TPW 74 Christ's Purchased Freedom From the Filth of Sin

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Welcome to the Protestant Witness, this is Pastor Patrick Hines. Sorry it's been a little while, I've been real busy lately, but I wanted to post a sermon
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I preached this past Sunday night on the freedom from all filthiness of the flesh and all that remains of wickedness,
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James 2, 21 and 22, that Christ has purchased for his people. This is a very, very important topic
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I'm pressing on in the series I've been doing for a long time on the Westminster Confession of Faith, but it's very important that we understand exactly what it is that Jesus accomplished and what he did for us as people.
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So I hope that you'll find this a sermon to be edifying and to be encouraging and convicting.
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The sexual revolutionaries are well underway in their work to try to normalize homosexuality and they're doing kind of an incremental approach trying to say that, well, it's okay to identify yourself as gay because you can struggle with same -sex attraction and it can't be changed, blah blah blah, it's just part of who you are, etc.
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etc. But that's not biblical and that's not honoring to Christ and the association of that kind of sexual filth and vile degrading stuff with Jesus is highly offensive and it's something that the church needs to stand its ground against.
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It is never okay for someone to identify themselves as a gay Christian. That is not okay, that's not permissible, that's not biblical.
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What's interesting to me is that if Christian people today or if Christian elders or pastors are going to stand up and tell the world, look,
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I'm gay and I need to just come out as gay, I wonder if those pastors or if those elders,
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I wonder if they could preach a sermon expositorily through 1
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Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 11. I wonder if they could actually walk through that passage and would they be able to say, since they are professing to be
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Christians, would they be able to say with the Apostle Paul that they used to be gay?
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I mean, listen to it. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
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Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you.
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But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
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Spirit of our God. What I would like to know is, can someone who identifies themselves as a gay
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Christian, who comes out as gay, could they preach on this passage?
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Could they look at that and with passion say, yes, homosexuals do not inherit the kingdom of God and sodomites do not inherit the kingdom of God and I used to be,
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I used to be a homosexual, but I've been washed, sanctified, justified.
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Could they do that? I don't think they would do that. I certainly don't think you're going to hear people who have quote -unquote come out doing that anytime soon.
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So it's very important for Christians, for those that love the truth and who have a sense of duty towards protecting the honor and the glory and the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to stand against this kind of nonsense and to stand on the biblical text, to not allow people's experiences to trump the word of God.
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The fact of the matter is Paul knew a lot of former homosexuals, people who used to be, who used to identify themselves that way, who don't any longer, and that's why, and that's because they are
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Christians, because they've been called by Christ and have been liberated from sin's domination in their life.
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So I hope that you will find this to be edifying and encouraging to that end. Good evening everyone.
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Please take your Bibles and turn to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5 for our scripture reading for this evening.
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Galatians chapter 5 Galatians chapter 5 verses 1 through 6 is our scripture reading for this evening.
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Galatians 5, 1 through 6. This is God's word. It was for freedom that Christ set us free.
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Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision,
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Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.
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You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law. You have fallen from grace.
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For we through the Spirit by faith are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
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May God bless the reading of his word. Let's pray, please. Father, thank you for the opportunity to be here again this evening together.
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And it's always a joy to listen to what the scripture says and to think about the wonderful truths that you have revealed to us, your people, especially in the midst of great apostasy and compromise and just the unspeakable tragedy and evil that's unfolding in our denomination and in the church in this country.
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So Lord, help us to be firmly established in the gospel and to understand the precious truths of Christian liberty and freedom.
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And we pray that you would aid us to that end and help us to understand your holy word.
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We pray in Jesus's name. Amen. Okay, if you'll take your red trinity hand on turn to page 859, page 859.
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We're going to look at just the first point under the heading of Christian liberty, and it starts on page 859 and it ends on the next page.
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But let me read this in your hearing. The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law, and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan and dominion of sin, from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation, as also in their free access to God and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love and a willing mind, all which were common also to believers under the law.
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But under the new testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law to which the
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Jewish church was subjected, and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free spirit of God than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.
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A lot of blessings packed into one little sentence there, isn't it? John Calvin's Institutes of the
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Christian Religion still to this day has almost no equal as a systematic presentation of the biblical
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Christian faith. After a long and detailed marvelous section on the blessed doctrine of justification by faith alone, the very heart of the
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Christian gospel, book three, chapter 19 of the Institutes, is called Christian Freedom.
