[00:00:00] Tim: Hi, and welcome to The Unveiling. I'm Tim, one of the hosts, and along with Ajai and Mark, we are three guys discussing the One True Gospel. We hope you're encouraged by this episode. Let's dive right in.
Hello and welcome. This is The Unveiling. . This is episode 80, and we're calling it The How. Now, it probably doesn't make a lot of sense just putting it like that. So let me add a little context for you. We are told, we're taught, we're encouraged in our walks as Christians to live by the Spirit. And that's a really nice thing to say. But I think one of the questions we get most is, how do I live by the Spirit? What does that entail? Now, we did do, some episodes in the past, episodes 21 through 25 were on the Holy Spirit, but they, they really didn't touch on this specifically, and I know we've talked around this subject a few times, but I don't think we've ever clearly gone into this and say, This is how you live by the Spirit. And one caveat for our friends who are, Not yet believers. This isn't really going to apply to you this only applies to believers because when we get saved the Holy Spirit comes and lives within us and Then he's in a position that we can give him control of our life more or less and that's part of Then I'm sure you'll hear plenty more how to live by the Spirit is by letting him Have control but anyway enough of me blathering on let's kick it to one of the smart guys mark Good evening. How are you? And would you like to take it from here?
[00:01:48] Mark: Well, the smart guys aren't here So I will speak instead but I can't let this go by that Wow. I'm impressed, man. Number 80. I didn't, I didn't even think about that tonight. This is our 80th podcast. I don't know what kind of specific anniversary that is, but I'm just thankful to have been a part of it. I can't believe we've already done 80. So to just kind of. Address what Tim just said. I want to take one more step back. I think our main focus will be today about how we walk and live by the Spirit. But there's a question that comes before that in my mind. In the how of things. is what kind of has been on my mind for a while. I've mentioned it a few times on the podcast. that whenever I come across writings in the New Testament especially, but the entire Bible that seem very legalistic, that seem to contradict the gospel, the message of God's grace, that the righteous will live by faith from first to last. When I read things that seem on their face value, it's always really important, first of all, to take in the context of who's writing this, to whom they're writing, and why are they writing, but then also to interpret that , by the rest of the Bible, letting Scripture interpret itself. So when I'm reading the Apostle Paul, and I read him doing Christian, teaching on Christian living that sounds very much like, you need to do this, you need not to do that. I know immediately that Paul's not suggesting that we try harder, that we start feeling guilty about our sin, that we get in every accountability group we can, we read every Christian book on overcoming that sin. , every strategy applying it to that. Of course that's not because Paul, one of his main things, if not his main theme in all his writings was justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That's the gospel, that's the ministry of the Holy Spirit we're told. His tour de force of Galatians and we had , one of my favorite podcast series we've done was on Galatians. Paul goes into great, great detail telling us that we don't start by the spirit and then finish by the flesh. So when I keep that in mind, who is talking to me and it sounds legalistic, I say, yes, but how do I accomplish that? When Paul lists, the fruits of the spirit. I say, how does Paul want me to be patient? How does Paul want me to bear with other people, to be loving and humble? How? Is it by trying harder? By... No, it's not. It's by the Spirit. And we're going to, in a moment, get into talk a little more about how do we do that than how do we live by the Spirit. But to me, that's just the key thing. It's part of the 180 degrees factor. If you get wrong what the gospel is, the role of the law and the role of grace, then when you read some of these legalistic writings, you're going to start trying to do them by your own flesh. Name the sin, name the behavior you want to get rid of. Or the good value you want to display, you're going to start working hard at it. And as Tim likes to put it, that's a hamster wheel that leads to nowhere.
[00:05:27] Tim: Ajay, I see you're prepped and ready to say something, but before you do, Mark, you mentioned our series on Galatians. I just wanted to put a little pitch in and say that started at episode 54. There were nine episodes. There were also a few others sprinkled in between there. So check out our website, theunveilingpodcast. com and go check them out there. So Ajay. What you got?
