Ezekiel Part 18

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Ezekiel Part 19

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Alright, let's pray and then we'll get into our study. Lord Jesus, again, as we open up your word and we consider the prophet

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Ezekiel and then the relationship between faith and works, we ask, Lord, that your word would inform us properly in this regard and through the

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Holy Spirit help us to rightly embrace your law and the gospel so that we may properly understand, you know, the connection between the two but never to juxtapose them because in doing so we lose faith and we also lose you.

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We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so last week, um, wait,

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Stephen has his hand raised. Alright, Stephen, you have your hand raised. Can you hear me? I can hear you.

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Okay. Um, there was a question about today's lesson and about the sermon. Ah, okay, hang on a second, let me back up then.

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Alright, hang on a second here. Alright, a little bit of discussion regarding the Apostles' Creed, that's interesting.

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Um, happy confluence of events I have witnessed. Okay, so I, goodnight.

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Alright, hang on a second here. It's Marlena. Second question. Second. Let me hunt this down.

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I just have to kind of, two questions for the study. Alright, um, let's see. Why doesn't the

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Apostles' Creed include the gospel? It just talks about the who is, but it doesn't say why

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Jesus came. Um, I would note that, so the Apostles' Creed is a western creed and it was really kind of a baptismal creed at first, and it doesn't quite have the same rigor as the

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Nicene Creed, which was, the Nicene Creed is a more hammered out version of what was called the rule of faith that the

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Apostles' taught, so, um, Bruce, are you raising your hand? Yeah.

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Oh, yeah, holy smokes, you look like you got hit by a truck. It's morning, which is midnight for me, but, also,

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I almost died last week, so I kind of recovered. Um, we went into it a bit, a little bit further down on the discussion, just wanted to let you know.

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Okay, alright, so I will then let your answers stand, because the gospel is there, it's understood, but it's just described in its details, but not with the explicit statement that you see in the

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Nicene Creed. Now, let me see if I can find that second question here. So, when it says, wives submit in everything to your husbands, does everything mean everything?

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It may sound stupid, but I heard somebody claim women should not vote because it is enough if their husbands vote, and because they would have to submit to them anyways.

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I would like your thoughts on that. Oh, this is a hot topic right now, too. Okay, so,

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I would note that, um, I'm going to start in, of all places, um, so, the way

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God set up families is that Christ is the head, then the husband, and then, you know, and so, he's the head, he's the guy who represents that family, that family unit.

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But you're going to note here, democracy and the ability to vote and things like this, that is not a, that's really not a biblically mandated thing.

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So, when we take a look at Western society and stuff like this, you'll note that the original feminists, their first move was to have women be able to vote, and some people have argued, and I think they've argued well, that that may not have been a good thing, and that it's actually created some problems in Western society.

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But the problem is that you can't get, it's like once that cat's out of the bag, you can't put that cat back in the bag.

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And so, you know, we grow up with kind of this egalitarian idea that society works in an egalitarian way, but God, as he originally set it up, it's not really that, it's complementarian.

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And I would note that when things were more in line with the way

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God had set things up kind of patriarchically, women had more power than they have today.

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They had far more power. And so, you know, but you're going to note, submitting to your husband in every way is, you're supposed to see him as your head.

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So, Marlena, what's your question? You had your hand up. Yeah, because in Greek, you always say,

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I looked it up and everything means everything. Yeah. I'm wondering if this everything means everything too, or is it?

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Yeah, but it makes sense what you're saying. It does. So, I can also,

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I know it's hot button, but I could also say, I'm not going because my husband will take the right choice anyways.

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Could I? All the family is screaming at me. You could. You could absolutely do that.

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Or you can double up your votes and say, you know, how are you voting husband and vote the same way as his. I don't think it's a good thing when husband and wife's votes cancel out each other.

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You know, my question is what's going on in that marriage? I'm coming out of feminism too, so I find it so liberating that I don't have to do all this stuff anymore.

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So, yeah, I just wanted to know. Thank you. Yeah, for all the talk of feminism and women's liberation, it actually has not worked out that way.

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It's actually kind of women are less protected now than they were. They have less power than they had.

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And I would note that a lot of women, they do terribly out in the corporate world.

