The Gospel and John Paul II

Alpha & Omega Ministries

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It is good to be with you here this morning. I would like to, first of all, extend my condolences to all of you who are basketball fans.

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I was warned that you all were going to be a quiet crowd today. Or, it's simply due to the fact that you all woke up this morning and realized you forgot to play with your clocks this morning.

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I come from a state where we respect God's creation and we don't play with time. We tried it once in 1977.

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We actually tried Daylight Savings Time. It was almost unanimously rejected in a referendum because of the fact that in the end of June in Phoenix, Arizona, when you follow that rather odd tradition, when you try to go to bed at 10 o 'clock at night, it's still light and 110 degrees.

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It doesn't work very well, so we said, no thank you. As I go home today, it'll be a three -hour journey back and it was a two -hour journey out.

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I just don't understand any of that personally. God determined how long it takes for the earth to rotate.

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Why do we have to play with that? I've not really figured that part out. Turn with me please in your Bibles to Romans chapter 4.

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Romans chapter 4. And if you would please stand with me for the reading of God's Word.

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Romans chapter 4. I'll be reading verses 1 through 8.

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What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

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For if Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the

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Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

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But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

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Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.

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Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.

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Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.

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May the Lord bless the reading of this Word. You may be seated. It was my intention this morning when

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I left my home to speak with you about a passage from the Gospel of John.

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But I doubt that anyone within the hearing of my voice this morning is unaware of events in our world that have transpired over the past 48 hours.

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Since 1990, I have had the opportunity of engaging in over three dozen moderated public debates against the leading defenders of the

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Roman Catholic Church. I have debated numerous times the subject of the papacy, justification by faith, the mass, sola scriptura, purgatory, the priesthood.

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And in just a matter of weeks on Long Island, I will be debating a Roman Catholic apologist on whether non -Christians can enter into heaven.

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And so I have spent a great deal of time seeking to make clear the teaching of the

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Bible concerning the Gospel and concerning the teachings of the

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Roman Catholic Church where they conflict with the Gospel. And I must confess that this morning

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I come before you with somewhat of a heavy heart. A heavy heart because between my speaking responsibilities in Toledo over the past two days,

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I've had the opportunity of listening. Listening to our world and in particular, listening to what calls itself evangelicalism as we, for the first time in 26 years, have experienced the death of the

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Bishop of Rome. Some of you sitting here today have only known about one Pope.

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John Paul II had the longest papacy of the century. Many of the papacies before that were very short.

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Some of you, if you're old enough, might remember about four Bishops of Rome in your lifetime.

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But for many people, and obviously for many in the media, this has been an extraordinary event.

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And as a result, what is happening? Much discussion will be going on tomorrow morning in your places of work.

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There will be much discussion that will give you an opportunity or maybe a challenge to address the issues of the

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Gospel. Many of you come from families where you have

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Roman Catholic fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, other people in your family who are very much a part of the

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Roman Catholic faith. Some of you sitting here this morning used to be Roman Catholics, and you have paid a price to be here this morning.

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As we sang that song before the throne of God above, you could not help but be thinking about the great privilege that is yours to be able to sing that song and to recognize that when

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God looks at you, no longer are you on the treadmill of baptism, confession, penance, absolution, the fear of purgatory.

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But you've been set free from all that by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of grace. You know what you have paid for that.

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And unlike others of us, like myself, who might be here this morning, I was raised in a Christian family.

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As far back as we can trace on my father's side, we have been ministers. We have been very blessed.

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But unlike us, if you've come from that system, you know of what I speak. You know the preciousness of the words that I just read from Paul's fourth chapter in his epistle to the

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Romans. You know how important it is to believe in justification by grace through faith alone, in Christ alone, based upon His Word alone.

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But many in our world do not understand what you understand this day.

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I come to you with a heavy heart because as I have listened to many evangelical leaders over the past 48 hours,

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I have been forced to the conclusion that for many today who are not Roman Catholics, they are not simply because they don't wear plaid, or they don't like blue, or they don't like spinach.

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It's just simply a matter of taste. It's not a matter of conviction. It's not an issue of the

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Gospel. It's just, well, I don't happen to light candles as much as somebody else does.

