Daniel's 70 Weeks: The Covenants (Dan. 9), part 3/4

“We love law so much, why don’t we all be lawyers?” That line captures the tension we’re digging into: believers often talk about “the law” like it’s one flat idea, then wonder why faith feels heavy instead of free. We slow down and separate what Scripture separates, the law of the flesh that ends in sin and death, and the law of the Spirit that produces life. 

We walk through Galatians 5 and name the contrast plainly: the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit. Then we move into Romans 8, where the stakes get personal. What does “no condemnation” actually mean for a Christian who still wrestles? What is “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” and how does it make us free from the law of sin and death? Along the way we talk justification by faith, practical sanctification, and why grace is not cheap grace and never a license to sin. 

We also tackle the heart-level issue behind so many debates: why do we keep trying to insert ourselves into salvation, as if we can add something to Christ’s finished work? That leads us into assurance, God’s sovereignty, and the hard-to-swallow beauty of receiving a gift we did not earn. If you’ve ever felt pulled between fear, performance, and real Christian freedom, Romans 8 is the air you need. 

Subscribe for more Bible-centered conversations, share this with a friend who feels stuck in lawkeeping, and leave a review if it helps. What part of Romans 8 brings you the most comfort, and what part challenges you?

Transcript

Spirit Versus Flesh In Galatians

SPEAKER_01 0:01

I think we get it mixed up when we're talking about the law, because there are two laws we have to deal with. The one law is of the spirit, and the one law is of the flesh. So, like the scriptures say here in Galatians. Right. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Okay, talking about the old law or talking about the flesh because now it describes it. The acts of the flesh are obvious. Sexual immorality and purity, and it's just name and selfishness, like just goes on and on. Right, right. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live, you know, will not do so those who do those things, they will not enter the kingdom of God. But the fruits of the spirit, when the Bible said the law of the fruit, of the law of the spirit of life. Okay. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, and all that. Against such there is no law, meaning you do not please the flesh. Those who belong to Jesus Christ are crucified, like the Bible said, those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and desires. So there is a law concerning the spirit, and there is a law concerning flesh. You know, so when we separate those, those laws we do abide by, and people are saying we can't live by the law. No, you can't live by the law of your flesh. The Bible has told us that is death. Okay, but you can live by the law of the spirit because the Bible tells us that is life. I land there.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

So, Mitch, I got a question. Does the spirit sin when you're in Christ?

SPEAKER_01 2:01

No.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

Okay. We can marinate on that for a minute.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Johnny, what do you got to say first, brother?

SPEAKER_05 2:10

So it kind of goes like this, right? In chapter 10, where the apostle Paul says it, right? He says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer for God is for Israel that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. So it kind of goes like this they think they're more righteous than they are, they think God is less righteous than he really is, and therefore they can meet the requirements of God's righteousness. And we can't do that because God's righteousness is you better keep the law perfectly, and you can't do that. No, you can't. That includes the moral law. Right. But see, John, but see, Jonathan, he's still going back to justification, but it's not for our being justified or maybe with through our sanctification, we have a positional sanctification, we have a practical sanctification. Our positional sanctification is in Christ. We're justified by the faith in Christ apart from the law. Now, when it comes to our practical sanctification and how we are to grow in the grace of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the law. It was to show us our sin. Right? So we don't have a license to sin. This isn't anti-Omianism. This isn't cheap grace theology where you know Paul says, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? This is not a license to sin. This is for once in your life, you're free to stop sinning. You're you're you're not stopped, but you get what I'm saying. You get what I'm saying. It's it's it's not it's because the grace of God transforms you. He he regenerates you and grants you the faith and repentance that is needed that God works to will perform your salvation. He works out your salvation.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

So can we address? So can we address, can somebody address the law of the spirit of life? What is that law?

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Never heard of it. Never heard of it either. Where do I look for that?

