 I just want to read from Isaiah chapter 14, 9 and verses 14, 15 and 16. Isaiah 49 and verse 14 says, But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of a womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you in the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. So here it's in response to the cry of the people of God. Zion has said, The Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. The Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of a womb? So it's talking about a highly improbable situation like a woman forgetting the nursing child and not having compassion on the son. Extreme cases, it might happen. So that's what the second part of the verse, Isaiah 49 verse 15, the second part is, Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget. So the Lord is really comparing himself, his love. And verse 16, See, I have inscribed you on the palm of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. So this morning as we start, let's be reminded and reassured. The Word of God reminds us about the extent to which he loves us, the strength of his love, the intensity of God's love. And even in the face of certain things, like the mother's love failing, even then says his love does not fail, which means that his love is more complete, doesn't have the failings of human nature, is not limited by human nature, but goes beyond that. So let's be reminded of it and reassured of it as we begin this day. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you for these promises and for this reminder from your Word of God about your love, Father God. Yes, as impossible as that situation is for a mother to forget her nursing child, for a mother to forget or to not have compassion on the child of her womb, as impossible as that situation is, even if that happens. Lord, your Word declares that your love for us and you will never, Lord, love us less. Lord, that you will continue to love us, God. You will not forget us, O God. And we are not forsaken by you, God. And we thank you that the cross declares your undying love for us, the cross declares your unconditional love for us, Lord. And so we thank you, Father God, and thank you that we are, Lord, in the palm of your hands, God, that you've inscribed our names in the palm of your hands. Nothing escapes your attention, God. So, Father God, this morning we just want to thank you. We rejoice in the fact that we are known by you, Lord. We are reassured, O Father God, and strengthened, Lord, by the truth, by this truth, O Father God. And may our life change, Father God, may our outlook change, our perspective change because of this one truth that you love us, God. We thank you. We give you all the praise and all the glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, so today as we continue in our wholeness, we've been looking at chapter 5 and journeying into emotional wholeness. So we saw that when we were using the word journey, which means that it's not a one-time thing. It's a journey which means it's a process. And it can be a short process. Like we said, it can be a short process of just one step. And a journey can be one step as well. But also the truth is that it can be a journey of many steps, emotional wholeness. So when we journey into emotional wholeness, what are some things that we need to do? What are some things that we can be strong in? And we looked at three things. One is receiving the Father's love. That God loves us and the fact that he loves us, we receive that love. And that strengthens, that changes us completely. Second one is being established in our identity, who we are in Christ. We mentioned that as well. And the third one is to release the past, release whatever is holding us back. So let's just revisit these things about receiving the Father's love. Now, it's a very basic, or I should not say basic, but maybe it's a very simple truth that God loves us. Especially when we know that the truth of Scripture, when we read through the Gospels, this whole theme of God's love comes over and over again. And even when we know this Scripture that we just read from Isaiah, that the love of God is so much, it's so strong, and he loves us. If you look at sin, one of the things that sin did was to completely cover up this aspect of God's love. Because sin brought in fear. Like sin brought in shame. And so because of fear and shame, if you look at what happened in the Garden, Adam and Eve distanced themselves from God. They hid the whole aspect of this fellowship and communion and love suddenly disappeared. It's like instantly they forgot how much God loved. And instantly they ceased to function in that love or walk in that confidence. So sin actually broke something in them. This aspect, this confidence, this communion, sin just broke that. So now, having been restored because of the cross as we receive Jesus, and because our soul, our windmill emotions intellect, the soul realm is still untouched. And we need to renew our thinking. We need to renounce certain lives of the enemy. It is possible that there are still remnants of certain lives about God and about God's love. We might say God loves us and we might say, okay, I know that God loves. But then is that revelation there in our spirit? Have we received that revelation of the extent of God's love? Because once we receive that or once we understand that, that truth sets us completely free. And that truth makes us emotionally whole. Some aspects of our lives where we are, maybe we could be craving for attention, craving for approval. From a person individual or it could be a community of people, friends, family. Because something is deep down, something is broken deep down. Because of maybe a sense of rejection, maybe a sense of insecurity. Where there could be a deep hunger for approval, which could come