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It is a chapter of Calvin's work that has blessed multitudes of people because of its clear biblical enunciation of this precious
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Christian truth. We're going to walk through the confession in some detail, but I wanted to share quickly at the start just a couple of John Calvin's biblical insights on this first point, because that man was able to accomplish in a handful of well -worded paragraphs what takes most theologians an entire book to say today.
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If you do not own the unabridged Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, you really need to get it and read it devotionally and slowly and carefully with a
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Bible next to you. Much of what chapter 20 of the Westminster Confession teaches on the topic of Christian liberty comes right out of John Calvin, who got it and summarized it from scripture.
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So this is from Institutes, book three, chapter 19, paragraph two. Quote, Christian freedom, in my opinion, consists of three parts.
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The first, that the consciences of believers in seeking assurance of their justification before God should rise above and advance beyond the law, forgetting all law righteousness.
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For since, as we have elsewhere shown, the law leaves no one righteous, either it excludes us from all hope of justification, or we ought to be freed from it.
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And in such a way, indeed, that no account is taken of works. For he who thinks that in order to obtain righteousness, he ought to bring some trifle of works, is incapable of determining their measure and limit, but makes himself a debtor to the whole law.
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End quote. Justification before God and entering into heaven itself is the legal achievement of Christ alone, our covenant surety and legal representative.
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Only the crosswork of Christ received by faith alone can give us the forgiveness that we need for the mountain of legal sin debt that we've all incurred at the hands of God's justice.
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And only the obedience righteousness of Jesus rendered to God's law is sufficient to function as the legal basis upon which our final verdict is changed from condemned to justified before the law of God.
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As Calvin said so well, he who thinks that in order to obtain righteousness, he ought to bring some trifle of works, is incapable of determining their measure and limit, but instead makes himself a debtor to the whole law.
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What's he talking about? Where's he getting that from? He's getting that from the passage we just read from Galatians 5. Listen to what it says there again.
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Paul, after defending the gospel says, stand fast therefore in the liberty, in the freedom by which
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Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised,
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Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
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What does he mean by that? A debtor to keep the whole law. If a sinner is relying upon their works, relying upon their sanctification, relying upon how well they've loved their neighbor, how well they put sin to death as being decisive in their final judgment and getting them into heaven,
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Christ and the gospel will profit them nothing. Christ will be of no benefit to them and they will in fact be required by God to keep the whole law perfectly as the sole basis of their entrance into heaven.
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Folks, if we don't understand that, if we don't understand what the legal basis is of our entrance into heaven, if people get this wrong, if they get this wrong, they're not
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Christians, they're outside the kingdom of God, Christ will be of no benefit to them no matter how much they say they believe in him, he will profit them nothing and they in fact will have to keep the whole law themselves to go to heaven.
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In other words, they're not going to heaven. That's how serious that is. That's how narrow that is.
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Coming to God means coming to God on God's terms. We abandon and pronounce a curse upon ourselves and our works when we trust in Christ.
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And folks, if people don't get that, they will never understand Christian liberty. They will never understand
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Christian freedom. The Christians hope rest in Christ alone because the Christian is taught by God to know that their works could never avail in any way at all as the basis of their getting into heaven past the final judgment.
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We either repent and trust in Christ alone or we save ourselves by our works alone.
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Any attempt to mix works with grace, to mix works with faith in Jesus will have one and only one result.
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Although that person may say they trust in Christ, Christ will be of no benefit to them.
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Christ will be deleted from the equation and they are debtors to keep the whole law in order to get into heaven.
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So I want to advise and encourage and exhort you, trust in Christ alone and in nothing else.
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Nothing alongside of, nothing in addition to, for the whole thing. Not just the initial step, but for all of it.
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Calvin continues, quote, removing then mention of law and laying aside all consideration of works, we should, when justification is being discussed, embrace
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God's mercy alone. Turn our attention from ourselves and look only to Christ.
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For there the question is not, listen, listen to this sentence, for there the question is not how we may become righteous, but how being unrighteous and unworthy we may be reckoned righteous.