SPEAKER_01 4:20

I had read that to y'all earlier. I think it was I forgot what it was, but I have to look at it. No, I haven't got Roman eight.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

None of us have seen uh talking about Roman egg.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Let me get it. I had I had pulled it up and actually read it to you. All right. I know what you're talking about. I don't. I want to see what that is.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

So he he's talking about Romans, Romans

Justification And No License To Sin

SPEAKER_04 4:40

chapter 8, verse 1 through like 6.

SPEAKER_05 4:44

2 through Yeah, basically. Yeah, verse 2 in particular. Yeah. I can read it if you guys want me to. Go ahead, bro.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

For the law of the spirit, I won't tell you nothing that's not there. Go ahead and read it. It says, Therefore, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

So now somebody address what is the law of the spirit. Well, let me ask you a question.

SPEAKER_03 5:15

Are you suggesting from the law? Are you saying are you saying that the that the law of the spirit is a different, different set of law? I mean, what I'm trying to understand is this. We just love law.

SPEAKER_04 5:26

Why don't we all be lawyers? I mean, if y'all want to be locked up and not free, go put yourself in jail. If you want to go by the law, become a lawyer.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

I mean, I the the the law, look. It says here, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. And my brother did say that there was a distinction between the flesh and the spirit. But he says, for the law of the spirit of life is uh, I mean, in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. So when he says from the the law of the spirit, we're still talking about grace, is what we're talking about. So the thing, unless admittion's saying that it's it's some different form of of what it is, because otherwise we're we're we're saying it's it's it's sort of like this. You have the kingdom of heaven, we have the kingdom of God, we have the kingdom of Jesus Christ. There's only one kingdom, we have the kingdom of God's dear son. We have all these different things, but they all speak about the same thing. So so while I know, Mitch, what you're saying, what I'm what I'm asking is do you see that different than being being under grace versus under the law? Or are you saying this is something different?

SPEAKER_01 6:57

I'm saying this is something different.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

So what what's the difference and what is it? What is it and what's the difference?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Well, the the difference is you have the law of sin and death, and you have the law of spirit, of life. Okay, and we should understand because there's a lot of intelligent people here about the word, we should understand what is the law. We should understand what is the sin of law and death.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

Okay, when we were when we receive salvation, were we cut off up from our flesh?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Well, well, well, let me answer it this way, okay? Because the Bible tells us how we wrestle.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

Well, aren't we a new creation in Christ Jesus? The old is gone, the new is come.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Um yes, I'm gonna I'm gonna answer, I'm I'm gonna ask it, I'm gonna answer the question. You know, just because we have that now, the Bible still tells us we wrestle. So what do we obey? Do we obey, as Paul stated, you know, when he talked about the flesh and the spirit, okay, and he desired to obey, he choose to obey the law of the inward man, which is after life. So when we're talking about the law of the spirit of life, the law of the spirit of life has already been described. It tells us what the fruits of that is. And somebody, some a couple of y'all have said that love covers a malt to a sin. Well, one of those one of those traits of that is love. So when we're dealing with this law, you have the law of sin and death, which is in the flesh. If you follow that, you'll die in your sins.

SPEAKER_04 8:41

You can't because you're in Christ, brother.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Well, you're not listening to it.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

I know what he's getting at here.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

You're not listening to I say it. If you follow the law of sin and death, you will die in your sins. If you follow the law after the inward man, when we're talking about the spirit of life, you will have life, and life would be yours.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

All right. So, wow, this is a long way from Daniel 70, weak prophecy.

SPEAKER_05 9:14

Which is where John Pipe's favorite chapter in the Bible, Romans 8. Mine too. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Romans 8, Romans 8 is is, I mean, you know, we could be, you know, at the end of the day, we will all agree that every every passage or every chapter in the Bible is our favorite by the time it's over. But listen, I here's what I'll say. Here's what I'll say. And the the the biggest the biggest concern with me is

Defining The Law Of The Spirit

SPEAKER_03 9:45

as as as as believers, as believers, how do we talk to people? I mean, like, like like what I'm saying is like when you when you think about it, is this what a conversation should sound like if we're talking to a non-believer who absolutely not.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

