The Heavenly Scholar (Part 1)

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John 7:10-24

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The Heavenly Scholar (Part 2)

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I'd like to speak to you this morning about the Heavenly Scholar, the Heavenly Scholar. And I want to break this up in three parts.
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I'm not going to get it all here today on this one sermon.
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This will be part one, an introduction. I want to touch roughly on four verses from chapter 7.
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So please open your Bibles with me as we continue our study through the Gospel of John, the fourth Gospel.
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I'm grateful that this has been such a wonderful study through the
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Gospel of John. And actually, Brother Keith, Tyler, recommended, didn't know exactly what direction to go in after we went through the years back at Redeeming Grace Church.
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We studied through the Gospel of James, I say the
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Gospel of James, the Epistle of James. Went through that study, wonderful study, wasn't it?
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James, who can forget James, the Epistle of James? Powerful. Then we went through 1 and 2
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Peter. And then in between we had other verses and chapters to look over, but here we are.
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And thank you, Brother Keith, for recommending this wonderful Gospel of John.
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It's wonderful, isn't it? All about the Lord Jesus Christ. All about Christ, His person,
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His works. So we find ourselves here in chapter 7. This is where we are, chapter 7.
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And actually, this particular section picks up in verse 10 to 24.
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Verse 10 to 24, but I'm going to pick up with verse 1 just to help us all, and those that have not been here as we're going through this wonderful book in chapter 7.
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And just to pick up the background where it's taking us to understand the context.
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So that's so critical, so critical. So if you read and study chapter 7, you roughly have 53 verses.
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53 verses, and there's a lot here. And mainly Jesus, as we will be seeing,
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He goes up to Jerusalem. He's attending the Feast of Tabernacles.
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Jesus fulfilled all this. He fulfilled this. He fulfilled the law to the letter. He fulfilled it.
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That's what He said He came to do. He came to fulfill the law. Not to destroy it, but to fulfill it.
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And He does it in every way, perfectly. Let me begin with verse 1, and I'm going to read it to verse 24.
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And again, we're only going to just cover, look at mainly at verse 10 to 13.
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But there's a lot here that surrounds these verses. So hear the word of the living
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God. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, and He did not want to walk in Judea, because the
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Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
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His brothers therefore said to Him, Depart from here, and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing.
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For no one does anything in secret, while he himself seeks to be known openly.
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If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For even his brothers did not believe in Him.
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Then Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
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The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify of it that its works are evil.
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You go up to this feast, I am not yet going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.
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And when He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee. Now we come to the section of the heavenly scholar.
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But when His brothers had gone up, talking about to Jerusalem, then
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He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
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Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, Where is He? And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.
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Some said, He is good. Others said, No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.
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However, no one spoke openly of Him for the fear of the Jews. Now about the middle of the feast,
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Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying,
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How does this man know letters, having never studied? Jesus answered them and said,
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My doctrine is not mine, but He is who sent me. If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak of my own authority.
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He who speaks from himself, seeks his own glory. But he who seeks the glory of the
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One who sent him is true. No unrighteousness is in him. Did not
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Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps it, keeps the law?
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Why do you seek to kill me? The people answered and said,
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You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you? Jesus answered and said to them,
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I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision, not that it was from Moses, but from the fathers.
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And you circumcised a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the
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Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely well on the
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Sabbath? Verse 24, we'll stop right here. Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
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May God bless the reading of His holy word to our hearts this morning.
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Please bow with me in prayer as we pray within this hour of worship as God would be pleased to open our eyes and our hearts and open our ears to receive of His good word.
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Our gracious Heavenly Father, we praise and thank You once again for Your holy word. Lord, as I speak this and pray this to You, Lord, I pray,
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O God, that You would save us from any apathy of Your word.
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Lord, help us to truly thank You from our hearts that we have
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Your word in our language this morning. It has cost the blood of many saints.
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Pray that we never ever take this for granted, Lord. We need Your blessed Holy Spirit to open our eyes, our hearts, our minds.
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Lord, to illumine Your truth to our hearts and souls. Lord, we cannot do this within ourselves.
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Lord, I seek not to preach a perfect sermon just to speak Your word. Speak Your word in truth and power and in Your spirit.
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Lord, I ask for Your divine help this morning and I ask for divine help and guidance and wisdom for all that is listening to Your word this morning, that the attention not be on the messenger but on the master.
