Sermon: Spirit Wrought Obedience

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Good afternoon brothers and sisters Our text today is going to be from Paul's epistle to the

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Romans in chapter 8 if you want to open your Bibles there. I wasn't

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Expecting to be with you in this capacity today And yet here I am I enter the pulpit joyfully the call must be answered.

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There's a lot of great work that the Lord is doing Amongst of course Apologia Church, Utah and our elders there.

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We just returned from the g3 conference yesterday It was three days of service there on behalf of end abortion now our ministry and action for life

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Which is our political lobbying arm of that ministry? And I can't tell you how encouraged we were to be serving

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God there in that capacity amongst 6 ,400 believers in Attendance we were quite busy having conversations and making relationships and nurturing certain relationships

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And I'm very very excited about how many people know end abortion now are involved with that ministry

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I spoke with a lady there who had started doing this type of work about two years ago

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She started going to the abortion mills. We were able to equip her with materials and two years later

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She was telling me that she stopped counting after she had seen 60 babies saved from her work there.

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So Praise God for that That kind of story can be multiplied

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God has been very very gracious to us to allow us to equip local churches and to be a part of such an event

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Like that, so we're very very excited about all that he's doing I come to you today bringing a message from Romans chapter 8 and really

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I think The quotation that I chose that's on your bulletin is the best summation That I could give of the point of this message and that is from Augustine grace was given that the law might be fulfilled the question that is before us today is where does the power of obedience come from For living the

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Christian life and that's why the title of the message is spirit wrought obedience because We all know and are aware of the fact that God saves us by grace

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Through faith in Christ apart from any work that we can contribute to this gracious redemption however, there is not just something that we've been saved from The curse of the law the penalty of the law the wrath of God The just condemnation of God that rests upon us for our sins against a holy

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God But we have been Redeemed graciously by God and saved to something

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There is a purpose in our redemption Outside of just going to heaven one day when we die

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God has set apart good works for us to perform While we are here serving him in the world amongst the people of God and there is a lot of confusion and has been around this issue of justification sanctification the relationship between the two the relationship between grace and works and so the

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Apostle Paul of course is Our guide in this and our authority comes from the text of God's Word to hopefully provide clarity for this issue today so I want to read the text starting in verse 1 and Then back up for just a few moments so that we can gather ourselves in the context of the passage and get up to this point

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So that way hopefully this will be a meaningful application for us by the time it's all said and done.

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Amen These are the words of God There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus For the law of the

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Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death

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For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do

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By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemns sin in the flesh

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In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us

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Who walk not according to the flesh? But according to the Spirit thus far as the reading of God's Word, please join me in praying for the message

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Our God and gracious Heavenly Father We Thank you that we can gather together here today

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Lord amongst the chorus of crying children We thank you that you are among us

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Present with us by your very spirit Lord God You have blessed us today to be able to gather safely today to hear from your very mouth

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Lord God the words that are truth and life and God we confess that we are not worthy to be under the hearing of your word today but God Save for Jesus and the position that he has given us as a gift of your grace

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Lord We sit here today Under the reading under the hearing and we ask that the word would have its intended effect in our hearts

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Lord would you teach us today? Would you equip us? Would you open your word before the hearts and minds of your people and do what

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I cannot Lord and that is Bring it home to the heart so that we can live in Accordance with it father

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And we ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen If you don't know

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Romans chapter 8 verse 1 Get to know it Lay it in your heart.

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Of course. I think we all know it by this time. Hopefully no condemnation For those who are in Christ Jesus This is a verse that we have tucked away to comfort us in times of sin to remind us of our

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Union with the Lord Jesus the fact that we are hidden in Christ and in his righteousness

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And there's going to be talk of that in the message today because Paul spends quite a bit of time on that topic

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Union with Christ. It's not something that is Peripheral to the Christian life. It's absolutely central.

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And what does it mean just to boil it all down? You are in Christ if you are a

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Christian You are clothed in his righteousness What's true of him is true of you if you have been joined to him by God's gift of faith and Then conversely the other side of it is not only are you in Christ?