I just don't get it. To me, it seems like we're getting like like it doesn't have to be this complicated. It rises. Amen. I just don't, I just don't understand it. And you know, we get it, you know, so we go into all these different machinations, but there should be some basic. Like, if we're talking to a if we're talking to a Christian, I mean we're talking to a non-Christian and we want to convince, I mean, there could be, I don't know, five or ten people listening right now who aren't Christians. And here we are talking about how many covenants there are. Well, this should be this should be simple. Amen. It should be it should be simple. Who we have faith in, what we have faith for, it should be simple. It should be simple. And I don't know where it's like, so so like so is there there's I don't know, 20 covenants. There are several different I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

The problem the problem is is that you have Christians that are focused on sin, and you have Christians that are focused on Christ and what he did, and believe me in that finished work of the cross. It is finished. There's nothing you can add to it, there's nothing you can do, it is not yours. Salvation is a gift from God, God's gifts are irrevocable, you cannot walk away from them, they can't be given back. All this mumbo jumbo that goes on, and people don't understand. People love the law, they love being bound up. The body of Christ does not know what freedom is, they have no idea.

SPEAKER_05 11:56

They do. It's like can I ask you a question, sure? Go ahead. Okay, and if you want, everybody can answer it. Because I I do think this is a key text to what the God's work is in regeneration of granting of faith in repentance. Okay, this whole chapter gets into it. You know, I I recommend Python. John MacArthur's good.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

Um, but anyways what chapter are you talking about?

SPEAKER_05 12:20

Uh Romans chapter 8. It's right here, right, where it says, There is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. We gotta remember, God's law is holy, just, and good, but it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh or sin consent condemns sin in the flesh. In order that, in order that, this is why he can he sent Christ to to die in sinful flesh, in order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. T word there, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Right now, you it's gonna take some spiritual wisdom here, okay? We're not talking about law, we're not no no. We're talking about there's two kinds of people here. There's those in the flesh and those in the spirit.

SPEAKER_03 13:24

Right.

SPEAKER_05 13:25

Those are the two things. And if you read the whole text, all the way up through this. This is why this pat this passage has a lot in it. Gets into God's elect, predestination.

SPEAKER_04 13:35

And Johnny, let me ask you something. Has it been like that from the very beginning? Yeah. Amen. Because Cain was a representation of what? The flesh. Abel was a representation of what? The spirit. Let's go all the way back.

SPEAKER_03 13:50

Well, you know, it's it's funny because you know, like in and this is what I was gonna get to, and I didn't I didn't get to it, what Mitch was saying, because he brought up the spirit of life, okay? And and made and made, you know, I get what he's saying, okay? But think about this for a second. If you look at Romans, Romans 8, all right, like Johnny was reading about, but you see here, like Mitch said in verse 2, the law of the spirit of life. And he made a thing about the spirit of life. He made a to-do about the spirit of life. But look look at what it says in the same chapter, Romans 8, verse 9. It says, You are not in the flesh, but are in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells within you. So spirit of life, now spirit of God. Then he goes on and says, Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So you have the spirit of life, spirit of God, spirit of Christ. Verse 11, he says, But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead, now we got the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead, the Father. He says, Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells within you. Verse 14, Spirit of God. Verse 15, spirit of adoption. My point is the spirit is the one who imparts grace to the soul. It's the spirit. So so, like I said, we can easily

One Spirit With Many Names

SPEAKER_03 15:30

fall in line and go, oh, let's make a big doctrine about the spirit of life. Well, in the same chapter, we can see that we can see that the spirit has been used in connection with Christ, with the Father, with adoption, on and on, in the same chapter. So are you saying they're different spirits?

SPEAKER_02 15:48

No, I'm not. What I'm saying is this. Different ways of describing the same spirit.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

That's why I'm saying that. I'm not asking because I don't know. I'm just asking from what he's saying. You're saying the different spirits are you, but you are talking about one spirit.

SPEAKER_03 16:01

I'm talking about one spirit.

unknown 16:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

They're just different titles.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Right. But just but the reference is made to, and Paul uses it all in the same chapter. It's the same thing. It's it's what it's what the spirit, it's the same spirit that in us that that brings us to faith in Jesus Christ and that enables us to not only have faith, but even to repent. Amen. So it allows us.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

So it allows us also to obey the laws of the spirit. Is that right?