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Fathers, we study this wonderful section from John chapter 7. Lord, may we be all open to Your truth and discerning by Your spirit, seeking to understand
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Your will, to discern what is true and what is not true. O God, help us and give the church today discernment that comes from the fear of You, O Lord.
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Ignite our hearts. Enflame our hearts, Lord, this morning that our desire would be to obey
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Your word, to do Your will, that we might know Your truth and be set free through Jesus Christ our
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Lord and Savior. And we ask this for Your honor and glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, Bev, as we have already seen last
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Lord's Day in chapter 7 and the previous Lord's Day, as we've been looking at that Jesus' brothers disbelieve
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Him, even His own brothers. Jesus made it very clear to His brothers that while they could go to the feast here of the tabernacles, the feast of the booths, whenever they wanted to, that His schedule was on the divine schedule.
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His schedule was on the divine timetable. He goes at a different time frame.
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If you notice this, you see this in verse 10.
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But when His brothers had gone up, they had already gone up before Him. Jesus basically stayed behind.
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The timing had to be perfect. And Jesus knew the timing of the Father had to be in perfection and of providence.
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Then He also went up to the feast not openly as the brothers tempted
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Him to. Notice that? Because they said, seek to show yourself openly to the world.
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Jesus does the contrary. He does what is opposite of what the brothers tempted
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Him to do. But as it were in secret, He goes in secret.
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The world's hatred of Jesus was because He spoke the truth. That's why they hated Him. It reveals their sin and is the same today as it was then.
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Therefore Jesus remained in Galilee after His brothers departed from the festival. Verse 9, when
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He said these things to them, He remained in Galilee. And He goes up.
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Commentator on John's Gospel here at the beginning. And we'll give you a little front porch setting here. And this is wonderful as I read this from the
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Interpreter's Bible commentary. It paints a picture for us of what is happening at the setting at the
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Feast of Booths, the Feast of Tabernacles. Listen to what this commentator says.
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I don't know who wrote it, but it comes from the Interpreter's Bible. Quote, Chapter 7 has nothing like the spiritual appeal for most people in the wonderful chapter 6.
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Yet it too is a mastery piece of writing. As we read it, the ancient eastern city rises up and takes shape around us.
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We are in it, mingling with the things upon the streets, jostling and being jostled.
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For there is something electric in the air. And everybody is excited, inflammable, on the edge.
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Everywhere there are groups, there are couples, their heads close together, their voices are low and guarded.
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For there are listening ears and watchful eyes, and the officers and spies of the authorities who knew were perhaps unsafely near, according to verse 12 and 13.
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And so one had to be cautious what one said. But all alike were discussing the one, the one topic, and risk or no risk from it.
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But there was much arguing and there was heated differences of opinion."
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End quote. How true that is. What a picture. What a picture. And that topic concerning who?
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The Lord Jesus Christ. He was the topic. He was the one in which they were speaking of.
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And I don't know about you today, but you still see on the bookshelves, and if you go into a grocery store, especially around Christmas time, around Easter time, there's always, whether it be
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Time Magazine, People of the World, people everywhere, even in the churches, the topic is all about Jesus Christ.
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Who is Jesus Christ? Who is Christ? And everyone has a picture of Christ.
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And we were talking about that in the Sunday School today, a warped view of Christ, of the pictures and the paintings, which are graven images basically of how
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Christ would look like, but no one knows the way He looked like. It's best to have the picture from Revelation 1, because that's the way the
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Bible says. His Word says He looks like. His countenance is a flame.
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He speaks as a flame of fire. A two -edged sword comes from His mouth. His countenance is like the sun shining in all its strength.
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But here He is in flesh, concerning Jesus. The topic is
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Jesus. Now we come into the setting of the Feast of Tabernacles, right in the midst of this
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Feast, and this is where we're going to be the next Lord's Day, and then we're going to have
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Brother Bob Self come and speak, and then Lord willing, God willing, I'll pick it up again, one more sermon, try to get it in three here, because there's a lot here.
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There's a lot here. What is said about Jesus, the setting, there's much.
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There's a debate. There's a debate. Warren Wiersbe talked about it. I got this from Brother Keith.
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He speaks of this is like a feast fight. Not a fist fight, but a feast fight.