[00:05:50] Ajai: Yeah, Mark, you know, you mentioned the how of things, right? If you go to any bookstore or if you watch any TikTok video nowadays or YouTube, everything is about how to do something, right? It's, we as humans are so attracted to that. That, , we always want to learn how to do things, , how to get over that, how to get over this, and nowadays, , there is so much of, talk over social media, it almost sounds like Christianity, but it's not, they talk about affirmations, they talk about believing, they talk about this and that, , it's all about how of things,, I think before we go into the solution, if you look at, Christianity, the Salvation Message. Typically, there are two points, , in Christian life. One is when somebody, , who is dead their sins, become a believer. Even there, , when you listen to the Salvation Message commonly preached, they somehow preach salvation by the works of the law. They don't say, all you need to do is believe in Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. You just have to believe that he died and rose again for you and accept what Lord Jesus Christ did for you, right? That's all saves people, but even there, you know, some of the, in some of the circles, they call it as easy believism. Oh, you have to make Jesus your Lord before you can be saved. If Jesus is not Lord of all, , he is not the Lord if he's not Lord of all. And they even, put some subtle things like repent of your sins or turn from your sins. , whichever way you package it, if you call a sinner to get rid of his sins before he can be saved, it's an impossibility. You're basically stopping people from being saved. So that is a salvation thing, , most of the gospel message we hear is actually by grace. They say, you don't have to do anything. You just have to believe in Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. But once an unbeliever comes to the knowledge of salvation and they get into the church, then the real thing starts, right? They say, now that you are a child of God, now that you are a believer, you have to do this, this, and this, and they take them back right to the law of Moses. So they'll put them back under the law right away, and they say in order to live a good Christian life, you have to keep the law. So the law shows up in many ways. I think it shows up in many ways, right? You go to an average Sunday sermon, what do you go back with? The ten things that you need to do, or the three things you need to practice and come back, or some kind of homework. So it all has to do with some kind of works, and it all goes back to the law.
[00:08:25] Tim: I just want to put in here, because I love what you're saying, and I couldn't agree with you more, how much of quote unquote theology being taught today is completely obliterated by the thief on the cross. He didn't go get baptized. He didn't do this. He didn't attend a lecture series on how to be a better person. He looked over and basically said you don't deserve this and I know it and God said and today you will be with me in paradise. How much of this excess overbearing theology is destroyed by that one example?
[00:09:06] Ajai: Yeah, that's a great point, Tim. Yeah, I don't even think he prayed the salvation prayer.
[00:09:10] Mark: What?
[00:09:11] Ajai: He said, Lord, remember me. That's it. And for him, right? It's interesting because for us, we had to believe in the cross and for him, it's right next to him. He saw the cross and he said, Lord, remember me. At that point, he realized that the man next to him was no ordinary man. He was a son of God. His eyes were opened. In fact, , the guy on the left hand side is still bashing, Oh, if you're the savior, why don't you save yourself and Save me kind of thing that lot of people come to God with an entitlement mentality challenging God That's not how salvation works and he saw , he's the son of God and he said God remember me and look at, the Lord's response also Tim. What did he say? Okay. I'll see, , I'll let you know. I'll go back and tell you, , whether you are saved or not.
[00:10:02] Tim: That's not quite how I remember that, Ajai.
[00:10:04] Ajai: He said today, today you'll be with me in paradise. That means on that day, actually a lot was going to paradise and then the thief is also going to paradise with him. So that's, that's awesome. Yeah. It's a great point Tim..
[00:10:16] Mark: I wanted to comment, this is a little bit of a rabbit trail, but it'll only take a second. Ajay, you used, you used a term which I've never liked. I felt it's like way too weak to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. You fall off the proverbial cruise ship. We got, we always have people falling off of cruise ships, don't we, in our podcast?
[00:10:40] Ajai: No, no, no, no, no, Mark. I think just to clarify, I did not say accept the Lord Jesus Christ, I said accept the offer of salvation.
