How Does God View Us?

Thank you very much. Very good to be with all of you here on this beautiful Sabbath day. Really, really very much appreciate the hospitality of everyone. Just a very, very warm and friendly congregation here, and a real blessing to be here with you all today. Really especially appreciate the musical accompaniment, too. This is the first time I think I've heard a violin trio accompany our hymns. It just really adds a lot, so appreciate the service you're providing in that way.

Just very beautiful, very enjoyable. It adds a nice special touch to services here. Let's see, I forgot to ask Mr. McCready when I talked to him earlier this week. Do you normally have 90-minute services here, or two-hour, or three-hour, four-hour? Want to take a vote on it? So I'm not sure how long I'm supposed to speak. Okay. All right. You won't leave, okay? Well, I hope not, but did you place guards at the door? Thank you very much. You know, it's not often we get the opportunity when we have our council meetings to come out and visit churches like this.

It used to be pretty routine to do that when we had considerably more manpower than we have today, but now we're at the position where most of the council members are pastoring multiple congregations, and it's just very tough for us to get away like this and come in on the Friday and be able to get out and get in the church areas like this. We do very much appreciate the opportunity. It's just the practicalities of it are such that it is a little hard. I live in Denver, Colorado, and we're actually having combined services there today, which I'm missing out on in a lot of activities, social, and we have a men's sermonette class there and teen Bible study and women's discussion group and various other things that I'm missing out on, which I didn't want to, but I do appreciate very much the opportunity to come here and spend this Sabbath with you.

A little bit of background about Colorado. We have four congregations there in the state. I pastor three of them, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Frisco, which is up in one of the ski areas up there. Depending on the time of year, the attendance area can be 10 or 12, or it can be 20 or 25, depending on how many visitors there are in the area.

It's a very nice resort area up there. Our total attendance on combined services is about what you have here to give you some idea of it. That's covering an area that's about 200 miles north to south and about 100 miles east to west there, where people are concentrated along the mountains on the front side of the Rocky Mountains there. We're not in the mountains, we're just on the plains in front of the mountains there.

We do have a very busy week ahead. A lot of meetings to go through. Most of it is pretty routine. I believe you all got the email letter there from Robin Weber with the agenda. Most of it is pretty routine business. We're always faced with the challenge of trying to cram in everything we need to. Typically, our meetings are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

We try to break up about two o'clock so people can catch flights out at about five or six or so and return back and be home for the Sabbath there. We're doing it a little bit different this time. We have an all-day retreat tomorrow. Don't get the wrong impression about that word. We're not retreating in the general sense of the word. We're just so busy during our regular meetings covering the routine business and affairs of the church that it's only every few years.

We try to set aside a day, sometimes two, although that is very difficult to fit into the schedule as well, where we can just get away and focus on the bigger picture of things. How do we best oversee the body that is the church? How are we doing? What is our status? How are we at growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? How are we at carrying out the mission of the church to preach the gospel, to prepare a people for God's kingdom, and to discuss those things on a higher and deeper level than we normally do just when we have an hour or two to discuss a topic at our normal council meetings.

Tomorrow we'll be meeting from about nine o'clock until, I don't know how long, it's scheduled to go, maybe six or seven at night before we wrap up. But it's very good to be able to do that and spend time discussing the really deeper things, the important things, as Mr. Weber was talking about in his chairman's letter here that went out earlier this week. So it's very good to be able to do that, looking forward to that very much. So anyone have any questions about that? Or if you do, feel free to come up and chat with me afterwards. I'd be glad to answer anything I can in that regard. I wasn't prepared to really talk about the business of the council this week, during my time here today. But yeah, it is very, very important work here. It's a very, very good group of men to work with. It's something we look forward to every time getting together our four times a year to do that. It's just very nice to see the spirit of cooperation and humility that is dominant in our council meetings there, and the spirit of camaraderie there, and having everybody focused on the same goals of truly preparing a people and preaching the gospel there. We'll get into that in considerable depth this coming week here. So I very much appreciate your prayers for our council meetings all the time. It's not just the council meetings, the week of the council meetings themselves. For each week, it's kind of like homework. If you've taken college-level classes or something, they tell you you have to put in at least an hour or two of work for your class time. And council meetings are kind of that way. We put in for each week of council meetings. We put in a week or two of other work in between. And going through our work on the different committees of the council, I've just been chosen chairman of the media committee of the council. We have six different committees. Most council members serve on three of those committees, except for the chairman of the committees. They serve on one other committee, in addition to the one that they chair. Let's see. Those committees are strategic planning and finance, education, doctrine, which I also serve on, media, ethics. And let me think. There's one other there. I think I'm forgetting. But anyway, each of those is involved with those major areas of importance to the church and quite a bit of work that goes into those committee meetings as well.

So that wraps up my discussion of that off the top of my heads here. So we'll go ahead and get into the sermon then. What is the nicest thing that anybody's ever said about you? Now, think about that for a minute. What's the nicest thing someone has said about you? Maybe a coworker at work told you that you were the most positive person or the smartest person or the hardest worker that they had ever seen. Or maybe your neighbor complimented you on how nice your property looks, how nice your yard is kept up. Maybe somebody complimented you on the dress that you're wearing today, or the tie or jacket or suit or something like that. Maybe your boss in the last month or so is, thank you for the good job that you're doing. Now, when somebody gives you a good compliment like that, how does it make you feel? It makes you feel very positive, doesn't it? It makes you feel very positive about that individual. That they would notice that and compliment you on that. And it also makes you want to live up to that person's expectations as well. Because if they've gone out of their way to compliment you in that way, it makes you want to live up to those expectations. Well, today I would like to talk about some of the nicest things that someone has ever said about you. Now, you might be thinking to yourself about this time, well, how would I know that? How would I know what are some of the nicest things somebody has ever said about you? Well, I know that because they're written down. They're written down in God's Word. They're written down in God's Word. There are many places in the Bible where God talks about His people and about how He sees them. And we'll go through a number of those scriptures today and we'll take a look at how God views us. And that is the title for today's sermon, How Does God View Us? Or if you want to personalize it, How Does God View Me? Or you? How does God view us? When God looks at us, what does He see? What does He see when He, in each of us collectively, is a body like this, the Dayton congregation, or is the United Church of God? Or how does He view us individually, personally? Each one of us is individuals.