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Verses 1 to 10, there's disbelief. This is
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Warren Wiersbe, where I got this from. From verse 11 to 36, there's debate.
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That's where we are here. There's disbelief, then there's debate, from verse 11 to verse 36, and then at the end of the feast, from verse 37 to 52, there's division.
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You have disbelief, you have debate, you have division. So you can neatly summarize this chapter as Wiersbe did so wonderfully in those three sections.
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Disbelief, debate, division. And here we see the debate. We see the debate that's going on.
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Within this debate, right in the center of it is the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody's got a picture of Christ.
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Everybody has an opinion about Christ. Different groups of people are here.
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There's three groups. The first group we see are the Jewish leaders. They are what is known as the
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Jews. The Jews. He came unto His own, His own received
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Him not. Could be interpreted His own people,
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His own race. The Jewish leaders, the Jews, those who lived in Jerusalem, those who were attached to the temple ministry, those that are at the temple.
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And who are at the temple? The leaders. Who are the leaders? This group would include the
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Pharisees, number one. The Pharisees would be like Nicodemus. That's why we see
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Nicodemus in chapter 3. And in chapter 2, you see
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Christ as going towards this direction, and we see the temple.
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He cleanses the temple in chapter 2. He meets
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Nicodemus in chapter 3. What really attracts the people, and why many people followed
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Christ? The miracles. The miracles actually were to show and demonstrate who
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Jesus is. Even though He met their needs. But Jesus always pointed to a spiritual application to those miracles.
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They were not just miracles for miracles sake. Even though the Lord Jesus Christ cared for the people as a shepherd because He saw them as a sheep without a shepherd,
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He met their needs, but He always would give Him Himself. He is the gospel.
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Notice this. He says, I am the bread of life. He feeds them physical bread, and then He points to Himself.
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He says, I am the bread from heaven. It was always a spiritual application.
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So, we see the first group, the Jews, the people that was involved there, the
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Pharisees, like Nicodemus, and the chief priest. The chief priest, and we would say also the
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Sadducees as well, and the scribes. There's a lot of groups of religious leaders here, folks. Heard this years ago, but you can apply it to our day today that the
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Pharisees basically summarized the group of the religious people that are the conservative groups.
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They were the more conservative where the religious leaders and the Sadducees were more like the liberal scholars of our day.
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Very much, very similar. Some things don't change, do they?
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You got the conservatives, you have the liberals, you have many different sects here, groups, the priests, the
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Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scholars of the day.
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That's one group. It's packed all in. There's a lot of people here at the feast.
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The second group consisted of the people in general. The people.
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We see this in John 7, verse 12. The people.
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Among the people concerning Him. Verse 20.
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The people answered and said, you have a demon who is seeking to kill you. Verse 31 and 32.
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And many of the people believed in Him and said when the Christ comes, will
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He do more signs than these which this man has done? The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him.
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And the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. So you see these groups of people.
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The people. These people would be at the festival. A crowd that had come to Jerusalem to worship.
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So the people. Telling here, telling us that they were not basically up to date of all the gossip that was going on about Jesus.
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And they were considered a lawbreaker by the officials. So you have the religious groups, the
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Jews at the temple, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the chief priests, the people.
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The third group of people you would see composed mainly of the Jews who resided in Jerusalem itself.
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Says in verse 25, now some of them from Jerusalem. Some came from Jerusalem, like the home base said, is this not
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He whom they seek to kill? So you have basically three groups of people.
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These here in verse 25, they of course sadly would likely sided with the religious leaders because of the fear of the
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Jews. So we are seeing a very serious debate here, beloved.
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We are right in the midst of it and we're going to be in the midst of this the next three sermons,
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God willing. Keep in mind that this debate really began before Jesus even arrived at the city.
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Keep that in mind. Before He even arrived, this debate was going on. And it centered, excuse me, on who
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He is, His character. You see this in verse 10 to 13 and that's what we're going to look at today.
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That will be our focal point. Let me read it again.
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But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly but as it were in secret.
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Then the Jews sought Him at the feast and said, where is
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He? Where is He? Verse 12. There was much complaining or murmuring, same thing, among the people concerning Him.
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Some said He is good. Notice the different views that they have about Jesus. How many people that you know today that say
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Jesus is a good person? He's just a prophet. Oh, He's good. He's a good man.
