Growing in the Grace of God #06 - the New Covenant of Grace — Bob Hoekstra

Growing in the Grace of God

We're now in our study on the new covenant of grace. We've looked at the fact that the scriptures say we live under grace, not law. Then we looked at God's justifying grace. And now we've been looking at God's sanctifying grace, concluding with 2 Peter 3 .18, that we are to grow in the grace of God.

And we chatted a little bit at break about what's involved there, growing in the grace of God. We're to grow in this matter of God's grace, and we're to grow by it, grow in the understanding of it, and grow by means of it.

And we'll talk quite a bit about what that involves as we go along in this course. You know, what does it mean to grow in and by the grace of God? And part of that has to do with this next heading, access to grace.

Access to Grace Through Christ

Access to grace. This is both initially how we enter into God's grace, but then continually how we more and more learn to draw on God's grace, live by God's grace, see it active and activated in our lives.

Access to the grace of God, how we avail ourselves of the grace of God. Or as some might say, tap into the grace of God. It's putting a little bit, you know, in kind of a slang terminology, but access to grace.

2 Corinthians 8, 9. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. The grace of God is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The grace of God is found in and through the person and work of the Lord Jesus. Interesting here, one of the pivot verses early on in these two chapters, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, which are primarily about giving, material sacrificial giving in the kingdom of God in the Christian life.

It's interesting that it's called a grace. Chapter 8, verse 1,. Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, and the story is about how generously and graciously they gave.

I mean, the grace of God applies to every area of the Christian life, including giving. I know in America you'd hardly get a clue on that, you know. If you send me the most generous gift, you can. I know God will heal you.

If you don't, I know he won't. You know, that's kind of the implication, you know. And giving is kind of extracted out of people, you know. And God is very upset with your giving. You want God to be upset with you, you know?

Make that check payable too, you know. I mean, it's awful the way the American church often has depicted grace, you know. Do you know how old this carpet is? Do you think we'll ever be able to get new carpet the way you give?

You know, that kind of a... I mean, that's so typical in American churches. And you look at it and you go, it has nothing to do with the grace of God. It's all coercion and compulsion and condemnation or bribery, you know.

You want these goodies from God, don't you? They're there, but you must take out that checkbook and write the most generous. That is, every penny in your account is what they mean. Interesting appeal here, soon after talking about how graciously these people were giving, the explanation comes out this way.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. That you through his poverty might become rich. That's what motivates our heart to give. We see the grace of God.

He was so rich and became poor that I, who was so poor spiritually, might be eternally rich spiritually. Oh Lord, whatever I have is yours, you know. I mean, that's where giving is motivated in the New Testament.

And these chapters, time and time again, talk about grace. But it's the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Access to grace, it's all related to being in Christ and then learning more and more how to relate to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, the grace of God at work in our lives is all contained in how we relate day by day to the Lord Jesus Christ. Awful personal, isn't it? Awful simple, isn't it? And again, I think it's three weeks from now, our study is called The Covenant of Relationship and the whole study is about getting to know God, relating to God.

We'll look at phrases like, in Christ, Christ in us, and God working through Christ and by Christ, and then us getting to know Christ. I mean, that's the heart of the whole covenant. That's the heart of the whole thing.

It's not a list of rules and regulations. It's not certain techniques you learn. It's ultimately a person we get acquainted with. What is access to grace? Well, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Clue, clue. It's all related to Him. The last verse of the Bible. God knows how to finish on a high note. Look at this. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. What do you say after that? Amen.

What's left to say? Amen. So be it. That's the thought the Lord left us with, you know. Here's my last word to you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. So be it. Access to grace, it's in a person, not a procedure.

It's in a person, not a place. That's why we're to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Access to grace is in Jesus Christ. That's how we, as it were, tapped into it in the first place.

We were in Adam, called upon the name of the Lord Jesus, and in Christ we found all the grace we need for forgiveness in new life. Had to do with Him. Wasn't how much Bible we read or certain intensity of prayer or how many meetings we went to or do's and don'ts.

