Myths Christians Are Tempted To Believe (part 5)

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Enemies Within The Walls: Lack Of Forgiveness (part 6)

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Well, tonight, as we look in the Word, we're going to conclude our series called Mythbusters, Common Misconceptions that Christians Have.
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We live in a day of spin. We live in a day of all kinds of competing philosophies. What does the
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Bible really say? So, Steve picked out a few last week. I thought that was excellent. I picked out a few more this week.
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No particular order except relevant to where we are as a church in society.
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And I think you'll find them fascinating. The good part about this kind of Q &A session, as it were, if you don't like the first myth, the second myth will be soon to follow, and then you'll probably like that myth.
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And so, tonight, myths, installment number five, and the last one, common misconceptions that Christians have.
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Myth number one for tonight. The myth is that when you serve other Christians, you're simply serving other
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Christians. I was thinking about the Schaeffers when I pulled this one up. What do
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I mean by that? Why is that a myth? Serving other Christians is simply serving other
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Christians. After all, we're to love our neighbor as ourselves. What's wrong with this?
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What would be the truth to this statement, if you're going to correct it? Okay, that ultimately, you're serving the
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Lord Jesus. If you say to yourself, as I serve other people, I'm only serving them, you're going to run out of gas, you're going to be disappointed, you're not going to feel affirmed.
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But when you think, what I do for other people, I do for the Lord Jesus Christ, that will keep you going.
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You have a nursery ministry, no one seems to notice, you say, but I do it for the Lord Jesus. Can you imagine changing diapers in the nursery for the sake of the
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Lord Jesus Christ? I don't always do this on a Sunday morning, but this is a
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Sunday night service, and you all seem like you're in a merry mood. I found some evangelical exercises.
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Beating around the bush, 75 calories. You know, I have a little app, the iFitnessPal, and I count all my calories, and so I thought this would be good to program in.
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Jumping to conclusions, 200 calories. Passing the buck, only 50.
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Throwing your weight around, I thought this was interesting, 50 to 500, depending on how much of your weight you throw around.
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Dragging your heels, 175. Making mountains out of molehills, 500.
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Adding fuel to the fire, 150. This one seems low, I'll have to maybe switch to the
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Lose It app. Tooting your own horn, only 25. Looking over the fence at greener grass, 10.
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And if I could add one, serving other Christians thinking you're only serving them, it's off the charts.
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You're going to get exhausted if that's the case, physically exhausted. Let's turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 25 and take a look at our
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Lord's words, Matthew chapter 25, and remind ourselves through Christ's gospel that when we serve other people, as Christian people, when we serve others, we're ultimately serving the
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Lord. If you've been in gospel ministry for long enough, you've let yourself down, others have let you down, but when you say to yourself,
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I'm doing this for the Lord's sake, I think you're going to be encouraged and this is a good reminder.
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And as I was thinking about the Shaffer's love for one another and love for the church, it stems from loving the
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Lord and serving them. He's talking about the final judgment in Matthew 25 and when you skip down to verse 34, it says, then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
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I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.
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Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?
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Notice it's the righteous who are answering. Or thirsty and give you drink. And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you?
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Or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?
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Verse 40, and the king will answer them, Arzaniah says, will reply, truly
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I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.
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What is done for the sake of Christ's disciples is done for the sake of Christ. A .T.
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Pearson wrote, he'd fill in the pulpit for Spurgeon once in a while, whatever is done for God, without respect of its comparative character as related to other acts, is service and only that is service.
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Service is, comprehensively speaking, doing the will of God. He is the object. All is for Him, for His sake, as unto the
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Lord, not unto man. Hence, even the humblest act of the humblest disciple, like giving somebody water, acquires a certain divine quality by its being done with reference to Jesus.
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This is a supreme test of service. For whom am I doing this?
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So stop just for a second. What do you do in ministry here? You could be greeting, you could be ushering, you could be in the sound room, you could be in music, you could be teaching.
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Why do I do what I do? And is it for the Lord? Pearson goes on and says, if we are doing this for Christ, we shall not care for human reward or even recognition.
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Our work must be again tested by three propositions. Is it work from God as given us to do for Him?
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For God as finding in Him its secret of power and with God as only a part of His work in which we engage as co -workers.