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A lot of the cults look at Jesus like that. And this is supposedly a religious group of people that come together for church, so to speak.
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They don't have the slightest idea who Jesus really is because they don't see Jesus and what do they deny?
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They deny His lordship. That Christ is
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Lord. Remember the whole theme of John's gospel? The deity of Christ.
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He is deity. He is Lord. Folks, Jesus being Lord is everything.
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He is God. All the cults deny this. He's a good prophet.
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He's a good man. He's a created being, the Jehovah Witnesses say. The Mormons say that Jesus is a created being as well and He's even a brother of Lucifer.
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Blasphemy. These people are clean cut. They're nice people, but they're on their way to hell.
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Sad to say, but it's the truth. Why can you say that, pastor?
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Who made you the judge? The Word of God judges that. The Word of God judges that because the way they believe who
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Jesus is. Many said
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He was a liar. Many said He was lunatic. And there was some that said He was
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Lord. And beloved, but let me say this. The sum is the right. He is Lord. Verse 12,
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And there was much complaining, much murmuring among the people concerning Him. Some said, He is good.
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Others said, No, on the contrary. He deceives the people. Could you imagine saying something like that about Christ?
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He is a deceiver. That's Satan's name. Dabos. Deceiver.
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Verse 13, However, no one spoke openly of Him for the fear of the
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Jews, afraid that they would be ousted out of Jerusalem.
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Keep in mind that when the rulers sought to kill Jesus, they asked Him, Where is
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He? They were seeking where He was. His location.
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They were not interested in worshipping Him just like King Herod was not interested in worshipping
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Him when He was born. Because His little empire was threatened.
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Jesus. And he hears about Jesus being born, King Herod, let's go back a little bit, at the birth of Christ, when
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He comes, He enters into the world through the incarnation, born in a stable, and the
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Magi comes, the Magi comes and seeks Him for He's a king, the
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Messiah. King Herod heard this. He was enraged.
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Not another king. I'm going to be the only king. Here comes the
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Savior into the world and yet from the time of His birth, He's rejected. And by the way, we're going to see in a minute, from the time of His birth,
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He calls His division. We're going to see this according to Scripture. They did not want to worship
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Him and they did not worship Him when He was born and they did not want to worship Him here. They wanted to kill
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Him because Christ exposes people for who they are and their sin. And as such is the gospel today, beloved.
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And that is the greatest love. People resist it. They do not want to be exposed.
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But I'm telling you, when the truth exposes us, it shows us for who we are because our own hearts deceive us.
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The heart of man is desperately wicked. Deceitful. Above everything. It's wicked.
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We don't know our own hearts. God has to expose our hearts.
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He has to expose us for who we are. But there's a remedy. There's a remedy.
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Aren't you glad? The truth exposes us and there's grace and there's favor.
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If we come to Jesus Christ, the law shows us the strength of the sin that's in us.
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But there's grace and truth comes through Jesus Christ. The power of God's grace is greater. The law condemns us, in which the law should.
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It does a good job in doing that. It should. And that's the way we should give the gospel.
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Graciously appoint people. Say, look. D. Martin Lloyd -Jones always said this.
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When you witness to people out there in the highways and the byways, begin with the holiness of God, folks.
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And don't take me wrong. There's a place for the love of God. Do not begin with the love of God.
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Pastor, you're a heretic. No, no, no, no. Don't misunderstand me. Take them to the love of God after you take them to God's holiness and expose, let the word of God do the work and give them the word of God for the wages of sin is death and show them the holiness of God and then you take them to the great love of God in Calvary because that's the remedy.
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First, people must see that they're sinners. This is missing today, beloved, and the churches.
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It grieves me to see this because so many people get up and they talk about God's love all day long but they never bring out the great awesome holiness of God.
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Any wonder why people are just still in their sins? They have not had their sin exposed.
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People think Jonathan Edwards said during the great awakening that that sermon that he preached was outdated.
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Beloved, let me tell you something. When he preached that sermon, he preached with a candlelight. He was sick.
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He was frail. And God used that weak man. He wrote down the sermon and he just read it and the next thing you know, through that service, sinner's in the hands of angry
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God. He takes a scripture from the Old Testament and the next thing you know, people felt like they were literally falling right into hell itself.
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And most of the time, by the way, he preached on sermons of the mercy and the love of God.
