The Useless Made Useful (Ez 15)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:09.869 Ezekiel, Chapter Fifteen. God continues, through his Prophet Ezekiel, a word 2 00:00:09.949 --> 00:00:18.109 of judgment to Jerusalem and the people there. Let's give our attention to it. 3 00:00:19.710 --> 00:00:22.620 And the word of the Lord came to me, son of man. 4 00:00:23.579 --> 00:00:27.899 How does the wood of the vine surpass any wood the vine brand that is 5 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:32.579 among the trees of the forest. Is Wood taken from it to make anything? 6 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:36.130 Do People take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? 7 00:00:37.170 --> 00:00:41.250 Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has 8 00:00:41.289 --> 00:00:44.689 consumed both ends of it, in the middle of it is charred, it 9 00:00:44.890 --> 00:00:48.929 is is it useful for anything? Behold, when it was whole, it 10 00:00:49.090 --> 00:00:53.200 was used for nothing, how much less when the fire has consumed it and 11 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:57.799 it is charred. Can it ever be used for anything? Therefore, thus 12 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:00.560 says the Lord God, like the wood of the vine among the trees of 13 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.790 the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have 14 00:01:04.909 --> 00:01:10.469 I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will set my face against 15 00:01:10.469 --> 00:01:14.590 them. Though they escape the from the fire, the fire shall yet consume 16 00:01:14.709 --> 00:01:19.060 them, and you will know that I am the Lord when I set my 17 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:23.739 face against them, and I will make the land desolate because they have acted 18 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:33.049 faithlessly, declares the Lord God. Well, here the word of the Lord 19 00:01:33.250 --> 00:01:38.370 comes to this son of man, the Prophet is Ekiel, and the word 20 00:01:38.489 --> 00:01:46.250 that comes to Ezekiel is a parable at these, a story teaching tool that 21 00:01:46.409 --> 00:01:52.640 uses these natural things and events and institutions of this world to teach a lesson. 22 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:57.480 And God gives this word to is equel to make a point, and 23 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:02.989 this point teaches a several things which will think about this evening. It shows 24 00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:08.509 us that God's judgment is fair, shows us that God's judgment is complete, 25 00:02:09.389 --> 00:02:15.110 and it also reminds us that God wants us to know him. It's one 26 00:02:15.150 --> 00:02:17.740 of the main reasons he's doing what he says he will do here. He 27 00:02:19.580 --> 00:02:23.699 says it several times, and he's said it several times before this passage, 28 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:29.819 that they will know that I am the Lord God. God wants us to 29 00:02:29.979 --> 00:02:36.370 know him and he speaks to us in this word of judgment. So let's 30 00:02:36.689 --> 00:02:40.330 let's consider it this evening. First, the parable. It's pretty straightforward. 31 00:02:40.409 --> 00:02:45.919 I think it's pretty plain in a lot of ways. He points us to 32 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.639 a vine and if you've seen a vine right, it's not like the branch 33 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:52.719 of a tree or the trunk of a tree. Ei there usually kind of 34 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:58.280 thin Ezekiel either, or the word that comes to his Ze Heel. The 35 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:02.389 Lord makes this point about it when it was whole and not burned. Even 36 00:03:02.430 --> 00:03:07.110 then it wasn't good for anything, he says in verse three. Do People 37 00:03:07.150 --> 00:03:09.430 take a peg from it to hang a vessel on it? Right, would 38 00:03:09.430 --> 00:03:14.219 you cut a piece from a vine and attach it to your wall to hang 39 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:16.060 anything on? Well, no, you would never do that with a vine. 40 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:22.740 You would use a branch or some other useful thing. So the vine 41 00:03:22.819 --> 00:03:25.979 is not useful. Well, it's useful for one thing, and that is 42 00:03:27.530 --> 00:03:30.090 to be fuel for the fire to be burned. Is What the Lord says. 43 00:03:30.969 --> 00:03:34.289 And then he says in verse four, behold, it is given for 44 00:03:34.449 --> 00:03:37.849 fire, to the fire for fuel, and when the fire has consumed both 45 00:03:37.889 --> 00:03:40.050 ends of it, in the middle is charred. Now is it more useful? 