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I just, men aren't better, but I'm just saying it's, you know, it's fascinating that there's a reactionary group now among women where they're basically saying we've been sold a bill of goods and they are legitimately saying things.

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Why on earth would I not want to be at home raising my kids and caring for my family?

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Why would I not want that? So because you'll note that a lot of women, when they kind of buy the world's view of things, they go to the university, they go to get a job, and then by the time they want to have a family, they can't anymore.

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Their bodies are done. It's really, there's a lot, God knew what he was doing when he created us the way we are.

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But the thing is, I know everything I'm saying sounds really backwards and out of step with society.

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So I would say this though, if it's comforting, my wife has a hard time just saying the word submit.

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So when we were in marriage counseling, we were reading that text from Ephesians, and the pastor wanted

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Barb to read out that portion where it says what wives should do. And when it said wives submit to your husbands,

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Barb said, wives, your husbands. And the pastor said, you skipped a word. And she's all, no

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I didn't. He says, you skipped, read it again. Wives, your husbands. And he says, you need to say the word submit.

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She's all, no I won't say that. We've come a long way.

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But high spirited is a good way to describe my wife. Coming back then, here, let's see here.

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Let's see here, okay. I do vote, by the way.

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Barb and I always vote the same. But sometimes I ask her how we should vote, because I don't even pay attention to what's going on.

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It's like, we have to actually kind of coordinate, it's like, what are we doing here? Who would have thunk that doubling of the workforce would have resulted in lower wages?

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Right, that's kind of the thing. Does the water of baptism turn to the wine of the covenant?

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So does the water of baptism turn to the wine of the covenant? Not literally, but that's kind of the point, is that baptismal waters will lead to the wine of the covenant, and really the reference is to the marriage feast of the

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Lamb. Okay, let's go back to Ezekiel. And I've got to watch my time here.

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In fact, I've got to remember to do something here, because I haven't been outside. What did

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I do with that? I'm going to have to make sure to turn my truck on, so that my truck is warm enough to melt the ice in the snow that I haven't buried myself, dug myself out from under.

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All right, Ezekiel, again, Ezekiel 18, the word of Yahweh came to me. What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel?

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The fathers have eaten sour grapes, the children's teeth are set on edge. As I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, this proverb shall be no more be used by you in Israel.

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Behold, all souls are mine, the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins shall die.

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If a man is righteous and does what is just and right, if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of her menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes and keeps my rules by acting faithfully, he is righteous, he shall surely live, declares the

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Lord Yahweh. Now, we read this out last week and we're going to point out again, this is not teaching that you are made righteous by your good works.

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You are made righteous by grace through faith. And if you have true saving faith, good works always follow.

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And so, we were taking a look at the book of James, that epistle that we Lutherans apparently are not supposed to look at.

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I don't know why we're not allowed to look at it. But you know, and you'll see here that when we get into chapter 2, there's a text that we have to unpack.

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But if you remember last week, I pointed out that Paul is writing against the

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Judaizers, who are saying that you cannot be saved unless you do, unless you are circumcised, unless you follow the

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Mosaic covenant feast days, unless you do this, that or the other thing. That's salvation by works.

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And Paul says you cannot be saved this way. But James is writing against, a couple of scholars

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I've read on this think that there may be some kind of a proto -Gnosticism here that he's dealing with, but he's dealing with people who are legitimately saying that they don't have to do any good works, that good works are not necessary when it comes to faith.

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So James is going to be offering up a very strong rebuke here.

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But we've already got partway through the book of James, and we're through chapter 1, but let me back up just so that we can keep our context.

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So James says to Christians, be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

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Yeah, so if you hear the word and you don't obey it, you know, and not do it, you're deceiving yourself. Now, you'll note that all of us do it badly.

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We do the word, but we do it poorly. But there's people who don't do it at all.

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For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently in his natural face in the mirror.

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He looks at himself and goes away, and at once he forgets what he was like. I wish

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I could forget what I was like when I looked in the mirror, that would be helpful. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

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If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

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Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans, widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unstained from the world.

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So you'll note that he's putting a heavy emphasis on the good works that follow faith. And we also noted last week that Paul and James are teaching the same thing.