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But that time, people, God used that sermon in a great way to cause a great awakening.
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Beloved, are we not there today? We need a great awakening.
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But it's going to take the preached word and it's going to take you and me. It's going to go out into the highways and byways and tell people about the holiness of God.
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Then lead them to the love of God. That's why here at Redeeming Grace Church, we don't believe in part of the gospel.
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We believe in the whole gospel. We believe in the holiness of God, the whole counsel of God, the love of God, the mercy of God.
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But we also believe in the wrath of God. How many sermons have you ever heard on the wrath of God?
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How many sermons have you ever heard on flee from the wrath to come? Look it up. There's very few, folks.
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And you and I know why ministers are so afraid to preach the wrath of God and the holiness of God because they're so afraid of losing an audience.
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They're so afraid they're going to lose their peg. God help us.
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God have mercy on the church of the living God. I'm not saying all churches are like this.
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There's some out there that are faithful to the word of God. But I'm telling you, there needs to be a revival of the majesty and the holiness of God.
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And here, this is what Jesus comes to do. He said He testifies against the world.
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The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are what?
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Evil. Evil. But He's a
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Savior. He saves to the uttermost and that's why repentance is such a serious thing.
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We must repent. That's the command. To repent and believe the gospel.
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According to verse 12, it's clear that the presence of the Lord Jesus was creating quite a stir among the people.
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More and more miracles which He performed were compelling men to make up their minds as to who Jesus really is.
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There was an undercurrent, so to speak, of conversation at the Feast of Tabernacles as to whether He was genuine or is
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He a false prophet? Is He real or is He not real? Some said
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He's good. Others said no, He deceives the people. Jesus was the main topic of debate of all the conversations here that's going on right in the midst of this debate at the
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Feast of Tabernacles. And the crowds were divided in their opinion of Him, but their fear of the religious leadership kept them from speaking openly about Him.
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The fear of man is a snare, Proverbs says. And there they feared the
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Jews, the religious leadership. Notice, then as well as now,
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Jesus divides people. He divides people. This is what
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Jesus came to do, folks. Let me quote
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Matthew 10, verse 32 -36, and listen very closely to these words.
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The words of the Lord Jesus Christ here, and folks, this is why He came. He came to seek and save the lost, but I'm here to tell you, as God divided daylight from night,
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He divides the devil's people from God's people. He divides it.
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He's been doing this ever since He's been born, beloved. Jesus said,
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Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven.
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But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.
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This is very serious. Our confession should live up to our life.
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Listen to this. Think not that I am come. This is Jesus. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth.
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I came not to send peace but a sword. That sword is the truth, folks.
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He's the Prince of Peace. Only in Him there is peace. But when He comes, that sword, that truth divides.
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Then He says, For I am come to set a man at variance against his father and his daughter against her mother and the daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law and a man's foes, a man's enemies, shall be they of his own household.
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How many here can raise your hands and say that has happened in your life? I am here to tell you
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I've seen it in my life. When I first came to Jesus Christ, I want to give you a little personal background of a little bit of my testimony.
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But I don't want to stay there long because I'd rather preach the Word. But let me tell you, when I came to Jesus Christ, my Father came and raged with me.
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He tried everything He could to keep me from going to worship. And I thought, what did I do?
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What did I do here? Did I obey, disobey my Father? Or do I go and go to obey
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God? I had to obey God. And my
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Father really became enraged and I tried to explain to Him. And one day He shut me up in a room and I sat there and cried and cried and cried because I couldn't go to church.
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Because also there was a friend coming from Birmingham, Alabama to come see me and He says,
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No, you're going to stay home on Sunday and greet your friend. You're not going to church. And I said, Dad, I want to go to church.
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Not because I'm just church sake. I want to go there and hear God's Word. Persecution came from my
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Father. Persecution came from... I lost all the friends I used to run with.
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I got a different set of friends now within the church. I'm so thankful for that.
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And still is today. Is Jesus worth it? He's worth every bit of it.
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That's a small price to pay. That's not a sacrifice. That's just something I want to do. That's a desire
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He put within me and I praise God for. Your foes will be of your own household.
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I'm sure some of you can relate to that just as I can as well. Leonard Ravenhill, I don't agree everything about Ravenhill, okay?
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He was an old -fashioned Methodist. Especially on his view on sanctification, okay? But I am going to tell you about something he was right about.