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I think Bethlehem Bible Church, you know this fact. We do this for the Lord. Let me give you a few other reminders about ministry as you think about this being under the
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Lord. That would be my first key. Let me just give you a few other things. Number one, your service will be eternal.
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I don't know if you know this, but you minister in heaven. Some people think heaven is going to be heaven because I don't have to do anything. I can just lounge.
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Revelation 22 .3, the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city and His servants will serve
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Him. Your service is eternal, so you should get used to it. Some people think again erroneously, pillowy couch, watching cable
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TV up in heaven. I don't know. That was a good comment.
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Number two, your service should reflect how much you treasure God's grace.
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Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 4. If you were a scoundrel, a scallywag, a sinful person before God saved you, and we know the answer is yes, we all were that,
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God saved you unto Him. You should be serving. I don't care if she cries. Stay on in.
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This next point's for you, mom. You got to hear this. I designed this whole part of the sermon for you.
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Just kidding. We don't care if she cries, right? I'll preach louder. Jerry, after the service,
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I'd like to talk to you. When you realize how sinful you are and how much grace
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God has given you, then you really want to serve. Look at 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 10. NAS says, each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, we know it's ultimately to the
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Lord, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.
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If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides. So that in all things
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God may be praised through Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory and power forever and ever.
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I like the translation talking about being good stewards of God's grace. God saved you and you want to serve with all your heart.
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Can't you hear that heartbeat in Romans 12? I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your what?
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Bodies a living sacrifice. I think I've told you the story many times, probably just a few weeks ago in Romans 12, when
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I get to officiate weddings. It's kind of fun because the groom's up here and the bride's up here and I'm close and I can kind of see the groom's nervous sweat.
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I can see the...you should see Linton. He's like, I just lived that not long ago. You can see the sparkle in the lady's eye and there they are just right before you.
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And then you give them the vows. And by the grace of God, I will.
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By the grace of God, I do. That's what Romans 12 is.
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God has saved you. You look at Romans chapter 1 through 11 and by the mercies of God and how God has chosen you and the
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Son has died for you, the Spirit has redeemed you and you say, God, when it comes to serving you, just like a husband or a wife says to their future spouse, all of me is yours.
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I do, committed to the end till death do us part. That's the language of gospel commitment in Romans chapter 12.
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Number three, I think in my numbering, your service is going to take humility. It's one of the hard things about serving is it takes humility.
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Steve Cooley has heard me say this quote probably 500 times in different Bible studies, an
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African missionary was asked if he really liked his missionary assignment. He said in great shock, do
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I like this work? No, my wife and I do not like dirt. We have refined sensibilities.
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We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse. But is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like?
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God pity him. Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to go and we go.
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Love constrains us. You get the picture of that when the woman is in the home, says to Simon, do you see this woman?
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I came into your house and you did not give me any water, Jesus said, for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
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You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
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You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
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Gospel ministry with humility. And lastly, before we get to the next myth, here's the great news.
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We might say thank you to the shafers, we might say thank you to other people for serving, but God is going to reward you in heaven for your ministry to him.
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How great is that going to be? Turn to Hebrews chapter 6 just for a moment. Robert was reading in Romans, excuse me, in Hebrews.
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Let's just read Hebrews 6 for a minute. I think they still might have this up above the sink in the kitchen, this verse.
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Why would this verse be above the sink in the kitchen? Is it still up there? It is? Who put that up there?
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Would anybody admit to putting it up there? So now you're blaming
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Tiffany. I was going to fire you for putting it up there. Last time
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I checked, you're not the one moving to Florida. I love it when
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John Gerstner said, there's one thing you can do on earth that you can't do in heaven. We're talking about righteously.
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You can't earn rewards in heaven because you get what you get, but you can earn rewards on earth.
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Now you can heap up things. You can be a spiritual capitalist. Look at how neat Hebrews 6 .10 is.
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God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as, tying everything together, you have helped his people and continue to help them.
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Isn't that wonderful? God not only gives us salvation, but he rewards us for serving him. Myth number two, total depravity is not utter depravity.
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Total depravity is not utter depravity. Charlie Crane, what do I mean by that? Okay, so all of us in a pervasive sense, our heart, soul, mind, and strength is depraved, but we're not as bad as we could be.