It was they that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's how we took that drink of grace. It's the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we find grace accessible. That's how we access grace.

It's in a person. So the more we develop that personal relationship and walk, the more His grace touches our lives, fills our lives, changes our lives, strengthens our lives, transforms our lives. It's not so much as I'm going to try not to do anything so He can do everything.

Well, you'll go nuts trying to do that. And the Lord will say, how about just, let's just get acquainted, okay? I think if we just get acquainted, this will kind of work out. You'll see what you're aching for, you're going to find in our relationship.

It's much more exciting anyway. It gets our eyes back off the self and back on Him. Access to grace, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He just is to be the center of it all. Now, let's flip the numbers.

Abounding Grace and Good Works

2 Corinthians 9 .8. Well, this is one of my favorite verses in all the Word of God, period, especially on the subject of grace. And God is able. Well, I like verses that start out like that. The more I'm convinced of what I'm not able, I love verses that start out, and God is able.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you. That you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. This is too good to be true. There are so many radical statements crammed into one verse there.

Look what God is able to do. Make all grace abound toward you. All kinds of grace. All measures of grace. All appropriate timing in the unfolding of His grace. Now, even though the immediate context here is material provision, that we might provide material things where needed in all kinds of good works.

There are all kinds of verses in the Word of God that I think make it totally legitimate. To give application, if not direct interpretation, application of this verse to every area of the Christian life.

It all hinges on the ability of God. God is able to make all grace abound toward you. Just roll over you like waves. That you, always having all sufficiency in all things. Boy, that's packed superlatives.

Just superlative on top of superlative. You, always having all sufficiency in all things. That is by God's gracious provision. May have an abundance for every good work. We'll come back to this verse in the last study of our course when we relate the grace of God to good works.

And let God build an absolute case that grace living is not antagonistic or other than a life filled with good works. I would say this verse says, abounding grace is available for abundant good works.

God's grace produces a life of good works. If someone tells me they love the grace of God, all they're interested in is living by it. And there is a tragic, anemic, poverty stricken absence of good works in their life.

I think there's something wrong. Something, yeah, makes me want to hiccup. It just doesn't fit. Saying there's no way. God's grace is not there so you can perfect a perfect hammock lifestyle. Or God's grace isn't there so every Christian will move to Hawaii.

Learn how to hang loose. Now God can take Christians to Hawaii, no matter if it makes us suspicious or not. But the Hawaiian lifestyle is not equal to the grace of God. In fact, many hearts over in Hawaii are so hardened to the grace of God, they got a totally laid back lifestyle.

Irresponsible, self-centered, things like that. That's not the grace of God. Here's the grace of God. God's able to make His grace abound unto abundance for good works. What is our access to God's grace?

The ability of God to provide for our lives what is available in Jesus Christ. See, the grace is the grace of our Lord Jesus, and God is able to make all that abound. How encouraging does God have to make it for us to want to live by the grace of God?

It's in Christ, it's abundantly available, and our access to it is by being in Christ because the grace is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And now believing on Him, we are in Christ. We are where the grace is.

Or as the old song used to say, we are under the spout where the blessing comes out. The old country gospel song. When our family used to drive across country, we used to hear these, we used to drive, my dad liked to drive all night.

He'd just get there, you know. We'd hear these gospel stations from down south of the border, I remember that song. Oh, you want to stay under the spout where the blessings come out. We are there. We're in Christ.

He's the spout, you know. There's no other source. It all comes out of Him. We're there! It's where we live! But many are quenching, resisting, grieving, preoccupied. Don't even know what's theirs in Christ.

The grace, it's accessible to us in Christ, and God is able to make it abound toward us. It doesn't sound like we're going to have to pry it out of God's hands. We're talking at break time. You know how maybe some of us too often have viewed the word of God as a finger pointing at us.

You blew it! And if all we see is the law, that's the finger of the law. Because what does the law say? Guilty. But I tried so hard. Guilty. But I know I did it better than they did. Both guilty. But now we can look at that same word of God and it's a hand holding out what we need.