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Not only do you share in his triumph share in his victory are protected in him by your union with the

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Lord Jesus But the spirit of Jesus Christ dwells in you

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Paul says I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer. I who live but Christ who lives in me the life

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I live I live in the body and I live it by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me this idea of union with Christ central to Christian obedience the perfect harmony really if you will of grace and works of Obedience and mercy

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So let's back up for just a moment here if you're familiar with the epistle to the

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Romans Paul starts out by Presenting his gospel of grace saying that he's unashamed of it for it is the power of God unto salvation

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For everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek and then he proceeds to talk about how

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The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness

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Suppress the truth and he gives the greatest description imaginable of your heart and my heart before God How we know

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God exists, but we refuse to honor him and give him glory and worship him instead We exchange that glory and we worship and serve the created things rather than the

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Creator who is blessed forever and of course that Manifests itself in a myriad of different ways as is described by the vice list

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That comes at the end of Romans chapter 1, but there's more He moves into Romans chapter 2 now turning his attention to what would be the covenant people of God those who thought that because they possessed the mere symbols of God and because they had the

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Torah and they went to synagogue that somehow that Exempted them from this rather scathing commentary in Romans chapter 1

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But Paul says there's no difference you violate the law of God as well

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Which is why he tells them that it's not about Circumcision as an external act you have to be circumcised in the heart

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You have to be changed from the inside out And so the reason that he is first turning his attention over here to what would be

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Pagans and then moving over here to the covenant people of God is to according to chapter 3

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Unite for us into one Man or under one umbrella if you will the reality that all of us stand condemned before God There is none righteous.

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No, not one. No one who understands no one who seeks for God There's no hope in appealing to the law of God We can't be justified in that way

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We can't have a right standing with God in that way before the throne of God We will be judged by him and the law serves to shut us up Before the throne of God so that we have no reply.

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No defense before God's courtroom before the judge and So you ought to be feeling the hopelessness of that by the time you get to verse 21 of Romans chapter 3

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You ought to be quite depressed and Then what does he say but now

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The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

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It's not something novel in history This is what God planned all along and that is what the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom

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God ordained to be our propitiation The sacrifice that takes away that removes the wrath of God from us and so all of humanity is

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Condemned by the same standard and is justified in precisely the same fashion

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Justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and as Paul goes along you have to remember in this epistle he's answering objections all the way through it right the voice of the imaginary objector chirping in his ear and so then he moves from chapter 3 into chapter 4 laying down an exegetical and a theological argument using two heroes from church history, who are they and Abraham and David and so he's making his case for justification by faith

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Talking about how it is the children of Abraham who share in Abraham's faith and they have this incredible Inheritance now because the promise that Abraham would be heir of the world

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Now comes to whoever is Abraham's seed his child and you are only the child of God if you have the faith of Abraham and So because you have the faith of Abraham that gives you access to all of the promises of this glorious inheritance that is yours in Christ Jesus and then as He moves into chapter 5.

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We have the presentation of two different men two different covenant heads

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You're either in one or in the other Because you're justified by faith that places you in Christ Which is much more than you could get from father

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Adam. He can only give you disobedience He can only give you sin.

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He can only give you unrighteousness. He can only give you death as A consequence of what he imputes to you what he credits to you

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That quite frankly many people raise this objection. You know, I didn't do anything to deserve that. I Didn't have any part in that kind of thing, but then making that objection

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We have to be careful, of course because we didn't deserve the fruits of the other man and his obedience

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His perfect life. That is our substitute righteousness that one act of righteousness and then the

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Point of that is to tell us about this reign of grace That we have been transferred into By God's work not our work

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Scriptures are very clear. Paul says in 1st Corinthians. It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus Because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, this is his work he transferred you out of darkness and into light into the kingdom of his beloved

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Son and Then the objector comes and says well We can just do whatever we want then because grace is just raining now so we can sin all the more right

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Paul Is that what you're saying? And of course, what is his response by no means?