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So I don't really like the word total depravity. You'll hear it in theological circles, total depravity, meaning men and women are unable to please
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God, unable to follow God, believe in him. But maybe total inability would be better, wouldn't it?
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Total depravity makes you think the person is as bad as they could be. Could Hitler have been worse? Could Stalin have been worse?
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The answer is yes. Total depravity teaches that we are in the totality of our being touched by sin.
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Sinful deeds come out of a sinful heart. And so I don't really like the word total depravity because it means to some people utter depravity.
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Sproul likes the word radical corruption, R .C. Sproul. We believe that sin permeates to the core an unbelieving heart, soul, mind, and body.
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The unbeliever, because of depravity, is unable to not sin, unable to not sin.
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But utter depravity would be everything is as bad as it could be. Total depravity is our total inability.
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You're just...every aspect of your body has been affected and your soul has been affected and your will has been affected by the fall.
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And to quote Jonathan Gershner, but there could always be room for more deprovement.
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If we were utterly depraved, there'd be no room for deprovement because everybody would be as bad as they possibly could be.
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Absolute depravity does what? It denies that God has a restraining grace in the life of people.
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One of the things God does to His spirit is He restrains how bad the world is. And if you believed in absolute depravity or utter depravity, you would deny
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God's common restraining grace. Utter depravity basically says, when men and women have fallen in Adam, they no longer are image bearers.
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We believe in total depravity, meaning a pervasive depravity, but we believe that people aren't as bad as they could be.
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And to shock the senses, abortion doctors are even nice to their kids. They kill other kids, but they're nice to their own kids.
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Why don't you turn your Bible to John chapter 6 as we just think about this. Since men and women are depraved, we need a
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Savior. If we are unable to follow Christ, we need someone to come to rescue us.
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That's why if you don't get total depravity right or radical corruption right or spiritual inability right, you won't get anything else right.
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You'll be off on election, off on the atonement, off on every other topic. So John chapter 6 is one of those famous chapters in all the
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Bible where you just think, let Jesus speak. People have a hard time with predestination or election or all kinds of other things.
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Just let Jesus speak. I hope I've learned and I hope I've matured over the years. When I first got here,
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I said to myself, you know, I'm going to preach the book of James. And there's probably a bunch of unbelievers here.
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And James will root out all the unbelievers. And they'll either get saved or they'll leave. And so now when
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I meet students and try to help Eric Johanson, and one day, Lord willing, if he's a pastor someplace,
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I tell him this, the first church you go to, instead of trying to run out all the scallywags or make them run to the cross for salvation, preach the gospel of John.
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Because the truths of God's sovereign distinguishing grace are still in this book.
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But they're through the words of Jesus. And somehow people just have it tempered a little bit more than coming through old camel knees, son of thunder,
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James. John 6, verse 44, it says,
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No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
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That word, draw, could be used for a bucket down at the bottom of the well, and you draw that bucket up.
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And I will raise him up on the last day. Why is this so true? Because we cannot, in and of ourselves, follow
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God. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
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Verse 65 reiterates this very point. John 6, verse 65.
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And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the
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Father. Now, if your pastor preaches all the time and you never say about him, you know, that was a hard sermon.
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He's not preaching like Jesus because regularly when Jesus preached, people said that is a very hard what?
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Saying. When you preach sovereign distinguishing electing grace, look at what happens to Jesus.
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Verse 66. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
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There's something about sovereign distinguishing grace that just rubs people the wrong way.
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I'd go so far to admit that the root of anti -Semitism in my mind comes from this very thing.
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God chooses Israel and hell and all its minions and everyone else who's an unbeliever cannot stand
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God's sovereign distinguishing grace picking Israel and hell hath no fury like people with anti -Semitism regarding that exact issue.
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Myth number three. You're seeming awake. This is, we're going fast.
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Myth number three. Remember, this is a myth. I'm going to say the myth first and then we'll look at it.
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Myth three. Homosexuality is just like every other sin.
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Homosexuality is just like every other sin. Or you could say homosexuality is just like adultery. Now, if you mean by that it's forgivable like every other sin, you would be what?