When you are down on your knees in prayer to God, maybe pouring out your heart because of some problem or trial that you're going through. Or maybe just expressing your thanks to God in prayer for all of His great blessings. How does He view you? How does God, looking down on you, see you? What does He see in you and your life? When you're going about your daily life, just trying to live God's way in a world that has largely rejected God, trying to do your best to live according to His laws and His standards in a society that has rejected that, how does He see you? How does He view you individually? And how does He view us collectively? As God's people, we should always be very thankful for what we have. It's one of the major themes of the Bible, thankfulness. And if there is anything that we should be very thankful for, it is what the Scriptures will be covering teach us about God and about how He views us, and also what He has in store for us, which is very, very exciting. We'll certainly hear a lot more about that through the upcoming Holy Days, which are just right around the corner now. And we'll see some things today that are very positive, that should fill us with a lot of excitement, a lot of enthusiasm. And we need to keep that in mind.

These are all things that we should be very thankful for, very appreciative of. As a preface to what we'll cover today, let's start over in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26.

1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. And we need to keep this in mind as we go through these Scriptures today, because they set the stage by telling us that it isn't anything that we have done to make God view us this way. It's not anything we have done that qualifies us to be sitting here for God to have called us, to have blessed us with His Spirit, to have blessed us with the knowledge that He has. But rather it is God. It is God's choice. He is the one who did the calling, and it is through His mercy and through His grace that we are here, not through anything that we individually have done to deserve what we're going to read about today. So 1 Corinthians 1, beginning in verse 26. Paul says here, He goes on in verse 29 to explain why God has chosen the weak. He says that no flesh, no physical human being, should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that, as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. So we need to keep this in mind as we go through these Scriptures today that it isn't anything that we have done that qualifies us for this calling. God, as a matter of fact, it says here God chose us specifically because we weren't anything. Great. We weren't the mighty. We weren't the noble. We weren't the wise, and so on. It is strictly God's doing, God's choice, as Paul tells us here. He's the one who called us. He's the one who placed His Holy Spirit within us. He's the one who accomplishes everything through us.

His work and His purpose for the Church and our job is to surrender to Him and allow Him to work within us in our lives, to allow Jesus Christ to live again within us, to carry out the work of the Church, the purpose of the Church. Let's move down a few verses now to 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 9. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 9. This is an exciting Scripture and something we ought to keep in mind also throughout the sermon today. And I hope by the time we're finished with the sermon today we will all have a much better idea of what this is talking about. It says here 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 9. But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

Now what this is telling us is that God has set before us a future that is so incredible, that is so fantastic, so awesome, so wonderful, that in our human minds we just don't have the capacity to grasp it. It is that magnificent, that awesome. And nothing I could really try to put into words would convey how great the future is that God has set before us. We can't even begin to comprehend it, to understand it, to see it. And it is only through God's Holy Spirit that we can begin to grasp these things that God has set before us. Our minds are just too limited on this physical plane to understand the great and incredible truth of God's Kingdom and how wonderful that will be. So let's keep that in mind as we go through these scriptures today. And hopefully we will gain a better understanding of what God has in store for us here that we can't really fully comprehend on a physical level right now. And before we continue, I'd like to quote another scripture here. You don't need to turn there, but it's Romans 4 and verse 17. And in the scripture Paul talks about Abraham and about the great promises that God gave to Abraham, that he would be the father of many nations, even though at that time Abraham and Sarah didn't have any children. And not only didn't have children, they were too old to have children as well. So they were physically too old for that. But what did God say to Abraham? He told Abraham, it's no problem, that all things are possible with God, even if it is physically impossible on the physical level.

And the point Paul makes here in Romans 4 and verse 17 is that, quote, God calls those things which do not exist as though they did. He calls things that do not exist as though they did. And all the scriptures that we'll read today reflect just this. God sees us now, and he doesn't necessarily see what we are now. He sees what we will become. He sees what we will become. And as far as he is concerned, that is a sure thing. It's an absolute guarantee.

Absolute guarantee. Scripture mentions several times that God has given us his Holy Spirit as a down payment on what he has promised here. It's that sure. It's absolutely guaranteed by God, but we do have to do our part. We have to remain faithful. We have to remain loyal. We have to remain obedient to him and allow ourselves to be led by God's Spirit and to be growing by that Spirit in us. So how does God view us? To answer the question of the sermon. And how does he view the future that he set before us? Let's turn over to Luke 12 and beginning in verse 31.

Luke 12 and verse 31. And here Jesus Christ tells his followers to do something and tells us something about God's attitude toward us and the future he has for us. So Luke 12 verse 31 Jesus Christ tells his followers, familiar Scripture here, seek the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you. Very familiar, very hopeful promise here. But then he says to me something that to me is one of the most encouraging passages anywhere in God's Word. Verse 32. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Have you ever wondered what makes God happy? We know the things that make us happy. Have you ever wondered what makes God happy? Jesus Christ says here that one thing that makes will make God very happy is to share his kingdom with his children. That it is his good pleasure to give us that kingdom. I like the way another version translates this. It says your Father delights to give you the kingdom. Your Father delights to give you the kingdom. And when we consider the pivotal part that that will play in God's plan, I think that translation is probably very accurate. It probably comes very close to expressing how God will feel when he does give us the kingdom of God. The time when his children will be revealed, when we'll be transformed from physical into spirit, when he has the opportunity to share everything that he has done with his children. God is not some sadistic ogre or some harsh stern judge, as many people pictured him or as different religions and churches have pictured him for centuries. He's not looking for some excuse to throw the proverbial lightning bolt and strike us down. That kind of thing. He's not looking for some reason to sentence us to death. So many churches have a very distorted picture of God. No, he's a very loving God. We know 1 John 4.16 that God is love. That God is love. And Jesus Christ said that what is going to give the Father great pleasure is to give his kingdom to us, to share all that he has with us. Not just the physical universe that we see around us, but the unseen spiritual universe as well. This parallel dimension, you might say, of the spirit world that is out there. All of that he's going to give to us. He's going to share with us that with us is his children.