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They legitimately are teaching the same thing. Now he says, My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our

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Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. If a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there, sit down at my feet, treating him like a dog, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

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Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith?

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Listen to that again. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

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I want you to think about just the implications of this. I think each and every one of us, we've probably seen examples of this where people who have a lot less than we do, have great faith.

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It's absolutely fascinating to spend some time traveling the world and go to countries where the wealth of the nation isn't all over the place and there's a lot of people who are poor, and you'll find some people with amazing faith.

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But you'll note that God has chosen it this way because there's a bigger point that he's going to make on the day of judgment.

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The meek inherit the earth. The humble inherit the earth. So who runs the world right now?

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It's the pretty people, the powerful people, the rich people. And how do they treat others?

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With contempt, right? And so you're going to note here, when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, those people, they don't inherit the earth.

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They inherit the fires of hell. Who takes over the planet when

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Christ returns? The poor. I want you to think about this, this big reversal coming.

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This is why as Christians, we don't buy into this prosperity heresy.

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It's just nonsense. It's utter nonsense. Instead, I pray what the

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Proverbs pray, I don't want to be either rich or poor. I shoot for the mushy middle and I'm happy with having my needs met on a daily basis.

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But note then, so when we treat the rich with honor and the poor, we dishonor them.

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But you have dishonored the poor, man. Are not the rich ones who oppress you? You'll notice the rich ones, they have the attorneys.

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The rich ones are the ones who always are suing people. The ones who drag you into court, are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

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Yeah, they are. So, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.

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But if you show partiality, you're committing sin and you are convicted by the law as transgressors.

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For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point, has become guilty of all of it.

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That's an important text for the self -righteous. So, let's talk about how perfect you are.

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Do I have that here? Hang on a second here. I had it out yesterday. What did

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I do with it? My office is a little disorganized.

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Ah, there it is. So, when

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I was a Nazarene, this is the book that we had to read.

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Hang on a second here. Let's see if I can get this to focus. It's called A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by John Wesley.

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And I kid you not, Wesley is arguing for Christians striving for perfection.

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And when I was a Nazarene, the central biblical text that's kind of the center text for the

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Nazarene church is from the Sermon on the Mount. Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.

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And so, everything was designed for the purpose of achieving holiness and getting to a state of sinless perfection.

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And I know you're going to be shocked when I tell you this. I never was able to figure out how to do it.

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And if I had said that I was pulling it off, my wife would be the first person to tell you I wasn't.

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So, you know, it's nice to have accountability, just to say it.

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But all that being said, you'll note that James here is using the law the way the law is supposed to be used to convict people of their sin.

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And who's he writing against? He's writing against people who claim that they're in Christ, but there's no point for good works at all.

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And so, what's he doing with them? He's giving them a heavy, heavy dose of law. But note then, whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

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So, Dana Carvey's character, that church lady bit that he used to do on Saturday Night Live, could it be

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Satan? That character, the reason why that character was so funny is because we've all been to church with that lady.

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And the annoying bit about her is she legitimately thought that she was keeping

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God's law and she had the right to judge other people and to look down on them. But James is clear on this.

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You break one commandment, you're guilty of breaking all of them. So, you know, that's a bad thing.

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You're breaking all of them. So, you break one commandment, you covet, you're guilty of all the other nine.

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You steal something, you're guilty of all the other nine. And so, that's kind of the point, is you can't sit there and say that I've kept

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God's law perfectly because you haven't. For the one who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not murder.

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You have become a transgressor of the law, so speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

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For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

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And indeed it does, especially when you consider the gospel. Mercy does triumph over judgment.

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Now, so what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

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Can that faith save him? Okay, so there's your question.

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So, this is the person he is really writing against. The person who says he has faith but he doesn't have good works, nor does he need to have good works.

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Okay? And can that faith save him? Well, let me ask the question.

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Is that genuine biblical saving faith? It isn't.

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It can't possibly be true saving faith. Take a look at what Paul writes in Ephesians 2, and note here,

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For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. It is not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

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For we are His, God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

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God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So, you'll note that salvation is a gift from God, but God has raised us from death to life and seated us with Christ and has prepared good works in advance for us to do, that we should walk and conduct our lives in them.