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And that's not a good reason. That's not the reason that prompted the

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Reformation. The songs we have sung today, the song that was just sung in soul, the song that we sang together today, if you will listen to the words and if you believe the words, they speak of foundational truths that are denied by the

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Roman Catholic system. And if we believe that our standing this day, the peace that we have with God this day, is based upon the truth that Jesus Christ stood in our place, that we were united with Him in His death, that His death is perfect.

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It admits of no addition. It cannot be represented over and over and over again upon any altar anywhere.

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If we believe that, then we should be troubled by what we have been hearing over the past 48 hours.

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In fact, if you're a former Roman Catholic sitting here today, you've probably thought the same thing

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I've thought. And that is, you know in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, that many of the great saints of that faith had visions of former popes in purgatory centuries after they had died.

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I wonder what's going on today. For the Vatican official came out and said that Mary is throwing open the door of heaven to Pope John Paul II.

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But if you know Roman Catholic theology, you had to sit back and go, no wait a minute, no wait a minute, that's only done for saints.

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And we don't know in this situation. There's this issue of purgatory. There's this issue of the cleansing of temporal sins and the punishment for those sins.

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You can't go into the presence of Christ unless you are perfected. And to be perfected requires the finishing of sanctification.

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That's what purgatory is all about in the Roman Catholic system. And so you may have even sat back and wondered a little bit at what was being said.

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But much more so, I hope you wondered at what is being said by evangelical leaders.

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I listened to one very well -known evangelical leader who has assured us that Pope John Paul II was the greatest evangelist of our lifetime.

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That makes me think, what is an evangelist? What does an evangelist do? Does an evangelist take strong stands on moral issues?

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Pope John Paul II did, but that's not what makes you an evangelist. Does an evangelist live a moral life?

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Well, they certainly should, but that's not what makes you an evangelist. An evangelist is a person who proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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And it seems in our day and age, that gospel has lost all specificity.

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There's nothing left that we can identify in it. It's basically, as long as you say the name

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Jesus, you proclaim the gospel. My friends, that's not the gospel that Paul defined and defended in inspired

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Scripture. That's not the gospel that gives you peace this day. That's not the gospel upon which you stand and about which you just sung.

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I would like this morning to remind us of two precious truths from the

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Scriptures. Two precious truths. I could do so many more, but I want to make sure that I communicate two things to you today.

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I want you to be able to go into the workplace tomorrow. I want you to be able to go to the family gathering this afternoon with confidence that should the issue arise, should you have the opportunity of speaking about the gospel to those who have been given a false gospel, that you will be able to do so.

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That you will not hesitate. That you will not stand back and shrink back from proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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We began in Romans chapter 4. And there the

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Apostle is speaking of what it means to be made right with God.

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Who is it that receives righteousness? Why do you this day believe that the wrath of God finds no place in you?

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Why is that? I recognize there may be some this day and you have to admit the wrath of God does find place in me.

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I hope you'll listen carefully to what the Word of God says about the only way, and I know this is politically incorrect in our world today, but the

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Bible says the only way that God has provided that you can have perfect peace with Him.

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If the Holy Spirit of God has been convicting you of your sin, if the Holy Spirit of God has given you eyes to see that He is holy and you are not, this is the only path that is open to you.

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And it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 4, the

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Apostle talks about Abraham. Abraham was declared righteous.

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Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him. It was reckoned to him as righteousness.

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Genesis 15 .6. And so, the Apostle is taking that passage and he's explaining why is it that Abraham was made right simply by faith, not by fulfilling works of the law.

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Not by doing things adding to the grace of God, but instead solely by faith,

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Abraham was made right before God. And Paul explains the attitude that is represented by saving faith in Romans 4, verses 4 -5.

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And he uses a very common illustration. In chapter 4, verse 4, he says,

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Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

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That's just a standard illustration derived from a situation we all understand, and that is the employment situation.

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When you go to work tomorrow morning, and you prepare to put in your minimum 40 hours, and frequently for many of us today, much more than 40 hours this week, you're going in there and you're expecting that maybe at the end of this week, or at the end of a two week period, or at a certain time during the month, something's going to appear in your inbox.

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A little piece of paper, and it's got some numbers on it. Not nearly what you're worth, I know, but it's got some numbers on it.

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And you're going to be paid. Now maybe it's just going to appear in your bank account, it's going to be automatically deposited, whatever the situation might be.