You know, you might think about some of the times when we have an opportunity to give our children or grandchildren some kind of a special treat or gift that's out of the ordinary. You know, we have the feast coming up and a lot of parents and grandparents give use that as an opportunity to give their their children a special treat, a special gift, something out of the ordinary. I think that's really a wonderful practice there. But how does that make you, as a parent or as a grandparent, to feel to give your children or grandchildren a special gift like that? Something that you know they've maybe had their hearts set on for a long time, something they wanted for a long time. And it makes you feel pretty good, doesn't it? Makes you feel happy. It gives you a lot of joy inside.

And Jesus Christ said that is exactly how God the Father is going to feel.

When He gives us the most wonderful gift imaginable, which is the gift of eternal life in His Kingdom.

That is something that God is going to delight in. And that is God's attitude. That is God's motivation. That is God's character. That He is a God of love, a God of giving, a God of sharing, and a God who is going to experience great joy when He shares with us the Kingdom that He's prepared for us from the foundation of the world. That is something that He will delight in.

And it will be His good pleasure to share that with us.

Let's look at another way that God views us now back in Malachi 3.

And we'll see something else that tells us a little bit more about how God feels toward His people, or how God views His people. From the context of this, we won't cover the context right now, but it's talking about the end time and the return of Jesus Christ as Messiah.

Malachi 3, and we'll pick it up in verse 16.

Taking it out of context again, but I just want to focus in on what it says in these two verses here.

Then those who fear the Eternal spoke to one another, and the Eternal listened and heard them.

So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Eternal and who meditate on His name. So who is this talking about? Those who fear the Eternal and meditate on His name. Well, it's talking about us. It's talking about God's children. Those who obey God and honor Him, and respect Him, and fear Him. Verse 17 is what I want to focus in on, about what God says. He says, "'They shall be mine,' says the Eternal of hosts, on that day when I make them my jewels. And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son, who serves him." So God says here that those who respect and honor Him are something that is very precious to Him.

Here it says that we will become His jewels.

Now the NIV, I like the way it translates this, it says, His treasured possession.

And that's what the Hebrew means. Something that is very valuable. Something that is priceless.

Something of very great value, not just a literal precious stone or jewel like a diamond, a ruby, or a sapphire, something like that. But something that is very rare. Something that is very valuable. Something priceless to Him. And God here says that we, those of us who respect Him, who honor Him, who follow Him, out of all the people on the earth, are His treasured possession.

His treasured possession. His jewels, as it says here. So when God sees us, He sees that we are human. He sees that we are flesh and blood, that we make mistakes, we foul up, we don't always do everything right or well. We sin, we slip up, we do stupid things. But He sees that and He understands it far better than we do right now. But He also sees what we will become through His Spirit working within us. That's why I read the Scripture earlier about God sees things as they will be. And that is a sure thing to Him. And He says here that we will become His treasured possession. And think about that, because that's coming from the being who owns everything. The being who owns the entire universe, the whole galaxies, not just the planet earth, but all of the planets, all of the galaxies, all of everything in the universe. You might think about the descriptions of the New Jerusalem there in Revelation, which is described as a city of purest gold coming down from heaven, glimmering, shining gold with beautiful gemstones all around the base of the city there. God is a what? A billionaire, not a trillionaire, a gazillionaire, whatever you want to term you want to use there. He makes Donald Trump look like Donald Duck or something like that. He just owns everything. Again, not just the physical universe, but this spiritual universe that is incredibly vast. He's got it all. He owns everything. He doesn't need anything from us. But God says that we are going to become his special treasure, his treasured possession, the most valuable thing that he owns. And that's pretty mind-boggling, pretty amazing, pretty flattering, and pretty sobering to realize that that is what God sees in us, that we are to become his special treasure, his most treasured possession. Another section of Scripture that gives us a great deal of information, and it's one we tend to read over and gloss over in 1 Peter 2 and beginning in verse 9.

1 Peter 2 and beginning in verse 9. But it tells us an incredible amount of information here about how God views his people. And what I'd like to do is go through, being a writer and editor, I love getting into the meaning of words, and there's just an incredible amount of information packed into these two verses we'll cover here. 1 Peter 2 verses 9 and 10. So let's take a look at this.

Peter says, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. There's an incredible amount of information here in just these two verses.

We tend to read through it and say, oh, that's nice. Got all these nice religious-sounding terms and phrases in here. But what is said here is really amazing when you get down and analyze and take a look at the meaning of each of the words here. It's incredible what Peter is revealing here in trying to help us see and understand about how God views us. So let's go back through this and see what Peter and what God is just trying to tell us here. First of all, he says, You are a chosen generation. Chosen. What does that mean? Chosen means selected or marked—these are dictionary definitions—selected or marked for favor or special privilege.

Selected or marked for favor or special privilege. And what a privilege it is! Think about what we are called to be. We are called to be the firstfruits of God's family, the firstfruits of his sons and daughters, the first of many sons and daughters who will inherit his kingdom and life everlasting.

So we are chosen for favor or special privilege. Talk about a privilege we are the most privileged people on earth to be the firstfruits of God's family, the first of the sons and daughters to be born into his family after Jesus Christ, who was the first of the firstfruits.

Peter also says here that we are chosen. Who did the choosing? We didn't choose ourselves. God chose us. God did the choosing. God, the owner of the universe, the creator of the universe, the ruler of the universe. So God is the one who did the choosing, not us. God did the selecting there. What about generation? This word here means literally a family or a race of human beings, race, which is just a family grown large, like a nation, something like that. In Old Testament times, God chose a physical nation, the nation of Israel, to be his people, chose a physical family there, a physical race, the Israelites. And now he has chosen us to be his spiritual race, his spiritual family, the family of God, spiritual Israel, the church of God, and the children of God.

