And usually when people You know, today people look back and. They reflect on the past year and then they get out the typewriter of the computer and they write their little yearly newsletter and send it off to everyone and Hopefully people read it, but you never know.
So this morning I'd like to do the same thing. I'd like to. Reflect on not just the year, but reflect on what God has already done for us.
And then I would like us to consider what he's doing for us. And then I'd like to look ahead.
Think about some of the things he's going to do. So we're going to reflect, we're going to consider, and then we're going to look ahead and we're going to rest.
In what he's got planned for us.
When I reflect on the things that God has done for us. The first thing that comes to my mind is his forgiveness.
You know, sometimes we will go back to his love or to his grace or to his mercy.
But forgiveness is the thing that pops into my mind. Usually the first. And I'd like you to turn to Colossians chapter 2.
And in Colossians 2, beginning in verse 13, Paul says, When you were dead in your transgressions in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with him.
Having forgiven us. All our transgressions. And one of the things I'd like you to notice as we go through some of these these points is they're in the past tense.
They're already done. And I say that because I've talked to lots of people. And.
There's there's this this burden there's this sense of guilt. Over past sins.
And I've talked to to some people who just they just want to throw up their arms. What's the point?
I feel guilty about what I've done in the past and these are believers. I feel bad about some of the things I've done in the past.
I just can't get over these feelings. That's the enemy talking.
That's the flesh talking. The fact of the matter is, God has forgiven us. All are transgressions.
These feelings of guilt over things I've done in the past, things that I've confessed.
Things I've repented of. That's the enemy talking.
We have been Forgiving, not just some of the things. All are transgressions. And I love the way the old testament.
Looks at some of these things. The picturesque language that it uses. For example, David. In some 51 you'll recall David committed adultery.
With Bathsheba and then to cover up the fact that Bathsheba's now pregnant, he has her husband essentially murdered.
So David commits adultery and commits murder and then Several months go by and Nathan the profit comes along and tells David the little parable of the sheep and he says, you're the guy.
David, you deserve to die.
But. God has forgiven you. And when he writes Some, 51. He says, be gracious to me, O God.
According to your loving kindness and and and it always goes back to the love of God. You know, think of lamentations.
You know, here's Jeremiah essentially watching Jerusalem go up in flames because of the sins not only of the people but in particular of Manasseh.
I think of Jeremiah sitting on the Mount of Olives looking west. Watching Jerusalem go up in flames and he says right in the middle of lamentations the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies are new. Every morning, great is his faithfulness.
He says David says, Be gracious to me according to your loving-kindness, according to the greatness of your compassion.
David wants 3 things. Blat out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquities.
Cleanse me from my sin.
God has done for us. Already. What David is praying for. He has blotted out our transgressions.
He has washed us thoroughly. From our iniquities. Not just some of them. Thoroughly.
Cleansed us from our sins. Psalm 103 as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
How far is east from west?
There is no distance. It just keeps on going. That's how far he's removed. Are transgressions.
Iaiah 38 you've cast all my sins behind your back He's taken our sins, he's cast him back there, and he's not turning around to look back at him.
Micah, he will tread our iniquities underfoot, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
So think about that. He's taken our sins, he's removed them as far as the East is from the West, he's hurled them into the depths of the sea, he's cast them behind his back, he's trampled them underfoot.
And then Hebrew says, They're sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.
He doesn't remember that. Doesn't say he's forgotten them.
He doesn't remember that. There's a difference. We don't remember because we forget.
I mean Half the time I'll go from my study into the kitchen like. Why did I come in here again?
And then I'll go back, oh, now I remember. We forget, God doesn't forget.
God chooses not to remember. That's a divine prerogative.
The omniscient one can choose not to know some things. So all of those iniquities, he's removed, he's hurled into the sea, he's trampled under foot, he's cast behind his back.
I'm not going to remember those.
It's all done.
Not only have we been forgiven, We've been redeemed and and and I love that some of the thoughts that we shared this morning about Redemption and the precious blood.
So take a look at first Peter one again.
We looked at first Peter one.
Peter says in verse 18, you were not redeemed with Perishable things. In the Old Testament, you could be redeemed with 5 shekels of silver.
But Peter says you weren't redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold. You were redeemed with precious blood.
Past tense, you were redeemed. You were not being redeemed. You were redeemed.
As of a lamb on blemished and spotless. We looked at Revelation 5 9. They sang a new song, Worthy Are You to take the book and to break its seals.
For you were slain and purchased for God.
That's what redemption means. You've been purchased! You've been bought.
With your blood, men from every tribe and tongue in people and nation.