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This man could preach holiness, folks. Listen to what he said about division. And how
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Christ divides. This is Ravenhill. He says, I think that often we overlook the first thing that Jesus ever did.
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Talking about when He was born. Before He knew where He was, before He knew who
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He was, before He could walk, before He could talk, Jesus set a pattern for His life and measure for eternity.
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And what was that? He divided men. He divided men. The first thing that Jesus the babe did was to divide the nation.
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Most were against Him, few were for Him. He divided men at His birth.
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He divided them on His blessed cross and His death. He divided them in His life.
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In the synagogue, here in John 7, 43. And He goes on to say this,
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And He will also divide them at the judgment seat. Is that accurate?
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Matthew 25, look. On the left hand is what? The goats? On the right hand would be the sheep.
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He divides. He will divide them at the judgment seat, said Ravenhill.
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And Jesus declared quite openly that His mission was to divide men.
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Luke 12, 51. He still divides men and He will do so until time ends.
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Amen. He still divides. It's a very serious thing.
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God has tall demands.
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But He's got plenty of grace to help us meet those demands. He doesn't leave us as orphans.
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Keep this in mind. He gives us His Spirit, folks, to help us. We're not alone.
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So anytime you feel alone, The Spirit of God comes alongside you and me to help us, to guide us, to strengthen us, to empower us, to grace us along the way.
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I'm so thankful for that. And that shows the grace and the love of God. You talk about division, listen to Hebrews chapter 4.
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I want to start back up a little bit because it has a lot to say here.
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But notice in Hebrews 4, it speaks about the promised rest. Therefore, since the promised remains and entering
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His rest, let us fear, lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them.
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But the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith and those who heard it.
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See, it's more than just hearing the gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, by the
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Word of Christ. But the Spirit of God activates it. It gives us the faith.
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It's the gift. But it's the Spirit of God that applies it. It must be mixed with faith.
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Verse 3, For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He said,
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I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
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For He has spoken in a certain place on the seventh day in this way. God rested on the seventh day from all
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His works. And again in this place they shall not enter my rest.
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Because of unbelief, right? Verse 6, Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience.
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Again, He designates a certain day saying in David, now he quotes
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Psalm 95, Today, today. You see how important today is?
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Today. After such a long time as it has been said,
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Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not after what had spoken of another day.
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There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. He repeats that notice. Isn't it wonderful?
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God is like the heavenly parent. He has to repeat it to us because we don't get it.
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Jesus repeated Himself constantly as He trained the apostles. And repetition is the mother of learning.
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Something very important must be repeated. Amen? For He who has entered
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His rest has Himself also ceased from His works as God did from His. Now watch where the writer of Hebrews goes with this about division.
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Watch this. Let us. That's a people. That is the people of God.
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That's not one person. That is a corporate people of God. Therefore be diligent.
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Number one. Would it be diligent to enter that rest? Lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
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And by the way, he's talking about falling from law. I'm sorry. Falling from grace into law keeping.
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He's speaking to the Hebrews. A lot of people think that fall is everlasting punishment.
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But that's not the context. The context is falling from grace, folks, into good works.
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Into our own works. Into works that we try to do. But here it talks about lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
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And then he says this. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two -edged sword.
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Piercing even to what? The division. What divides? The word of God divides.
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It cuts. When you take a sword, it cuts and it divides and it chops into pieces.
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Such as Samuel did when he hacked a guy to pieces. He cut him to pieces. A sword divides.
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How does it divide? The division of soul and spirit.
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Did you know only the word of God can do that? When you witness unto people, give them the word of God.
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Your words have no power. My words have no power. But I'm telling you, folks, the words of the living
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God has power. And if you want to know how powerful it is, look at the sun.
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Look at the stars. Look at the planets. Look at where you are. Look at yourself. God created it.
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That's powerful. God spoke and it happened. By the sheer power of His word.
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Isn't that incredible? Amazing? It divides.
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It's sharper. It's living. It's living and powerful. Sharper than any two -edged sword.
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Piercing even to the division of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow. And not only it divides, it's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
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It goes into your thought life. It goes into your motives. The word of God cuts so deeply.
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It tells you who you really are. It tells me who I am. And most of the time, it shows me my sin.