So he says we are a chosen generation. And then he says you are a royal priesthood, a royal priesthood, a kingly priesthood. Kings and priests combined, in other words, because in God's kingdom there will be no separation of church and state.

As we have in our Constitution now in the United States, civil authority and religious authority are going to be combined as one. They will be inseparable there, no distinction between civil and religious. We won't turn there, but you might write down Revelation 5 and verse 10, which refers to the future when Christ will make his followers kings and priests.

Not kings or priests, but kings and priests. We are to be a royal priesthood there.

Then he goes on to say that you are a holy nation. A holy nation. What does holy mean? Holy means set apart to the service of God. Set apart to the service of God, or an alternate definition, characterized by perfection and spiritual purity. Characterized by perfection and spiritual purity. Are we holy? Are you holy? Is this a holy group? God says it is.

It's very plainly here. God says we are. So we are a people that is consecrated or set apart for sacred service to God. Set apart for sacred service to God. Characterized, second part of the definition, characterized by perfection and spiritual purity. Set apart by God and characterized by perfection and spiritual purity. That's what God sees in us. That is how God views us as his people if we are allowing ourselves to be led by his spirit. If we are faithful to him, obedient to him. It continues on, the next phrase here, you are his own special people.

The King James Version says peculiar. I got a kick out of that when I was first coming into the church. It was pretty peculiar at that time, going to church on Saturday instead of Sunday, and keeping these weird holy days, and so on, and not going to heaven, and all this kind of stuff.

Yes, sometimes we are a bit peculiar as the world sees us. But that word really means specially chosen. The New English Bible, I like the way it translates this, it translates it as a people claimed by God for his own. A people claimed by God for his own. We are God's own special people, meaning we belong to him. Meaning he owns us. He owns us. He bought us, after all, through the blood of our Savior and Master Jesus Christ. We were bought at a price, a very high price, and we belong to God consequently. But why? Now Peter transitions into the why. Why we are called, and chosen, and special people. He tells us why. That you may proclaim the praises, or as other translations put this, proclaim the wondrous deeds, or show forth the virtues, or make known the perfections of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. In other words, we used to live in darkness. We used to be subjects of the kingdom of darkness, ruled over by the king of darkness, which is Satan the devil. But now we've been called out of that darkness. You know what happens when you're living in darkness? You can't see anything. You don't even know you're in darkness because we were blinded at one time, like the rest of the world. We didn't even understand that, but now we are living in the light. The light of God's way of life. Understanding and being able to see and to understand by God's Holy Spirit.

Peter then continues here in verse 10 with the theme, Who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And this goes back to the first scriptures we read there. Before we were called and selected by God, we weren't anything. We were the weak, the foolish of the world. God didn't choose the wise, didn't choose the noble, didn't choose the mighty, chose the weak, the foolish of the world, the despised of the world to put the world to shame.

To prove the world it's not by anything that we do on our own, it is by God, by God's calling, by His working within us. And now we have been chosen by God as we read here for a wonderful purpose, for a fantastic future that He has set before us. Let's continue on with how God views us and what He's doing with us over in Revelation 19. And we'll begin in verse 11. This is kind of an extension of what we just read here that Peter wrote here. And this is a description of Jesus Christ returning in glory and majesty and power to establish God's kingdom here on earth, which is symbolized by the Holy Days, which we'll again be keeping in just a few more weeks here.

So Revelation 19 in verse 11. And John writes here, Now I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse.

And he who sat on the horse was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. And of course this is referring to Jesus Christ. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself.

And then skipping down to verse 16. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written. And that name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's the title that Jesus Christ will bear when he returns to earth. And great power to establish his reign and his kingdom. So if he is the King of Kings, and he is the Lord of Lords, who are the other Kings? Who are the other Lords?

It isn't angels because they're not given authority over human beings. Let's pick it up in the next chapter. Revelation 20. We'll find out who those Kings and Lords are. Revelation 20 in verse 4. And I saw thrones. What are thrones? Thrones are symbols of authority, of rulership, of royalty.

And they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until a thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. So we see here that those who rule and reign with Christ at his return, those kings and those lords there are those who have a part in the first resurrection. And that includes those who have died in years past, over the entire history of human humanity, who have been faithful to God, those who have been a part of God's church over the past years, and also those who are alive at Christ's return. As Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 15, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up into the clouds as Christ returns and will be transformed and given eternal life. So this is talking about us. It's talking about the resurrected saints. Those of us who will die in the faith or those who will yet live and be alive at Jesus Christ's return there will have a part in that resurrection, that first resurrection from the dead, and to administer that government as the kings and as the lords under Jesus Christ, our Savior and King. So we are those kings and those lords there of Jesus Christ's title who will rule with him at his return. So another way that God views us is as kings, as lords, in training, preparing for his kingdom, for rulership, in that kingdom, for teaching, in that kingdom, for leading the nations there, and teaching them about God's way of life. Another way that God views us is we find in the introduction to nearly all of Paul's epistles, Paul's letters to the churches. We'll look at just one, but it's Ephesians 1 and verse 1 just as an example. It's true of nearly all of his epistles there. But there's a phrase that is used, a word that is used we need to understand too, that helps us again to see how God views us. So Ephesians 1 and verse 1, Paul says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus.

So Paul starts most of his epistles with kind of a standard greeting like this, to the saints in Ephesus, to the saints in Rome, to the saints in Corinth, and so on.

He wasn't writing as one major religion believes. Not sure if you're familiar with this, but they believe that saints are those who have died and gone to heaven and you have to perform x number of miracles there. One of the popes was recently declared a saint here in this way. No, he was writing just to congregations or individuals like you and like me, made up of people, people just like us there. And Paul refers to all of the members of God's church as saints. But what is a saint? What does that word mean? Where does it come from? It comes from the root word sanctify.