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You know what Martin Luther's biggest problem was when he was an Augustinian monk? He spent all his time and all his energy trying to become righteous instead of recognizing that he needed to be accounted righteous, considered righteous, have righteousness imputed outside of him to himself.
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Calvin continues, if consciences wish to attain any certainty in this matter, they ought to give no place to the law, nor can any man rightly infer from this that the law is superfluous for believers, since it does not stop teaching or exhorting and urging them to do good, even though before God's judgment seat, it has no place in their consciences.
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See how clear this guy is? Gotta love John Calvin. He says, for in as much as these two things are very different, we must rightly and conscientiously distinguish them.
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The whole life of Christians ought to be a sort of practice of godliness, for we have been called to sanctification.
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Here it is the function of the law, by warning men of their duty, to arouse them to a zeal for holiness and innocence.
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But where consciences are worried how to render God favorable, what they will reply and with what assurance they will stand, should they be called to his judgment, there we are not to reckon what the law requires, but Christ alone, who surpasses all perfection of the law, must be set forth as righteousness."
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See how clearly he's maintaining the difference? When you think about being in God's favor, getting into heaven, it is the mercy of God alone.
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It is Christ alone. Calvin hammers and hammers and hammers that point, and then points out, however, if you are a
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Christian, the law is going to characterize your life. You're going to practice obedience to it, but not as that which is getting you into heaven.
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He says it over and over and over again. It always drives me crazy when people try to give out of context
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Calvin quotations, to try to bring him into the camp of the Piper situation or other groups.
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The federal vision misused Calvin badly, and yet if you look at the fuller context of his comments, he is as clear as the noonday brightness of the sun.
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When you think about getting into heaven, you shouldn't even think about the law in any way, shape, or form. It is
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Christ alone, and it's not until people get that that they will understand Christian freedom, Christian liberty.
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So if you've still got the confession open there, I'm going to read it in your hearing, and we're going to walk slowly through the first point here.
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The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law.
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Okay, stop there. First and foremost, Christian freedom is freedom from the guilt of our sin.
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It is freedom from the condemning wrath of God. It is freedom from the curse of our disobedience to the moral law.
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Always remember what we learned in chapter 19 of the law of God, that God's law requires absolute, entire, personal, exact, perpetual, and uninterrupted obedience of us.
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This is why we need a legal surety, a legal representative to meet the requirements of God's law, because it does not allow for any failure at all.
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That's why Jesus had to come into the world, be born of a woman, made under the law, just like we are, to redeem those who are under the law.
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That great passage from Galatians 3, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.
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You know what that means, as many as are of the works of the law? That means as many as are trusting in their obedience to God's law.
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What are they? They're under the curse. Why? For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
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Why does that inflict a curse on every human being on earth? Because there's no one that does everything in the book of the law.
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No one. He goes on, but that no one is justified in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith.
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Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. And the point, of course, is there's nobody that does them.
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Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the
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Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. So think about this.
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Christ has purchased for believers perfect freedom from our guilt.
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So when you're asked the question as a Christian, do you think you're going to heaven when you die? Do you think you're going to heaven when you die?
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You can say it emphatically. If you are repentant and know Christ, yes, I most certainly am, because Christ has purchased freedom from my guilt, by being cursed in my stead.
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God's judicial verdict of condemned against us has been taken away. The wrath of God is taken away.
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The curse of the moral law is taken away. Christ, our legal substitute, has removed all of that from us by His cross work, by His shed blood and His righteousness, which are received in our behalf by God, by faith alone, not by words just anyone should boast.
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Failure to be clear on this point is spiritually dangerous, and when pastors fail to be clear on this point, in my opinion, they disqualify themselves from being ministers of the gospel.
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In fact, if a pastor is not clear on the gospel, he ceases to be a minister of the gospel and becomes instead a minister of damnation.
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If you think that's too harsh of an assessment, I challenge you to read the book of Galatians from front to back every day for the next month, and then if you can come back and tell me that's too harsh, then there's something wrong with you.
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Look at the next phrase in the confession. What else has He purchased for us? And in their being delivered from this present evil world, from bondage to Satan and dominion of sin.
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It's a huge package of benefits, isn't it? That's a lot of stuff that Christ has purchased for us. Believers no longer are in bondage to Satan.
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We are no longer in bondage to Him, nor are we in bondage to the tyrannical power and domination of sin.