[00:10:48] Mark: Right. Well, however you want to put it, accepting the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not saying that's your terminology. That's a famous term that pastors have been preaching , for centuries, you know, you must accept the Lord Jesus Christ. And , I've never liked it because it's too weak. We don't accept Him. That's like someone's talking you to you into it and then you're like, okay, I'll accept it. If you're drowning in the ocean, you're going down for your last time and someone throws you that life preserver. You don't accept the life preserver, you grab it with everything you have because you see the great value in that life preserver. And that's why I've always thought that, it's just such a weak way of saying... believing in receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, when people were healed by him in the streets, what did they do when they were done? They grabbed him, they, they hugged him. They leapt with joy. You know, they didn't just accept him, you know, well, thank you for, I've been blind my entire life. I've been laying by this pool here for 30 years, lame, paralyzed. I accept you, you know, no, that it's just such a weak word. for. Believing in receiving the best news ever, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Sorry, it was a little bit of a bunny trail, but I just wanted to bring that up. That's
[00:12:11] Ajai: a great point, Mark.
[00:12:12] Mark: One thing I want to say, and we've been, this has like been our theme now for probably two, three months. All roads lead back to Jesus Christ Himself. This is just another prime example. He is the how. He's not only the what, the why, the where, the who, the when. He's the how. Everything we do is in Christ. You know, when we, when we see these things exhorting us to live in good ways and right ways that are good for us and others, He's the way we do that. He's the how for us. I just thought this was another example. No matter what topic we ever talk on, it seems now to lead back to Christ himself.
[00:12:55] Tim: Agreed.
[00:12:56] Ajai: Yep.
[00:12:57] Mark: Which is a good thing. A really good thing, right?
[00:12:59] Tim: Oh, absolutely.
[00:13:01] Ajai: Yep.
[00:13:01] Mark: And that's why the thief on the cross was saved. Because the how is Christ himself.
[00:13:07] Tim: Amen. And again, there goes some more theology right out the window.
[00:13:12] Mark: I heard the sound. We need to get a sound effect for theology going out the window whenever we're talking. Let me just give you one scripture to tie up what we've been talking about. , and that is that the how is always Jesus. It's always God. It's the spirit. The three and one obviously are the same. Ephesians two tells us that. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and that's a gift, not by works. And then Paul summarizes the chapter by saying, We are God's handiwork, not our own. And that just spells it out so clearly. If we want these good things that the Apostle Paul or the Apostle Peter, or whatever you're reading in the Bible, is encouraging us, exhorting us to have in our life, we're not the ones who start working on ourselves. We turn to God. We set the eyes of our heart on Him. We rest in Christ and we let the Spirit accomplish those things. He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it. It's so clear and I've heard so many pastors use that and then go right from that. into preaching the law. It's like, wait a minute, this, these aren't just like fancy, nice flowery little mottos and sayings that we put on wall plaques. This is literal. God began the work. We began by the Spirit, and He's going to finish the work by the Spirit.
[00:14:42] Ajai: Yeah, Mark, , I wanted to, , read that, you mentioned this a couple of times, right, , He who began by the Spirit also, it's beginning in the Spirit and also ending in the Spirit. I wanted to specifically focus on a couple of works in, couple of verses in Galatians chapter 3. Starting from verse 1 till 6, I want to draw out one point. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? See here we see, , Christ and him crucified we talk about all the time. And then he's asking them a question, this only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith? So clearly it's a rhetorical question. So the answer is by the hearing of faith. And then he goes on to say. Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do by the works of the law or by hearing of faith? And just as Abraham believed God, so here you see how he beautifully ties the justification by faith to how we walk in the spirit. And he quotes the thing in verse six, Abraham believed in God and it was counted to him for righteousness. This scripture was quoted in Romans with regards to justification by faith. And here he is quoting the same scripture with regards to walking in the spirit. So. What he's saying is, you began in the Spirit, how did you begin in the Spirit? He says, did you receive the Spirit? When you believed, when somebody believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, the first thing that happens is, they receive the Spirit. So the question he's asking is, how did you do that? Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? And then he goes on to say, why are you so foolish? You have begun in the Spirit, you received the Spirit by the hearing of faith. And now are you trying to be perfected by the flesh? Again, , the word, the flesh is here, ? The contrast is the opposite of hearing of faith. , either you do the works of the law, or you simply believe what you heard. So simply believing what you hear is faith, and doing the works of the law is being made perfect by the flesh. So what he's saying is, It's happening in most of the churches, you begin with the spirit, you begin with faith, and immediately you go into the works of the law, and that's what is being made perfect by the flesh. So sometimes, , we see flesh, especially in Christianity, when we think of flesh, we only think of, bad things, right? The sins and all that, or don't make no provision for the flesh. We always think in terms of,sinning. But here, clearly, you know, that's not the context. Actually, the context is... are being made perfect by the flesh. So what it is saying is, if you're trying hard to not sin, , or if you're depending on your own strength, not to sin and please God, or if you're going to God based on your works for your sanctification, all that is, trying to be made perfect by the flesh. So the bottom line here is by going back to Justification scripture, just as Abraham believed God and it was counter to him for righteousness just as it began. How did you begin? You heard the gospel and you believed it, and how do you walk in The spirit is the same thing. You believe the gospel and believe it. And what is the gospel? His death, burial, and resurrection. For me,
[00:18:34] Tim: I'd like to argue one little phrase you used many times in there, and that is made perfect by the flesh. There is no such. thing. The flesh cannot be perfect. It cannot be made perfect, and it cannot make you perfect. It's, it's a complete failure from the start.