Sanctify. Now what does sanctify mean? Sanctify is a verb which means to make holy. To make holy. So the word translated saint means simply one who is holy or simply a holy person. Holy individual, holy man or holy woman. Now the word holy, as we talked about there, reading from Peter's epistle later, means again set apart for the service of God or characterized by perfection and spiritual purity. So that's what the word saint means. Set apart, sanctified, set apart to the service of God or characterized by perfection and spiritual purity. So how does something become holy? It becomes holy in two ways we see in scripture. The first way something can be holy, something or someone, is to be owned or possessed by God.

To be owned or possessed by God. And the second way something or someone can be holy is to be used by God or to have God's presence in it, like the temple or the tabernacle that had God's presence in it there. Now if you think about it, both of these apply to us. They both apply to us because first of all we are set apart or selected by God. We belong to Him. So something is holy because it belongs to God and we belong to God. We are His people. We've been bought by a price. We've been bought by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And second, the second definition of this applies because we are used by Him. We are used by Him. We are holy because of how we live and because of God's presence in us through His Holy Spirit. Because we live a holy life dedicated to God and led by God's Holy Spirit in us. And because we are developing the mind and the character of God and Jesus Christ within us. So both of these ways that something is holy apply to us because we are owned by God, because we are used by God, and also because of His presence in us through His Spirit. So look around you. You're in the presence of saints. You're in the presence of holy people.

You know, look at who's sitting beside you there. Behind you or in front of you.

These are saints. These are holy people. God's holy people. That's what it's telling us here in His Word very, very clearly. People who are chosen by God. People who belong to God.

People who are used by God. And God says that they are holy. And that you are holy.

And that is, and He says that all who are a part of His Church are holy. And we need to remember that. We need to remember that in our dealings with one another. How we treat one another. How we talk about one another. Because we belong to God. We're owned by Him. We're used by Him.

It's interesting in this regard to do a study, and you may want to do this sometime, just read, take out your concordance, look up all the scriptures that mention the word saint.

And see what it says. You'll find that members of the Church throughout the New Testament are referred to as saints. You'll find, for instance, in Revelation, you'll find that there are, that there have been and will yet be a martyring of the saints at the hands of a great religious authority in the end time that will have control over government. You'll find that Jesus Christ will return with tens of thousands of His saints. And that the prophets and the saints will be rewarded for their faithfulness and their obedience and their endurance to the end.

And these scriptures, again, are talking about us. Talking about the saints of God, about those who are led by God, about those who are chosen by God, those who are owned by God, those who are being used by God, those who are holy in God's eyes.

So that is another way that God views us, as His holy people, His saints.

Let's look at another description of God's people in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 20.

2 Corinthians 5 and verse 20. And here Paul uses a phrase, but let's analyze this a little bit deeper here.

2 Corinthians 5 and verse 20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God.

So here we are called ambassadors for Christ. Now, what does that mean in terms of how God views us? Why are we called ambassadors? What is an ambassador? What is an ambassador's role? I could give a whole sermon on this, but I'll just hit some of the high points here. An ambassador, according to the dictionary, is an agent or a messenger of a ruler or of a particular government that represents that ruler or government in a foreign territory or a foreign land in which he resides. And this is an appropriate comparison because what are we? We are representatives of a different ruler, of a different government, of a different king.

We are part of God's kingdom, not the kingdoms of this world, and that is our primary allegiance, our primary loyalty. We represent a different government, a different way of life, a different king, a different ruler, the rulership of God, the Father, and Jesus Christ, and how we live our lives. And what are we? We are messengers. We are ambassadors of that way of life, of that government. We represent its policies. We represent its laws, its values, its standards, its way of life, and not the way of life and the standards of this world in which we currently live.

You know, we have a training center down an hour and a half south of here in Cincinnati. What's it called? It's called Ambassador Bible Center. It's called that for a reason.

And we truly are ambassadors. For Christ, citizens of one country who are forced by circumstances in this life to live in a different country, a different world. The apostles, Peter and Paul, both compared God's people to pilgrims, to strangers, to wanderers who are living in one place while our true citizenship is somewhere else in a different kingdom that is not of this world. How good of a job do we do representing that other government, that other king of which we are ambassadors? We should really ask ourselves that. How are we representing that king, that government, as an ambassador in what we're doing? Do we represent that way of life as something that is very positive, something that is very uplifting, something inspiring? Do we represent that in how we live? Do we live a way of love?

As God the Father is love? Do we show that kind of love and concern for our fellow man and for others? We certainly should as his ambassadors. This whole concept is summed up in Philippians 2 and verse 14. Let's take a look at that. It helps us understand this concept a little better. Philippians 2 and verse 14. And here Paul says, putting this in practical application, do all things, all things, not just some things, do all things without complaining and disputing, without arguing, in other words, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Is this the way we represent God in our lives? Are we truly blameless? Are we truly harmless, children of God, without fault, in this age, shining as lights in the world as we hold fast the word of life?

Does that describe your life, my life, our lives? Whenever I read this scripture, I'm reminded of the times when I've flown across country at night in an airliner. Probably most of you have done that.

I always like a window seat so I can look out and see things. We probably always have done that at some point or another. From five, six, seven miles out, you look out at night and what do you see?

Most of you see a lot of blackness, a lot of darkness out there. You can't see the roads, you can see occasional headlights, you don't see the rivers, you don't see the lakes. All you see is just blackness, just about everywhere there. You can't see anything. It's a world of darkness, a world of blackness down there. And that is how God describes the world that we live in.

It's a world of darkness, a world of spiritual blindness there, a kingdom of darkness, a kingdom of blindness because it's been blinded by the God of this age for 6,000 years of His deception. But looking out at night from an airliner, especially out where I live in Denver, not so much here along the east where things are much closer together, but out there you fly for hundreds of miles and just see a very occasional spot of light from an isolated ranch or farm or a little town, something like that there. You occasionally see the headlights of cars down on a road way below you there and just scattered lights like that. And every time I look out at night like that, I can't help but think that is how God views this world. That is what God sees when He looks down on this world of blindness, of spiritual darkness, this kingdom of darkness there. That is what He sees. But here and there He sees a little spot of light, a little cluster of lights here and there. And that is how He sees us.