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Good works always come with saving faith. Period. Okay? The person who says,

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I have faith but I don't have any good works, we're talking about a horse of a different color at this point.

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Right? That stripe of Christian doesn't exist. And that's James' point.

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Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed, and be filled.

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Right? Without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So, also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

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Straight up. Okay? If faith, if it doesn't have good works, that is a dead faith.

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So, note the category here. Christ has created us in Christ Jesus for good works, and we've received salvation as a gift, but somebody claiming to have faith but there's no good works at all that follow, that's dead.

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That's not real faith. That's not living faith. Someone will say, well, you have faith and I have works, so show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

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Okay? Now, a little bit of a note here. Okay? Can I look into somebody's heart and tell whether or not they have faith in Christ?

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Not exactly. I tell you what I can do. I can look at their works.

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Okay? When somebody says to me, I'm a Christian, I love Jesus, and I go, and so why are you opposed to having

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God's Word preached at church? Why are you opposed to that? Well, because we have to be relevant.

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How are we supposed to evangelize the world if we're preaching the Word? Because the pagans don't want to hear the

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Word. It's like, what? You know, Christ said you need to abide in my words, right?

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Well, we can do that on a different day than Sunday. Oh, okay. All right.

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And you look at somebody like Rob Bell. Rob Bell. He says he believes in Jesus. All right. All right. So you believe in Jesus.

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Why do you deny the doctrine of hell? Why are you pro -LGBTQ, XYZ, LMNOP?

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Why are you all these things that are contrary to the Word of God? Is not false doctrine a bad work?

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Is that not bad fruit? It is, right? And then you kind of look at his ministry.

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His ministry is all about basically saying these highfalutin, quasi -profound statements that contradict the

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Word and don't even really say anything. Okay? I can tell you a person by their works, right?

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Just saying. So he says, you believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that, and they shudder.

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Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

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The two must go together. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son

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Isaac on the altar? Now, you've got to note, he's using the word dikayaho here, justified.

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But in the context, the question is, who was he justified before? Okay? So you've got to note, he's made it clear that works are something by which we can tell whether or not somebody has faith in Christ.

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The works follow from the confession. They follow from faith. If you don't have faith, you don't have good works.

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That's just how this goes. So justified here, the question is, is this talking about justified before God or justified before human beings?

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Right? Because the context here is pointing to human beings. So was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son

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Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active. Watch the emphasis. You, blepees, you see, you see that faith was active along with his works and that faith was completed by his works.

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Uh -huh. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.

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You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the eyes of people, that's absolutely true.

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In the eyes of God, you're only justified by faith. But if there's no good works that follow that faith, that isn't saving faith at all.

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Okay? That's something completely different. So in the same way, was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

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Yeah, but you'll note, we know that Rahab had faith by what she did.

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And so here's the kicker then in this argument. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

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Another way you can say this here, let me put it in a slightly different paraphrase.

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For as the body that is not breathing is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.

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Does that kind of help kind of bear that out? So if I have a corpse, okay, and I think

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I've got a corpse, how can I tell whether or not that corpse is alive or that body is alive or not?

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If it can fog a mirror, then it's not a corpse. If it can't fog a mirror, it's a corpse.

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So if you have a body that looks like faith, but you do not have the breath of good works, that's a dead faith.

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That's a corpse faith. That's not how this works. So you kind of get the idea here.

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So this whole section here, Rome tries to point this out and say, see, we're not saved by faith alone.

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The point is, is we're not saved. We're not truly saved if there are no good works. That's the point that he's trying to make.

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Good works always follow saving faith. In fact, that's exactly what Paul talks about in Romans.

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Let me find it real quick. Romans, I think in chapter 1, hang on a second here.

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Yeah, here it is, right in the opening verses. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through the prophets by the

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Holy Scriptures concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the

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Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our

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Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

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Let me look for another word. Uphold. And I want in the epistles.

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All right. Yeah, there it is. Romans 3. Romans 3. Okay. Note where Paul goes with this.

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So what then becomes of our boasting? Paul writes, it's excluded.

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By what kind of law? By the law of works? No, by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

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Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the

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Gentiles also. Since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith, do we then overthrow the law by this faith?