through words, which could come through touch. Approval of man, of another human being. Now when that thing is still there, when that brokenness is still there, when we realize that that is still not healed, then we see that it leads to all kinds of problems in the soul, in the soul realm. And because there's a problem in the soul realm, it leads to behavior being weird and strange. And also people doing certain things because they want attention. And it is very, very obvious in children. Children want parents' attention. Children want crave for approval. They do something and then they show. Look at this, look at this, look at what I draw. How is this, how is that? See, the playground they're saying, see what I'm doing. See, I've climbed the slide. See how fast I'm running. See how I'm sliding. See, I can do this cartwheel. Children want that. There's nothing wrong. And it just goes on to prove that this is how we've been designed. We want that approval and affirmation. So when the approval and affirmation from God himself is not there, then no matter what kind of affirmation or approval or recognition we get from people, that is still empty. So we just want more. We just want more. We just want more. So that area is still festering. It's not healed. So receiving the Father's love, which is unconditional, it is not earned, which you don't have to perform in order to receive. We just have to believe and receive it because it is freely given. It is unconditional. But the whole unconditional concept itself can be very, very alien to us. Because everything that we see in the world around us is conditional. The way the whole system works, the world system works, it's conditional. You give me this and I'll give you this in return. You either pay or someone else pays and then you get to enjoy or receive goods and services, what not. So everything is so conditional. But when we come to the Lord and we see that His love is unconditional and we are either too stunned or we don't understand it. And we still try to earn this love. Let's look at some of these verses. John 3.16, all of us know God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And Romans 5.8 also talks about the fact that God loves us while we were yet sinners. So these are some scriptures which talk to us about the quality of love, the characteristic of God's love. This is unconditional which actually beats in Paul's time when he wrote to the Romans. It actually confounded them. How can this be? How can this be that we who are keeping the law and we who are there to the rituals and everything. How can this be the whole aspect of grace itself? Something that confounded them. It's so scandalous. But the fact is this that while we receive His love, while we get under revelation of His love and embrace that, the extent to which we receive His love, to that extent we are made emotionally whole. To that extent we see some deep-rooted issues that have stayed with us very stubborn. We see those things being uprooted. We see those things falling away. And we see ourselves walking in greater confidence and in greater freedom. So we're not afraid of man anymore. Not afraid in the sense, it's not like we are being disrespectful. But you're not dependent on man's approval for your life. Let's look at the scripture, Ephesians 1, 4-6. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. So He chose us. It's not like He wants us to be holy and without blame, and then He will choose. If you see the order, He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestined us to adoption, so when we choose Him, we are already predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son. We are predestined for adoption. According to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the beloved. Accepted in the beloved. This acceptance is a big thing. There are times when we need to, when it comes to human relations, we need to earn that acceptance. But with God, He takes the initiative to accept us, to choose us so that we might be found in love without blame and being holy. He chose us before the foundation of the world, which means that even before things were set in motion, this was His desire. That they are chosen, they are accepted. So accepted, adopted, chosen, accepted to be part of His family. One more scripture, Ephesians 2 verses 4 to 7. But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love, with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses. Many times it is easier to picture the fact that God loves us if we have read the Word. God loves me when I am saying the right things. God loves me when I am doing the right things. God loves me if I am preaching the message. God loves me when I am sharing, witnessing to another person about Jesus. But if I am not doing any of that, then we begin to doubt God's love. Or we begin to come to a place saying, maybe God doesn't love me as much. I see a question here. Can we point to narcissistic behavior back to a lack of approval, a lack of being understood at an early age? Narcissistic meaning self-absorbed and also sadistic. These are two different things. Narcissistic is being the center of attention and being self-absorbed. Sadistic is inflicting pain on others or taking pleasure in others' downfall. There could be many factors, but this could be one factor, a lack of approval. Narcissistic is being absorbed with oneself and doing things to oneself in order to be that focus. We want everybody's focus and attention upon you. You're so absorbed in how am I looking, how am I doing things, and how am I absorbed to the extent that everybody's eyes, everybody's attention needs to be on one person. That could be a lack of approval and even lack of being understood. The lack of approval and lack of being loved is a root. That could be one of the factors. It's