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But you are going to be paid for the time that you have invested in working for your employer.

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That's what Paul's talking about. To him who works, his wage, what he receives, is not credited or imputed to him as a favor.

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Literally, it's according to grace. It's not a gift. I have said many times, if your employer ever walks up to you with your paycheck, and says, here's a gift for you, you might want to get some feelers out for a new job.

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Because if your employer thinks he's given you a gift in your paycheck, that means he doesn't think much about the quality of your work.

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What is given to you is what you are owed. If your employer does not give you your wages, you have grounds for a lawsuit.

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And remember in the book of James, it is taken as a given that if you're the rich man employing someone, you must give them their wages.

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You cannot cheat those who work for you. And so Paul's saying to the one who works, you come in and you're expecting to receive something for what you're doing.

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You're working the system. That's how employment works. It's not considered a grace.

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It's not considered a gift, but as what is owed to you. The exact opposite attitude is the attitude of saving faith.

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And that's seen in verse 5. But to the one who does not work.

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See, that's the exact opposite. In fact, in the original language, it's very clear that Paul is laying out an exact contradiction.

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The 180 degree opposite attitude of the attitude of the worker. The one who comes before God does not come before God and say, well, you've laid out this system.

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And I'm going to cooperate with this system. And I'm going to do this. And I'm going to do this.

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And I'm going to work this lever. And I'm going to work that system over there. And I'm going to receive what

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I'm due for the things that I'm doing. That's not the attitude of saving faith.

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Paul says in verse 5, but to the one who does not work, but, and what's the opposite?

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Believes in Him who justifies the ungodly. His faith is credited as righteousness.

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How many are there who think that faith is coming to God and saying,

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God, I appreciate how much you've done for me. I appreciate you've laid out this system for me.

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And I'm going to work it the best I can. I know I can't do it on my own, but I'm glad you've laid the system out for me.

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And I'm going to throw myself in there. I know they're not real big back here in your neck of the woods, but out where I live, we have a lot of folks who are members of the

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Mormon Church, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints. And the Book of Mormon says that it's by grace we're saved after all we can do.

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Friends, it's by grace we're saved in spite of all we've done. Joseph Smith didn't understand the grace of God.

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He thought you put out 100 % effort and then the grace of God meets you.

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Folks, that's a false gospel. No one ever puts out 100 % effort to begin with. So if that's what you have to do, that's a mission impossible salvation plan.

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And yet so many people function on that idea. Oh, God's done 98 % of it.

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I only do 2 % of it. No. Paul said to the one who does not work.

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You say, well, wait a minute. The Bible talks about good works. Yes, it does. Ephesians chapter 2. It's by grace we've been saved.

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Through faith and not of ourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works as any man should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which

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God has before ordained that we should walk in them. There's the proper relationship. Christ is creating for Himself a people zealous for good deeds, zealous for good works.

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That's what the Spirit of God does within us. But my works do not add to my relationship with God.

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They do not provide the foundation of my relationship with Him. And if I think they do, and if I treat them as if they do,

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I am not walking in accordance with the truth of the Gospel. So Paul tells us the attitude of saving faith.

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To the one who does not work, but believes. Casts himself upon whom?

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Only upon one. He casts himself upon the one who justifies the ungodly.

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Notice, my friends, it does not say who justifies the godly. To justify is to declare righteous.

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It is a forensic term, a legal term. It's the judge saying, you are right before me. How can you ever hear that when you know your own heart?

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You know even this day the imperfections of your heart. The lustful thoughts.

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The thoughts of anger. How can you ever hear that proclamation about yourself?

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The only way you can hear a just and holy God say you are right before Him is because of what someone else has done in your place.

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Jesus Christ took the penalty that is due to your sin upon Himself.

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It is only when you are clothed in His righteousness, imputed to you freely, that you can stand before God in that perfect, spotless righteousness.

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Not a righteousness made up of partly Christ's righteousness, and partly my righteousness, and partly the righteousness of saints or Mary.

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There is only one robe of righteousness that will stand before a holy God. And it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ in Him alone.

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The person who experiences that is the person who believes in Him who justifies the ungodly.

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You don't come before God saying, well, I'm not as bad as anyone else. I'm not as bad as that person over there.