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This is why God's word says so clearly that specific types of sinners will not go to heaven.
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Galatians 5 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which
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I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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Christians don't practice those things. There is no such thing as a
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Christian who practices that those sins that I just listed for you. Those who practice them don't go to heaven.
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First Corinthians 6 9 through 11. Here's one that's real relevant for today. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
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Do not be deceived. Yes, I don't care how many people mount pulpits and tell you this isn't true.
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It's still true. Don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
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If a man stands up and says I am a homosexual, what they just said is I'm not going to heaven.
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I am in this list right here. I am not gaining eternal life. I am not going to the kingdom of God.
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But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
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Spirit of our God. Verse 11, and such were some of you. I'm really, really, really getting weary of hearing about Exodus International.
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Exodus International. They closed their doors because reparative therapy evidently can't change people's sexual orientation.
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They tried and tried and tried and couldn't change people's sexual orientation. So therefore it doesn't work.
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People just are gay. Um, Paul thought he could. Paul thought he could.
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Paul knew ex -homosexuals. Such were some of you.
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Not such are some of you. Such were some of you. You used to be all these things, but you were washed.
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You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Isn't that glorious?
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Such were some of you. What a glorious and wonderful phrase of divine scripture. Idolaters and the unclean, sorcerers, haters, the jealous, homosexuals, murderers, drunks, the selfish, etc.
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They will not inherit the kingdom of God. They will all go to hell instead under God's condemnation for these sins.
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But believers in Jesus Christ, no matter what on this list they used to serve and be slaves of, those sins are what they used to be.
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There are no idolatrous Christians. There are no adulterous Christians or gay
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Christians. Such were some of you. Not such are some of you. Such were some of you.
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You used to be those things, but you were washed, sanctified. You were justified in the name of the
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Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. That is the testimony of God's Word. That is what the
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Holy Spirit does. Christian freedom, biblically considered, is freedom from the defining power and domination of sin.
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So potent and pronounced is this Holy Spirit liberation of the enslaved sinner that God is able very simply to say that people who practice those sins do not go to heaven.
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The mere fact that they practice them and live in them and define themselves by them is clear evidence that they've not been washed.
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They've not been justified. They've not been sanctified. Christians, having been liberated from slavery to sin, have a revulsion to their former self that will never allow that former self to regain its ascendancy.
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Whether it be struggles and hard times, you bet there will be. It's a battle. It's a war, most definitely.
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But remember the promise of God. Those of you that know Christ, for whom He has purchased freedom from the domination of sin, 1
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John 5 .4, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
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And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is
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He who overcomes the world but He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. We are not defined by our past sins.
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We are not the slaves of sin any longer. We are not sinful identities any longer.
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Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Christians are delivered from this present evil world, from the bondage of Satan, from the dominion of sin.
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Romans chapter 6 teaches this great truth in a way that many seem to have forgotten who are being drawn into the sexual revolution.
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I want to assure everyone that God has not lost any of His life -changing power.
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Romans 6 .14, sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
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Romans 6 .18, and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
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The fact is, true Christians, because of the liberating work of the Holy Spirit in them, will do exactly what the following passage teaches.
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Listen carefully to this. James 1 .21, therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the implanted word which is able to save your souls.
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But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
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The sexual revolutionaries who want to make an allowance for Christ's disciples to identify themselves as gay
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Christians are, in point of fact, merely hearers of the word. They are merely hearers of the word and not doers.
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They have, according to scripture, deluded themselves. They have deluded themselves. We're also purchased freedom from, you see the rest of the next phrase in the confession if you still got your place there, freedom from the evil of afflictions.
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That is a very important, very carefully worded phrase. Freedom from the evil of afflictions.
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This may seem like a somewhat confusing phrase, but it is very rich in its application and biblical meaning.
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Afflictions happen to believers and unbelievers alike. For the believer, afflictions have a very different purpose than they do for unbelievers.
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When afflictions take hold of the unbeliever, those afflictions are warnings of judgment and wrath or they're the beginning of God's wrath against them.
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Afflictions for the believer, however, are far different. Afflictions for us are nothing like afflictions for the non -believer.
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Psalm 119, 71. It is good for me that I was afflicted that I may learn your statutes.