Oh, Lord. Would you rather live under the finger of the law or the open hand of grace? What a picture that is. Appreciate the brothers sharing that. That's a tremendous picture. Our access is in God's ability to make it abound.

That's what we're counting on. That's what we're trusting in. That's what we're hoping in. That's what we're looking for. A part of that attitude, that relational attitude we have toward the Lord Jesus Christ is in James 4 .6.

James 4 .6. But he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. How many times have we who were in Christ rejected the grace of God? We've made ourselves candidates not for God giving grace but resisting us by our pride.

I can make this Christian life work. We especially get into it when we compare to others. You know, we find somebody stumbling worse than us. Oh, I'm getting it. Look at me. I'm doing it. I know I could.

God resists the proud. How much of our Christian lives have we been getting worn down by working against God? There's guaranteed burnout there. Christians don't have to burn out as they pour out their lives for the Lord.

For living by the grace of God, the supply is infinite. But if we're walking in self-sufficiency and pride, yeah, I can handle this. Well, there's a burnout coming because we're working against God. We're running just with all of our might and God's just got his finger on our forehead.

God resists the proud. We're just throwing everything we have into it. Why won't my children listen? This resists the proud. You can go nowhere working against God. We want to be workers with God as 2 Corinthians 6, chapter 6, verse 1 says.

Workers together with God. Not those that God resists. He resists the proud. He wants to give grace. To whom does he give grace? He gives grace to the humble. Grace does not flow to and through the self-sufficient, self-reliant Christian life.

And let's face it. Most American Christians have been trained to be self-sufficient. After all, you're an American Christian. Show God what you can do. We took the frontier with two six guns. We'll take the devil the same way.

And we've been raised with that mentality. And we tell each other, you can do it. You know you can. It's in you. Come on. You can do it. You got it. We encourage each other. Feel good about yourself. Love yourself.

Esteem yourself. Can you believe we're coaching each other how to get in that place where God is resisting us? Can you imagine how much religious energy is poured out in the American church getting Christians into the place where they can be resisted by God?

I mean, that's a sober thought, isn't it? I want to be one of those who contributes by the grace of God to seeing Christians come to the place to receive the grace of God. God gives grace to the humble.

The humble. Not the self-sufficient. Not the self-reliant. The humble. The dependent. The ones willing to say before God, I am inadequate. Or to put it in the parallel phrase of 2 Corinthians 9 .8. You are able.

I am not able. In America, we live the Christian life. Our life verse is, and I am able to make all I need abound. Whenever I need it. How do we access grace? It's found in Jesus Christ. It really hinges on God's ability to make it abound.

And God gives grace to the humble. He gives grace to the humble. Remember, I brought again the little descriptive word about the grace of God, what it is. I had described it this way. It's too anemic to be a definition.

I don't think any definition could capture the grace of God. God freely providing for us, through the person and work of his Son, all that we would need, all that we yearn for, all that we are commanded to walk in and become, but could never deserve, could never earn, and could never produce on our own.

Mostly taken from Ephesians 2 .4 -10. God gives that kind of grace to the humble. Those who see that it's in Christ, but it's not in them, but they're in Christ, so now it's theirs. They don't look to self, they look to Christ.

And they're dependent. And they confess need. I once had a seminary prof, they said to him, how do you get so hyped up for your classes? He said, well I just, and this guy was dynamite. He said, I just go to my study no matter what mood I'm in, and I don't leave for that class, till I am climbing the walls.

And everybody, yeah, that's our man, yeah. Teach us how to do that. Let me tell you how I came over here tonight. Lord, I'm tired. Lord, the battle's heavy. Lord, I love you, but I sure need you. So glad your grace is abundant.

So thankful it doesn't hinge on me tonight. Lord, I sure would love to be used by you tonight. I'd love for you to be pleased and honored. I'd love for your people to be blessed, encouraged. Only one hope, Lord, for these things.