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No. You see yourself as the sinner. Guilty before God.

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You cannot save yourself. You cannot even begin the process. You throw yourself solely upon the

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God who justifies the ungodly. Only that faith is credited as righteousness and no other.

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Do you hear what I'm saying? When the news broke on Saturday, a

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Vatican official came out. One of the things he said, I know most people didn't catch it.

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I wrote a book a few years ago called Mary, Another Redeemer? It's on the move in Roman Catholicism to have

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Mary dogmatically defined as co -redemptrix, co -mediatrix, and advocate for the people of God.

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It's called the Fifth Marian Dogma. Think about what those words mean.

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One of the things I discussed is the fact that John Paul II, on his papal coat of arms, you see the letters

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T .T. T .T. stands for the Latin phrase totus tuus.

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Totus tuus means totally yours. It is a part of his motto.

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I am totally yours, Mary. The words are not addressed to Christ.

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The words were addressed to Mary, whom he credits in having healed him and saved him from the assassin's bullet in the 1980s.

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And the Vatican representative mentioned John Paul's deep dedication to the

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Mother of God and that she was the one throwing open the doors of heaven to him.

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Is that what it means to cast yourself upon Him who justifies the ungodly?

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To pray to someone other? To believe we need a mediator with the mediator?

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Is that what it means? Is that what true saving faith is? Isn't it interesting, my friends, that if today we were talking about, say, the death of Gordon Hinckley, I doubt there's too many people here who know who

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Gordon Hinckley is. Gordon Hinckley is the current president and prophet of the LDS Church in Salt Lake City.

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If we were talking about Gordon Hinckley today, I doubt there'd be too many people who would have much of a problem in figuring out whether we should look at this as one of God's saints going home or not.

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Why? Well, that's Mormonism and they believe in those other books and that God was once a man and Jesus was the spirit brother of Lucifer and they've got temple ceremonies and they think they can become gods and it's just all that stuff.

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And, folks, if we have a clear understanding of what the Gospel is, we shouldn't be confused in this day either.

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But it is our lack of clarity and our willingness to allow sentimentality to overrule the clarity of God's Word that leads the confusion that exists amongst so many today.

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Listen to what else Paul says, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom

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God credits righteousness apart from works. Listen to these words. We frequently fly right by them.

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Here is Paul's apostolic interpretation of what it means to be the blessed man, the blessing on the man to whom

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God imputes or credits righteousness apart from works.

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Get off the treadmill. Stop insulting God by trying to offer

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Him your pennies for His riches. Listen to what the

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Scripture says. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered.

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Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Who is that blessed man?

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If you're sitting here today, you're a member of this church. I hope and pray that when I ask the question, who is the blessed man, you say,

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I am! I am because my faith is in Christ alone.

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But you see, if you're a former Roman Catholic here today, when you were a

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Roman Catholic, if I had asked that question, what would you have said? I have asked so many.

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I have asked priests. I have asked scholars. Who's the blessed man of Romans 4 .8?

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I was debating Fr. Peter Stravinskis, a man with two earned doctorates, teaches at two major universities, editor of the

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Catholic Answer on the subject of purgatory. And I asked Fr. Stravinskis, who is the blessed man of Romans 4 .8?

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Who is this blessed man whose sin the Lord will not take into account? Remember, if you're a former Roman Catholic, you committed a venial sin.

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Who is it imputed to? You. You're the one that had to go through penance. You're the one that had to say the

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Our Fathers and the Hail Marys. You're the one who has to go to purgatory to have the temporal punishments of those sins removed from your soul.

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If you commit a mortal sin, who is it imputed to? You. You bear the punishment of that. You have to go through penance.

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You have to be re -justified. Who is the person in the Roman Catholic system whose sins are not imputed to him?

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There is none. The only answer I've ever gotten that made any sense at all was a fellow said, that's the person who was just baptized before they leave the church.

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Before they have an opportunity of sinning again, that's the person who's just been baptized. You know what

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Fr. Stravinskis said in our debate? It was Jesus. Think about that one a second.

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Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Well, yeah,

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I guess the Lord didn't take Jesus' sin into account because he didn't have any. I guess he realized that wasn't a really good answer because later on when

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I pressed the issue, he said, and listen folks, he said, I hope to be...