easy to say that as long as I'm doing all this, then there is love from the Father. But if I'm not doing any of this, or if I failed in any one of these things, then God doesn't love or God doesn't care. But the fact is this, over and over again, like Romans in the book of Romans and also in Ephesians, we see that God, while we were yet sinners, while we were dead in trespasses, while we were not yet on the scene. Actually, if you look at it, that's the thing, we were not yet on the scene, not yet in existence. Such was the greatness of his love with which he loved us. So we see that God's love is so strong, is far-reaching, and this is how he demonstrated it while we were dead in trespasses. Which means that, yes, it does not depend on my performance. Now, having said that, the other thing is that, so can I live as I want to, and still be loved by God? Yes, we will still be loved by God. And the great picture is the same question, the Pharisees asked, why is Jesus with the sinners? Does he not know the kind of people he's rubbing shoulders with? They do not go to the temple, they do not keep the law, they have a very questionable lifestyle. Why is Jesus fellowshiping with them? Why is he eating with them? Why is he even bothered? And in the Luke's Gospel, we see that the Lord talking about those parables, that this is the Father's heart. This is the Father's heart. God the Father, this is how much he loves. We see that in Luke 15. In the parable of the lost coin, the parable of the lost sheep, and the prodigal son. So this is the Father's heart. What is it? And he is seeking those who have gone astray. He is seeking those who do not love him, who are living in open rebellion, who have taken the inheritance and squandered even. So even in the prodigal son, he's talking about the Father's son, they have the relationship, but despite that, he took the inheritance and squandered it. And the Father accepted, the Father was actually seeking, the Father was waiting for the son to return. So we see that, so the kind of love. So the question people still ask, and maybe we ask ourselves, I've lived like this, I've behaved like this, so maybe the Father doesn't love me. But God does love. So because of his love, can I live any way I want to? The fact is, well, God will continue to love. God is still seeking and is waiting for us to return. He does not approve of our actions, because our actions, which could be in rebellion, open rebellion to God, or taking his grace for granted, will result in consequences. That is something that we need to understand. When we place ourselves outside of his approval, outside of his shade of safety and protection, we will have consequences. We are opening doors. We are giving permission for the enemy to enter in. We are stepping out of the perimeter. So there will be consequences. We need to understand that. But the fact is that he will continue to love. He's expecting us to. So it's a very powerful thing. So this, the fact that God loves us so much, instead of saying, okay, now I can do what I want. It should be the other way around. It's a place of strength where we say, God loves me so much. How can I do whatever I want? How can I live however I want? In response to this love, this kind of love. So this kind of love, you know, in Scripture we see that it's the unconditional God kind of love or copy. So the instruction that we see in Ephesians chapter 3 is that because of God's love being unconditionally measurable and so on, what is that we see? That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and depth and height, width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. There's so much in these verses that you may dwell in your hearts. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love. Rooted and grounded in love. You know, there was a tree which was in our house, in our hometown, not in Bangalore, in Tamil Nadu. So there was this tree and it was small, it just kept growing, kept growing. I forget the technical name for that tree but we used to call it Ashoka tree, deep roots and so deep that we had one water sump. So it actually went, the roots went there, broke through that water sump, like an underground embedded water tank. So it broke through that cement, broke through that concrete and the roots went there to get the water. And it was actually the entire cement flooring on the ground. It would just come up because of the so strong roots. And finally, it was damaging everything in the world so it had to be kind of cut and we had to remove those roots and it was a very difficult task. They had to pour some acid and some chemical to do that. It was being very, very destructive to the whole thing. So we had to do that. The thing is this, this rooted and grounded, we have this picture, it's not like one tiny plant at which you could just pluck out. This rooted and grounded in love is like that root, like that tree, which goes in search of water, which is cutting through, which is breaking down all kinds of barriers, even cement and stone to get to that life source. And so strong. So here the exhortation is this, that the Christ may dwell in your hearts through love that you being rooted and grounded in love is for us to understand and to come to that place of experiencing God's love and being assured, being reminded, being assured, this is God's love for me. This is God's love for me. So without faith, that's what it is. Without faith, the Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that comes first, we sometimes depend on feelings. So there's no faith, but depending on feelings we are, you know, depending on feelings to have faith. I'm not feeling it, so how can I have faith? But the Word of God is very clear, you know, believe and you will see. That's what Jesus said. Believe and you will