QUESTIONS - Is God Ever Thankful Toward Us？
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Summary
Is God thankful to those who obey His Word, or is he only pleased with their obedience? Is God generally thankful for anything, or does He have no reason to be thankful? In this episode, Pastor Ken ponders this question.
Transcript
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A friend and I had a discussion over this question, is God thankful?
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Is he thankful to those who obey his word or only pleased with their obedience?
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Is he generally thankful for anything or does he have no reason to be?
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I think the text that I want to look at is Luke chapter 17.
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luke chapter 17 and we'd probably start in verse 7 let's see let me just read it could be the wrong
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passage we'll see uh luke chapter 17 starting verse 7 through verse 10 will any one of you who
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has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field come at once
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and recline at table will he not rather say to him prepare supper for me and dress properly
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and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink. Does he thank the servant
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because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded,
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say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done what is our duty. There you go.
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Let me read it again. And remember, this is Jesus, right? This is a parable. It's talking,
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in the parable, the characters at play are earthly servants and an earthly master.
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but the guy who's telling the parable is the lord jesus christ the second member of the trinity
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the son of god and jesus seems that he's not he's not now jesus uses different parables for
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different purposes but in this particular parable it doesn't seem as though christ is saying
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this is the way the world works but not so with me as the heavenly master not so with god who is
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your ultimate true master, eternal master. It doesn't seem like that's the purpose of the
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parable. It doesn't seem as Jesus is saying, this is what occurs in the earthly servant master
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relationship, but that is entirely distinct and contrasted from the heavenly relationship between
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Christians and God as their master. No, instead it seems like Jesus is saying, here's a scenario,
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an illustration, if you will, that we can find on earth that is indicative of the relationship
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that we find in heaven. The way that a master and servant relate to one another on earth is
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similar, at least similar, not contrasted, but similar to the nature of the relationship between
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Christians and their master who is in heaven, their relationship with God. I'll read it one
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more time will any uh this is luke 17 verse 7 through 10 will any one of you who has a servant
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plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field come at once and recline
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at table oh you've you just got done working now have a seat take off your coat and stay a while
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let me let me fan you to help cool you down get you a nice cold glass of lemonade does any does
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that occur you know and the implicit answer is no no that's not how it works come at once and
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recline at table. Verse eight now, will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and
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dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink. And afterward you will eat and drink.
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Does he thank the servant? And there's your question, Luke McLean. Does he thank the servant
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because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded,
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right? So now he's speaking to the disciples. So you also, when you have done all that was
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commanded of your heavenly master, God, you should simply say, we are unworthy servants.
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We have only done what was our duty. Meaning this, no man can say to God, I have done you a favor.
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No matter what it is that we do in this lifetime for the Lord, no matter how we're remembered by
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church history, whether we're a martyr, whether we're one of the most faithful people who have
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ever lived, whether you're the apostle Paul or whatever it might be, the most sanctified man on
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earth who lives his entire life towards the Lord Jesus Christ, not sinless perfection because no
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man can do that but Christ alone, but he gets as close as you could possibly get, right? Let's say
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that apart from Christ, you're the most sanctified man to walk the earth. You do much faithful
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ministry for the Lord Jesus. In that scenario, you still could not claim when you stand before
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jesus and he says well done good and faithful servant this is the master commending the servant
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but that's not necessarily to be taken as the master thanking the servant there is a difference
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between commending and gratitude that jesus will say well done good and faithful servant and jesus
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right now he's giving us our cue he's saying when you step into the pearly gates and when you see
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me and i say well done good and faithful servant here's your response we are unworthy servants we
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have only done what was our duty. We did not do you a favor, Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, God,
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our heavenly Master. We did not do you a favor. We simply did what we owed. And in fact, in fact,
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because we don't reach sinless perfection in this life, we would have to say we have only done what
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was our duty and in some degree or another, in this way and in that, we actually failed
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to do our duty. We did less than our duty would be the biblical teaching. So no one does God a
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favor. The best that a Christian can do by grace through faith in Christ in obedience is not doing
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God a favor above and beyond, but simply doing their duty. And because we don't believe in sinless
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perfection in this life, right? First John chapter one, verse eight and nine, if we say we have no
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sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful
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and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So every single
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Christian, the best that we can say when we stand before Christ and he says, well done,
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good and faithful servant, we can respond by saying we have only done what was our duty and
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we are deeply repentant for all the ways that we did less, not more, but less than our duty
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I mean, you could read into it a little bit more.
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I don't think that God thanks us for our obedience.
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I do believe that God rewards us for obedience,
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And I believe that God commends us for obedience.
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I don't believe in final justification, another John Piper-ism.
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I would stand against other things that are similar to that, federal vision.
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We're justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.
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But I do believe that we will be rewarded in heaven, not with salvation.
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Salvation is received by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.
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That's it. Justification is all of grace. But I do believe that as we seek in our Christian
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lives post-justification, as we seek to obey God, that we will receive certain heavenly rewards.