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How many of you have learned to obey certain things that God teaches in his word to an affliction because of disobeying it?
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Because of hard times, because of disobeying it. It is good that I was afflicted in order that I would learn your statutes.
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First Peter 1, 3. Just listen to this passage. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
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In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.
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Listen, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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Why do we have these various trials and why do they grieve us? They're sent by God so that our faith would be tested by fire and be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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It's not the beginnings of judgment or wrath or punishment. That passage goes on, whom having not seen you love though now you do not see him yet believing yet rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls.
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There are, it seems to me, biblically four purposes for which God brings suffering into our lives and this is what the confession is talking about when it says we have been
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Christ has purchased freedom from the evil of afflictions. In other words, afflictions aren't just arbitrary things that happen to us that hurt us.
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They have a purpose now. What are those purposes? To teach us to pray. When you're afflicted, don't you tend to pray a little more, a little harder, a little more fervently?
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God teaches us how to pray by afflictions. Number two, to turn our attention to our bibles. I've read a lot more scripture in the crucible of trials than I have when all is well.
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To break us of worldliness. How many times have we repented of sin in the midst of real heartache or physical pain?
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And fourthly, to humble us of our pride. There's a uniqueness to Christian experience which goes beyond that of any of man's false religions in its view of life in general and of suffering in particular.
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Only the true child of God who understands the goodness of God as it is manifested in our suffering can actually find joy in suffering.
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This is not to say that we enjoy suffering because we don't or that we seek it out because we shouldn't, but rather that we trust
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God's sovereign providence in our suffering. We see his goodness in those effects that it brings about in us.
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The final reasons that God designed suffering in our lives are to develop patience in us, perseverance, character, hope, and to purify our faith so that it would be stronger and less mixed with sin and ungodly and worldly affections.
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It is because of this that James 1, verse 2 is a text which echoes loudly in the hearts of most
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Christian people who have walked with God for a while. It says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
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It sounds almost masochistic, doesn't it? Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, yes, another opportunity to grow.
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Aren't I excited? Why is there a command to believers to consider trials all joy in God's word?
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Because there's a sinfulness to see them as God turning against us. There's a tendency in us that thinks
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God's abandoning us when we suffer, but very often our sufferings represent God's drawing closer to us than he ever has.
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A life of constant ease which does not stretch our need to trust God is a bad life. The challenge before us as believers is to model the attitude that was displayed by Job.
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Job's love for God and worship of God was not based upon the material and physical blessings that he possessed in this world.
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We know this because Job continued to love and worship God when he lost everything.
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God does not want fair weather disciples. He doesn't want fair weather disciples, and he'll test to see if that's what we are.
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He'll pull the rug out from under us by his goodness and grace. Our love for Christ and dedication to him transcends circumstances and is rooted in the beauty of who he is in and of himself.
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Both the happy and the sad, folks, both the happy and the sad are obligated to believe in love and worship
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God at all times and in all places. Both the rich and the poor, the sick and the healthy. Job 13, 15, one of the greatest lines ever spoken by a believer in all of history,
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Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Even if he kills me,
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I'll still keep trusting him. I'll still keep worshiping him. I will hold fast my integrity. As our confession and the scriptures teach us,
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Christian freedom consists in our being delivered from the evil of afflictions. Afflictions are actually a source of joy for the
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Christian. They produce perseverance and character. They make us more heavenly minded. They make us long for Christ.
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They make us long for heaven. They break us of our worldliness. They make us pray harder, and thus they elevate our joy in this world and our effectiveness as representatives of Christ.
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We aren't delivered from afflictions, though. We're not delivered from afflictions. We're just delivered from the evil of them.
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We're delivered from the evil of them. Remember Thomas Brooks' friend? His name was Munster, young man.
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When he was dying of the plague and had those boils all over his body, Thomas Brooks wrote this.
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When Munster lay sick and his friends asked him how he was doing, how he felt, he pointed to his sores and his ulcers, whereof he was full, and said, these are
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God's gems and jewels with which he decks his best friends. And to me, they are more precious than all the gold and silver in the world.
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There's a person who was taught to be heavenly minded by trials. The trials of true believers, of true children of God, are turned to gold.
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We are delivered by Christ from the evil of afflictions. It is God who teaches us through our trials that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess everything, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown.