see the glory of God. Lazarus was dead and he's having this conversation with his sister and that's what the Lord says. Believe and you will see the glory of God. So the seeing comes next. Seeing is one of the senses, right? Seeing, the feeling, hearing, all that is one of the senses, something to do with our natural senses. So the Lord is saying you do the believing first, the faith, the spiritual comes first, what happens in the heart and you will see, you know, it will be apparent to the senses. It manifests to the senses. So here, same thing, you know, Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love. So the faith aspect comes first, you know, that we believe that this is the extent of God's love. And that changes us. So, you know, our hearts are rooted, our lives are rooted and grounded in the love of God. And then all the other things happen. We understand the love of God, further understand the love of God which passes knowledge even. It's a revelation which goes beyond our understanding, passes knowledge and then we are filled with the fullness of God. Okay, so we need to come to that place of strength and, you know, when, and this is an ongoing discipline, right? And what will this, why are we studying this? Because it's one of the main things to keep us emotionally whole, as we journey on to emotional wholeness. Now, this is something that's liberating, that's strengthening, that's going to keep us in that place and make us strong against the attacks of the enemy, right? The enemy will come with discouragement. The enemy will come with, at any point, you know, any season of our lives, the enemy comes in and questions and brings in discouragement, especially in this area, you know, God is forsaken. God is just like how, you know, that verse, let me just read that again, right? Isaiah 49, right? Isaiah 49 was 14, but Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. You know, there are many instances that happen where we come to that conclusion. The Lord has forgotten, the Lord has forsaken. What does the Lord say? He says, can a mother forget her nursing child or not have compassion on the son of a womb, a child of a womb? Even if that happens, yet I will not, right? Even if that happens, surely they may forget, yet I will not. That's what the Lord says. So, to come to that place, okay? So, talk about God kind of love, different characteristics of love, experiencing God's love. First of all, we need to understand that there can be only one source of this love. This kind of strong, immeasurable, unconditioned love is God and God alone. Like the world goes in search of that kind of love. You know, if you look around, the word is constantly, you know, when I say world, you know, I'm talking about believers also, right? The world, of course, the people who do not know Jesus are constantly going in search of that love. You know, and maybe they're thinking, okay, maybe here, you know, I will find that love here, I will find that love. In doing this, I will experience, you know, some sort of fulfillment from this emptiness. Maybe if I, there's only one source and there is the Lord Himself, right? There's only one source for this kind of love. Now, we need to settle it. Now, nothing else is going to satisfy. No one else is going to satisfy. Yes, there will be, you know, God will definitely, you know, use them to bring companionship and, you know, bring us to a place of, and God has designed companionship and spouse and family and friendships and all that. It is the Lord who has this kind of love. He's the one who has designed it, but He is the source, okay? So, which means that every other kind of love has its limitations, that we can't fool ourselves by saying, oh, this person, this group, oh, they're going to love me like this. No, there's no one who can love us like Jesus. There's no one who can love us like our Father. So, we receive that love. It comes from only one source, right? This kind of love. So, when we experience this kind of love, there are a lot of things that happen. A lot of things that happen to us. 1 John 4 and verse 18. Okay, let's read that. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 18 says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love. This perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us, right? So, what happens when this perfect love comes in, when we grow in our revelation and experience of this perfect love of God, then it edges out fear, okay? It edges out all kinds of fear. Fear of the past, fear of the present, fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of man, whatever it is, right? It edges out, pushes out that fear. And that is a very liberating thing, right? When we do not have that kind of fear that cripples, that kind of fear that imprisons us, that kind of fear that we're not proud of, right? We are ashamed of. Why should I have this kind of fear? But the love of God sets us free, okay? The love of God sets us free from that fear. And so, that's something that we need to understand, right? So, love of God experiencing this perfect love of God releases us from guilt, shame, condemnation, what we saw in Ephesians chapter one, right? We are totally released from this, right? So, all the remnants of that, they get taken away. The enemy uses that. We're going to look at that, you know? We saw that earlier also. You know, this renouncing this line. The enemy speaks like saying, okay, not yet, not yet. You know, you're not yet loved by God. You need to get rid of this one thing and then you will be loved. You know, this one thing, then you will be loved. This, you know, you need to do this and then you will be loved. It's like what the Galatian church was undergoing, you know, the kind of teaching that was doing the rounds over there. You need to be circumcised