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How shall we who died to sin still live in it if You've been joined to Christ if you have this

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Messiah as your substitute righteousness Then what does that mean? You have died to sin

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You have been Crucified with Christ on that cross you have been buried with him in that tomb

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You have been raised with him to newness of life and you have been seated with him in the heavenly places so because of this

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Union what's true of Christ is true of us if we have been united with him and a death like his

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We will be united with him in a resurrection like his so that perfect security that you enjoy as a believer also translates to your sanctification

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God has not only predestined you to be elected to be

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Justified but he has predestined you believer unto glorification Do you know what that means that means if you're in Christ you will make it to the end

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You have every assurance that God has given you predestined unto glorification

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It's so certain in the mind of God that you will make it To the end so that includes every provision for your sanctification for you to walk in obedience to God as You live the

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Christian life and that's really what this message is about It's about the power of that obedience because union with Christ Has to do with the fact that we have been

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Unjustified of the law is the exact word that's used in the text in the original language in chapter 6 now, what does that mean?

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Christ has saved us from the penalty of the law what ought to have fallen on us fell upon him

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He became the curse He took the punishment in our place

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So as to the demand of the law for that righteousness to be justified in God's sight

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Christ satisfied that perfectly that was his work, of course and Then in Romans chapter 7, what are we told

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Paul gives this example about marriage, right? You're only obligated to serve in this way to a spouse as long as there's no death, but what's happened

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You have died to the law You have died to its penalty Died to the curse of the law.

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And so what is he telling us? This is a legitimate union This is not an illegitimate union with the

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Lord Jesus there has actually been a transfer of ownership you have been taken from the domain of sin and Transferred into the arms of a new master so that you no longer serve sin and are its slave

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Being a slave is unavoidable But there's only one slavery that leads to freedom and that's being the slave of Jesus Christ That's the message

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Unbelievers say that all the time don't that I could never become a Christian because I don't want my freedom violated

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Thinking that somehow they're free But it's not true If you're outside of Christ, you're a slave to sin and the only thing that sin pays as a wage is death

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He's a vicious taskmaster and you will not get out until you have paid the last penny

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He will take it all from you. He is a tyrant But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our

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Lord the free gift of God and so Coming to the end of chapter 7 leading up now to Romans chapter 8 you have this discussion of Paul Wrestling with something right?

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He's talking about this conflict that's within him and he's talking about these principles that are at war

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Within his mind and his heart now a lot of believers have looked at this passage in the past and believe that it's talking somehow

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About you know, just just Christian sanctification, right? I don't do the things that I want to do

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I do the things that I don't want to do but I would take the perspective We would take the perspective as a church as other men of God in the past have

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I believe it's well supported That Paul is actually addressing what it means to be and to struggle as a

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Jew living under Torah Wrestling with the law. He delights in the law of God in the inner man, but what's missing?

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He can't do it He can't carry it out. There's no power to affect the obedience as a

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Jew. He loves the law of God He's raised on it. And yet there is this principle at work within him, right?

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the law But at the end of this it's important because this kind of it helps really illuminate the

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Understanding of this in verse 21 of chapter 7 He says I find it to be a law that when

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I want to do right evil lies close at hand so law in this sense means principle there is a power at war within him and that is warring against his desire to be obedient so that he can't carry it out can't do it and Then he moves into chapter 8 and that tremendous statement there is therefore

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Now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus this work of God in Justification that delivers us from the curse of the law and the penalty of sin where our guilt is removed by the imputation of Christ Righteousness our legal condition is changed by God's judicial act and that grants me and grants you

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The right to enjoy God forever And that's what salvation is by the way

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God allowing us as John Piper says and I think it's very well put to make much of God forever

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The enjoyment of God that's where all of history is going for the people of God to the praise and the glory of praising that grace

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However Paul makes very very clear that salvation is not just freedom from guilt

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But freedom from moral pollution, it's not just about atonement for sin, but our renewal

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Not just pardon but purification Not just pardon but purification the work of the

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Spirit Liberates us from our bondage to sin breaking its power over our lives and that's what it means to be sanctified to be set apart by God to be recreated in the image of God and it is this progressive growth in our own experience

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Towards the righteousness that has already been credited to us by faith. That's sanctification The progressive growing in our righteousness towards what

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God the status that he's given to us in justification It is the process by which

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God prepares us for the enjoyment of eternal life. And how does he do this? How does this take place for us by dying to sin and living in Conformity to his will so there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus So conversely, what does that mean?