SPEAKER_03 16:33

Well, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Absolutely. And I think that, and I and I think I think it's fair to say that because the the the I do believe that the Spirit of God, because remember, what did Jeremiah and Ezekiel both say that would happen to us in the future? That was then. A new heart. A new heart. And what did he say that new heart would do? The heart of flesh. In other words, he would he says he would take, but but Flavio's right.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

He would take away that heart of stone and replace it with the heart of flesh.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

And give us a heart of flesh. But what does a heart of flesh? What does a heart of flesh do? It it takes that it it allows us to have a relationship with the law that is more spiritual as opposed to before.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Yeah, that's why I felt that's what I was trying to say when people quote Jeremiah 31, right? When it talks about placing the law in their hearts, right? You gotta remember he's not speaking about the Torah because Jeremiah is coming right after Isaiah, and in Isaiah 42, he's already established that the Messiah was bringing a new law. He makes that very clear. I think like verse 4, he says that we're all expecting the law of the Messiah.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Right.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

I think what what else is important is understanding the death of the testator. Right.

SPEAKER_05 17:54

Yeah. So so Jonathan, back to my original point, right? The flesh can't contain the inner man because we we have an old man. We need a new nature, we need a new man, a new life, right? So that's why verse 3 says, God sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh to contend in the flesh in order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. The law externally can't contain control it. We need a new a new being where God writes it on our hearts. And if you check out verse 12, through verse 13 or 14, he says, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you will die. But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

SPEAKER_03 18:52

Amen. Amen. I mean, this this this is this is a big this is that's that's a very important section.

SPEAKER_05 18:57

It and so he talks about walking not in the flesh, but in the spirit, walking not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Um the carnal mind is that enmity with God, it can't submit to the law of God.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

It's not in the spirit. God's worship. Are you there, brother?

SPEAKER_04 19:15

You saw in the comments, brother John says it says, faith is righteousness.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

I see that. Hold on one second here. Somebody was trying to get up here. So, Brian, you there, brother? I know you were listening. So, what do you think so far about what we were talking about?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Well, this whole conversation is literally, Jonathan, you already know me and you're on the same page, but this is literally a c a gospel conversation. Yes, we actually don't even know who God is, who the God is that saved us and what he did to save us. If we're actually even having the conversation where we think that we play any part whatsoever in keeping the law, we don't keep one law perfect at any time, couldn't do it. That's why God had to come. Right. But yeah, this is just a gospel conversation. So this is the basics. But this is good. We need it, we this needs to be clear.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

Amen, brother. You you're you're right, because the one thing, one thing that I'm sure everybody here agrees with, the gospel never gets old. The gospel always sounds good to us, even those of us who have believed it and held to it for most of our lives. So true. Is it true? I mean, it's it's like because when it comes down to it, you know, because what we're doing, this is this is what we're supposed to do. And and see, the thing about it is

Keeping The Gospel Conversation Simple

SPEAKER_03 20:45

this doing these things would annoy me if nobody, if nobody, or I should say, if everybody agreed. You know what I mean? But this is how we grow, right? We grow by bringing these things up and seeing if there's another side to this jewel that we get to see and understand. But but it's it's it's one big giant multifaceted diamond, which all of us get the good fortune to see a speck of it. But it's beautiful when it's all said and done. And brother Brian, you nailed it right. This is a conversation about the gospel, and and and the gospel is the one part of any discussion that we should have about the Bible that if it comes to an issue about the gospel, everything else should take second seat.

SPEAKER_04 21:34

You know what I wonder, Brother Jonathan, is like why why believers constantly want to put themselves in as though they have to do something. Like I it it really is appalling to me. You know, but and I I think it's the I think it's the human nature of a person that if if even if somebody gets a Gift or somebody gets done some taken somewhere. It's like, what do I have to do for you now that you've done this for me?