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My friend, don't leave this room today hoping to be.

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You can know. Not just hope. There is no blessed man in the

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Roman Catholic system in this passage. That's why there's no peace. I asked another person

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I was debating, Fr. Mitchell Pakla, a man who knows twelve languages, knows the

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Hebrew language very well. He knows what peace in Hebrew means. Shalom. I asked him, since you believe that you can commit a mortal sin, become the enemy of God before you go to sleep tonight, how can you say you have peace with God?

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Peace is not just a ceasefire. It is a wellness of relationship. How can you know you have peace with God?

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And folks, though the society will tell you, oh, don't talk about this stuff. Well, you can really offend folks.

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The greatest offense you could offer to a Roman Catholic today is knowing these truths, keeping your mouth shut.

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If you want to show love, folks, our society doesn't understand love. Our society thinks that people's feelings are uttermost.

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No, the welfare of their eternal soul is uttermost. And if you love them, you will speak the truth to them.

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We don't treat our children the way our society tells us to. There are things we must tell our children that they may not want to hear, but for their own sake, if we love them, we will tell them.

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Right? We all see that. It's just as true in this matter as well.

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The time is hastening past. I learned a long time ago, when you're the guest preacher, you never go past the time that folks are expecting to get done.

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Because they won't remember a word you said to them other than the fact that you went past the time that the real preacher gets done.

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So we're going to hasten on here. Turn with me, please, to Hebrews 10. First point, who is the blessed man?

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Who is the one who has righteousness as a present possession? It's the one who believes in Jesus and in Him alone.

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Second point, Hebrews 10. Listen to what is said in God's inspired

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Word. For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make perfect those who draw near.

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Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered because the worshippers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins.

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But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

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You've heard on television today that there are masses being said all over the world.

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What is the mass? If you're a former Roman Catholic, you know. The mass dogmatically is a representation of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

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When the priest, by the power of his ordination, elevates the host, and in Latin they used to say,

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Hocus corpus meum. This is my body. The miracle of transubstantiation takes place.

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And that host is changed in the body, soul, blood and divinity of Jesus Christ.

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And because of that miracle of transubstantiation, the Roman Catholic Church dogmatically teaches that the mass is a propitiatory sacrifice.

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It is a sacrifice that removes the penalty of sin. However, as you well know, in the

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Roman Catholic system, you can come to Calvary. That's what the mass is.

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Jesus is physically present. It's said to be the same sacrifice. You can come to Calvary ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times.

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Figure it out. Some of the people that you know go to mass daily. How many times does that make over the course of a lengthy life?

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How many masses did John Paul II attend to? How many did he perform?

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10 ,000? 15 ,000? 20 ,000 over the course of a life?

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And yet, and yet, you attend the sacrifice of Christ 20 ,000 times and you can still die impure.

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You still have to go to purgatory to finish the cleansing. And even more so, you could attend to all those masses and still commit a mortal sin and die the enemy of God.

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The mass is said to be the central act of worship in the Roman Catholic system.

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And yet, it is repeated over and over and over again.

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Did you hear what the writer of the Hebrews said? He's talking about the old sacrifices. That sacrifice that would be offered especially on Yom Kippur, the

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Day of Atonement, where the people would gather, and the offering would be made, and the high priest would enter into the holy place, and he would offer that sacrifice to the sins of the people.

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But you see, every person who stood there in the temple courts knew they had been there the year before, and if they lived, they'd be there again the next year.

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You see the repetitious nature. Verse 3 says, but in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.

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The Greek word there is anomnesis. A reminder. A remembrance.

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A memorial. You see, if you have to keep repeating it over and over again, what's it telling you?

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It's telling you, this isn't enough. This does not perfect you.

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There is something greater. There is something more. That's what the picture of the Old Testament sacrifices was all about.

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That's what the writer here says. He says in verse 2, notice what he had said there.

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If these things perfected people, wouldn't they have ceased to be offered because the worshipers would have their consciences cleansed?

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But instead, that wasn't their function. Their function was to be a reminder. Something that points to a greater reality that was yet coming.

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So you see under the old system, the repetitive sacrifices were an anomnesis of sin.

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A reminder. A remembrance of sin. What about us?

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What about today? What about under the Gospel? We don't have an anomnesis of sins.