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You'd be correct. Aren't we thankful it's a forgivable sin? Aren't we glad 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 9 and 10 talks about we used to be like this, such were some of you, but you've been washed, you've been cleansed, you've been justified.
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It's done. Both are equally forgivable.
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Homosexuality, adultery. Both are against God.
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Both are against other people. But only one is also against nature.
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It's interesting when you study the Bible, sin is always sin. But sometimes sin is tolerated like polygamy in the
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Old Testament. But homosexuality is always condemned. This is a huge issue in the
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Christian church. And you are going to watch church after church after church capitulate. It's coming down like a house of cards, friends.
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This is the issue of our day. William Kent, he used to be on the committee of the
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United Methodist, studying homosexuality, said, "...the scriptural text in the
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Old and New Testament condemning homosexual practice are neither inspired by God nor otherwise of enduring
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Christian value. Considered in the light of the best biblical, theological, scientific and social knowledge, the biblical condemnation of homosexual practice is better understood as representing time and place -bound cultural prejudice."
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Gary Comstock, Protestant chaplain at Wesleyan University, quote, "...not to recognize, critique and condemn
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Paul's equation of godlessness with homosexuality is dangerous. To remain within our respective
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Christian traditions and not to challenge those passages that degrade and destroy us is to contribute to our own oppression.
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These passages will be brought up and used against us again and again until Christians demand the removal from the biblical canon or at the very least formally discredit their authority to prescribe behavior."
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Victor Paul Furnish, quote, "...not only the terms but the concepts homosexual, homosexuality were unknown in Paul's day.
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These terms like heterosexual, bisexual presuppose an understanding of human sexuality that was possible only with the advent of modern psychology.
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Ancient writers were operating without the vaguest idea of what we have learned to call sexual orientation."
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Let's turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 1. I'm not going to preach through the whole section, but I want you to know that when
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God delivers a society over to their own sin, the showcase sin at the top of the list is homosexuality.
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Do I want you to be kind to homosexuals? Absolutely. Do I want you to picket them and their funerals?
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Absolutely not. But if you're not careful, you're going to buy into this constant barrage of political thinking to say, you know, you say one thing about homosexual marriage isn't true and you're going to get fired from Fox Sports.
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Let's ask who just got fired. Running back from SMU. Craig James.
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Thank you. You know, if you ever want to ask Steve Cooley what a song is, an old 60s song, you ask him and he knows it.
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Kerry James sang what song? Yeah, I don't even know. I just make up these things.
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Yeah, okay. See, that's perfect. Friends, this is coming fast and furiously.
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Of course it's a forgivable sin. It's not my point.
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Of course we should be kind and nice to people. When you think of Jesus, Jesus was around those who knew they had no righteousness and He even ate with them.
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But I hear over and over and over, the first thing out of Christians' mouths, it's just a sin like every other sin. If you mean it's a forgivable sin, then you're right.
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But what does Romans chapter 1 say? Steve Nelson and I always talk, if you ever have a theological question you need an answer, you just default to where?
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Romans 1. Before I look at Romans 1, Al Mohler said, Homosexual acts and homosexual desire are a rebellion against God's sovereign intention in creation and a gross perversion of God's good and perfect plan for His created order.
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Paul makes clear that homosexuality among both males and females is a dramatic sign of rebellion against God and His intention in creation.
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Those about whom Paul writes have worshipped the creature rather than the Creator. And let's take a look at that.
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Verse 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness,
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Romans 1 .18, and unrighteousness, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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And so, God's wrath, His teeming anger,
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His swelling anger towards sin is shown. Not just the righteousness shown, 1 .17,
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but also His wrath is shown. Pink said this is
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His eternal detestation. People want to make homosexuality taboo now.
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Can't talk about it. In my mind, the taboo in evangelical so -called circles is you can't talk about divine wrath anymore.
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Don't raise that issue. When you look at this passage, you're going to quickly figure something out that you might not like.
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That God doesn't just hate sin, He hates the sinner. That's why it's so amazing on the face of the whole thing, how could
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God ever send His Son to die on behalf of those He hates? Only an all -loving
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God could do that. Verse 19, For what can be known about God to them is plain to them.