So we've been bought. And then Paul takes the a step further in First Corinthian 6 and he says Because you've been bought?
You're not your own. I'm no longer mine.
I'm his.
And then revelation takes it a step further. Because redemption always has to do with bondage to something.
So when someone's in bondage, they're redeemed. They're purchased out of bondage.
And God doesn't hold us in bondage. He sets us free.
Revelation 1 5. To him who loves us. Again, it goes back to his love. To him who loves us and released us.
From our sins by His blood.
We've been redeemed with precious blood. We've been released from our sins by His blood.
We've been set free.
Past tense.
We've been reconciled.
Take a look at Romans 5.
In Romans chapter 5. Paul uses some descriptions of us.
Verse 6 he says we were helpless
And ungodly. In verse 8 he calls the sinners. So helpless, ungodly sinners, and then he says in verse 10, while we were enemies.
So it's one thing to be helpless, ungodly a sinner. He takes it a step further.
You were enemies of God. You were actively enemies. In fact, in Colossians one he says you were formerly alienated and hostile.
In mind, engaged in evil deeds. It's not just a passive thing. It's an active enmity.
While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. That's past tense.
We're no longer enemies. Were no longer sinners. Paul calls a saints. Will get into that in a minute.
We've been reconciled to God.
It's, it's already done. We've been forgiven. We've been redeemed.
We've been reconciled. We've been born again. Regenerated. We have new life!
And it's eternal life. Ephesians 2.
Past tense. In the beginning of the chapter, Paul describes us. Dead and trespasses in sins.
So on and so forth. Verse 4. But God being rich in mercy.
In chapter one he talks about the riches of his grace freely bestowed and lavish, now he's talking about the riches of his mercy.
Be because of his great love.
Because of God's love, we have mercy and grace.
Even when we were dead in our transgressions. He didn't wait for us to get our acts together.
He didn't say, you know, you're, you're, you're coming along, but you're not quite there, so I'm going to withhold.
Now, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he loved us. He was rich in mercy, he was rich in grace.
He made us alive together with Christ by grace you've been saved. Pass tense. We've been made alive.
We are regenerated. We are born again. And then he says, and raised. Us up with him.
That's past 10. He doesn't say he made you alive and will raise you up.
He made us alive and raised us up.
Do I look like you have been resurrected?
None of you do. But from God's perspective, it's already done. And then he says, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Seated past tense.
This is't from our perspective. We're still waiting for those things. But from God's perspective, It's a done deal.
We've been made alive. We've been raised up. We've been seated with Christ in the Heavenlies.
As far as he's concerned, it's done.
We've been born again. We're children of God. We're heirs of God.
We're fellow wears with Christ. We have an inheritance. In perishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved.
Peter says.
We've been sanctified. Think about that for a minute. Sanctification. Means to set apart.
And those who are sanctified are called. Saints, take a look at First Corinthians.
Chapter One.
Now, we all know what the Corinthian church was like.
Those guys. Those guys had problems.
There were schisms, divisions, there were clicks. I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollo's, I'm of Peter, oh well, I am a Christ.
There was. Blatant immorality. And they had no problem with it. There was false teaching about the resurrection.
Iolatry going on. There was immorality going on. Paul says in First Corinthians 1 2.
To the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sankified.
He doesn't say to those who are being sanctified or to those who are going to be sanctified, he says to those who have been sanctified.
In Christ Jesus, saints. By calling. Paul called the Corinthians. In spite of all of their problems and some of them were pretty heinous and gross problems.
Saints.
That's how God sees us. These things, they're already done. We've been forgiven.
We've been redeemed. We've been reconciled. We've been regenerated.
We've been justified. We've been sanctified. So we can reflect on those things.
Not just today. But every day when we have our quiet time, when I have my quiet time, these are some of the things that I think about.
And usually I go back to the forgiveness. Because that to me just blows my mind.
And because these things are already done, they're, they're past tense. We are secure.
John chapter 10 My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give eternal life to them and they will never.
Perish. And there are some folks on. Some Christian stations who
For whatever reason, they don't believe never means never.
They, they, And, and I usually in at least one of my studies somebody will bring up one of these teachers and well he said it's like never means never There are no exceptions here.
He doesn't say they will never perish unless
Or they will never perish but No, never means never. They will never perish. No one!
We'll snatch them out of my hand. No one means no one. Including me. And that's always the big one.
Well, I can take myself out. No, you can't. No one means no one. He doesn't say no one except yourself.
No one means no one. Can snatch them out of my hand. My father was giving them to me as greater than all and no one is able to snatch him out of the father's hand.
Because all these things are past tense. We are secure.