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Well, you know, it's just like it's a good question, Meg, and it's hard to say what it is that makes a Christian. Like I understand somebody who's not Christian, they're gonna have a natural bent on carnal ways. But when a Christian comes to faith and still clings to the law, one of the first things that I always that I'm always wondering about is is that person really a Christian? Number one, now, I do understand that there has to be room for people to grow and to begin to understand these things, like the Galatian church, for instance. What Paul was dealing with were were the Judaizers who were trying to tell people, you know, it's okay to go along with Christ, but don't forget the law. We still gotta we still gotta comply with the law. And Paul's big arguments were you can't. And it was these things, justification by faith, which set Luther on fire and established the groundwork for the Protestant church. And for the and for the and for the and for believers to come out of that mother of Babylon, the Roman Catholic Church. So so but so man has a natural proclivity to want to sink back into lawkeeping because it's part of our human nature. So it's just like it's just like men, or you know, or somebody will say, well, I heard somebody in a live, I think yesterday is saying that he had a problem with lust or whatever, and whatever. Like, you know, every sin is a result of lust of some sort. You know, but what I'm saying, what I'm getting at is that man is he secretly desires to be a lawkeeper because he wants to be able to say, I earned what I got. This is mine. I I got this. You know, so it's just like the idea that we often hear a lot about. I like I I the one thing that I've fought the most about in my 42 years as a Christian, the one, the one falsehood that I fought against more than anything was the idea that a Christian can lose their salvation. Because to believe that you can lose your salvation is not something you might you might if you believe that you can lose your salvation, some people think that's like a badge of honor and a badge of humility to be able to say such a thing. And it can be other reasons why. But here's the real situation if you can lose your salvation, the failure is on God. Not God, not me. Not you. If you say you're a Christian and you can lose your salvation, then you have to point the finger at the one who promised to keep us from falling. So so if you lose your salvation, you you have to ask God where it went. Because it wasn't you that lost it, it was Him that lost it. He lost it. Now you have an element of people out there who will say, Well, you know what? Salvation was a gift that God offered to me. And when he offered it to me, I was going like, nah, I'm not gonna take that. That's not how, that's not how gifts work when they come from God. That's how they work when they come from men. When God gives a gift, it is irrevocable. He said it. 1 Corinthians 7 21. The gifts and the high calling of God are without repentance. They are irrevocable. It's different. When God, whatever God gives is given and accepted. There is no, I'm gonna decide about it and I'll get back to you. But this is how some people think God is that he's not sovereign, that he died, that he sent his son and died on the cross so that you can decide. Not that he's gonna give you salvation, but that he gave you the ability by his death to decide if you want it or not.

Why We Chase Lawkeeping And Fear Loss

SPEAKER_03 26:30

Does that make any sense? Is there anybody here who believes that you can lose your salvation? Because if you do, it's fine if you believe that. I just want to know how you conclude that.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

No, Brother John Jonathan, this is what I mean by we don't understand who God is. We actually think that He's like us. That's what we all think. But to answer like Meg's question about why do we always try to put ourselves in it, we need to fully understand that we in this world when we're lost, every one of us has traditions. We're raised in this society where if you want something, you got to work for it and all this. So we all need to understand that that's in all of us, that we think that we work for something all the time. Well, guess what? When it comes to God and the gospel, that goes all the way out the window when the only thing that we bring is sin. That's it. That's why you see Paul saying, I die daily. Right. What is he dying to? Right. His traditions, the things, things that he thought that he brought to the table, he had to remind himself daily, this is trash. Right. It's all Christ.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

Right. It's it's all Christ. And you know, and when you and brothers and sisters, when you know that when you really, when it really settles in that it's all Christ, because here's the thing. It's freedom. It is freedom. It really is. And it's and it's and it's funny thing, is no matter how you put it, the best way to the best way to look at it is this way. This what this is how I always look at it when I'm talking to other brothers and sisters in Christ. It's like this. It's like I'm sure that if I were, if I were, at least I would hope, that if I were anywhere local to where any of you live, and being and I'm being your brother in Christ and whatever, right? If I was in some kind of a trouble, it don't have to be anything significant, I'm just throwing something out there. I am sure any of you, if I were around you, you would say, you would say, uh, I can help you with that. Let me help you with that. Now, when you offer somebody help, or when they offer you help, what is the first response that we normally make? No.