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Outside of Christ Jesus there is only condemnation Only condemnation outside of him.

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There is no hope there is no help. There is no refuge There is no peace with God outside of this

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Messiah and his perfect finished work So for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no

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Condemnation lay it on your heart. Lay it on your mind and Then verse 2 the law of the

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Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death again the law as in this new principle that is present in the heart of every believer

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This new power that is driving out sin that is teaching us to renounce sin and to pursue righteousness and Holiness, this is why as Paul makes abundantly clear grace is no excuse to sin

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Grace is actually the deterrent of sin in Contrast to what the accusers were bringing before him do whatever you want because you're under grace, right?

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on the contrary grace Prevents us from sinning because God's superior power is revealed in the

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Spirit who now takes up residence in the heart of every believer and causes us to Love God you heard it in the psalm read at the beginning of the service.

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I Delight to do your will Oh God your instruction is in my heart

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Jesus quoted that of himself in the New Testament I Delight to do your will

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Oh God in Jesus now the relationship of the believer to the law is no longer one of hostility because of our inability to keep it because of its ability to aggravate the offense within us and Actually make it worse and show us how far we fall short

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Grace is not an excuse to sin The Ground of the believers justification our status is that there's no condemnation in Christ for us and the evidence that this is true is seen in the fact that the power of the

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Spirit is overcoming the power of sin in our lives and setting us free

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The walking out of our new lives is the outcome of our new status secured by Christ the law of the

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Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death This is reality

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This is an accomplished work of God that we now experientially walk in Right.

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It's like a child putting on his father's clothes what does it look like a little boy puts on his father's jacket and the

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Sleeves hang all the way down past his fingertips, right and he looks silly because it's too big for him But as he grows up into the image of his father

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Righteousness becomes him it fits him it clothes him and he grows into maturity as a man walking in righteousness being sanctified as Paul says elsewhere in the book of Ephesians God has ordained the means by which we grow up into Christ and that is in the fellowship of the

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Church of Jesus Christ We grow up into maturity into the man into the head the

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Lord Jesus Christ and then in verse 3

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God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in The flesh what's very important here is that he sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh

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Jesus never sinned But he assumed the nature of a man.

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He himself likewise partook of the same So that it was necessary for him to be our representative and God in Jesus Condemned sin in the righteous one for our sake he made him who knew no sin

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Sin on our behalf so that in him we might become the righteousness of God and so What's highlighted here is the inability of the law to justify us and the inability of the law to produce the obedience that God?

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Commands it wasn't the law that brought death To him but his captivity to sins power

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The only thing the law can do is shine a light on sin and expose it for what it is

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So the law isn't going anywhere Proof of that the cross

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Jesus went to the cross because someone had to die for sin

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There was a price that had to be paid Which is why

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Christ went to the cross but according to Where we're getting in verse 4

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God has done something else. He has sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh

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Galatians 4 4 but when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons

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Hebrews 2 14 since therefore the children share in flesh and blood He himself likewise partook of the same things that through death

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He might destroy the one who has the power of death That is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong

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Slavery because that's what fear of death is slavery Slavery to sin so the law demands that payment be made for sin and Jesus who obeyed the law was put to death for the sins of those who by faith are placed in him some people say the cross is only about God's grace, but as Another brilliant man says if you look at the cross and you do not see the justice of God Then you will miss the grace of God as well

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You need the two together God's law says that sinners must die because the law obligates death for payment

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Christ the righteous one took that penalty and So sin was condemned in the flesh

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The sins of all those whom the son was representing on the cross were punished in him paid for and paid in full

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The death of Jesus shows us that the law of God is eternally valid and as you get to verse 4 of chapter 8

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What does it say? He condemns sin in the flesh in Order that the righteous requirement of the law and you would almost expect it to say would be satisfied

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By Jesus's death. Yes But he says so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us

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Interesting, isn't it our debt to God has been satisfied but our relationship now

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To the law has changed No more hostility now the commandments of God are no longer burdensome or they shouldn't be at least for the believer

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Because of God's work the law Has done something and is something for us now that is remarkable

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We are empowered now by God's grace to keep the law

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Christian sanctification is law Oriented now just a hammer at home to make sure that nobody under misunderstands this we are saved by grace alone.