46 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:45.039 No, even less so. If it wasn't good when it was alive 47 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:51.639 and it's not good now that it has been charred and burned. Well, 48 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:54.599 the point is plain, and he tells us in verse six, like the 49 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.830 Wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given 50 00:03:58.830 --> 00:04:01.990 to the fire for fuel, so I have given up. The inhabitants of 51 00:04:02.110 --> 00:04:10.500 Jerusalem a striking phrase. These are what have also been called in other places 52 00:04:11.300 --> 00:04:16.100 the chosen people of God, the people which God brought out of Egypt, 53 00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:24.649 which God sent play after plague and and and righteous judgments on on Egypt, 54 00:04:24.689 --> 00:04:30.529 to bring them out, people which were brought into the land under great leadership, 55 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:38.170 faithful rulers and in people like Moses Joshua, judges, who who protected 56 00:04:38.410 --> 00:04:43.879 and cared for the people, not always perfectly, some very imperfectly, but 57 00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:48.639 nevertheless the Lord was always working through this. People think of David and Solomon, 58 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:53.389 the prophets, and now he's Ekuel, among many others, calling out, 59 00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:57.949 speaking to the people over and over and again. And now the inhabits 60 00:04:58.029 --> 00:05:02.509 of the Druth of Jerusalem have be been judged. They've been judged and they 61 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:13.540 have been judged as useless, not good for anything. And so God says, 62 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:15.139 I will set my face against them. Though they escape from the fire, 63 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:18.939 the fire shall yet consume them in you will know by this that I 64 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:24.529 am the Lord when I set my face against them. How will they know, 65 00:05:25.290 --> 00:05:29.329 and how will we know, that he is the Lord when he were 66 00:05:29.329 --> 00:05:33.170 at rules in this judgment. There are several ways. One is that he 67 00:05:33.329 --> 00:05:40.480 is powerful. God is that was often treated by his own people as a 68 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:44.600 no thing, as a nothing, as something to be ignored, as someone 69 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:48.439 that you could bypass. And instead they gave them their attention to the bails 70 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:54.189 and other false gods. They gave their attention to their corruption and their power, 71 00:05:54.509 --> 00:05:59.709 their money and murder and idolatry and many other things. That's what they 72 00:05:59.709 --> 00:06:02.829 gave themselves over and over and over again. They disregarded God, they disregarded 73 00:06:02.910 --> 00:06:08.899 his prophets, they disregarded as temple, they disregarded as law God had instituted. 74 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:13.779 He had surround them with everything that they could possibly need to be righteous 75 00:06:14.699 --> 00:06:17.810 according to the law. He'd given them a land, he'd given them a 76 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:24.250 temple. According to instructions from Heaven, he'd set up a priesthood meant for 77 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:29.170 ministering all of this. He had given them specific sacrifices. He's told them 78 00:06:29.529 --> 00:06:32.000 this is how you please me, this is how your sins can be forgiven. 79 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:35.439 He's given them everything. He's given them rulers, he's given them laws, 80 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:43.439 he set up this whole country, and yet they proved themselves faithless. 81 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:48.069 Faithless they he says, they have acted faithlessly and God is going to show 82 00:06:48.189 --> 00:06:56.069 them now that he is not like the idols that they have made. He 83 00:06:56.230 --> 00:07:00.579 is not a socalled God. He is the one true living God and when 84 00:07:00.620 --> 00:07:08.220 he decides to destroy, he will destroy. He reminds us that we must 85 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:15.170 take him seriously, very very seriously. The scriptures tell us that our God 86 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:20.290 is a consuming fire, and this is not the only thing that we might 87 00:07:20.410 --> 00:07:23.850 consider and look at. We have the flood. We have sought them in 88 00:07:23.889 --> 00:07:28.250 Gomorrow. We have event after event after events, small things and a big 89 00:07:28.410 --> 00:07:31.199 things, local things, worldwide, things that point over and over and over 90 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:36.959 again to the point that God is not one to be mocked, messed with, 91 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:45.069 laughed at, ignored and disregarded. And when God comes with judgment against 92 00:07:45.149 --> 00:07:49.430 his people, they will see that, they will learn it, and so 93 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:55.029 will the rest of the world. The other thing that we come to know 94 00:07:55.149 --> 00:08:01.300 about God is that he is fair. He's not doing this out of spite 95 00:08:01.459 --> 00:08:05.579 or for fun or anything like that. He's doing it because they've acted faithlessly. 