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That's what the confession is talking about. We're delivered from the evil of afflictions. And then it goes on.
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You see the next three phrases? We're also delivered from the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation.
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What a glorious group of blessings that is, too. Should Jesus tarry in his coming, every one of us is going to die.
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But death's sting has been removed. It's been taken away. Death's victory is destroyed.
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And everlasting damnation is abolished from us. And by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus has killed death, abolished it, wiped it from existence.
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Paul rejoiced at the end of 1 Corinthians 15, verse 54. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
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O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?
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Now look at the rest of the confession there. We'll read the rest of it here in one paragraph. As also in their free access to God and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love and willing mind, all which were common also to believers under the law.
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But under the New Testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial wall to which the
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Jewish church was subjected and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace and in fuller communications of the free spirit of God than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.
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And there's a lot communicated here. The obedience we give to God as children of God is not the obedience of slaves, but children of sons.
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We serve Christ out of gratitude, not fear of punishment and hope of rewards. We hold these blessings in common with all
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Old Testament believers as well. But our freedom is even greater and that we're free from the ceremonial laws and the dietary laws.
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And we have greater boldness in accessing the throne of grace. When Jesus died upon the cross, when he actually died, remember what happened in the temple, the veil to the
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Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom. There's great symbolism in that. The scriptures speak in numerous places of us coming into the holiest place with boldness and confidence to walk right into the very presence of God, clothed in Christ and not in fear and trembling.
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The ministry of the Holy Spirit is certainly present there in the Old Testament dispensation of the one covenant of grace, but his ministry is, and Dr.
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Guy Waters taught us this in seminary, he used a word I've used over and over again, because it really helps explain it. Dr. Guy Waters said the difference between the ministry of the spirit before and after the coming of Christ, he said, the best way
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I can describe it to you is it's intensified. His ministry is intensified after the coming of Jesus.
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Now I want you to turn for an illustration of this to John 7, 37 to 39, and we'll look at this passage here in closing.
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John chapter 7 verses 37 through 39. And as you're turning there, the gospel of John chapter 7 through chapter 10 is a very important passage of the
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Bible. Those four chapters are very important. That is Jesus, when he went to Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles, and he goes to the feast of tabernacles and he has this, these confrontations with the
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Jews. And the thing that starts all of it is this narrative that we're about to read right here. So let's look at it here.
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John 7, 37 through 39. On the last day, that great day of the feast,
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Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
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But this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive for the
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Holy Spirit was not yet given, but Jesus, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
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Now real quick, just a little bit of background here. What great feast are they talking about here? This is the feast of tabernacles, also known as the feast of booths.
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This moment is truly remarkable. When one understands and considers what
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Jesus cried out in the midst of what was happening on the last day of this great feast. Look at verse 37 again.
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Notice how it says, on the last day, that great day of the feast.
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The feast of tabernacles was at this time an eight day celebration. And each day the tabernacle priest would march in solemn procession from the pool of Siloam to the temple and they would pour water out at the base of the altar.
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And the last day of the feast was a special torchlight and water pouring ceremony that signaled the dismantling of the booths.
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And of course, they set up all these little tents to sort of signify their wilderness wanderings. But just picture this.
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Thousands and thousands and thousands of Jews there in Jerusalem for this feast. They had their booths and you have the torchlight procession.
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And all these tabernacle priests holding these large basins of water. And as they go to the tabernacle, to the altar, they're being poured out on the ground.
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Water is being poured out everywhere. While this passage from Isaiah 12 is being recited loudly over and over again.
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Listen to it. Imagine the procession, all these things being poured out, water flowing everywhere on the ground.
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And this passage being read, Isaiah 12. And in that day you will say, O Lord, I will praise you, though you were angry with me.
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Your anger is turned away and you comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid for YAH the
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Lord is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
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And there'll be water being poured out everywhere. And in the midst of that, Jesus stands up.
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If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
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He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
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But this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive.
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For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. So Jesus steps into that ceremony, the last day, the great day of the
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Feast of Tabernacles. A torch lit procession and and jugs of water being poured out all over the altar.
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Water flowing all over on people's feet. And lots and lots and lots of people with lights everywhere. And he yells that, if anyone's thirsty let him come to me and drink.