That is how He sees us as God's people. And He compares us to stars shining in the blackness of night. We are like those little spots of light there, blameless and harmless as it says here, children of God without fault in this world shining like lights in the spiritual blackness of darkness of this age. Jesus Christ continues with the same thought over in Matthew 5 and verse 13. Let's take a look at that too. Matthew 5 and we'll read verses 13 beginning there. And Jesus Christ here talks about His followers. And what does He say about us here?

He says, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

Now why did Jesus Christ refer to His followers as salt? What was the significance of that?

Salt had many purposes in His day. Today we tend to think salt is bad, causes hypertension, high blood pressure, all that nasty stuff. But in His day, salt was something that was very valuable. It had a lot of shades of meaning there. It had many uses. It was used as a preservative to preserve things like meat. They would pack it in salt. They didn't have refrigerators and freezers. But the salt would keep it from spoiling there, keep the bacteria from multiplying and rotting the meat. So it was used as a preservative to keep food from spoiling there. It was used for healing. You've probably heard the phrase, pouring salt in a wound. Maybe you've tried that.

And it wasn't a pleasant experience, was it? But it was a disinfectant. Pouring salt in a wound hurt like blazes, but it kept the wound from getting infected. So it was very important in that way, as something for healing there. And it was also rare enough that salt was used as money in ancient times. You've probably heard the phrase again, somebody who's worth his salt.

Well, that came from the Roman military that used to actually pay the soldiers, at times, in salt.

It was that valuable. So it was used for money there. It was also used as a flavoring, rather.

Something to flavor meat and spices, or as a spice, used like that for food and so on. So Jesus Christ compares his followers to salt. You are the salt of the world, he says. And he tells them that if salt loses its flavor, its saltiness, it's not good for anything, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot in the dust there. So it compares us to something that has a special flavor, that should enrich the lives of those that we come into contact with.

In other words, they should be better. Their lives should be better for having come in contact with us.

That we're a kind of special flavoring that we should flavor and influence in a positive way all the people that we come into contact with. You might ask yourself, how many people have come into contact with me in my life and they're better for it? You know, that should be the case all of the time. How many people could say that they've seen a little bit of God, a little bit of Jesus Christ in our lives, in our interactions with them? Are we that kind of salt?

Do we add that kind of positive flavor and influence in the lives of other people?

That's what Jesus Christ tells us we should be, that his followers have to be different.

And that if we lose our saltiness, if we lose that special flavor, then we're no value.

We're not worth anything.

But to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. That's the point he's making here, that if we don't have that saltiness, that special flavoring there, we're no different from the rest of the world. And then he goes on to say, continuing with the theme of light, what does he say next? Verse 14, he says, you are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Getting back to the analogy of flying over the country at night and looking down at all the blackness and these scattered lights. You know, you can't be a light to the world if we hide from the world, if we're totally withdrawn from the world. As he said in verse 15 here, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket.

You know, you don't turn on a light bulb and then cover it up with a basket there. It doesn't do any good. It defeats the purpose of it there. It doesn't give off much light that way.

That doesn't show anything about God's way of life. If our light is hidden under a basket, cover it up there. Light is supposed to illuminate. It's supposed to show the way.

And then he says, verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. So God's word continually, one of the big themes of the Bible is light versus darkness. That God's way is always described as a way of light. And how is Satan's way described as the way of darkness? As the way of blackness? Of spiritual blindness there?

So if we are being lights to the world, what does that mean? What are the implications of that? Well, it means we're going to be teaching God's truth by our examples. By the way that we live, by the way we conduct ourselves, we're going to be showing that God's way works.

That it produces positive results. That it produces positive fruits in our lives.

We're going to show that keeping God's laws, that obeying His laws about the Sabbath, the Ten Commandments, His holy days and so on, are a very positive thing.

They give us hope. They give us meaning. They give us purpose in our lives. You could go on and on about that. But what kind of lights are we? If we are showing that God's way works, what kind of people will we be? We'll be good neighbors. Our property will be nice, clean, a credit to the neighborhood in which we live. What kind of employees will we be? We'll be good employees, profitable employees, going above and beyond what is required. Are you the most productive employee? Where you work? You should be. We all should be. Paul tells us to work as though we were working for Jesus Christ. Is that your approach to your job? Are you always working as though Jesus Christ were your boss? Well, He is. He really is. And Paul tells us that if we are, we ought to be the most productive employee. What about our marriages? What about our relationships? What about our families, our children, and so on? If we are striving to be the kind of lights to the world that Jesus Christ wants us to be, we should have a strong marriage, a stable marriage, that is based on love, that is based on respect for one another, honoring one another.

So we are families, and marriage should be. And they should be an example in a world that is just losing sight of what marriage and family is all about. It's just tragic what is happening in our country to our marriages and families now. Just appalling. But this is what Jesus Christ means about letting our light shine, being an example of what God's way is all about as ambassadors for Christ. I remember in my own life, I began attending services with my parents when I was a sophomore in high school. Fifteen years old, started attending at the spring holy days. And at the time, I couldn't have cared less about religion. I was actually playing on a baseball team that played games on Saturdays there. And I remember in the months leading up to that, actually a couple of years, the minister would come out to visit our house, and I would literally head for the woods. Because we had nothing but woods behind our house for several miles. And Mom would say, the minister's coming by to visit, I'm out the door, until the coast is clear and it's safe to come back in. That's what I thought about this nonsense. I either go hide out in my room, if it was cold outside, or most of the year I'd head off into the woods and just stay there until I was sure that they were gone. But after attending Sabbath services for several months with my parents, I began to notice some things that were very different. The people were really different. Here I was, just this this gawky scrawny teenage boy there. But the people were really friendly to me. Really friendly. I didn't want to be around them to be blunt about it. But even the adults would come up. They would shake my hand and ask me how my week was, how things were going, how school was, that sort of thing. The other teenagers would invite me over to their house, thereafter services, or have dinner with their parents. That kind of thing. I almost, in spite of myself, I kind of grit my teeth and say, these people are really nice. What's wrong with them?