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By no means. On the contrary, we uphold it. Okay? Kind of get the idea here.

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So when we talk about being born from above, being born again, if you're truly born again, good works absolutely follow.

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And I like to always kind of put it this way. The reason why cows moo is because they're cows. The reason why dogs bark is because they're dogs.

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The reason why Christians do good works is because they're Christians. If there are no good works, then how on earth are we to tell you even have saving faith at all?

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Okay? That just doesn't fit. All right. Tony Jennings, I see that you have your hand up.

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You have a question. It's actually Jeff.

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I just had to use her phone. Okay. You stole your wife's phone? No. My computer doesn't have a microphone, so we have to use one of the phones as our microphone if either one of us have a question.

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So we used her assistant today. Okay. What are the good works a person like in my situation would have?

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Because before all the body stuff, I used to go out places and do things for people.

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I used to be able to go help people and do a lot of stuff. But now the only people

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I really see is I see you all during church on Sunday and once in a while outside of church.

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Besides the doctors that I see, I stay at home and it makes me feel like I don't do.

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I guess that's part of the stuff from the previous indoctrination is

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I feel like I don't do enough still. But I don't know exactly what a person in my situation, what the good works of that person would be.

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All right. That is a great question. Okay. And I'm glad you brought it up in this context because you sit there and go, what am

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I supposed to do, especially in your particular case because you have a medical condition. I would note, Jeff, you are rich in good works.

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And how do I know? Well, because I've seen your good works. You have?

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Let's consider. Okay. Let's consider how we do our good works. Okay. Wives, submit to your husbands.

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That doesn't apply to you, by the way, Jeff. That would apply to Tony. But listen to this. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

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Jeff Jennings, you love your wife and you care for your wife and you are making decisions for the benefit of your wife and your children.

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And then you've got children, obey your parents, honor your father and mother. Here you go. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the

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Lord. I would note, Jeff, you don't get out much, but man, you have all those little people, those little human beings living in your house that you are very attentive to, that you are constantly giving instruction and you are disciplining them and you are fathering them well.

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These are good works. And then I would note back in the day when you were able to work outside of the home, you were an employee and you did your good works as an employee.

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Yeah. So you are rich in them. And I would note that when you pray for the saints and pray for the folks at Kongsving or pray for your pastor, that's a good work.

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And so you'll note that, you know, immediately the question is, what are my good works? And you'll note that you're doing a truckload of them already.

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So our good works are always done then in the vocations that we find ourselves in.

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And sometimes we find ourselves in temporary vocations. I remember the first year I was at Kongsvinger, there was a member of Kongsvinger.

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She was in the hospital. She had broken her hip. And I know this is going to sound weird, but that set off a chain reaction of events in this woman's life that ultimately resulted in her death.

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And so she just could not catch a break. I mean, she needed just one thing to go right so that she can get a particular surgery that would have fixed things for her.

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But she couldn't catch a break. But I remember visiting her. I visit her quite regularly.

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And I showed up in her hospital room one day and she says, Pastor, I feel completely useless.

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And I said, all right. I said, so why do you feel useless? She says, because I can't get out of bed.

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And all these nurses and doctors, they have to take care of me. And I'm not able to take care of anybody else.

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And I said, okay. So let's talk about your current vocation. And she goes, my what?

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And I said, well, a vocation. This is a calling. You have been put into the vocation of patient.

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You are not in any other vocation other than that currently. Although she was a wife at the time.

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She had no way of fulfilling any of the duties of a wife. But I said, you've been placed into the vocation of a patient.

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And how then are patients supposed to act? What are patients supposed to do? She says, well, they're not supposed to talk back.

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They're supposed to be easy to work with and not treat their caregivers poorly and stuff like this. I said, correct.

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And you'll note that your caregivers, they are in the vocation now of caring for you. And so I said, you need to do a very good job of being a model patient and also be praying for people since you're flat on your back and you're not able to get out of this bed.

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And I said, and all of those are good works. You're not useless. You still have very important work to do.

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It's just not the work that you're used to. So you'll note that if you are put into the vocation of patient, be a good one.