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Amen but Christian sanctification Must have an objective reference point

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We can't make it up as we go Right God's Word is the blueprint for Christian ethics

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It's the guide it's the standard for how we live our lives as Christians, so Paul already tells us that justification must be followed by a sanctified life

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We've seen this in our lives You see people that profess faith in Christ and there is no visible difference to how they were living before right?

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If there's no sanctification if there's no desire for holiness if there's no desire to flee sin

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Can we say that justification has truly taken place it is absolutely necessary that it follows

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If Jesus has saved us Paul's whole point is that we will walk in obedience because the power of grace the power of the

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Spirit of life has triumphed over the law of sin now

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I Want to talk here for just a moment about verse 4 This word fulfilled if you have been going to Apology of Church for any length of time you have been blessed by the 20 year long series in the book of Matthew and You've probably heard this text quoted more often than not when it comes to Jesus's view of the law of God.

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What does he say in Matthew chapter 5 verse 17? Don't even let it enter your mind may no messette day

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Don't even begin to think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets I did not come to abolish them, but to what?

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Fulfill them now that word does not mean change Fulfill in its truest sense means to confirm to establish to ratify

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Quite literally to give its proper measure or to put into effect and that's what

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Christ came to do and He exposes the law in the sermon on the mount in a way that absolutely takes the legs off of His contemporaries of the day who made it all about externals

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Right, isn't that what he did? So he does this and then Paul tells us that God has put forward

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Jesus in order that the righteous requirement of the law

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Would be what? Fulfilled and it's the same word Fulfilled in Us who what walk not according to the flesh but according to the

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Spirit For the believer something drastic has changed and what is that something?

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Titus 2 13 and 14 Back up to verse 11

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For the grace of God has appeared the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people training us to renounce ungodliness and Worldly passions and live self -controlled upright and godly lives in the present age

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Waiting for our blessed. Hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness

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How does John and his epistle define sin Sin is it's a catechism question sin is any transgression of the revealed will of God and John says sin is lawlessness, that's what we're saved from Right, so we're saved from lawlessness.

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So what happens now? What are we saved to in Christ Jesus with the

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Spirit of God living within us? law fullness We are saved bought by the blood of Christ from lawlessness with the intention of Christ to purify us for good works,

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I Sincerely hope that we all know it Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 For by grace, you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing

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It is the gift of God not a result of work so that no one may boast but hold on a minute for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus For good works which

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God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them So here's the point the demand of God's law is still in effect

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The law cannot justify us it cannot save us But for those who are in Christ Jesus who enjoy all of the blessings of being joined to Christ Our standard is of course the

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Word of God and God will see to it Through his sanctifying work that we are conformed to the standard of obedience the

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Word of God the law of God The miracle of this new status

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This relationship with God that we have is that he himself supplies the very thing that he demands

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He himself supplies the very thing that he demands He demands it.

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We can't do it. He gives it to us by grace Salvation is not freedom from the law

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But only from its curse if God saved us from sin and saved us to good works

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You think about it for a minute to consider it. How do we know what holiness is and what sin is? we must have

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The standard before us to show us what we are to flee and what we are to pursue

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To show us what pleases God and what does not please God What is righteous and what is

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Unrighteous and some will say well, why do we need that? We have love Right.

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It's all about love. That's the summation of the law and prophets really right, but just because something is a summary of it doesn't mean that the content of that revelation is somehow just negated now as In it's all just subsumed under love

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What is love without content What is love without a standard that shows me what love looks like What righteous conduct requires of me to love my neighbor?

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We don't decide the blueprint for the Christian life We don't get to do that.

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We don't get to make it up as we go. We don't get to be autonomous To have ourself be the reference point

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Paul is clear that as believers He says this in chapter 6 Because of this status that we have this relationship now in Christ We must count ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.