in order to be safe. You need to keep the law. You need to keep these things. Well, the love of God sets us free from that. From every sense of guilt and shame, condemnation. The love of God sets us free. You know, even when we look back, maybe there are certain things that we are not proud of, that we are ashamed of, even when we think about that. But we need to understand and bring that under the blood of Jesus. We bring that under the blood. Say, that is under the blood, okay? That is covered by the blood of Jesus. I am loved by him, despite that. We need to tell us that. Tell ourselves that. Because that's the truth, okay? It's not some mental gymnastics, some psychological, you know, manipulation, or some New Age affirmation. No, no, no. This is the truth. So we need to remind ourselves of the truth and get rid of the light in our own minds. So you can see that how, you know, how much of healing can happen to our emotions when we accept the simple truth. Or when we accept this, you know, this perfect love of God. Okay, so we are set free. We are set free from all kinds of feelings of being unloved or rejected. Because Ephesians 1.6 says that we are accepted in the beloved. Okay, so, you know, if we have not really experienced the love of God, maybe our parents were, you know, we know that we are thankful, grateful to God for our parents, earthly parents, you know, but we all know that parents have limitations or had limitations if they are not there anymore. They had limitations probably. And maybe if, you know, if you've never, ever had parents, we just, you know, earthly parents, then also, you know, we are in a place where we're saying, okay, I never experienced the love from my parents. I never experienced that feeling of being loved. No one told me that. No one expressed that. And, you know, no one in simple ways like maybe, you know, with words or maybe just put an arm around me and accepted, you know, appreciated what I did and, you know, applauded what I did. There's no, you know, if that has been our experience, you know, when we encounter this love, okay, when we encounter this awesome love of God, knowing that this person who is far above everything else or everyone else, like far superior to everything or everyone else, just think about that, you know, far superior. His opinion really matters. His wisdom is far superior. His strength is far superior. So when he loves, when he says you are accepted, when he says I appreciate you, when he says you are precious, that's something that we need to sit up and take notice, right? Not someone who does not understand, not someone, not, you know, someone who, you know, who does not, whose love is very, very, maybe it could be conditional, it could be selfish, but this pure, perfect and intense love of God coming from him, so that is something that we need to sit up and take notice and say, okay, this is something that I'm going to value. So when we receive that, all these feelings of being unloved, rejected, unappreciated, right? Unaccepted. And as children, you know, I'm just looking back as children, you know, we've always made fun of some people who are different from us, like maybe people who wore glasses at a very young age, people who were, you know, different, you know, looking physically, right? Maybe they were fat, maybe they were thin, maybe they were tall, you know, anything. As kids, we made fun of, we put labels, we did them, maybe some guys were slow and some, we made fun of them, right? And some of those labels stick, right? And some things stick with them through the adult face, okay? But the fact is that, you know, only God, receiving God's love actually erases all that, erases the sense that it's not like people don't remember, but the pain people will not feel, even if they remember, even if they have that memory, the pain of that memory, yes, the Lord heals completely and removes completely, okay? So that's something that we are set free from, that since we are accepted. The other thing is that all kinds of, all sense of unworthiness, worthlessness, self-worth and, you know, self-esteem, okay? If we are received by God, if we are called the sons and daughters, and it says, you know, you matter to me, okay? That's what God, just what John 316 very clearly declares, that you matter to me, that you are precious to me. That's what it declares, right? So that's what is communicated by God to hurting humanity, that you matter and you are precious and you are so loved that I'm going to come and do this thing. I'm going to carry this in the world upon myself. Why? Because you matter. Okay, so this kind of love takes away all kinds of rejection and also the need to do something to earn the love, okay? All kinds of unworthiness, all kinds of, you know, self, lack of self-esteem, a sense of poor sense of self-worth, all that goes because God is saying, you matter, you are precious, you matter, okay? Then also the fact that he has actually raised us up, he has made a sit with him in the heavenly places and also, you know, he has set us free, so many things like failure has set us free from being slaves of sin and Roman 6 talks about how we are, you know, we are no more slaves of sin but actually slaves of righteousness, right? So we receive this love. And all kinds of internal turmoil strangely are quiet because we've received this love. Okay, look at Zephaniah 3.17, okay? Zephaniah 3.17, the Lord your God in your midst, the mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing, okay? He talks about God celebrating us. He's in our midst. He's a mighty one. He's rejoicing. He says he would rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. Just want to draw our attention to that. He will quiet you with his love, you know. If there's any kind of turmoil, what is that quieting? You