96 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:13.810 He is prosecuting the Covenant that they agreed to uphold over and over again, 97 00:08:13.889 --> 00:08:18.089 that he has warned them over and over again. He has given them 98 00:08:18.449 --> 00:08:22.569 opportunities to turn and too repent. He's given them signs, he's given them 99 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:30.360 countless things, and yet they refuse. They refuse to be his faithful bride. 100 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:35.399 Instead, as the scriptures say, they whore after other gods in adultery. 101 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:41.710 Over and over and over again, God is going to be fair, 102 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:48.870 he is going to prosecute and his covenant and that judgment is going to be 103 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:54.110 complete. We learn that God again, it does things a fully, he 104 00:08:54.230 --> 00:09:00.100 does things well. Of the useless will be destroyed, they will be removed. 105 00:09:01.659 --> 00:09:07.179 And all of this God teaches us about himself. He teaches us that 106 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:11.610 he upholds his name, that we might think we can exchange his glory for 107 00:09:11.690 --> 00:09:18.129 the things of this world, but we can't. It's a fool's errand it's 108 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:24.440 a dead end and it does end in judgment. Our blessing here tonight, 109 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:31.440 and the blessing that many people have had ever since ezechiel recorded these words, 110 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:35.399 was to hear them and be warned. was to hear them and hear the 111 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:45.710 seriousness of them and see in ourselves are total innability to obey the law as 112 00:09:45.789 --> 00:09:50.389 God has required us to obey it, the law which we know we ought 113 00:09:50.429 --> 00:09:54.500 to do the law which is good, the law which is of Righteous, 114 00:09:54.899 --> 00:10:01.419 and yet we don't do it. Israel here is a microcosm of the whole 115 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:07.370 of humanity, and that's on purpose. God set things up in this way 116 00:10:07.570 --> 00:10:13.289 in history to teach us these lessons, to show us who we are and 117 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:16.850 who he is, so that we could finally come to a dead end in 118 00:10:18.009 --> 00:10:24.480 ourselves and say there's nothing I can do. My Sin has corrupted me, 119 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:30.879 my heart is engulfed with with unrighteousness. I keep going after idols, I 120 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:39.509 keep fearing other things. I am useless because of my sins. God tells 121 00:10:39.549 --> 00:10:46.470 us these things. God is using these things in history to impress these truths 122 00:10:46.190 --> 00:10:52.700 on our hearts, truths which are made clearer and or at least emphasized by 123 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:58.379 versus like Romans three and twenty three, for all have sinned and fallen short 124 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:03.649 of the glory of God, glacis undred and seventeen, for the desires of 125 00:11:03.769 --> 00:11:11.409 the flesh are against the spirit, they're against him, they war against him, 126 00:11:11.450 --> 00:11:15.929 or Romans eight five, for those who live according to the flesh set 127 00:11:16.049 --> 00:11:20.799 their minds on the things of the flesh. That's how fleshly people live. 128 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:24.679 That's how worldly people live. When we set our minds on the things of 129 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:28.639 the flesh, it's because we live according to the flesh and we will die 130 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:33.710 according to the flesh, if that is where we will remain. That's what 131 00:11:33.789 --> 00:11:39.389 Ezekiel fifteen teaches us. It teaches us that, like Galatian six eight, 132 00:11:39.470 --> 00:11:43.909 says that the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap 133 00:11:45.350 --> 00:11:50.539 corruption. You plant these kinds of seeds and there's certain kinds of plants that 134 00:11:50.659 --> 00:11:56.460 grow effusions. Five six, let no one deceive you with empty words, 135 00:11:56.539 --> 00:12:03.570 for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 136 00:12:05.009 --> 00:12:09.690 God doesn't wink its sin. God is capable of judging sin, and 137 00:12:11.049 --> 00:12:16.440 he does, and he does here and will in Jerusalem, and one day 138 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:22.679 it's important that we all know that, when Jesus comes, he will judge 139 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:30.750 the whole world completely and perfectly forever, just like this, destroying the unrighteous 140 00:12:30.789 --> 00:12:37.070 and all who have acted faithlessly and rebelled against him. So the question for 141 00:12:37.110 --> 00:12:43.350 us, then, is what hope is there if we know that we are 142 00:12:43.509 --> 00:12:48.820 born with this fleshly sinful nature, if we see how much inability there is 143 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:50.899 in us, how much corruption in us, is in us, how much 144 00:12:50.940 --> 00:12:56.820 flesh there