SPEAKER_04 28:54

No, I can do it myself. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

This is what we do. The idea, see, it's built in mankind not to take anything from anybody else. It's fine for us to be the givers, but it's not fine for us to to get, to take. But yet, and here's here's here's an example. If if I gave somebody something and I knew they needed it, and they would say, no, no, no, no, I can't take that. I can't, I can't do that. I can't do that. I can't do that. That's you know, because whatever. See, we don't we don't mind giving it because we don't mind somebody owing us. Oh, most of the time we don't give, we don't give because it's sincere or genuine. We give because we want something over on people. Oh, that's horrible. You know what I mean? But but when you think about it, I know I know that even in things in my own life in the past, I can say that there was certainly, at the very minimum, an admixture of me having something now that I have over the person to whom I gave something to.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

I can understand that. You understand what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_06 30:14

Well, I was gonna say, I was gonna say, like, I don't have a problem with giving or receiving. Because when somebody says they want to do something for me, I'm my first thing is don't threaten me with a good time. Threaten me with a good time. Okay, let's go. I don't have a problem with receiving, and I definitely don't have a problem with giving either.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

Well, you know, well, here's here's one thing, and and and Nicole, believe me, sister, I gotta tell you, that's rare to find both of those things wrapped up in one human being. But it's true. And sometimes we have to fight against our flesh to do it because you'll be thinking, I want to give, and in your mind, you're thinking, I'm being selfish about it. But you don't say, Well, I'm not gonna give because I'm feeling selfish. You give because that's the right thing to do. It's like a godly thing to do, right?

SPEAKER_04 31:04

I think it's the opposite. Like for me, I I love to give. I feel like it's one of my gifts. But when it comes to receiving, I literally had to go through a season where the Holy Spirit had to teach me how to receive from his spirit because that is not easy. And when people think of receiving from the Lord, they're thinking, oh, I'm about to get blessed, I'm about to get. Yeah, did I get blessed in the natural? Yes. But in the spirit to receive from God, that is, it's like if somebody reaches out to give you a hug, right, and you don't hug them back, you did not receive that hug. See, it it is that is a difficult season. What it was it was a blessed season, but it it wasn't easy.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

Right. Well, you know, it it it the thing is this when it comes to see what and and what I'm getting at by laying this sort of example out is this we think, like Brian said, Brother Brian, it it's like when when when God gives us something, it is not like when another man gives us something. When God gives us something, it's for it is final and it is for good and it is effectual. When God comes to give you something, when he comes to give you something, he is not asking you for permission to take it. But this is the mentality that much of much of Christianity has today. I can refuse what he's giving me. When God created you, when he created any of us, who did he ask? Right? Who did he ask? Who did he counsel with to determine your sex when you were born? No one.

SPEAKER_05 33:04

Himself. No one. Hey Jonathan, guess what?

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Go ahead, brother.

SPEAKER_05 33:08

Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, why did you make me like this?

SPEAKER_04 33:12

Come on, yes, Johnny.

SPEAKER_05 33:15

Does not the potter have the power over the clay?

SPEAKER_03 33:18

Come on. What did what did what did Paul say we were when we we became Christians? What did he say? We were created what we were made new creatures. Creations, yes. What is he hearkening to? He's hearkening to creation, which was which came out of nothing. Ex nihilo. God brought us into existence. He didn't ask us if we wanted to be born, he didn't ask us what race we wanted to be.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

Is it not written he knew us before we were born?

SPEAKER_03 33:53

It absolutely is.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

It absolutely is, brother. It absolutely is. So, and here's what and here's what Paul is saying. First of all, John tells us we are born from above. In most texts, it's it says again, but if you look in look it up, it actually means born from above. Going back to a birth. So, in like in our natural birth, there was no