[00:18:54] Ajai: Yeah, I agree, Tim. I was not saying that, but Paul is asking that question. It's a rhetorical question in the Bible. He's saying, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Obviously, the answer is no, yet. Paul is agreeing with you.
[00:19:09] Mark: That's a translational thing, too, because the LAV says, after beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? One thing that stands out about this first paragraph Ajay just read was, you're not going to find many books in the Bible. Where the writer is calling the people that he's writing to fools. You just don't see that much, but Paul's going off here. He's saying you foolish Galatians. Somebody must have used witchcraft on you to deceive you. Are you so foolish and what is this ultimate foolish thing that is called Paul to insult his listeners.? It's after beginning by means of the spirit. Are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? It is the ultimate foolishness, according to Paul here. , and I think so many of us, and I pray that I continue to see that because I think every human being, even people who have come to understand the gospel of grace. Still have some of that flown around in the back of our heads from time to time. We'll say something and we'll catch ourself and be like, wait a minute, that's the flesh, that's the law. What am I thinking? You know, so it's like the ultimate foolishness to come to Christ because you've been moved by the Spirit of God to understand. The undeserved, unmerited, unearned favor of God, the cross, what Christ has done for you. And then immediately turn around and think, Wow, I'm going to go and clean myself up now. That's a fool that does that. And yet, we are being fooled by many who preach a gospel that's not the pure gospel, the one true gospel, the message of God's grace, Christ and Him crucified.
[00:21:04] Tim: I hate to come back to this verse yet again. I think I've been beating this like a dead horse recently. But, Romans 12, two says, do not conform to the patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That is really , when you say it's by the spirit, that's by the spirit. The confirmation that you might try to do will never work. You will never. be able to conform to all the rules and all the laws and all that stuff to save yourself, but the transforming of your mind by the Holy Spirit, transformed by the renewing of your mind. That is something that is a gift. It's given to you. It's placed upon you. You couldn't do it for yourself and he's doing it for you. , It erases that element of doing for yourself. Don't conform, be transformed, and it becomes the gift that we are to receive.
[00:21:58] Mark: That is not a dead horse you're beating, Tim. That horse is alive and well and kicking up his heels, man. But I want to also point this out too, that transformation by the Spirit is from the inside out, coming to conformity. Is making the outside look , like the world or even like the law, , , it's not from the inside out, there's no transformation taking place. We can try to make it look on the outside, like we're conformed to what it means to be a Christian or to be religious. I'm, I'm going to give my 10% because it looks, I'm being conformed to what people think a Christian could do. I'm going to dress modestly. which is really literally conforming yourself on the outside. and we're not, we never are meaning any of these things in themselves are bad. But when we're using them to either earn salvation, gain our own sanctification and holiness, or greater blessing, that's when they become a sin, that's when they become evil. So, I just, you know, I love the fact that the Spirit comes to the depths of us. transforms us into the image of Christ. Instead of just that conformity, man is okay at conforming, but he can't transform. He can only conform himself to some picture of what he thinks a Christian should look like.