is in us? What can we do to be saved? What 145 00:12:56.980 --> 00:13:01.330 must we do to be saved? Is there any hope? And of course 146 00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:05.889 there is, because there's more chapters after Ezekiel fifteen and a whole new covenant 147 00:13:05.929 --> 00:13:13.039 which speaks about the promises of freedom from the condemnation that comes through the law. 148 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:20.120 God continues to speak even after he judges Jerusalem. In fact, he 149 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:24.759 will bring people back to Jerusalem to show the things that he is going to 150 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:33.070 do in Christ. In order to have hope, in order to belong to 151 00:13:33.230 --> 00:13:37.350 something different, in order not to reap that corruption and judgment, the scriptures 152 00:13:37.429 --> 00:13:43.779 tell us that we must be born again, we must be made useful. 153 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:48.259 John Three, three Jesus says to Nicodemus. Truly, truly, I say 154 00:13:48.299 --> 00:13:52.820 to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of 155 00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:58.529 God. But that holds out a little hope, doesn't it? Well, 156 00:13:58.610 --> 00:14:01.610 how can I be born again right as the as? There is the good 157 00:14:01.649 --> 00:14:05.370 question to that. If I can change in a way, if my nature 158 00:14:05.450 --> 00:14:09.600 can no longer be that with which I was originally born with and can have 159 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:15.639 something new, maybe there's hope they're, especially when it's Jesus who's saying it. 160 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:20.399 And indeed he says, and John Three six, that which is born 161 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:26.549 of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 162 00:14:28.029 --> 00:14:33.429 If the flesh is Paul says, wages war against the spirit, it'll 163 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:35.669 be good news to us to know that the spirit also wages war against the 164 00:14:35.789 --> 00:14:43.779 flesh and the spirit of God, it's more powerful than the flesh. Continuing 165 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:46.460 on in John Three, we read and John Three thirty six, that whoever 166 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:54.129 believes in the sun has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the sun shall 167 00:14:54.289 --> 00:15:00.129 not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. That's the 168 00:15:00.250 --> 00:15:03.809 place in which we are, that's what we are born into. But when 169 00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:07.559 we put our hope and we put our hearts, when we put our trust 170 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:13.799 in the son of God, in Jesus Christ, who is come to rescue 171 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:18.120 us from this I'm rescue us from this judgment we have, we receive. 172 00:15:18.360 --> 00:15:26.389 What does the Scripture say? Eternal Life, not everlasting judgment, not useless 173 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:33.710 to the fire, but instead everlasting life. Indeed, Jesus will even talk 174 00:15:33.870 --> 00:15:37.299 in John of he'll use the image of a vine and he'll talk about us 175 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:43.340 being united to him in such a way that we have life and have it 176 00:15:43.659 --> 00:15:48.340 abundantly, and we are, instead of being useless, become this creature that 177 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:56.850 grows and flourishes in in Christ Moist First Peter Three, blessed be the God 178 00:15:56.970 --> 00:16:00.529 and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, 179 00:16:00.649 --> 00:16:07.440 he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection 180 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:15.080 of Jesus Christ from the dead. We can be born again because God comes 181 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:18.350 into this world and he works in us. He changes us, he changes 182 00:16:18.429 --> 00:16:22.309 our hearts, that which we are unable to do. He is able to 183 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:27.190 do that which we are stuck and controlled by. He's able to break those 184 00:16:27.350 --> 00:16:32.070 bars of iron, he's able to unlock the door and let us free, 185 00:16:32.629 --> 00:16:37.100 to set us free to a new life, a living hope, not a 186 00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:41.779 maybe hope, not a wishful hope, a living hope, one that is 187 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:48.330 alive, one that we could describe and even name, as Jesus Christ himself. 188 00:16:48.769 --> 00:16:52.970 First Peter Again, twenty one hundred and twenty three says, since you 189 00:16:52.090 --> 00:16:57.129 have been born again, not of perishable seed, seed to be judged, 190 00:16:57.210 --> 00:17:02.679 we might say, but I imperishable of he says that has happened through the 191 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:11.599 living and abiding word of God. Is Ze Heel hears the word of the 192 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:17.710 Lord and it is a word of judgment, isn't it? But a Zekiel 193 00:17:17.750 --> 00:17:22.430 will also declare, not here in this chapter but in the coming chapters, 194 00:17:22.589 --> 00:17:26.349 is the Lord reveals it to him, a word of living hope. And 195 00:17:26.509 --> 00:17:30.619 that's how God speaks to us, both in the law and in the Gospel. 