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And note that receiving other people's good works is also a good work.

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I know it sounds odd, but it truly is. So does that answer your question,

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Jeff? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. That helps out a lot. I'd gotten to the point about a year ago or a year and a half ago that I was apologizing to everyone.

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When I was hospitalized, I was apologizing to the nurses for them having to do stuff for me and everything.

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And I had to get out of that habit. It was awful. For people who've been active all of their life to be flat on their back and then have to be cared for, it's a tough thing.

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Oh, you got that right. It's absolutely difficult. It's humbling. But again, consider you're put into the vocation of a patient, so what are the good works that a patient does?

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Be a good patient. And of course, as Christians, we always pray.

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And you'll note that in the Scriptures, it talks about the older saints, especially the older women saints.

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They dedicate their lives to prayers. And so historically in the

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Church, widowed women oftentimes played a very vital role within the

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Church, because they had more time to pray than others did who had to work and things like this.

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So always, and again, you can fill your time up in good works, because it is a good work to pray and to intercede for others on their behalf and bring them before the

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Lord. That is a good work. I've definitely done the praying and talking to people while I was in the hospital.

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When I was anesthetized one time from a surgery, remember the lady that was crying?

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There was a lady, they had to tell me this after I came to all the way, but there was a lady that was in the back where they put everybody to come to from after surgery and everything, recovery.

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And she was back there crying. And she was an older lady. And I mean, nobody could get her to calm down.

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And I started singing. I was like, I was on, I was out of my mind on the medication they had given me for my surgery.

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But I started singing hymns to her. She started calming down and quietening down.

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And then she just laid there and was calm the rest of the time. But I didn't even remember doing that.

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I've always, when I've been in the hospital and stuff, I've tried to always talk to people and pray with other people and stuff.

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It's one thing I've always tried doing because I figured while I was in there, that's a good place to talk to people and everything.

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And that's one thing I do. So at least I know that's a good work now. Thank you.

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There you go. And Jody asked a question. So in heaven, our good works are counted for us. Christ rewards them.

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And here's the thing. We're not told how. I know that Christ rewards our good works, but it seems kind of weird to me that he does.

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And I'll explain why. Because you'll note that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness.

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A gentleness, self -control, right? Things like this. I didn't produce that good fruit in me.

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God did. And then you'll note that in Ephesians 2 .10, we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

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Well, if I'm created in Christ Jesus for good works, I do the good works he's prepared for me, that he's given me the strength to do, that he's produced in me.

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Why would he reward them? Shouldn't he be getting all the credit for this?

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But that's kind of the best bit of all of this, is that Christ does reward our good works, even though our best good works is still soiled with sin.

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That's all bled for and died for. But the question for what comes up, I don't know.

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I legitimately don't know. All I can say is stay tuned. But he definitely rewards them.

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This is most certainly true. The scriptures say that. But details on the reward, I have no idea.

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I keep looking at my life and looking at all the sin I've been forgiven for, and I can't imagine that I've earned anything in heaven, period.

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And if I did earn even something, maybe a park bench and a newspaper. But the idea that Christ is building a mansion for me just seems to boggle my mind.

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But again, that's how good our God is. Alright. She says,

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I mean, I know we're not earning anything, but probably good he never mentioned it. If we knew, we'd go a little overboard.

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Oh, absolutely. So if God gave the details about what exactly we were being rewarded with, the human being being what they are, they would find a way to turn that into a form of works righteousness and then get up to God with their big spreadsheet and say,

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God, you owe me these things. You know, it's like God doesn't owe me anything. He's my creator.

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He's my redeemer. He's given me all of this stuff as a gift. So even the good works that we are given to do, they are good.

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They are a gift from God. Our good works are truly a gift from him. All right.

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That's as far as I can go. I have to actually get outside and get the snow off of my truck and I have to get down the road and head off to Emmanuel.

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So Stephen Elliott, are you going to stay on or should

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I have somebody else do the fellowship time? On Sundays, we pass it to Louise.

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Oh, we pass it to Louise. Okay. Passing to Louise. All right. Hang on a second here. I just want to make sure

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I understand what the protocol is. There we go. All right, Louise, you are the hostess with the mostest and Lord willing,