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If you're going to blame anybody, you're going to blame God because God has shown it to them. Nobody can say,
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I didn't know, I don't understand, I don't have the facts, I'm not sure about God. When they look at the stars and the moon and the sun, they realize
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God made it all. You go to that mountaintop today, by the way, were you on the mountain technically today when you were at Wachusett?
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It just depends on where you stand because technically a mountain is 2 ,000 feet or higher and at the very top it's 2 ,004 feet at Wachusett.
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So if you're just down the hill a little bit, you weren't on the mountain. The substantiation of this is found in verse 20 for His invisible attributes, namely
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His eternal power, divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.
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So they are what? Without excuse. No legal defense. No apology. Although they knew
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God, they didn't honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. So when you see the God who creates everything, you say, God, amazing!
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God, thank you! They became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
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When the light goes out in your mind that natural revelation doesn't show you who
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God is, then the response spirals inwardly and the thinking becomes futile.
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What's the point to anything in life? You become nihilistic. Verse 22 Claiming to be wise, they became what?
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In exchange, the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man.
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Look at the downward slope. Birds. Who worships birds?
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Animals and creeping things. It doesn't take you long to look at Egypt and they worshipped bulls, they worshipped cats, they worshipped gods of hippopotamuses, wolf gods.
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You want to know the cause of our society's downfall? This is it. You don't look at God in nature and you say, you know,
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I'm going to praise Him. And so what are the consequences? Do you really think for a split second that people can put the fist in God's face and they are not scathed?
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There's a consequence and here's the consequence. It's not, let them do what they want. It's not, well, you know, there's going to be a payday one day.
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It's going to be God pushing them down the hill. Divine abandonment.
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Verse 24 The consequences of this sinful behavior, therefore, God gave them up.
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That's an active word there. In the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.
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Could that be any more frightening? God gave them up. He didn't just permit.
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He didn't just withdraw His hand. He gives them up in a judicial sense. This is what you want.
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This is what you're going to get. I'll never forget the time I heard James Boyce preach at Grace Church. This was before Boyce died, obviously, and he was there preaching.
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And he said, okay, a society that rejects God, how will I judge them? He went to Nebuchadnezzar.
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He said, well, you know what? Nebuchadnezzar says, I look at everything out here. I see everything that's within my eyesight and I say, you know,
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I did it all. And Boyce said, the only thing that I can say to that is, that's insane.
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That's insanity to look at the world and say, this is mine. Me, mine. I did it all. I created it all.
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I'm in charge of it all. I'm sovereign over that. And so what does God do? If you're going to act like you're crazy, you want crazy,
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I give you crazy. Times 15 and then all of a sudden you're eating grass saying moo and you have a long fingernail.
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So when a society says, we, at the risk of killing babies, want our sexual freedom, at the risk of rebellion, against nature and homosexuality, say, that's what we want.
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Our God is sex. God says, okay, you want sex as a God and pushes down the hill.
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And the culture goes flailing into sexual perversion. Charles Hodge said,
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God often punishes one sin by abandoning the sinner to the commission of others. Because they, verse 25, exchanged the truth about God for a big fat lie.
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And when you do that, you're a worshiper and you're going to worship something or you're going to worship someone or you're going to worship sex or something and they worship and serve the creature rather than the creator who's blessed forever.
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Amen. For this reason, God, here it is again, for whom the bell tolls, gave them up to dishonorable passions.
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Well, they're honorable passions. Marriage, but here's dishonorable for their women exchange natural relations for those that are contradination to nature.
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Who's the last to be affected in a decaying sexual culture? I'll tell you who, the ladies.
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But Paul puts them at the first of the list because that's how bad it's become. Men, likewise, gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another.
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As they careened down that hill faster and faster and faster, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.
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But you know what, that's not enough because the culture doesn't want to be thought by any single person. What they're doing is sin because when they hear that sin word, they know deep down that they have a conscience and they're the creator but we can't have anybody say that.
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So you know what, what's going to be next is hate speech and jailing people. Are you sure you want to be an elder of Bethlehem Bible Church?
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Paul says this is unnatural and that's why I'm saying is it a forgivable sin? Yes. But adultery is a sin against another person and a sin against God but it's not against nature.