know, is it because you are, you know, rejoicing and exuberant? No, no, this is the opposite of that if you are, you know, in turmoil, you know, if you're turbulent and experiencing all kinds of fear or anxiety, it says, you know, he will quiet you with his love. Very reassuring that he will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing, okay? So this receiving God's love is a very, very important aspect of journey into emotional wholeness. And this is, you know, we, this is something that comes in the attack. This is something that we forget. This is something that, you know, if you're not careful, we might say, oh yeah, I know God loves, okay. I know Jesus loves me. I've seen that sticker. I've seen that smiley, right? So if you're not careful, we might actually take it for granted. Okay. And lose out on so much because we are not rooted and grounded in the love of God. Okay. Okay. So that's the first thing. The second thing is to be established, strengthened in who we are in the Lord Jesus. Very, very important. Our identity in Christ. Very important. You know, if you look at, I'm sure you, you know, you see, you've noticed that when the Lord Jesus was tempted, you know, we see in Luke chapter four, we see that the temptation over and over again hits at the identity, his identity. What kind of identity did he have? He was a son of God. Right. So that is the first thing. Right. And that's the recurring thing. If you are the son of God, command these stones to be changed into bread. Right. If you are the son of God. So that's the, that's the thing, you know, he asks, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here, or it is written, it's quoting scripture. Right. If you are the son of God. So the identity of who we are to God and who he is to us is something that is, that needs to be rock solid. Right. That's another thing that needs to be strong, just like the father's love and we being strong in it, the identity of who we are to him. Right. It is, it is the same thing as, or, you know, there's an overflow of that God loves us. And why? Because we are his sons and daughters. Why? Because, you know, we have been changed on the inside out and how status has changed, our position has changed, our relationship has changed. Right. Our standing before him has changed. It's not like it is going to change once I change my behavior. No, it has changed now, right now, because of what he did, not because of what I'm not doing, because of what he did on the cross, that something has changed. So my identity has changed. Now, all I have to do is to receive that by grace, through faith. Right. So, and being, again, strong in that, what is my identity? Who am I? Right. So, in Christ, I'm loved in Christ. I am saved in Christ. I'm justified just as if I've never seen in Christ. No, he who knew no sin became sin so that I might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Right. Second Corinthians five and verse 21. Right. So now this, these are powerful truths that we need to establish in which, which really establish our identity with God. Okay. Identity in Christ, sorry. So, let's look at that verse again. Second Corinthians five and. Okay. 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. All things have passed away because all things have become new. Yeah. So, verse 21, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Okay. So, that is our position. That is our spiritual standing that we might become, that we have become the righteousness of God in him. Okay. It's always in him. So, it's not cause to boast or, you know, be arrogant in that I can do what I want again, you know, with the love of God, you know, we sometimes come to that wrong conclusion. God will love me anyway. You know, here also we could come to a wrong conclusion. Oh, this is who I am. I am made perfect. You know, I am justified. I am the righteousness of God in Christ. So, it doesn't matter what I do. No, that's the wrong conclusion. It doesn't matter what we do. Right. So, it transforms. It changes what we do in life. Okay. What are some of the things? Transforms the way we relate to God. Right. It brings us so much confidence. We can come boldly to the throne of grace. Like Hebrew says, Hebrews 4. Come boldly to the throne of grace. To receive grace and mercy, of course. But we can come boldly to his presence. Why? Because he is made away. He is made away. And that's the... His making that way changed our identity. And that way is talking about how the veil was torn and how we have access to come to him because of his shed blood. He talks about identity. Right. Now, we are no longer alienated but we are sons of God. You know, we have far off now have been brought near. Okay. So, transforms the way we relate to God. Transforms the way we look at ourselves. Changes the way we look at ourselves. We see ourselves as new creation. We don't see ourselves as, you know, people continuing in sin or caught up in sin. We see ourselves as new creation because that's how God sees us. We see ourselves as people, as saints, who are being sanctified. And we see ourselves as people who have, you know, for whom, by one sacrifice, he has perfected those who are being... He has sanctified those who are being perfected. Or perfected those who are being sanctified. Right. So, we see ourselves in that way because that's how he sees us. Right. So that's our spiritual standing with him. So, only when we see ourselves or when we believe that this is who we have become in Christ, can we see the outcome of that belief which has changed behaviour, which has changed emotions, which is healing and wholeness. Right. Okay. So, we'll stop here and then we'll continue next class. Okay, just tomorrow. Okay. God bless you. Have a great day. Bye-bye. Thank you, Pastor. Right. See you. Bye.