So when the enemy comes along or the flesh comes along and he tries to bury us with guilt over some past sin or sin's or
Drag us into some form of depression. Or think that, oh, we're not worthy. Reflect on these things.
This is how God sees us. And also think about what he's doing for us.
Take a look at first John one.
First John 1 7.
He says, if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus's unclanses.
Present tense. Us from all sin. Verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all in righteousness.
Press intense. Now, you're going to say, well, wait a minute. You said we've been forgiven and now you're talking present ends.
Which is it? It's both. Because we're dealing with 2 different aspects. The past tense aspect.
Established a an eternal relationship with God. I have been forgiven. He has established an eternal relationship with me.
The present tense that John is talking about maintains daily fellowship with him. He does both.
When I first came to faith in Christ, He established an eternal relationship with me. I have been forgiven.
But I still screw up. I still sin.
The present tense. Maintains daily fellowship with him. So, both are true.
His grace. Take a look at second Corinthians 12.
Lots of us.
Maybe going through tough times.
Especially with our health. We all know people who have serious health issues. And we pray for healing.
But sometimes. The answer is no. Don't like that answer. But sometimes that's the answer.
So what do we do?
We need to understand that. His grace is sufficient. Second Corinthians. 12 verse 7 because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason to keep me from exulting myself.
There was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.
Now I'm not saying that the messenger of Satan is a health thing. I don't believe that.
I think the messenger of Satan is just that. It's a messenger of Satan.
It's a demonic. Thing. I think Paul was oppressed. Demonically.
There was something, some demon was tormenting him.
And Paul says, I implored the Lord 3 times. Then it might leave me. Send this thing away, please.
I can't deal with this. And the Lord's response was Yeah, you can. My grace is sufficient for you.
You might not like it. But my grace is sufficient. So whatever Paul was going through whatever type of oppression he was under, God was saying to him, my grace is sufficient, Paul.
Yeah, I know it's rough, but my grace is sufficient. You can do this. We can do this.
Take a look at First Corinthians 10.
I've spoken with people who are tempted. By various things and They just want to give up.
I can't deal with the temptation.
In First Corinthians 10, verse 13, Paul says, No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common demand.
In other words, You're not in this alone.
What ever temptation your experiencing is common to everyone else.
There is not a temptation that you are going through that someone else isn't going through as well.
We're not unique. So whatever temptation I may be experiencing, someone else's experiencing it as well.
And you know. I think it's helpful to.
Talk it out! You know, find somebody that you are comfortable sharing things with. That you can share a confidence with.
Knowing that they're not going to blab it around. Talk it out. But there's some promises here.
And here's the promises. There's 2 of them.
God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. So when you consider what's going on in your life now, reflect on What God's already done.
And think about this. God has promised you.
He will not allow you to experience a temptation that you can't handle.
That's a promise. So when when you're being tempted by something to do something or to think something or to say something God, God said.
You can do this. I'm not allowing you to be tempted beyond what you're able to endure.
They handle. And in fact, second promise. With the temptation. He will provide the way of escape so that you will be able to endure it.
There is a way out.
Now. You have to remember, temptation is not sin. I think some people. They think the moment they're tempted, oh no, I've sinned.
No you haven't. The temptation isn't sin. When Adam and Eve were tempted.
By the devil, that temptation was not sin.
They could have said no. Instead of chatting it up with the serpent they could have just walked away.
But, oh, let's have a conversation about this and oh, well, yeah, it does look good.
That was it. There was a way out. And God is, he's given us 2 promises here.
One, you're not going to be tempted beyond what you can do can handle and 2 there is a way of escape.
You just have to look for it. You know, sometimes it's obvious. Oh, well. There it is.
Other times like, OK. This is what God says, so there's got to be a way out of this.
Some things to think about.
What about the future? You know, we reflect on the past, we consider the present. What about tomorrow?
What about the future?
We've got a hope and we can rest. In that hope. We can.
Just be still. You know, I think of. The the exodus
Can you imagine being in the exodus? Coming out of Egypt. Then all of a sudden you see the dust and behind you from the Egyptian army and then there's the Red Sea, there's the Egyptian armies like.
Now what? You know, people are grumbling and complaining. Moses is like, Lord. What's going on here?
There is the Red Sea. There's the Egyptian area. What am I supposed to do?
Well, just pick up your stuff and hit the seed.
And Moses says, be still. You're not going to see these guys again. Be quiet.
Be still.
You're going to get out of this. There's a hope. Take a look at Romans 8.
This is probably one of my favorite passages.
In the Bible. Romans 8 31 you know up to this point Paul has has gone through all of these things that the Lord has done for us and and we've discussed a number of them already.