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And Paul is writing all this when he's in Corinth. They taught homosexuality was love in the purest and highest form.
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If you were a high born Greek male, forget the wives, you had a lot of men.
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The first 14 out of 15 emperors were homosexuals. Ray Pritchard said in such an atmosphere homosexuality is first tolerated, then accepted, then praised, and finally enshrined as the ultimate freedom.
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You want to know who has a scarlet letter today? It's anybody that will stand up and say we love all kinds of sinners.
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We love homosexual sinners too. We have a gospel for you and until you see your need that this is sinful behavior you're not going to see that you need a savior.
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One of the ways I know I'm a Christian is because before I got saved
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I had zero love for homosexual sinners. I had hate. And now
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I feel sorry. Now I feel compassionate. Now I feel sad. I actually love them.
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It's only by the grace of God. But I'm telling you what friends, woe to those who call evil good and good evil.
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And that's exactly what they want you to do. The moral chaos of our time and people are not going to be quiet until every
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Christian shuts their mouth. You know what this makes me want to do?
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Lord, come quickly. I need you to come back. As I was telling the discipleship class
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I don't know if I told the congregation today or not. Maybe first service, maybe second service, maybe one of the radio shows. I don't know. You talk enough and you never know what you say.
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Some people say well, I'm amill. Some people say I'm postmill. The world's going to get so good then the millennium will come.
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I'm amill. No, Jesus is just reigning in heaven now or he's reigning through the church now. Well, I'm premill. Jesus is going to come back and reign for a thousand years.
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Well, I'm panmill. It's all going to pan out. I got a new one that I've learned. I'm promill.
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I'm for any millennial kingdom where Jesus is here reigning and there's no war. Righteousness is righteousness.
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That's what I'm for. I'm promill. And see, they will not stop until verse 32 comes to fruition in their mind though they know
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God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die. They not only do them but give hearty approval to those who practice them.
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And I'm telling you church after church after church after church is doing that very thing. Caving into the homosexual demands.
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Ask Andy Stanley. Of course we are kind to sinners.
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Proverbs 29 An evil man is ensnared in his transgression and it is our privilege to preach free grace to all kinds of sinners.
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Isn't it? But don't ever buy into the lie where your first default is because you're so afraid of saying what the
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Bible says. Well homosexuality is a sin like every other sin. That is the new Christian default.
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And may I be no compromise just for a second? Stop it. You can get there eventually but that's not where you need to lead.
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Okay well I have so many others maybe we'll just do one more. All right last one last myth.
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What myth number is this? Four? Five? I guess
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I'll never be a politician. My political days are over. I never wanted to be a mayor but number four you're saved because of your faith.
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You're saved because of your faith. What's right or wrong about that? Why is that a myth? You're saved because of your faith.
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Okay? Other comments? Faith is a gift. Other comments?
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Regeneration precedes faith. I like that. I like preaching to you guys. You're my all -time favorite congregation.
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You're the only congregation I ever know. All right let's just quickly go over this.
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I want to remind you that if you somehow think that you believed and God didn't give you that faith, there's a way to praise him better and that way is to think biblically and to say even the faith that I have is a gift from God.
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Which one gets more glory? You believe now God's able to save you or God saves you and even gives you faith.
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Which one gives him more glory? I think I know the answer. Ephesians 2 please. Ephesians 2.
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Faith takes its character and quality from its object and not from itself.
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Sinclair Ferguson said. Faith didn't die on the cross.
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Faith wasn't raised from the dead. Faith didn't live a perfect life. Faith isn't coming back.
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Neither's hope and neither's charity. Why is anyone saved?
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I'll tell you why they're saved. It's not because of faith. It's because of Jesus. Ephesians 2 verse 8.
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Of course you know the passage but just to remind you quickly for by grace you've been saved not because of faith.
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By grace you've been saved not on account of faith. By grace you've been saved through faith.
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The non -meritorious instrument. He front loads it.
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I would say you've been saved by grace but he makes sure you understand by front loading the sentence almost sounds weird in English but we're so familiar with the verse it sounds normal to us.
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By grace you've been saved through faith. What is the cause? Look at verse 4.