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It shows me who I really am. Looking in the mirror of God's law. You look in the mirror, you see who you really are.
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Sometimes I look in the mirror and I say, oh man, I need to lose some weight. The mirror tells you and shows you who you really are.
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Amen? The mirror of God's word shows you who you really are. Who I am really am.
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Verse 13, and there's no creature. This means no creature. No person. Hidden from his sight.
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But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
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So strong. But we need that, don't we? How can we deal with our sin?
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Unless God shows us our sin. As David cried out, search me, oh God. Test me, try me.
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See if there be any wicked way in me. That's the heart of a man of God. That's the heart of a child of God right there, folks.
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Show me my sin. I'm telling you, when you get a glimpse of who Jesus really is. And you get a glimpse of God high on his throne.
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Isaiah, as Isaiah did, saw him high and lifted up with his train filling the temple.
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And his splendor and his glory and his majesty. Even the holiest man of God says, woe is me for I'm undone.
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But God had a remedy. It was the burning embers from off the altar.
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And the seraphim took it with the tongs. And took it and purged him.
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And I like the way R .C. Sproul put this. In his series on the holiness of God. He said, he put it to Isaiah's lips.
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He had a purpose in doing this. And it burned, it was painful. That's the way repentance is, folks.
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It's painful, it's meant to be painful. It's to purge, it's to fire.
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To purify. And I think so many times we are polluted. We are defiled.
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We are unclean. God, purge me, cleanse me. Wash me.
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God is into purifying, folks. Scripture says, Amalekai, he will purify the sons of Levi.
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He will purge us. And that's the purpose of the fire. If you're going through a fire right now. In a fiery trial.
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It is meant to purge you. That you will come out as pure as gold. Testing of your faith.
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Well, more to that. Let me give an application before my time is gone.
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I told you I didn't get far today. But anyway. That's something that was on my heart.
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But not only on my heart. I don't want to preach my heart. Because it was on my mind.
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I want to preach the word of God to you. Application. What is the application of verses 10 to 13?
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Much complaining among the people concerning him. Concerning Jesus. Some said he's good. Others said no.
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On the contrary, he deceives the people. However, no one spoke openly of him for the fear of the
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Jews. The crowd is really a commentator to what we see here.
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Henry Morris pointed out the un -uniformed majority. Uninformed, I'm sorry.
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Majority wanting to do the right thing. But not sure what it is. That's the truth, isn't it?
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They wanted to do the right thing. And there's a reason why they could not do the right thing. And they didn't know how to do the right thing.
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Because did you ever think that they're in darkness? They're blind? Isn't that what
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Ephesians says about the Gentiles in 4 .18? Paul says they are darkened in their understanding.
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Alienated from the life of God. Because, listen to this.
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Of the ignorance that is in them. Due to their hardness of heart.
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What caused the ignorance? The hardness of their heart. You see that?
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So the problem of people and what the problem we had before we believed.
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Was our hardness of heart. Folks, guard your heart.
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Out of it is the issues of life. Guard it every day. Stay on your faces before God.
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And ask God to give you a broken and contrite heart. Beloved, hardness of heart is the worst of all heart diseases.
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And by the way, it keeps one trapped in a spiritual death. Hardness of heart. A refusal to delay repentance.
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A refusal to repent from sin. A refusal to believe in who Jesus is.
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Results in the just judgment of Almighty Holy God. J .C.
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Rowe says there is no repentance in the grave, folks. This life is short. And let me charge you in the name of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Repent while it is today. Repent and if you don't know how to repent.
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Fall on your face before God and God will show you how to repent. Open the
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Bible. For God grants repentance. Unto life.
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It's a gift. In fact, those who refuse to believe and repent.
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Are like those in this crowd. In which we see are trying to decide who Jesus really is.
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And are like those as 2 Corinthians 4 .4 Paul says this. The God of this world, of this age.
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Has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to those that do not believe. To keep them from seeing the light of the gospel.
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Of the glory of God and Christ who is in the image of God. They're in darkness.
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They're blinded by what? The God of this age. Who's that? Satan. Blind unbelief is sure to err.
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As the poet says, William Cooper. Confusion about Christ.
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And by the way, God is not the author of confusion. There's so much confusion about Christ these days.
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Even in churches, sad to say. The church of the living God should be the place. Where we can hear the truth about who
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Jesus is. And there's not going to be any truth of Jesus. Or who Jesus is.