[00:23:28] Ajai: Yes, so Tim, when you read that verse, , you mentioned one word. It's the transformation happens through the renewing of our mind, , That renewing of our mind happens by the revelation , that the Holy Spirit gives us through his word. so I think the salvation, the walking by faith, , once we are saved consists in knowing our inheritance. When Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again, we were united with him and all that belongs to him becomes ours. So that is our inheritance. The Bible calls us. joint heira with Christ. Yeah, so, you know, once we have come to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and are saved, , at the point of salvation, all we know is, Oh, I'm a sinner. I need forgiveness of sins, so that's when we come to Lord Jesus Christ. But once we have come, there are many things we receive. And our Christian walk mainly consists in discovering all the things that are ours in Christ Jesus. The Bible says, Holy Spirit came, , that we may know all the things that are given freely to us. So, our walk and , one of the how of things, walking by the Spirit, consists of knowing what we have received in our salvation. There are many things, I think we talk about this in many podcasts, and there are several things that are given to us as part of our inheritance, but I would like to, talk about just one today. I think that is the most, crucial thing, which is, , the first and foremost. Before we get into walking in other things, the thing that we need to settle is this one. Romans chapter 4, it says in verse 6, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness. Apart from works, blessed are those whose lawless dets are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is a man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. So the first truth , our first inheritance is just understanding that our sins are forgiven and Lord is not imputing sin into us. Even when we sin. God is not imputing. So if somebody doesn't sin, why would God impute sin in the first place? So this applies to us believers. Who have been saved, after that, , if we sin, God is not imputing sin to us. , when I say if I sin, I'm not saying, . We are sinning against God, but whatever we do, , that is considered as sin. God is not imputing to it. So I think the first and foremost thing of our inheritance is just realizing all our sins are forgiven. And when we sin, there's nothing we need to do. We simply realize that that sin is put on the cross and it is already forgiven. And then we need to get out of that condemnation as soon as possible. Most of the Christians, I think after believing believers, they spend their whole life in the cycle of sinning and getting forgiveness through something they do, some people confess, some people do this, some people do that, but their whole life is gone in that. So they sin and they think they'll do something to get their sin forgiven and immediately they sin. So they're going in the cycle. If you are constantly going in this sin and forgiveness cycle, you will never live the life that God meant for us to live, the abundant life. . There are many other things in our inheritance, but for today, I would probably have to just, say, this is a first truth we have to embrace and believe. All our sins are forgiven.
[00:27:12] Mark: that's a great point, Ajai. And it's, to me, it's one of the prime dangers of Christianity nowadays. is getting into that cycle of sin and forgiveness, sin and forgiveness. And you made the point when you get in that cycle, you're never going to live the abundant life. And all three of us were in that cycle for a good number of years. Thankfully, we were yanked off of that, hamster wheel there. But, one thing you guys both said with the scripture about being transformed by the renewing of our mind. It reminded me Of how we came to Christ in the first place. Which was the changing of our minds, repentance, metanoia. They're very similar when you think about it. We, we changed our minds about who Christ was, about our ability to not sin and to keep the law, and about, the knowledge that faith is the gospel, faith in Christ. And now as we've been given the Spirit, transformation into his image comes by in the same kind of area. It's that consistent renewing of our minds, looking at Christ instead of looking at the world instead of looking at ourselves. And that's what I love about the simplicity. of the message that all roads lead to Christ, no matter what we're trying to overcome in our life, it's always the same answer. The how is always by setting the eyes of our souls, the gaze of our souls on Christ, leaving it there, remaining in Him. Staying attached to the vine, resting in Christ, however you want to put it, that how is always the same. And to me, that is life in the Spirit, just staying in Christ the entire time. And I think that's the only way to get out of that cycle, that constant sin and forgiveness. I don't feel like it's any great compliment to Christ and His perfect work and the great sacrifice He paid for us to constantly be doubting it. To constantly think, Oh, I have to confess everything. If I don't, I haven't been purified from unrighteousness. I haven't been forgiven. There's no redeeming quality of beating ourself. You know, like they did in, if you ever seen the movie, Monty Python on the Holy Grail when the monks are walking, flailing themselves and beating on themselves because they thought that that kind of pious and harsh treatment of the body somehow brought them greater redemption. That's just an insult to the cross and the perfectly sufficient and overflowingly overwhelming work of what Christ did for us.