Please pour out your grace. Man, I'd rather do that for three minutes, than hype myself up for three hours. Two different worlds. Two totally different worlds. And yet we're so naturally inclined to hype each other up.

You can do it. And we see discouragement. How about help them down the rest of the way to the cross? They're just about there, and we get in their way. You can do it. You can do it. I know you can. Well, maybe I can.

You know, they back off and strive a little more. God gives grace to the humble. I used to fight verses like this. I thought, boy, these verses aren't for me. They must be for the weak. Yeah, they are for the weak.

I just didn't know who I was. I love to hear words like that now. It just draws my heart to the Lord. It just draws my heart there. It's also in 1 Peter 5. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another. See, again, submission is not for one category in the household or one gender among the sexes. Be submissive to one another. And be clothed with humility.

Doesn't sound very exciting, does it? Can I be clothed with a four-colored robe? Be clothed with humility. Why? For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.

While you're waiting, what do you do? Cast all your cares upon Him. For He cares for you. Attitude, relationship, trust, dependence. God gives grace to the humble. That's how we access His grace. Now, that's more a sense of confessing our need.

Faith as the Means of Accessing Grace

There's another aspect of accessing that grace. Romans 5 .2 Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Now, that gets right back to what we were touching on earlier.

To kind of sum up this access to grace. The grace is the grace of the Lord Jesus. It's in Him, but we live in Him now. Everywhere we look in Him, grace is available if it's Him we're looking to. Through whom?

Through the Lord Jesus we have access. How do we access grace? Through the Lord Jesus Christ and how we relate to Him. How are we to relate to Him? Elsewhere we saw in humility, here by faith. We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

You and I, this could be a great picture too. A picture spiritually describe us standing in Christ. And everywhere we look, there's grace. Because it's this grace in which we stand. We stand before a holy God through the work of Jesus Christ in a place that is just called grace.

We stand in grace. And sometimes, you know, I picture myself there. Oh Lord, there's big troubles and big needs, you know. You got to help me. And all around me is this grace. It's like, well, take a bucketful.

Drink deeply, dive in. How? By faith. By faith. Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Standing in Christ, we stand in grace. Not up to our knees, not up to our ears.

Up to the fullness of the stature of Christ. There's just abundant grace. How do we access it? By faith in Him. Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Humility, it's an attitude of need and dependence.

Facing our inability, ready to hope in His ability. Faith, I guess you could say is reaching our hand out into that open hand of His. Oh, thank you, Lord. Oh, thank you, Lord. Grace to forgive and cleanse, thank you.

Grace to teach, thank you. Grace to change me so I won't be tomorrow what I was yesterday when it relates to you. Oh, thank you. Oh, Lord. I believe you, Lord. I believe you can make all grace abound.

I'm counting on it. I'm reaching out for it. It's by faith. Faith and grace go together like our hand in His hand. By faith. And remember Romans 1 .17. For in it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the just shall live by faith. In our desire to learn how to live the Christian life by the grace of God, this is the issue it hinges on most directly. The just shall live by faith. God's righteous ones, His justified ones, shall live by faith initially, continually, increasingly.

We trust God for all that His grace can do. He supplies His grace and it goes to work in our lives. Say someone finds a real instability within. We were talking earlier, Hebrews 13 .9. It's good for the heart to be established by grace.

Lord, I'm so wishy-washy inside. One day I trust you, the next day I doubt you. One day I just seem to walk an obedient life. The next day I'm just off into everything in my own flesh. One thing one could do to see God work in that.

Number one, humble ourselves before God and confess that that's not what gives Him great honor. That's not Christ-like. That's not what touches other lives and say, Lord, I'm just looking to you by your grace to cleanse my unrighteousness, cover my disobedience, forgive, but more, Lord, go to work in me and on me.

Graciously check me up when I'm ready to wander. Graciously encourage me when I'm ready to quit. Graciously remind me of what you can do that I can't do. Just start working on me inside by grace. Faith, the just shall live by faith.

