be a privileged position, to be his CEO.\u00a0 Or, would you rather be his own physical child who is going to inherit everything.\u00a0 What would you rather be.\u00a0 I mean CEO would be great but I\u2019d settle for son.\u00a0 And see, that\u2019s what the Bible is saying, is you are sons of God \u201cand if a son then an heir.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019re not like a slave working for God, which would be a privilege in and of itself, but you\u2019re heir to the whole estate;\u00a0 you\u2019re heir to the whole fortune.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why the Scripture speaks of our inheritance in God.\n\nRomans 8:14-17, we don\u2019t have to turn there but it also says we can cry out to God, Abba, Father, which means Daddy.\u00a0 [Romans 8:14-17, \u201cFor all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.\u00a0 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, \u2018Abba! Father!\u2019 [16] The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him<\/em> so that we may also be glorified with Him.<\/em>\u201d]\n\nEphesians 1:5 calls us sons of God.\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:5, \u201cHe predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,\u201d].\n\nSo this is a tremendous blessing that we have in our ledger, this is a huge spiritual asset, this privilege that we have of sonship.\n\nNow let me see if I can cover just one more before my time is up.\u00a0 The second blessing you have, I don\u2019t have these in any particular order, I\u2019m just using numbers to organize my thoughts but the second one that\u2019s huge is you have eternal life.\u00a0 So take a look if you could at John 3:16, a verse\u00a0 you already know by heart, most likely.\u00a0 The second blessing\u00a0 you have is eternal life.\u00a0 John 3:16 says, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have\u201d what? \u201ceternal life.\u201d\n\nJohn 4:14, says virtually the same thing.\u00a0 \u201cWhoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.\u201d\n\nJohn 10:28 says, Jesus speaking, \u201cand I give eternal life to them, [and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.]\u201d\n\nRomans 6:23 says, \u201cFor the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is\u201d what? \u201ceternal life\u201d notice the little prepositional phrase, \u2018in Christ,\u201d \u201cin Christ\u201d gives you access to eternal life.\n\nNow \u201ceternal life\u201d are the exact same words used to describe God\u2019s life.\u00a0 Romans 16:26 of God says, \u201cbut now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God,\u201d that\u2019s ai\u014dnios, ai\u014dnios<\/em> means eternal.\u00a0 The word eternal that describes God is the same word that\u2019s used, translated eternal life, which we have.\n\n1 Timothy 1:17 says, \u201cNow to the King\u201d what? \u201ceternal, [immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.]\u201d\n\nAnd then over in the book of Revelation, chapter 4 and verse 10, of God it says, \u201cthe twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever\u201d that\u2019s ai\u014dnios<\/em>.\u00a0 So the word \u201ceternal,\u201d ai\u014dnios<\/em> is the exact same word in the Greek New Testament\u00a0 used to describe God.\n\nSo what we have is we as recipients of eternal life we share in God\u2019s life, that never ends, that\u2019s what eternal life is; we are sharing in the life of God and just as God never ends the eternal life that we possess as New Testament Christians never ends as well.\n\nSo synonyms for eternal life are: number 1, you\u2019ll never die; you may die physically but \u201cabsent from the body\u201d is what? \u201cpresent with the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 Paul said, \u201cFor me to live is Christ, to die is\u201d what? \u201cgain.\u201d\u00a0 [Philippians 1:21]\u00a0 So death is separation; life is being joined to God.\u00a0 So the very worst thing that could happen to you in this life is someone could take your physical life away but that doesn\u2019t impact your eternal life.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus talked about don\u2019t fear those who can kill the body, but fear the ones who cast body and soul into hell.\u00a0 [Matthew 10:28, \u201c\"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.\u201d]\n\nSo eternal life, another way of saying it therefore is you\u2019ll never die.\u00a0 You can\u2019t die if your life is eternal.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Notice what He said the women there regarding the resurrection of Lazarus which was about to happen.