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This is huge Believer this is how you are to consider yourself

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Dead to sin and alive to God in Christ In other words, let it dawn on you that this is your status now in Jesus This is how you're to see yourself.

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This is how you are to count yourself If we're in Christ, then we're in dwelt by the

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Spirit and we can obey God That's the punch behind what he's saying here is that you can now obey

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Because there is a foreign and alien power now that is at work in you

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Allowing you to fulfill the law of God in the way that it was intended Serving in the new way of the

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Spirit rather than in the old way of the written code the glory of this new covenant

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That Jesus has inaugurated is not that he has implemented some new law But that he has taken the same law that he is the author of and given us new power to obey

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I'll say that one more time the glory of the new covenant

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Jesus has inaugurated is not that he has implemented a new law But that he has taken the same law that he is the author of and given us new power to obey

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You turn with me quickly to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 Paul here at the end of chapter 2 asked the question who is sufficient for these things

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Talking about his commission to speak for the Lord in Christ and then he says in verse 1 of chapter 3 are we beginning to commend ourselves again?

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Or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you you yourselves are our letter of recommendation?

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written on our hearts to be known and read by all and You show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us written not with ink

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But with the Spirit of the Living God not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts

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Such as the confidence that we have through Christ toward God Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming for us

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But our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant

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Not of the letter but of the Spirit For the letter kills, but the

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Spirit gives life Now if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory

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That the Israelites could not gaze at Moses face because of its glory which was being brought to an end

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Will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation the ministry of righteousness must far exceeded in glory

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Indeed in this case what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that Surpasses it for if what was being brought to an end came with glory much more

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Well, what is permanent have glory since we have such a hope we are very bold Not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the

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Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought To an end but their minds were hardened

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For to this day when they read the Old Covenant that same veil remains Unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away?

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Yes to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts and brothers and sisters

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Can I just pause here for a moment to remind us? It is never a veil over someone's face.

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That is the ultimate problem It is a veil over the heart Jesus is the one who has set us free from the power and of sin and death and from the fear of death and That is what we need to address when we are speaking with people

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When we are looking at the image of God in people We need to understand that the redemption that's been accomplished in Christ Jesus when

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Jesus gave up his spirit on the cross of Calvary that veil that wall of partition that separated outsiders

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From insiders was torn in two and now we come to the fullness of God It is never something external in anybody's life it is an issue of the heart that we need to speak to and address and We address that as ministers of reconciliation ministers of the

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New Covenant Verse 14, but their minds were hardened for to this day.

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They'll remain the veil remains Unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away? Yes to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts verse 16

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But when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed now the

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Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and We all with unveiled face

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Beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory

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To another for this comes from the Lord who is the

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Spirit It's the same law But now we have a new relationship and a new orientation to it no longer hostile

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You remember of course the promise of the New Covenant we quoted often here. What is it? What is

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God gonna do? He's gonna cleanse us from all of our idols. He's gonna sprinkle clean water on us.

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He's going to take out the heart of what? Stone and he's going to put in its place a heart of and he's going to put his what in us

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That's right, and he's going to put his spirit within us to conform us and then of course

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Promise elsewhere Jeremiah 31 31 the promise of the New Covenant. He's going to internalize the law

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That's the glory of this is now the law is no longer something outside of us written on stone tablets it has been internalized now and the promise of the forgiveness of sins and the law being internalized on the heart is inextricably and intimately related

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If you look at with me book of Hebrews Hebrews chapter 8

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Here it is quoted in the New Testament Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10

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For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the

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Lord I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts and I will be their

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God and they shall be my people and They shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother saying know the

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Lord For they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest for I will be merciful toward their iniquities

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And I will remember their sins no more Do you see it there the promise of the law being authored on the inward parts?

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coupled together with the promise of the forgiveness of sins and the cleansing us of our iniquities

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Jesus himself perfectly obeyed the will of his father and we are being conformed to that same

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Image he is the object of obedience The spirit is the power of our obedience and the law is the content or the pattern of that Obedience in our sanctification.