You know what that does? It brings more life. The just shall live by faith. Every time we exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have more life. Jesus said, I came that you might have life and have it meagerly.

I mean, that's the way we've acted. The American church, you're saved and going to heaven, quit griping. No abundant life we ache for. We were recreated in Christ Jesus for it. The Spirit's convicting in that direction.

The more we trust Him, the more abundant is the life we live. The just shall live by faith. We come more and more alive as we depend upon Him more and more. And often, well, is that active or passive?

Yes. You know, coming over here tonight, it was an active step of faith to get in the car and drive over here. But there was kind of a passiveness inside as I'm going home. I'm spent, the battle's heavy.

But then I'm encouraged, oh, but we're going to talk about grace. So I drive a little faster. I mean, how do you explain it? It's relating to someone who's changing your life. It's not do's and don'ts.

It's getting to know Him. The just shall live by faith. And often we're saying, how do we make this grace work? It's almost like saying, how do you do faith? Well, you can't really do faith. Because faith is a trusting in the doing of God.

I mean, it's just, in some moments, it's as clear as a podium you can pound your knuckles on. Other times, it's as wispy as a cloud you can't grab, you know, as you try to press on to know the Lord. Let's face it, any of us who've walked any amount of months or years with the Lord, we know Him far better now than we did back then.

And yet we're filled with questions and yearnings and desire to know Him better. That's three weeks from now. I've got to slow down. That's right where it is. That's right where it is, though. The just shall live by faith.

Trusting in the Lord brought us forgiveness and eternal life. What do you think day by day trusting Him will bring? Abundant life. The just shall live by faith. And it's by faith that it might be in accord with grace.

Romans 4 .16. Trusting in the Lord. Well, we'll just keep coming at this, you know. We're not going to say it all, get it all in one lifetime, let alone one night. We can just keep talking from many perspectives.

Contending for the True Meaning of Grace

In conclusion, let's look at a few verses in the minutes remaining. In conclusion. In conclusion. Some warnings and some encouragements. Nothing wrong with being warned if it throws you on the grace of God.

It doesn't throw you on self-sufficiency, you know. Here's a warning about grace. Jude 4. Jude 4 tells us why we must earnestly contend for the faith. We've had a class here in Costa Mesa and Twin Peaks called earnestly contending for the faith.

We have a seminar taught at many, many of the Calvary's. I would venture to say that one of the issues that we need to earnestly contend for, perhaps more than most any other, is the grace of God. This is not a class per se in contending for the faith.

That is defending it, fighting for its purity and keeping it true to the word. And yet it is. We're just staying on one subject. The grace of God. Contending for it. The reason we must contend for the faith and even contend for the grace of God.

Remember, the faith is the content, the objective content of the truth of God's word. In which we place our faith. I don't know how many years I read the Bible and the phrase, the faith and faith, I just jumbled them all together.

There are a lot of words like that and phrases in the Bible. Like exalt and exalt. I say what? Exalt. A-L-T. Exalt. U-L-T. I used to always read those words as though they were the same. Just not listening.

Not listening, not paying attention. Exalt is to lift high. To exalt is to have a victory celebration. They're two different things. There are a lot of things like that in the word of God that we're just to listen to.

I meshed in all together faith and the faith. Well, you miss the whole point sometimes of one if you do that. The faith is the objective content of truth. Faith is our attitude toward that. The faith we must earnestly contend for.

The truth of the word of God. Why? Verse 4. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness, or lasciviousness, or licentiousness.

If you put it with Romans 6, 1 and 2. Let's not turn God's grace into something it isn't. God's grace isn't an excuse to sin. It's a power of God to remove sin. Not an excuse to keep sinning. Let's not turn the grace of our God into lewdness.

Too many Christians. Well, why do you keep carrying on in that pattern of life? And those, you know, disgusting movies and those raunchy books and those bad relationships. Ah, the grace of God will cover it all.

Well, that's not the grace of God you're talking about that. That's the presumption of your rebellious heart. That probably someday we'll have to find out that we reap what we sow. Reap humility, you get grace.