[00:29:59] Tim: You know, keeping our focus for the moment on metanoia, , the repentance here, it is a changing of the mind and basically. That's not even fully within our control. I mean, about the only control we have on that is that we're going to say, I believe that I am a sinner and I can't say it myself. That is about as much work as we can do. Because even though Paul tells us in like , Philippians four, eight, finally, brethren, Philippians Whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there be of any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. , a lot of people will take that message and tell you, now you have to go do thank you. And fill in the blank, read these Christian books, read these Christian articles, only listen to the Christian music. But you know, that's really not from us either. What's going to happen is the Spirit is going to bring these things up to you. And all the, and these are what are going to be occupying your mind. You know, how, how easy is it us? Day to day, you know, the kids are crying, the boss is being a jerk at work, the company's downsizing, my car broke down, our mind gets taken off of the cross, basically, it's being taken away from God, and it isn't that these things in the world aren't important, they are, you have to live, we still live here on earth, we still live in the world, but if we allow the spirit to bring, bring these things to our mind and we Concentrate on these and we fill ourselves with these. That's one of the, to me, that's one of the hows. It's that changing your mind. I'm not going to focus on all the problems and all the issues. That's where depression and anger and bad desires and all these other things come from. But , if we're focusing on what the Spirit is bringing up to us, it's not our work. He's bringing it up. He's doing all the heavy lifting. We just have to sit there and rest in it.
[00:32:00] Mark: Awesome point, Tim. Can you do me a favor and read that scripture again of what Paul's telling us to focus on, but just read the values that he's putting forth there by themselves.
[00:32:13] Tim: Yep. , Philippians 4, 8. For finally, brother, in whatever things are true, Honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, and have virtue, and if there be any praise.
[00:32:29] Mark: Who do we know that fits all those categories?
[00:32:33] Tim: Besides Ajai?
[00:32:34] Mark: Well, yeah, besides Ajai. , that's describing Christ. That's Christ. He's just. He has virtue. , He's truth. , Paul's just saying the same thing again. That's the renewing of our minds. When you think about it, metanoia is Christ. It's the road leading to Christ. Again, the renewing of our minds is Christ. All those things right there are Christ. If anything is lovely and true and praiseworthy and admirable, these are all our savior. As we look to him. That's where the metanoia comes from. That's where the renewing comes from. That's where the transformation comes from.
[00:33:14] Tim: Yeah, and I would say the same thing for. Romans 8, 5 and 6, where it tells us, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit. 4. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. It's not, we're not doing that. We're not, I mean, we've made the initial decision. We're focusing, we're looking at Jesus. . And that. It is just the Spirit reinforcing that in us all the time.
[00:33:49] Mark: And as we just recently talked about, He is our life. So when it says we focus on the things of the Spirit and they are life and peace, who's life and peace? The Prince of Peace, Jesus, who is our life. You know, again, that same road leading back to Christ.
[00:34:06] Tim: , my last point on this for tonight for myself would be, there's Galatians 5 where Paul talks about , walking by the spirit so that you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. And he gives, he gives a whole lot of examples of what that would look like. These are not things that we're being warned or taught to stay away from, but rather I look at these as. Evidence for me in my life that I am allowing the spirit to transform me because , these things will come out of me, not because I'm working harder and I'm buckling down and I'm reading the right stuff, but because the spirit is flowing in and too many people take those and say, well, if you're doing any of these bad things, you're not a good Christian. Well, you know, we are, we are human beings. We're not perfect. We, we aren't going to get this right for the most part, every time, from the start. Some people, you will look at their transformation and you'll be amazed by how big and grandiose it seems. And you'll look at others and go, dude, that man is lost, you know? And I feel like I'm that man sometimes because I get angry. I do these things, you know, some of these things. Don't, we can't let that, we can't let that take our eyes off Christ. We can't let that become an impediment to the Spirit working in us. We just have to, like you said, we sin, we move on. We have to just keep moving forward and keep our eyes on Christ and let the Spirit do that transformation in us. It's a journey for most of us. You know, would that we could all be changed in the blink of an eye, in a flash of light, in a big thunder roll or something, but, you know, we had, most of us have to walk through life. In faith and in trust.