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That term does appear elsewhere in the New Testament. You know where it appears?

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Turn with me just briefly to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1

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Corinthians chapter 11. And these words.

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And I hasten to conclude my comments. Paul in speaking to the

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Corinthians about what? The Lord's Supper. He says, For I received from the

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Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when

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He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.

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Do this as an anomnesis of me.

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The Old Testament people had an anomnesis.

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It was a repetitive sacrifice that did not perfect them. And it was a reminder of sin.

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We don't have a reminder of sin. We have a reminder of a

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Savior who saved us perfectly from our sin. The Lord's Supper is not a re -presentation.

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It is not a sacrifice. It is a reminder of the finished once for all work of Christ upon the cross.

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And the reason, my friend, that you can cling to justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, by His Word alone, and believe that God's wrath so justly deserved by every one of us, finds no place in you, is because of the perfection, the once for all perfection of that one completed sacrifice upon Calvary's tree before the throne of God above.

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He stands in the presence of the Father. His name upon us.

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Our name upon His lips. He stands in our place.

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The work is completed. There's nothing to add. That's the

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Gospel. And that is what the

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Roman Catholic Church by dogmatic definition denies. So, I have only one question to ask you, my friend.

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Where is your allegiance? What's most important to you? If it's the faith of men, you've got a lot of company today.

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There are many who don't care about these things. They don't care that the sacrifice of Christ is being misrepresented over and over and over again.

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We all have a right to believe whatever we want. But if you sit here today and you're understanding, you're saying, yes, that was the message that freed me.

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Then you know that if we honor God, we first of all will be filled with thanks for the fact there's nothing

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I can add to His work. It is finished. But secondly, if you know that that is your only hope, my friends, it is the only hope for anyone.

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That means when you hear someone speaking, and you can tell by what they're saying, and you're going to hear it this week, my friends, unless you're going out of this room into a lead mine someplace for the rest of the week, all alone, you're going to hear people talking about how you get to heaven.

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And it's not going to be by this route. It's not going to be by what we just read. There's going to be all sorts of other ideas out there.

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It's not just your Roman Catholic friends, but almost everybody in our society. Well, you know, just as long as you're good enough, as long as you're nice enough and you kiss enough kids, they don't understand the wrath of God.

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They don't understand the holiness of God. They do not understand the divine standard. And if you love, what will you do?

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If you love God, if you love the cross, if you love the

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Gospel, and if you love them, what are you going to do? You're probably going, man,

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I can't wait until this bald guy goes back to Phoenix. But I hope you hear my heart.

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I hope you hear my heart. I have stood in places.

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I have done debates where, to my knowledge, there was one other non -Catholic in the entire room.

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I remember doing a debate once where during the break, a little Roman Catholic lady chased me around the entire room going, you need to pray to Mary.

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You need to pray to Mary. The whole break, just following me all the way around the room. I've stepped out there.

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This isn't some new thing. I haven't just latched on to, oh boy, talk about this because the Popes died.

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No, I've been talking about this from back when the Pope was still running around the world and was in great health.

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But now we all have, not just the opportunity, I think the responsibility to be consistent with the profession that we make.

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When we stand and we sing those words, do we mean them? Is it just beautiful music?

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Or is it what makes it special, the fact that it reflects our hearts, our passion, what we truly believe, how we respond in this day and this hour will reflect greatly upon how real our profession of faith truly is.

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I pray that God by His Spirit will strengthen you and make you zealous witnesses for the

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Gospel of God's grace at this time. Let us pray together. Indeed, our

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Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word and its clarity. We thank You in a world that questions the ability to understand

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Your Word, to understand the Gospel, that by Your Spirit, You have removed those doubts from us.

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By Your Spirit, You have opened Your Word. You have convinced us of the truth of the

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Gospel. And now, Father, I pray for this precious people in this place at this time, that You would strengthen them.

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Lord, if there be any here this morning who are still on the treadmill of works, they have not cast themselves upon Him who justifies the ungodly, show

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Yourself strong and draw Your people to Yourself. And for those here who know

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You and know Your Word, strengthen them. Give them opportunity. Season their speech with grace.

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Give them words of wisdom to speak Your truth at this time. We thank

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You for loving us. We thank You for the perfection of the Gospel. We pray all these things in Christ's name,