What's different? And I finally had to conclude, well, I probably ought to start paying attention to what they're saying there. And I did. Unfortunately it took. I was too young to care about, in which day was the Sabbath, or too young to care about the Holy Days, or clean and unclean meats. My favorite food at the time was a ham sandwich there. I was much more interested in baseball and football and that kind of thing. I couldn't play basketball when I was a kid. It was a very hilly country. And if you missed, you had to run 100 yards downhill to pick up the basketball. So I was never any good at that. And we had to drive 60 miles to go to services every Sabbath, driving down to Birmingham, Alabama. But the one thing that really registered on me wasn't the Bible truth about the Sabbath or Holy Days or clean and unclean meats or anything. The thing that made an example, an impression on me, was the example of the church members.

Was their love for one another? Their living God's way of life. To me, they were the proof that this was really God's church. I didn't know anything about the Bible then. I couldn't weigh and evaluate then. But they were the proof, the love of the members, the example of the members, toward me. And this gawky, scrawny teenage kid here. But could somebody say that about us today, about you, about your example, that you are proof of the church of God? Of who and what the church is? Do you show it by the way you live your life? And again, I compliment this congregation on your friendliness there, your hospitality. It's very much a credit there. But this is something we all need to think about here. Are we living proof that this is God's church? That God is at work within our lives. Another way that God views us, we find over in John 15 and verse 12, and we read this section, or part of this chapter, every year at Passover season, and with good reason.

Because there's so much meat in this particular section. This is part of Christ's last instructions and teachings to his followers. And there's some wonderful information that's given here. He says, John 15 and verse 12, This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my father, I have mained on to you. There's a mind-boggling concept here, that Jesus Christ calls us his friends. Jesus is not just the firstborn from the dead, not just the captain of our salvation, not just our Savior, not just our high priest, not just King of kings and Lord of lords. As we read about earlier, he also says that we are our friend, and that we are his friends.

And it's an absolutely mind-boggling statement, because the very being who spoke, and everything sprang into existence out of nothing. This beautiful world that we see around us, with all the trees, the flowers, the skies full of beautiful clouds, rainbows, birds, butterflies, things like that, all the magnificent creatures, and the elegance, and the beauty of God's design, and the rivers, and the seas, and the oceans that are teeming with all kinds of life. All of that. This tremendous galaxy out there of incredible beauty. He spoke, and all of that sprang into existence. And that same being calls us friends.

That's what it says right here. That's what it says right here.

The very one who is going to return to earth in power, in mind, in glory, in majesty, unlike anything human beings have ever witnessed, who will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as we talked about there, who will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Never.

And that being says that we are his friends.

You are my friends, he says here. The very being who healed the sick, who raised the dead, who bled and died and sacrificed his life for us, calls us his friends. And as Paul said, if God is for us, who can be against us? What an amazing concept.

What an amazing truth there. But Jesus Christ was very plain about it. As he said here in verse 13, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. And that's exactly what he did. He gave up his life so that we could have eternal life in his kingdom with him.

And then in verse 14 he says, you are my friends. If you do whatever I command you, there is that condition. If we are to be Christ's friends, we have to be obedient to him. We have to do what he says. And if we are not of a mind to do that, we can't be his friends. Because two cannot walk together if they're not agreed, as we read elsewhere in Scripture. So we cannot walk in friendship with Christ unless we obey him and want to follow him. Continuing in verse 15, again he says, no longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard from my father I have made known. It's a very different relationship from the common relationship of his day, which was master and slave, master and servant. That sort of thing. Because the master, what does he do? He just dictates to the servants what they need to do. And that's it. And the servants have no idea what's going on. They do what they're told or else. But that's not the kind of relationship that we have with Jesus Christ and God the Father. You've probably worked in some relationships at your workplace where you had a boss and you know it was my way or the highway. And he just told you what to do. And without any explanation, without any buy-in, without any ownership on your part, and you did it or you were out the door. That's the way it was done back in Christ's day, too. But Christ came to give us a very different relationship that is not like that. It's a relationship that he defines as friendship. Because he wants us to know what's going on. Because he wants us to understand God's purpose and his plan for us. Because he wants us to understand the future that he has set in place for us. He wants us to understand why the world is in such terrible shape. Because it's rejected him and God's way of life. And these things are hidden from a world that has been blinded, but they are not hidden from us. Because Jesus Christ is our friend. And he wants to share all things with us. We won't turn there, but you might write down James 2 and verse 23. And it says here, well, I'll just quote it for you, James 2 verse 23. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. So again, here's an individual. So God can have a very close and personal and warm and mutually respectful relationship with human beings, as he did with Abraham. And as he wants to have with us, as his friends. Yes, we are physical. Yes, we are mortal. We make mistakes. We do a lot of stupid things. But God wants to be our friends. That's what scripture says. That's how he views us as friends. Again, pretty mind-boggling.

But there's another relationship between us and Jesus Christ that is even deeper than that.

Let's turn over to Revelation 19 and verse 7 and read about it. Revelation 19 and verse 7.

And we read about something amazing that's going to happen in the future regarding us. And there are a lot of implications for our days now.

It says here, Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. And the Lamb, of course, we know is Jesus Christ. But who is the bride or who is the wife that is mentioned here? There's a very strong clue in the next verse here. And to her, the bride, it was granted to be a raid in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. So this bride is clothed in the righteous acts of the saints. Well, who are the saints? We talked about that earlier. They are the individual members of God's church. So the bride that Jesus Christ will marry in his kingdom is his church, the body that is the church. That is us. The Church of God, collectively. This is spelled out a lot more clearly in Ephesians 5. Let's turn over there, too. Ephesians 5, beginning in verse 22. Pick up a few verses out of this chapter. I won't comment on it. Just read through it to help us understand what is being said here. But Ephesians 5, verse 22, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, to Jesus Christ. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. Husbands love your wives.

Just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. That he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. But no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

So what's he saying here? He's saying here that the whole marriage relationship of the wife submitting to the leadership of her husband and the husband loving his wife to the point of giving himself as a sacrifice for her is symbolic of the relationship of Jesus Christ and his church.