\u00a0 John 11:25-26, \u201cJesus said to her,\u201d that\u2019s Martha, \u201c\u2019I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he\u201d what? \u201cdies,\u201d verse 26, \u201cand everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s another way of explaining eternal life, we never die.\u00a0 Another way of saying it is immortality. \u00a0Now sometimes I\u2019ve been preaching fast up here on Sunday and I say immorality and that\u2019s not what I mean, I mean immortality.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have immorality, that\u2019s not something we want to involve ourselves in but we have immortality in God.\u00a0 That\u2019s another way of saying eternal life.\n\nNotice 2 Timothy 1:10, it says, \u201cbut now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,\u201d so we have life and immortality, meaning it\u2019s impossible to die.\u00a0 Death, I\u2019m defining as separation from God.\u00a0 You cannot, once you receive the gift of eternal life, once you begin to share in God\u2019s life which never ends, death or separation from God is impossible.\n\nThis is one of the reasons when we get into eternal security I\u2019ll show you that the Bible teaches that once saved, always saved, because think about this for a minute.\u00a0 If the life you have in God is eternal, which lasts forever, how can you what?\u00a0 Lose it?\u00a0 How can you forfeit something that\u2019s eternal?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that an impossibility? So since I\u2019ll never die\u2026 immortality, the exact same words that are used to describe God\u2019s life\u2026.\n\nAnother way, take a look at John 17:3 for a minute, Jesus is giving what I would call the Lord\u2019s prayer, you know, we think \u201cthe Lord\u2019s prayer\u201d is in Matthew 6, that\u2019s not the Lord\u2019s prayer, that\u2019s the disciple\u2019s prayer.\u00a0 Jesus is teaching the disciples how to pray.\u00a0 But in John 17:3 he is giving them a model prayer.\u00a0 But in John 17 it\u2019s actually His prayer, if you really want to study the Lord\u2019s prayer you don\u2019t study Matthew 6, that\u2019s just the disciple\u2019s prayer.\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s prayer is in John 17, and notice what Jesus says there in John 17:3, He defines eternal life, \u201cAnd this is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.\u201d\u00a0 It defines what eternal life is there; it\u2019s knowing God.\n\nNow in the Bible church environment we think knowing God means I know some facts about God, and that\u2019s not what the word gin\u014dsk\u014d<\/em> means at all.\u00a0 \u201cKnow\u201d is the deepest level of intimacy you can have with another\u2026 in an earthly sense with another human being.\u00a0 So I think it\u2019s the King James in Genesis 4:1 says \u201cAdam knew his wife,\u201d\u00a0 that doesn\u2019t mean he learned about her favorite color and horoscope reading because she got pregnant as a result of knowing him.\u00a0 [Genesis 4:1, And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.\u201d KJV]\u00a0 Adam knew his wife and she became pregnant and begat Cain.\n\nSo in the Bible \u201cknowing\u201d is the deepest level of intimacy you can have with someone which is analogous to the sexual relationship between man and woman within marriage.\u00a0 That\u2019s the deepest level of intimacy you can experience with somebody.\u00a0 And by way of analogy we know God, it\u2019s not knowing facts about God and data about God, though knowing facts and data about God are important.\u00a0 But it\u2019s talking about something much grander than that; it\u2019s talking about a deep level of intimacy and that\u2019s how Jesus defines eternal life.\n\nThat\u2019s why in Ephesians 5 we are the bride of the church, He is the what?\u00a0 the groom, that\u2019s why that analogy is used.\u00a0 It\u2019s analogizing our relationship to God to the most intimate relationship you can have with another human being.\u00a0 Only the marriage relationship would even qualify as a potential descriptor of knowing God.\n\nSo that\u2019s what eternal life is.\u00a0 I like to define eternal life as sharing in the life of God which never ends.\u00a0 I have many, many verses there on point number 5 that articulate that but one, I won\u2019t look up all those, I\u2019ll let you look up those up this week in\u00a0 your personal study time, but one I will share with you is Galatians 2:20, which is\u2026 Galatians 2:20 is the secret of the spiritual life.