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Unless the preacher is preaching this book. And folks, you fire me if I don't preach this book.
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I'm serious. You let this preacher go. And say, come up. Say, preacher.
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If you can tell me I don't preach this book. You can let me go. But by the grace of God.
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I am determined to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. By His help and grace.
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Confusion about Christ is result in lack of belief. Spiritual blindness and a refusal to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord.
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The King and Savior. Again, the reason the world hates Jesus. Is because it hates the name of Jesus.
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Is because the truth exposes the sin. That's serious.
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That is so serious. And Jesus Christ called and commanded sinners to repent and believe the gospel.
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To trust in Him. For the forgiveness of sin. That's a wonderful benefit, isn't it?
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We can have our sins cleansed. I don't think there's any greater benefit. Our sins cleansed.
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Washed. Clean. All unrighteousness cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
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As 1 John 1 .9 says. Cleansed. Confession.
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Repentance. Forgiveness. All through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can have that forgiveness of sin.
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And that assurance. That we are washed and cleansed and saved. Let me close with a quote from J .C.
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Ryle. He says this. In the face of such passages as this.
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In John 7. Parenthesis. John 7. The endless differences and divisions about religion.
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Which we see on all sides. In the present day. Are never to surprise us.
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Are not to surprise us. Amen. Read the Bible. The open hatred of some towards Christ.
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The carpeting. The fault finding. The prejudiced spirit of others.
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Ryle says. The bold confession of the few faithful ones. The timid man fearing temperament of the many faithless ones.
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The unceasing war of words. And strife of tongues.
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Within the churches of Christ. Are so sadly familiar. Are only modern symptoms of the old disease.
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Such is the corruption of human nature. That Christ is the cause of division among men.
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Wherever he is preached. So long as the world stands.
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Some will they hear of him. Will love. And some will hate. Some will believe.
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And some will believe not. That deep prophetical saying.
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Of his continuing verified.
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Then he quotes Matthew 10 .34. In which I read to you. Do not think that I am come to send peace on earth.
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I came not to send peace. But a sword. End quote.
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The hymn writer said it. Wonderful. And I will leave you with a positive exhortation.
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Come you thirsty. Come welcome. Joseph Hart. God's free grace.
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Glorifying. True belief. And true repentance.
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Every grace that brings you nigh. I will arise and go to Jesus.
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Are you determined to do that? I will arise and go to Jesus.
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Folks I am still saying that every single day. I will arise and go to Jesus.
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I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms. In the arms of my dear savior.
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Oh there are 10 ,000 charms. There are 10 ,000 charms.
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Praise his name. Let's pray. Father we thank you. Lord we just embarked on these first verses of 10.
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To verse 13 of this debate. Of the heavenly scholar. The Lord Jesus Christ.
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The Lord, Savior, King, Messiah. And Lord here are so many people.
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Like it is today. Each and every one has different opinions.
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Controversial. Some said he was good. On the no and the contrary.
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Others says he deceives and deceives the people. Oh God help us.
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Lord help us to see Jesus. For who he really is from your word.
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Lord help us. To stay before our faces before you
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Lord. To know him. As Paul says to know him.
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In his fullness. And the power of his resurrection. The fellowship of his sufferings.
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That I may be conformed to his image. Lord that's our prayer today.
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Jesus be Jesus in me. No longer me but thee. Resurrection power fill me this hour.
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Lord Jesus be Jesus in me. Lord strengthen our faith today. May we be steadfast.
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Unmovable. Always abounding in the work of the Lord until the very end.
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Help us Lord to be faithful. In the mundane. Help us to be faithful when no one else is looking but you.
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To those that work on the job. To those at home. To those that are mothers. Training up the children in the fear and admonition of the
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Lord. Lord help them to see that you see all this. Even if it's from changing diapers.
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To doing a service to those children. And giving to them what they cannot do for themselves.
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Oh God. Oh God have mercy upon us today. Cleanse our homes.
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Sanctify us wholly. Through and through. Lord cleanse us from all of our sin and our iniquity.
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And our unbelief and our hardness of heart. Lord break us. Make us.
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Mold us. Make us. But in the end Lord use us. Lord we will praise you and we thank you for all that you do.
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And it's all because of Jesus. And we ask this in your name. Amen and amen.