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I think we have to ask ourselves for a minute here why that's really good news God is just as committed to Sanctifying every other area of the created order to himself as he is you to himself

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Salvation is not just in terms of individuals Right God loved the world in this way that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life

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God did not send his son To condemn the world but that through him the world might be saved

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We know that what God is doing in Christ according to Paul's epistles elsewhere. Is that he is

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Reconciling all things back to himself Through Jesus, that's where it's all going

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To be reconciled to God and you and I are wrapped up in that rescue process

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He will renew and subject this ransomed creation to himself.

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That's in a nutshell the Bible God's relentless pursuit and desire his sovereign authority over to realize

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The restoration of a fallen creation that he has ransomed and is now restoring

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Back to himself through Jesus Christ and guess how he does it through us

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Through his people through the Church of the

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Living God He will renew and subject this world to himself and he does it through his redeemed people we are the agents of this reconciliation heirs of the world the first to taste of the new

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Genesis That's what regeneration is by the way When we talk about what it means to have a regenerate heart, what does that mean?

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To have a fleshly heart a heart that's been saved a heart that's been changed by God in other words What God has done in us to regenerate us by his spirit he intends to do in the world to regenerate it to bring the new

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Genesis and by the way, this this salvation is so much better than just Saving souls for heaven one day

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Making disciples within the four walls of the church Having church and institutional reform making sure we have the sacraments down pat

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But when it comes to going outside of the four walls of the church

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It shouldn't be involved that's the attitude of many believers today shouldn't be involved in this area

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Right somehow God's Lordship doesn't extend to these particular realms, right?

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These belong to some type of common order in which people just don't have to obey Jesus in for some reason

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Even though he said when he ascended that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him everywhere

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Therefore go and discipline the nations and teach them to obey you That sounds kind of like Imposing a standard of morality on someone doesn't it?

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Everyone else is going to impose theirs and so the Christian is left with no other alternative

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But to by the Spirit of God who is conforming us into the image of God Making us more righteous by his power to Stand for righteousness because our calling brothers and sisters

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Goes beyond these walls and that is evidenced by the constant work of this body day in and day out being agents ministers of this

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Reconciliation imploring men and women be reconciled to God It's amazing

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Paul says later on in the chapter here In Romans chapter 8 you turn back with me there if you turned away

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Romans chapter 8 he says in verse 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us

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For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it

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Who's that? Who subjected this creation? Well, the nearest reference point in the text is

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God himself God did this as the sovereign

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He subjected it What for in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God That brothers and sisters is where all of history is going.

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Do you know what your calling is and what my calling is as ministers of this Reconciliation to set all of life free to the glory of God Isn't that?

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congruent with what God made us for in the garden when he first formed the world and he filled it and then he made us to be his divine diplomats his priest kings his vice regents created to fill to multiply to subdue to rule to build

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To make all of this look like Eden To go out and to tame and to subject and to beautify

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We are called to bring God's order Beauty and peace upon the entire world to rule subdue

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Build and to bring the shalom of God upon it all Our charge is to turn gardens into cities right, how does

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The story start in a garden. Where does it end in? In Revelation the

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Garden City it's interesting we were just in the city and we were having dinner one night and We were sitting on the intersection right here eating and there was rampant chaos at one intersection

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There were people running lights. There were people peeling out in their cars

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There were people hanging out the window screaming at each other horns honking drug deals going down on the corner

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All of these things going on in the city We have to think for just a moment here if we believe this truncated gospel this

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Abbreviated gospel that all we need to be about is saving souls for heaven one day making disciples in the church

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Reforming the church not having anything to do with those places out there. Just kind of retreating inward and being safe God's order his peace his orderliness his rule

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Will be abandoned in these places Everywhere that we go that is external to us.

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It'll be abandoned in the cities. It'll be abandoned in the political realm It'll be abandoned in all of these areas

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But when God's rule his peace His shalom comes upon a place and the peace of Christ rules the hearts of men

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You have beauty you have flourishing you have men and women at peace with one another through Jesus Christ We cannot

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Abandon our calling to turn gardens into cities this is what

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God has given us to do if we do that if we check out and will not be

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Involved in that process of God reconciling every area of life to himself

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Can we really say that we've been faithful to the Commission? but conversely This also means that when we do our job to God's glory

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We set life free when we enjoy God's creation in play in In Ironically Recreation right where that word comes from recreation recreation.