And he says, what shall we say to these things? What are we going to say to our forgiveness?
Our reconciliation, our redemption. Our regeneration, justification, sanctification, the the fact that he's
Working in us now, he's giving us a way of escape. He's not allowing us to be tempted beyond what we're able.
We can have an assurance of our salvation. We're secure in Christ. What are we going to say to these things?
If God is for us and and he certainly is, Who's against us? Yeah, when we really think about it.
Sure, there are a lot of people who may be against us, but What can they do? If God is for us, Who's against us?
And he proved it. He didn't spare his own son. He delivered him over for us all.
And if he's done that, he How will he not also with him freely give us all things?
I'm going to paraphrase this.
And if he's done that, who's going to bring a charge against God's select?
I know the devil is certainly going to try. Revelation 12 calls him the accuser of the brethren.
But here's the devil. We've got Christ as our advocate, our mediator, our intercessor.
The devil's hurling, our mediator, our intercessor, the devil's hurling all these accusations and
God is listening to his son and he's saying to the devil, sorry, I didn't, what did you say?
Didn't catch that. Just ignoring. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.
He's already declared us righteous.
Who is the one who condemns? Certainly the devil's going to try and condemn us, but again, it falls on deaf ears.
Christ Jesus is he who died. Like we read this morning. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation. Jesus says, no judgment. No condemnation.
And not only did he die, He was raised, he ascended, he's at the right hand of God, he intercedes for us.
If the Son of God is interceding for us. It doesn't matter what the devil says.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? And then Paul goes into this list. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword.
And he says, for your sake, we are being put to death. All day long, we are considered a sheep to be slaughtered.
In other words, We're already going through all of that. You read through his What he says in in first and second Corinthians, especially Second Corinthians, 11.
You know, and what blows my mind is how he calls those things momentary light afflictions.
Really being beaten times without number often in danger of death is a momentary light affliction. I'm not sure I could handle that once.
No, I know I couldn't handle it once.
Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, so, in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.
And I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present or things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creative thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What do we have to look forward to?
Nothing can separate us from him.
We have abundant life now, according to John 10. We're going to be with him. Now and forever.
Nothing can separate us. No judgment, no condemnation, no wrath. And then we have this this hope.
We're going to be transformed. Take a look at Philippians chapter 3.
Our sit, this is verse 20. Our citizenship is in heaven.
Now we may think we're citizens of Wisconsin or Montana or citizens of the United States. Yeah, that's true, but.
We're only citizens of these places for a finite number of years. We are eternally.
Citizens of habit. This is why Paul says in first print or second Corinthians 5, we're ambassadors.
Our citizenship is in heaven. We're in ambassadors on Earth. Or ambassadors for heaven.
Our citizenship is in heaven. From which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what's he going to do? He's going to transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory.
This is, this is a hope we have.
We're going to be changed. These as he says in First Corinthians 15 these mortal perishable Shells.
Are going to be transformed. Into something immortal and imperishable.
First current or first Thessalonians 4. He talks about, I don't want you to be uninformed about these, those who have fallen asleep so that you will not grieve as the rest who have no hope.
We have a hope. We have this blessed hope. We're going to be transformed. When the Lord Jesus returns.
We who are alive and remain will be. Caught up together with those who went before us. To meet the Lord in the air.
And Paul finishes it. We can comfort one another. This is a hope we have. And like was shared this morning.
He who began a good work in us. Will perfect it or will finish it. It's not, yeah, he might.
If we let him. No, he will finish it. God doesn't leave things undone. We do that all the time.
I, you can tell you how many times I've started to finish my basement. It's been 19 years.
I got the bathroom done, though. But the rest of it. You know, we start all sorts of things but never finish it.
God says, I began a work. I am going to finish it. That's a promise. So as we begin this new year, you know, reflect on what he's done.
Consider what he's doing. And rest on the hope that sits before us. And I just want to close with first Corinthians 1558.
Because of that. Because of what he's done. Because of what he's doing. Because of what he's going to do.
Paul says, therefore my beloved brethren, Be steadfast, immovable. Always abounding in the work of the Lord.
Knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you.
For everything that you have done for us in the past. And we pray, Father that. These aren't things that we just think about on Sunday, but that we.
We reflect on them throughout the week. When things are tough when We experience temptation when we. Have struggles in our daily lives.
We pray that you would Help us to reflect on what you've done to. Consider what you are doing.
And to also rest in the hope of what before us. We thank you, Father, that you have.
Taking care of everything past, present and future. Help us to meditate to ponder these things to Thank you for them.
We pray in Jesus name.
Like to close