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There's a lot of debate as to what those are. Jonathan Edwards, I'll just, I'll do this real
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quick, as quick as I can. But Jonathan Edwards talks about, you know, people's capacity for
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enjoying God, right? Westminster catechism, shorter catechism, first question and longer
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is, you know, what is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever, right? So it's
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to glorify God. We do that by obeying God. That's one of the ways we bring him glory, trusting in
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God, faith in God, obedience to God, but also to enjoy God forever, right? John Owen talks about
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that. The heart of the gospel is justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone,
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but the end of the gospel is eternal and perfect, satisfying communion with the triune God, right?
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So enjoying God is the chief end of man. It's part of the chief end of man. And what Edwards argues
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is that people in heaven will have varying, right? Because again, it's not egalitarian.
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There's hierarchy in heaven, right? They're a cherubim and seraphim. There's four living
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creatures covered with eyes, with six wings, with two they fly, two they cover their feet,
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too. They cover their faces and they cry out, holy, holy, holy. There's 24 elders. And then
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there's a lot of angelic beings that are not elders. 24 elders sitting on thrones, casting
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their crowns, right? But then there are, you know, so there's a pecking order. There's a hierarchy
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in heaven and God has created hierarchy on earth. There is no Marxism in the Christian faith
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anywhere, not even in hell. Jesus literally talks about how one will be given a severe beating and
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one will be given a lesser beating hell will be no picnic for anyone hell will be bad for everyone
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but it will not be equally bad right jesus says when he's pronouncing woes on jewish cities on
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on cities in israel he says it will be worse for you than it was for sodom and gomorrah for if the
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miracles that i performed in you were performed in sodom and gomorrah they would have repented long
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ago meaning what when there is there are degrees of sin not all sins are equal all sins are equal
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God hates all sin, but he does not hate all sin equally.
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The Bible even says there are sins that lead to death, right?
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So sin is not equal, hell is not equal, heaven's not equal, and earth is not equal.
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And so getting to heaven, everyone who's in heaven has been equally justified.
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Yet God is sovereign, not only over our justification, but also our sanctification.
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So if someone is more sanctified than someone else, even that is still of grace.
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God performs, I should say, by the spirit and his grace, a greater degree of sanctification
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And then God rewards in heaven with a greater reward.
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God is ultimately graciously rewarding his own gracious work of sanctification.
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But some will get greater rewards because God graciously performed a greater degree
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Edwards says that what those rewards may look like is that everyone will be satisfied in heaven.
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Everyone will be, right, the chief end of man to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
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But we will have varying capacities for enjoying God.
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and one is half full and one's three quarters full,
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one is a fifth full and one is completely full.
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inside of the balloon that's not filled with air, right?
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There's not one space inside of the balloon that doesn't have air in it, right?
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But think of some balloons are this size and some are this size, right?
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So those of you who are listening on the podcast, some balloons are larger and some are smaller,
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meaning that there's no space inside of the small balloon or the large balloon that's
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not filled with air, but some balloons have more air blown into them than others, right?
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That the cup grows, to switch it back to that illustration, the balloon expands.
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Everyone's full, but people have a varying degree of capacity for fullness.
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And personally, I believe that in heaven, we will evolve, right?
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Not like Darwin evolution, but we will continue to grow.
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When we go to heaven, we will immediately be sinless, but we won't be omniscient.
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So even after glorification, we are still creaturely.
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So there's a minimum bottom, a baseline entry into heaven that comes with glorification.
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First John says, when we see him, we'll be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
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So when we see him in his divinity, we'll be like him, we'll also be divine.
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When we see Christ in his sinlessness, we will be like him in that regard, also sinless.
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But my point is we will develop in heaven in terms of learning, right?
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We will know certain things 10,000 years into heaven that we did not know upon our first
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And I also think not only will we increase in our knowledge, well, knowledge of what?
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Knowledge of a myriad of things, but the chief knowledge being knowledge of God.
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And as we know more of God, that increases our capacity for enjoying God.
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And I think that some people will enter heaven, the starting baseline, there's a minimum bottom
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line, sinlessness, glorification, done with sickness, done with death, we won't grow weary,
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all those kinds of things that the Bible teaches.
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That's the minimum baseline for all Christians, regardless of degrees of sanctification, because
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You are fully justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
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You have his righteousness, and his righteousness doesn't vary.
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It's the full righteousness of God, and that's the basis of our justification.
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So everyone will enter heaven with a bottom baseline, as I've already said.
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But upon entry, those who have been more sanctified in their obedience, I think will receive greater
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And one of those rewards is, I think, starting out in heaven with a higher capacity for enjoying
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But everyone, regardless of where they start, I think will be growing in heaven.
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I don't think that we'll be still, that we'll be stagnant, that we'll be stuck, right?
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That you get into heaven like this and that's where you stay.
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I think we'll all be increasing in the knowledge and glory of God.
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never infinite, never omniscient, always creatures, but glorified creatures and developing
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creatures. I believe that the Bible speaks to that. Now I've gotten way off, I guess, but Nathan,
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can you pull that question up one more time? The question that I was already answering. I just
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want to make sure that I actually got to it. Is God thankful? Beautiful. Yep. So all that being
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said, rewards, heavenly rewards. Yes. Final justification. Heck no. But heavenly rewards.
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Yes. Commending faithful servants. Yes. Thanking. No, I don't think so. And I would base that off
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of Luke chapter 17 verses seven through 10. All right. All right. All right. Stop twisting my
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