[00:36:02] Mark: That's exactly how Ajay did become a Christian, by the way, Tim.
[00:36:06] Tim: Flashing lights and rolling thunder?
[00:36:08] Mark: That's it.
[00:36:09] Tim: We pick on Ajay because we love him.
[00:36:11] Mark: That's right.
[00:36:12] Tim: Guys, we're rolling up on the end of the episode here. And, I think we should probably take the chance now here to summarize what we said today, and I'll ask you, before we end, if you think we should keep on this for next episode, I think there's still plenty more that can be brought up on this topic, but if you agree with me, we'll, we'll segue into that at the end of this. So, Mark, why don't I let you start it off, let me let you start ending it off.
[00:36:41] Mark: Well, I think one of my favorite things I said in this episode. Bouncing off the title of this, the how, the how of things, is that Jesus himself is the how. He's the what, the where, the why, the when. He is our all in all. And I, everything we do, everything we think about when we're in church, the words that are spoken, the music that is sung, everything we do. Should lead to Christ and should's not even the right word. It's it's a flowing out. It's a it's a response I love the the old hymn That the music was written by Beethoven called joyful joyful It says, Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love, hearts unfold like flowers before thee, turning to the sun above, just as a flower by lifting its petals toward the sun unfolds and is transformed. That's the same with us. It's not a should, it's not a try harder, it's a human being's response to its own savior, its own creator, who we were created for. Just like a flower is transformed by the sun, we are transformed by the Son.
[00:38:06] Tim: That was great. Ajay, what do you got for us?
[00:38:09] Ajai: I'm going to, Close with this verse today. This is closely related to the Galatians 3 that I read, the verses in Galatians 3, Colatians 2:6, As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Just one simple sentence. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. So, how did we receive the Lord Jesus Christ? By faith. By faith alone, in His grace and in Christ in His finished work. And now, once we have received Christ, we are in Christ, and Christ is in us, and how do we walk in Him? By faith again. By faith that we are in Christ, and by faith that Christ is in us. And, we will talk about it later. I think there are many things to talk about it, the in Christ realities, all the things that we have in Christ, and the inheritance we have in Christ, and hopefully, Next time, but for now, I think it's simple, right? On our side, I think we talk about many things, but when the rubber hits the road, what do I have to do? What must I have to do? It's the same answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the answer.
[00:39:25] Tim: Amen. Amen, and I'm going to touch on one thing. I brought up Galatians 5 16 to 25 where Paul is talking about the works of the flesh and if you look very carefully I'm going to pick out just a couple of words because I love Phraseology and the phraseology of this is pointing towards what we've been talking. I mean, he says the works of the flesh are these And he lists all the bad things, and he says, but the fruit of the spirit is this. He's not saying, and no, we combat the work of the flesh by doing the work of the spirit. He goes, no, the fruit of the spirit, what will be developed in you by the spirit and will come out of you naturally are these things. And that's. This whole concept of working to gain God's love or to gain something else from God, you can't do it. You know, we can show you a hundred different ways or it's not true. And walking in the Spirit isn't pulling yourself up by your bootstrap, , putting your shoulder to the wheel and your nose to the grindstone. It's resting in God. It is just renewing your mind by letting the Holy Spirit. Bring things up in your mind to you. Mark said Jesus is the how that's all we need to know But , this has been a great discussion tonight guys, and it looks like we're gonna do the how part two next week. So we hope you'll all join us. And in the meantime, if you want to check out some of the older episodes that we've spoke about earlier in today's program, feel free to jump on our website at theunveilingpodcast. com where all of our old episodes are kept and some of our blogs. And we look forward to seeing you, and we'll talk to you again the next time.
Tim again. Thanks for listening today. We hope you were blessed by today's message. If so, we encourage you to subscribe and share our podcast with your friends and family. Our entire catalog of episodes can be found on our website at www.theunveiledgospel.com, or you can listen and subscribe on most popular podcast apps.
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