\u00a0 Galatians 2:20 the Apostle Paul says, \u201cI have been crucified with Christ;\u201d look at this, \u201cand it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;\u201d isn\u2019t that an amazing statement.\u00a0 So the secret to the spiritual life is not me going out and doing a bunch of stuff for Christ.\u00a0 I mean, the secret to the spiritual life is not me going out and living for God.\u00a0 You mean the secret to the spiritual life is not me going out and checking off on my check list what I\u2019ve done for God?\u00a0 That\u2019s not the secret to the spiritual life at all.\n\nThe secret to the spiritual life, Paul says, is not me doing it, it\u2019s Christ who what?\u00a0 Lives in me.\u00a0 I mean the best thing I can do is get out of the way, right.\u00a0 The secret to the spiritual life is get out of the way and let God live His life through you.\u00a0 That\u2019s a totally different concept isn\u2019t it, than what religion offers where we have to do X, Y and Z to merit something from God.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what the Bible teaches at all.\u00a0 The whole spiritual life is\u00a0 He lives His life through us.\u00a0 That\u2019s what eternal life is; it is sharing, I\u2019ve got to watch myself, I\u2019m starting to preach here, I\u2019ve got to curtail myself, I feel a three point sermon coming on here, it\u2019s sharing in the life of God which never ends.\n\nAnd one other thing and I\u2019ll close with this; take a look at John 5:24, eternal life is a present tense reality.\u00a0 And there is so much misunderstanding\u2026 I used to think this, I\u2019m going to die and go to heaven and have eternal life.\u00a0 In other words, we look at eternal life as something we\u2019re going to get, you know, in the afterlife at some point.\u00a0 That is not how the Bible ever describes eternal life; it is a present tense reality.\u00a0 It is something that the believer experiences right now and, of course, death only accentuates that, but it\u2019s something you have now.\n\nSo notice John 5:24, Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly,\u201d now when He says \u201cTruly, truly\u201d we need to \u201ctruly\u201d pay attention, He\u2019s saying \u201ctruly\u201d twice; \u201ctruly\u201d is a translation of, it\u2019s translated \u201camen.\u201d So when we say amen, you know, like the preacher makes a point that\u2019s good, that people agree with, they\u2019ll say \u201camen.\u201d\u00a0 Or after a prayer we\u2019ll say \u201camen,\u201d and that means it\u2019s true or it\u2019s certain.\n\nSo Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly,\u201d amen, amen, certainty times two is what He\u2019s saying, \u201cTruly, truly,\u00a0 I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me,\u201d that\u2019s what gets you into these riches, believe in Christ,\u00a0 he who \u201cbelieves in Him who sent me,\u201d look at this, \u201chas eternal life,\u201d\u00a0 you see that?\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say he who believes in me will get eternal life, He doesn\u2019t say that at all.\u00a0 \u201cHe who believes in Me has <\/u>eternal life,\u201d now when you translate the verb \u201chas\u201d in Greek it\u2019s a present tense verb, eternal life is something you get right now.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of your riches that you immediately enter into at the point of faith in Christ.\u00a0 \u201cHe who believes in Me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death unto life.\u201d\u00a0 See, death is separation to something you passed out of; now that you\u2019ve passed out of separation you\u2019re into this union with God which can never end.\u00a0 And it starts pronto, the moment you trust Christ as your Savior.\n\nSo it is knowing God (intimacy) and it is sharing in the life of God which never ends.\u00a0 So what exactly do you have in Christ?\u00a0 I mean, you have adoption or sonship, or heirship, and then you also have eternal life.\u00a0 So I hope you\u2019re feeling pretty rich because that\u2019s\u2026 it\u2019s not what I say about you, it\u2019s what God says about you.\u00a0 And we\u2019re just barely getting into this.\u00a0 Next week we\u2019ll look at regeneration and some of these other things.\u00a0 All right, I\u2019ll stop talking and we\u2019ll let folks go to pick up their kids if they need to do that and if anybody has any questions we can open it up for Q & A.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t