And as Paul explains here, Jesus loved the church so much that he gave himself for it, sacrificed his life for it, that he might make it holy and cleanse it and make it perfect and without blemish as it says here. So ultimately the relationship between us and Jesus Christ is one that is much deeper than friendship. As we talked about earlier, it will be a marriage relationship.

The deepest bond that we humanly can experience in this life. Think back to your wedding day.

For some, maybe it was 20, 30, 40 years ago, for some it was only a few short years ago here.

And whether we were the bride or the groom, how were we anticipating that day?

You know, we were marrying the person of our dreams.

The person that we wanted to spend a lifetime together, the person we wanted to to look forward and share all of life's experiences with, sharing and experiencing all kinds of wonderful things together. It was a happy time, a joyous time, an exciting time.

And this is another way that God views us.

That He views us as the beautiful bride of Jesus Christ, preparing for our marriage to His Son.

He sees us as clothed with the brightest linen, as we just read about there, in Revelation, which represents the righteous sex, the righteous lifestyle of His saints as members of God's Church.

And He views us as pure, as clean, as a lovely, gorgeous bride, deeply in love with His Son, Jesus Christ, and looking forward to living forever with Him, to following His lead in everything that we do. So this is another way that God views us, as the beautiful bride of Jesus Christ, preparing for our marriage to Him, preparing for an eternity of living with Him.

The last area that I want to cover here in our closing minutes is how God views us, is one that is most commonly expressed in the Bible. And that is the fact that God views us as a loving Father does His children. And there are many, many verses on that, far too many to cover. But I saved this for last because these are some of the most comforting and encouraging scriptures written down for us. And again, we'll cover just very few of these. But 1 John 3, in verse 1. Let's turn over there to 1 John 3, in verse 1. And it says here, Behold what manner of love the Father is bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

For John 3, verse 2, next verse, Beloved, now we are children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him.

For we shall see Him as He is. And I've tried to help us see some today through this sermon to get a little taste, a little more anticipation, a little more excitement, a little more understanding of what that will be. But again, our human minds can't fully comprehend it. We can't really do justice to how wonderful that will be. But I hope it is a little more real to us now, that we have a little more understanding as a result of these passages we've covered here.

But the time is coming when we will be like Him. And then we will see all of these things.

We will see Him as He is. And all these things will be clear and plain then when we're experiencing them. Verse 3, And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.

So there is an obligation on us as it says here, that if we are to be like God then, in that resurrection to immortality, to a glorious spirit existence, and we had better start becoming like God now. So that we will be there to experience that.

To conclude, let's turn over to Revelation 8 and we'll begin in verse 14.

Not Revelation, Romans. Romans 8 and verse 14.

Very, very encouraging passage here. Very, very wonderful things that, again, have a lot of meaning for us here. Romans 8 and verse 14.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are, not will be, not could be, but are, as God views us, seeing things that are not as though they are, these are sons of God.

For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom, or by which, we cry out, Abba, Daddy, Father.

They've been privileged to go to Israel several times and you hear these little Jewish kids going around, Abba, Abba, calling for their Daddy. It means Daddy.

It's that kind of closeness, that kind of warmth, dependence, respect, and trust.

So Paul is saying that we don't have a relationship with God that is based on fear because we are afraid of God, but rather that we have a loving relationship with Him, based on respect and reverence and obedience, because we love Him as our Father, as our Daddy, as the one who has got such an incredible inheritance for us in the future there. We see Him as a loving Father who will delight in giving us His Kingdom, as we talked about earlier.

Verse 16, The Spirit itself bears witness with our Spirit that we are, again, as God views us, not will be, but are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. And yes, we do suffer in this life. We have our trials. We have all kinds of things that demoralize us, that discourage us. But Paul says, put them in perspective, because the trials that we go through in this life are nothing to be compared to the future, to the glory that will be revealed in us when we are transformed, when we receive that kingdom, when we receive that eternal inheritance there. Verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. So Paul says the entire creation has been frustrated and discouraged in a state of futility, again, because of the blindness of Satan and all of that. But there is hope. There's an incredible hope that He set before us. Verse 21, because the creation itself will be delivered, also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. It's like a woman experiencing birth, and there's a lot of pain that comes with that. A lot. And verse 23, not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, for the redemption, for the transformation of our bodies.

So Paul tells us to keep things in perspective, that yes, we have problems. Yes, we have trials.

We have suffering in this life, but they can't be compared to the future that is set before us. He says the whole creation has been like a woman in labor, groaning and moaning in birth pangs, waiting for the revealing of the children of God, waiting for that first resurrection when the children of God are going to be revealed in a resurrection to an eternal life as immortal spirits. And Paul tells us the whole creation has been waiting for thousands of years for that to happen, for the culmination of God's plan. And we are those children that Paul is talking about here. He says that our being resurrected, our inheriting that kingdom that God will delight in giving us, is the whole central point of God's entire creation, of His entire plan. That's what the whole creation has been waiting for, for thousands of years.

So brethren, in conclusion, don't take it lightly what God is doing in your life as an individual, or collectively as a part of all of us that are a part of God's Church. He sees within us, again, some of the phrases that we've covered today, a royal priesthood, a chosen people, a chosen generation, a people being prepared for rulership in His kingdom. And as you go back to your home, as you go through this next week, as you go about the coming weeks, the coming months, think about these things. Think about how God views us. Think about how He sees us when He looks down on us. Look at yourself and realize that if you are to be a part of the bride of Jesus Christ, what does that mean? If you're to be a king and a priest, ruling with Jesus Christ as His kingdom, what do you need to do? What do you need to prepare for that?

Realize that we need to change. That this is how God views us, and we need to live up to that calling. As I mentioned in the introduction, how does it feel when somebody gives you a great compliment? I want you to live up to those expectations. We've talked about God's expectations for us today, what He sees in us. We need to see ourselves for what we are, a holy people, in the process of being prepared for the kingdom of God.