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And if you put the narrative, if you take out the perichery adulterer there at the end of John 7 and John 8, shortly after that, he also says,
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I am the light of the world. So all this Jewish symbolism in their ceremony with the
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Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus is saying, it all points to me. No doubt these statements would have had a huge impact on those who heard them.
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But the passage in John 7, look at verse 39 one more time, about the rivers of water flowing out of the heart of believers.
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Everyone that comes to Christ and drinks. Listen, verse 39, but this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive.
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For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. There is somehow, there is somehow a greater intensity in the
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Holy Spirit's ministry. He's definitely there in the Old Testament. You see the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters of creation.
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You see David speaks, Lord, don't take your Holy Spirit from me. You see the ministry of the Spirit in the
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Old Testament, for sure. So it's not a difference in kind. It's not that the Spirit is now doing something he's never done before, but it is a greater spontaneity, a greater intensity to it.
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That's the best way I can think to describe it. There's a greater spontaneity to his guiding influence in the life of the believer and empowering believers than there was before.
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But it certainly seems to be the case that his ministry is definitely intensified. And this intensification was prophetically announced, as Jesus said, by the
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Scripture. See what it says there in verse 39 again? But this he spoke concerning, or before, in the verse before that, verse 38, as the
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Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Just listen to a couple Old Testament passages that he's referring to.
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Isaiah 58, 11. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones.
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You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters shall not fail.
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Who's that talking about? Believers, people. You will be like an unending source of spring water.
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You will be, as a believer, in whom the Holy Spirit will take up residence. Zechariah 14, 8.
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And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea, and both summer and winter it shall occur.
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And there's many other passages that New Testament scholars think he's probably calling them, putting them all together here. As the
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Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of water. But just picture him saying that in the midst of the water pouring ceremony at the
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Feast of Tabernacles. It was a momentous occasion for him to say, if you're thirsty, come to me and I will give you real water.
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I will cause a spring of water to flow out of you for the rest of your in this world. So his ministry seems to have been intensified.
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We no longer live in a time of types and shadows, but of substance and reality. We don't live under the yoke of dietary and ceremonial separation laws any longer, but rather in the light of their perfect fulfillment in Christ.
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We don't live in the time in which all of this was hoped and longed for, but it's a present reality for us now. We don't look forward to the coming of Christ.
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He came. He died and rose again. He ascended back to heaven and he sent his spirit to indwell and empower us and to cause us to be a source of water and life and fruit to all around us in a more intense and a more personal way.
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It is out of our hearts that rivers of living water now flow to the world around us. We are the most privileged and happy of all people for the freedom
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Jesus has given us. I would encourage you, next time you're feeling down, next time you're dealing with depression or sadness, go to this this little point of the confession and look up every single one of the verses that they cite.
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Look at all the things that Christ has purchased for you. Freedom from the wrath of God, freedom from the guilt of sin, freedom from everlasting damnation, freedom from sin's power and its dominion, and freedom from all these other things, from the evil of afflictions, and freer access to God and a more intense experience of the
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Holy Spirit's presence in your life. It's glorious stuff. And we're going to look more at this concept of Christian freedom in coming
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Sunday nights, but this is a glorious chapter. These are the fruits and the results of justification and of being right with God.
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It's all these freedoms that we now have the privilege of spending the rest of our days in this world living under.
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So let's pray. Father, we thank you again for all that Christ purchased for us at the cross by his shed blood and by his life of obedience and righteousness.
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Lord, may that fuel our drive for holiness. May knowing the terrible anguish and unspeakable agony that he suffered to purchase these benefits for us, may that drive us to a deeper communion with you.
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May that drive us to more holiness, to more self -sacrifice, and to have more grace in our lives.
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And we pray that those rivers of living water would flow forth from us into the hearts and lives of the dry and dead souls around us, that they too might see
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Jesus and come to know him as well. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. This is
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Pastor Patrick Hines of Bridewell Heights Presbyterian Church, located at 108 Bridewell Heights Road in Kingsport, Tennessee, and you've been listening to the
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Protestant Witness Podcast. Please feel free to join us for worship any Sunday morning at 11 a .m. sharp, where we open the word of God together, sing his praises, and rejoice in the gospel of our risen
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Lord. You can find us on the web at www .bridewellheightspca .org.
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May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.