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You're taking part in the renewal the recreation of all things Think about that the next time you go to a park or you're playing with your kids outside you're taking part in the cosmic renewal of all things by the way that you enjoy

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God in that and You carry it out in Christ When we do that we are setting life free when we reconcile and confess our sins to one another

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We are setting life free to the glory of God when we educate we are setting life free to the glory of God when we make art

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We are setting life free to the glory of God when we write Stories we are setting life free to the glory of God when we repair what is broken

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We are setting life free to the glory of God when we show Hospitality to those outside the faith and those inside the faith.

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We are setting life free to the glory of God Husbands when we love and lead our wives and children.

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We are setting life free to the glory of God Wives when you respect and submit to your husband's you are setting life free to the glory of God When you require obedience from your children you are setting life free to the glory of God When you speak to your magistrates and call them to obey the king

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You are setting life free to the glory of God when you resolve

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Disputes and you are a peacemaker amongst the brethren. You are setting life free to the glory of God When you propose godly legislation and you have a backbone and you stand up for what's right in the public square

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You are setting life free to the glory of God When you eat when you drink when you sing when you dance when you trim your beard

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You are setting life free to the glory of God When we worship corporately together and we partake of the elements and we sing together

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And we sit under the hearing of God's Word and we come before the throne of God in heaven

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Where the Lamb of God slain is seated. We are setting life free to the glory of God Any mundane task that you can imagine carried out in Christ is setting life free to the glory of God Under his rule is where we need to be and Advancing his rule is where we need to be

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And this is what it means for the righteous requirement of the law to be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh

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But according to the spirit for he goes on in that passage to say for those who set their minds on the flesh

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There's nothing waiting there. Just the outcome of of death and chaos But those who set their minds on the spirit have life and peace, right?

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That's the kind of Characterization he makes of someone under the rule of God in the spirit and We'll end here

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Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 32 just after the

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Passage in Jeremiah 31 that we all know Jeremiah 32 verse 40

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I Will make with them an everlasting covenant

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That I will not turn away from doing good to them and I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me.

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I Will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me Do you ever struggle wondering if you'll make it?

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To the end of the Christian life that you'll be faithful that you really will be obedient to God That you won't

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Fall into Disqualifying sin That your past sin won't come back to haunt you

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That you won't succumb to temptation and be crushed under a mountain of guilt and shame

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Do you ever struggle to wonder if you will make it before the throne of Jesus fully blameless fully purified

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Knowing that you lived a life that was faithful to God in every area not perfect, but faithful It's the promise of the

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New Covenant. This is the promise that includes within it the realizing of the law

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Coming out from the people of God coming out from our inward parts because our relationship now to it is one of love and obedience

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I delight to do your will Oh God the promise of the New Covenant the promise that Jesus is blood

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Covers us and that nothing neither height nor depth nor anything else in all of creation

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Will separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord That brothers and sisters is how you know

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You make it to the end because God himself has promised to put the fear of him into your heart

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So that you will not turn away from him. That is his restraining power and so I commend you to it today as we consider this and the words of God and applying it to our hearts and Understanding what it means to have the righteous requirement of the law put into effect given its proper measure confirmed

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Realized in us who walk not according to the flesh But according to the

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Spirit and the promise of God is that he will be with us unto the very end

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Making sure that we are Faithful as I said before union with Christ you're in Christ hidden in his righteousness grace

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Christ is in you Giving you his obedience giving you his justice giving you his mercy giving you his faithfulness for living the

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Christian life obedience All that we need for this life has been supplied to us by our

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Lord and our Savior and our King Amen Let's pray father.

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I thank you so much for the word that went forward today Pray God that whatever was of me would fall to the ground

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Whatever was of you would find its place in the hearts and minds of your people May you be glorified amongst us now in Jesus name.