196 00:17:32.339 --> 00:17:34.660 He takes our sin seriously, he points them out, he presses his 197 00:17:34.819 --> 00:17:40.700 finger and he makes it go out, and then he also speaks to us 198 00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:45.289 that healing promise of the son of God, and through that word he brings 199 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:52.009 us to life beloved. Through his spirit, he effectually causes calls us to 200 00:17:52.049 --> 00:17:55.329 himself and, as Peter says, he causes us to be born again. 201 00:17:56.569 --> 00:18:00.359 So Second Corinthians Seventeen. Therefore, if anyone is in is in Christ. 202 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:07.160 He is a new creation. We don't have eternal life by believing in Christ, 203 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:11.799 just as like a mechanism that sort of flips the switch for salvation. 204 00:18:12.549 --> 00:18:17.789 But when we believe in Christ, we also are in Christ. We become 205 00:18:17.829 --> 00:18:22.470 a new creation, Paul says, a creation that is of the Holy Spirit, 206 00:18:22.509 --> 00:18:27.500 a creation, as he says. He goes on to say the old 207 00:18:27.579 --> 00:18:33.980 has passed away and behold, the new has come. And this creation that 208 00:18:33.099 --> 00:18:37.940 God makes, let me ask you, do you think this creation that he 209 00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:41.930 makes, when he dwells us with this Holy Spirit, when he draws us 210 00:18:41.970 --> 00:18:45.410 into Christ, when he sets before us this living hope, do you think 211 00:18:45.650 --> 00:18:53.650 God makes us useless or useful? He makes us useful and he does not 212 00:18:55.009 --> 00:18:59.359 fail at that. He doesn't, not at all, not a little bit. 213 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:03.759 Second Timothy, to twenty one, says that as we cleanse ourselves from 214 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:08.119 all of these things, receiving that through faith, we become vessels for honorable 215 00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:17.150 use through Christ. Not vessels or mixing things up now, but not vines 216 00:19:17.309 --> 00:19:22.109 as a fit to be thrown into the fire, but vessels useful for a 217 00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:25.700 household set apart. Is Holy, useful to the master of the House, 218 00:19:25.779 --> 00:19:32.019 and he says ready for every good work. Isn't that good news? Second 219 00:19:32.059 --> 00:19:36.220 Timothy hundred and seventeen says that the word of God is profitable for us. 220 00:19:36.500 --> 00:19:38.730 It does all these things in our hearts and in our lives. To do 221 00:19:38.970 --> 00:19:45.970 what? To make us equipped for every good work. He takes this useless 222 00:19:45.009 --> 00:19:51.769 vine and he makes it something useful, he makes it productive, he makes 223 00:19:51.809 --> 00:19:57.559 it, I'm valuable. Second or tight as three. One says that God 224 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:04.759 makes us ready for every good work, and he does this by causing us 225 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:10.710 to remember and to live in the work that God has already done for us. 226 00:20:11.109 --> 00:20:17.509 That's our hope. We become a people that are not cast away as 227 00:20:17.829 --> 00:20:22.180 useless and faithless by God and so judgment, but through the word of God 228 00:20:22.339 --> 00:20:26.299 and his causing us to be born again, we become a people that are 229 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:32.859 given the gifts of the Holy Spirit of God. We are given gifts and 230 00:20:32.980 --> 00:20:37.049 and tools that are put to use for his service. We become creatures that 231 00:20:37.130 --> 00:20:42.009 are no longer that are no longer but fit to be cast aside, but 232 00:20:42.170 --> 00:20:48.690 are fit to be wrapped up in his love and belong even to the new 233 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:55.680 heavens and the new earth. This is our hope in Jesus Christ, and 234 00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:59.960 as you hear this word of judgment, in is he heal, let it 235 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.240 be a warning for you again, if you need it, and we all 236 00:21:03.349 --> 00:21:08.150 do, let it be remind you of how incapable you are of fulfilling the 237 00:21:08.190 --> 00:21:14.829 law and how much you need Jesus and Jesus alone to save you from your 238 00:21:14.869 --> 00:21:18.900 sins and how much you need the spirit of God to unite you to him 239 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:22.299 and to give you this living hope that is yours, that when and we 240 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:27.339 are in Christ, we can know we are useful new creatures and we will 241 00:21:27.420 --> 00:21:33.130 not fear this judgment, but instead we will have that living hope of Christ 242 00:21:33.369 --> 00:21:36.089 and heaven. Let's pray