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You should take your pen or your pencil and put a circle from verse 4 to verse 8 so you never forget what is the cause of your salvation but God being rich in mercy he's got more mercy than we've got sins because there's the because if you've got to have one if you're cankering for a because here's the because it's not found in verse 8 at all because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions he made us alive together with Christ.
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Faith doesn't merit salvation faith isn't a work that's meritorious you're saved through faith not because of faith we contribute nothing let me show you just a couple other verses and we're going to wrap it up Philippians 1 .29
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please when you go to Oxford and you stand there in England and see where Latimer and Ridley and another man died for the sake of Christ and they have a monument there this is the verse on the monument
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Philippians 1 .29 I don't know if you've ever asked praise God for thank you for giving me the faith if you have a best friend think about this for a second you went to high school with somebody best friends you ever go to a high school reunion and I haven't been to one except I went to my 10 year reunion
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I wasn't a Christian at the time say you go to your 50 year reunion your 40 year reunion I think I just had my
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Steve what did we just have 35 reunion that would be correct who wrote that song 35 year reunion why am
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I the Christian there and my buddy that I did everything with is not a
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Christian and I'll tell you the answer is not because I believed the answer is because God gave me faith for to you
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Philippians 129 it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake we could have read the rest of Ephesians 2 about it's the gift of God but here belief is a gift one last passage acts chapter 18 this one might have gotten by you if you weren't paying attention acts chapter 18 please we are trying to say in every single case we have a faith received second
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Peter chapter one from God so we don't want to be prideful that we believe in our friends didn't we don't believe in let me give you the big theological word auto -soterism
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God bless you what's auto -soterism self -salvation it's excellent that's why
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I like to preach to you guys acts 18 24 now a certain
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Jew named Apollos an Alexandrian by birth an eloquent man came to Ephesus and he was mighty in the old testament scriptures this man had been instructed in the way of the
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Lord and being fervent in spirit he was speaking and now
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I've lost my verses I'm going to have to actually open my bible oh there it is
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I knew it was going to be tough this morning because I have my notes in my briefcase and you can't see it well maybe you can do you see that I have to tell you this isn't
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Dunkin Donuts coffee that's spilled and I have to tell you it's not Starbucks coffee but it's Pete's coffee and it spilled and I thought that was a sign
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I don't know what the sign was but it was certainly some sign it's a sign
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I can't find my verses teaching accurately verse 25 the things concerning Jesus being acquainted only with the baptism of John he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue verse 26 but when
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Priscilla and Aquila heard him they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately and when he wanted to go across to Achaia the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him and when he had arrived he helped greatly those who had believed through what?
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grace how does anybody believe? they believe through grace it's not of yourselves it is the gift of God you mean to really tell me when you get to heaven you'll say
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God the reason why I'm here is I believed I think when you get to heaven you'll say this everything
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I did Lord contributed to my damnation but your love was so much greater than my sin you just undid everything and your grace was greater than all my sin
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I've been justified by your grace I've been redeemed by your grace I've been reconciled by your grace I've been given propitiation you've been propitiated by grace alone
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I've been forgiven by grace alone I have Christ's righteousness by grace alone and my faith is
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I came up with that and then I allowed you to save me Spurgeon said it is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee it is
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Christ it is not joy in Christ that saves it is Christ it is not even thy faith though that be the instrument it is
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Christ's blood and merit when's the last time you said God thank you for giving me the gift of faith all right we're gonna pray and then we're gonna celebrate
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Father in heaven thank you for our time that we have tonight in your word I just pray that Father we make our boast in you by the works of the law no flesh is justified in your side and Father everything that we have is your gift
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Father I pray some of us have friends who are enslaved to sin heterosexual sin homosexual sin we pray that Father you use us to be messengers of the good news we have good news there's a
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God who's got greater grace than all our sin we have good news that those who look to the
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Lord Jesus Christ and his great life and death and resurrection can be saved there's good news there were homosexuals in Corinth and adulterers in Corinth that now in heaven all because of your grace
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Father I thank you for Mark and Anita I pray that you'd bless them and their new ministry down south you give good gifts to the church people given to the church and I thank you for them
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I pray that you'd bless them pray that you would give them wisdom pray that you'd strengthen their desire to serve other folks and many days as they have on this earth