Reap faith, you get life. Presume on God's grace, it's not grace. We don't want to turn it into something it isn't. Most of this class is trying to find what it is though. But it's good to have a warning like this.

It just keeps us on track. It helps build a descriptive definition of grace. Let's not turn it into lewdness. 2 Corinthians, I mean, not 2 Corinthians, Romans 6 first, then we'll look at 2 Corinthians.

Romans 6, 1 and 2. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? You know, the previous verse, 20 says, where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. The flesh might want to say, hey, I got an idea.

I think I'll go to work on abounding. Or sin abounding, grace abounding? Hey, let's continue in sin that grace may abound. Shall we? Verse 2, certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

See, that's a misunderstanding of the grace of God and where we stand before God. We died in Christ, so we died to sin. How shall we live in it? That's a total misunderstanding of the grace of God. The grace of God is what got us out of that death and into that life of Christ.

So let's not turn the grace of God into something it isn't. Then 2 Corinthians 6, 1 and 2. 2 Corinthians 6, 1 and 2. We then, as workers together with him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

For he says, in the acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Let's not receive in vain the grace of God.

The reason given here is because Christ didn't receive it in vain. Because this quote in verse 2 is a quote out of Isaiah 49, I think it is. That is a prophetic quote of Messiah. What he would say when he was on the earth offering salvation to everyone.

It was the Son of God living by the grace of God before Father God. We're also going to talk about that three weeks from tonight. It's amazing how many things we're going to talk about three weeks from tonight.

But we are. We're going to talk about that very issue. And how Jesus defined it in the Gospel of John, how he walked with the Father. Because it's how we are supposed to walk with him. It has to do with not receiving the grace of God in vain.

Even Messiah lived that way, by the grace of God. We're not to receive the grace of God in vain. We're workers together with God. We did a study here a couple, three months ago. Working with God. It's wonderful to want to work for God.

We should desire that. But the only way we really learn to effectively work for God is the more we learn that we're workers with God. Not him standing off there and, how's this? Am I doing it right for you?

No. We work together with God. We become his instruments and he works in and through us. So we plead you not to receive the grace of God in vain. Number one, we don't want to turn the grace of God into something it isn't.

Number two, we don't want to receive it in vain. That is, we don't want to hear it, but then not depend on it. Oh yeah, the grace of God. Oh yeah, salvation is by grace. Then we go off and live by self-effort, by works righteousness, by striving under the law.

That's receiving the grace of God in vain. To receive it in vain, to acknowledge it and accept it for less than or other than intended. And if we receive it only for justification, we're receiving it, in that sense, in vain.

Not for justification, but for what it was intended. It was intended for sanctification also. So let's not change it and let's not under-accept it, under-receive it, receive it in vain. And then last, a few verses we'll just read quickly in Ephesians.

The Dimensions and Riches of Grace

Tremendous place to finish concerning the grace of God. Excuse me, the new covenant of grace. Ephesians 1 .6, we could call this line, the dimensions of the grace of God. Wonder how big it'll be. The dimensions of the grace of God.

Verse 6, God did all these things, verses 1 -5, and He did it to the praise of the glory of His grace. One of the dimensions of the grace of God is it's glorious. It's glorious. Verse 7, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

God's kingdom is immeasurably rich in grace. Ephesians 2 .7, I love this one. Verse 6 says, God raised us up together with Christ and made us sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Why? Or to what end?

That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace. How's He going to show that? In kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Does that blow your mind? Think of that. For eternity, God is going to demonstrate to you the exceeding riches of His grace.

How? By just being kind to you for eternity. Oh, my word. I can hardly wait. This world is so unkind, and sometimes we the church are so unkind. God has exceedingly rich grace. And the only appropriate thing to do with it to show how exceedingly rich it is, is He raised us up with Christ, sits us there in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, that is, the rest of the church age, the millennial kingdom age, the new heaven and new earth age, eternity, He might show the exceeding riches.