The Law and Gospel Today on The Dividing Line

Alpha & Omega Ministries

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Welcome to this Thursday edition of The Divining Line. My name is John Sampson, filling in for the illustrious

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Dr. James White, who is away today. I'm so glad you could make it on this journey into the

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Word of God as we get into it today. My whole desire is to just teach some of the things that have radically changed my life since the year 2000, when

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I really encountered God and His sovereignty, even though I'd been a Christian a long, long time.

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And Dr. R .C. Sproul visited Scottsdale, Arizona, which wasn't too far away from my home in Glendale, and rocked my world.

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I didn't really plan on having my world rocked, but it was.

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I heard him personally tell me and the audience in no uncertain terms that I had not understood the very verses

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I thought I knew off by heart, and because I knew them, I knew what they were saying. And that exposed me to something called

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Reformed Theology, and with a vengeance, it propelled me into a study cocoon for about nine months, even though I was a pastor at the time, had been in ministry since June of 1987, thought my understanding of God's Word was clinical and clear and precise, and realized

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I had many traditions. And still do, I just don't know where they are, and if I knew what were just traditions rather than the belief system of the

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Scripture, I would change them instantly. Hopefully that is your heart today as well. I pastor here in the

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Valley of the Sun, and we're experiencing some warm temperatures at the moment, and it's going to get warmer over the weekend.

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Eighty -nine is the expected temperature, I feel sorry for everyone else experiencing some amazing snowstorms in the east, and also in England, they're underwater in many different places, and so my heart goes out to you.

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We're going to get into the Word of God today on the subject of law and gospel. Now, I do have to explain that coming from England, we say law, and many

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Americans have no idea what that means, because they say law or something to the equivalent, but I hope you'll give me some,

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I don't know the right word to say. So if I say law, you know

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I mean law. We'll just take that as a given.

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And I have an English accent according to Americans, they think often that I've just stepped off the plane from England, but those who are

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English can say, no, there's a bit of an American twang. I've been here for 21 years, and so I'm doing pretty good with my

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English accent according to Americans, but English people think, nah, that's not the real thing anymore.

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So I hope to download Accent 2 .0, but at the moment I'm not able to find the app for my brain, and so I'm doing the best

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I can to remain with my English accent. Hopefully you're able to follow me.

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I'm going to be using the English standard version of the Bible, though, and I hope you will follow with me as we get into the

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Bible today. Really I think one of the reasons that Dr. White has asked me to fill in is that he knows,

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I'm sure he knows this, that my mission is to help

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Americans be prepared for heaven, because this is what they sound like there.

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This is the accent of heaven, and all of us as Christians want to hear those immortal words, well done, good and faithful servant.

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Yes. Yes. I'm sure James is shaking his head if he ever hears this. Here we go. We're on to the word of God.

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I want to talk about law and gospel, because I believe the church at large needs to be re -evangelized.

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A lot of people think that the church in America has been, or even the country as a whole, has been evangelized, and we have to try and find people that haven't quite heard it in some sense.

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But I believe what we're about to hear today will show us that's not the case. We haven't heard a biblical gospel.

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I want you to imagine this scenario. You turn on the news. It's a TV program, six o 'clock, perhaps it's

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Channel 10 News, and there's a new guy up front as the presenter, and his name is, let's say,

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Bill Jarvis. Just picking a name out of the air. He's new. He's thrilled with his job, and he says, welcome to the six o 'clock news.

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I'm feeling good. Today's the first day on the job. I've got this job.

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There's a lot of people applying. I got the job. Today is a wonderful day, and guess what?

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You won't believe this. My pay rise has really helped me already in my bank account.

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It's amazing. My wife's pleased. The dog's pleased. He's getting a better kind of dog food.

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Things are going well at the Jarvis household. We are excited. And you're watching this, and you're thinking, is this the news?

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And he goes on, and he tells you about his plans for his summer vacation, and on and on he goes. And the more he goes on, the more you are just alert to the fact that this is not what you tuned in for.

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You tuned in for the news. So it is, when we talk about the gospel, it is good news.

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The Greek word is euangelion, and it means glad tidings, good news, happy report.

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It means all of those things. And what we ought to do as Christians is not to speak about ourselves.

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Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our

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Lord. And the gospel is news. It's about an event. Just as it was wrong for this particular gentleman to talk about his reaction to being on the set and having the job, that's not what his job is for.

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So we as Christians are called upon to share the good news, and it's not about us. Many times people say,

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I went into a store and I was able to share the gospel. What did you say? Well, I told them my life has changed since I heard about Jesus.

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Since I accepted Jesus, since I've got hold of Jesus, my life is radically different.

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I used to be this, now I'm this. I used to be a drunk, now I'm not a drunk. I used to be angry, now I'm no longer angry.

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And my response to that is, that's just like Bill Jarvis. That's just like the man who gets his job absolutely wrong by focusing on something that God has never called us to do.

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God calls us to be spreaders of the news, and it's not about you.

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And the message of the Bible is not just gospel, but it's law and gospel.

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I want to explain that, hopefully with some simplicity, because I'm a simple man and I can understand things when they're in a simple format.

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The Protestant reformers of the 16th century were so certain about the importance of this teaching of law and gospel, they declared that without it, we'd never make sense of scripture.

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Martin Luther declared that of the person who doesn't really get this, quote, you cannot be altogether sure whether he's a

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Christian, a Jew, or a pagan, for it depends on this distinction. That's quite a strong statement.

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Elsewhere, he wrote this, Many people were looking to Luther as the leader of the

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Reformation, and I'm sure people were writing to him from various parts of not only Germany, but throughout

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Europe, and saying, I've got a pastor who's saying certain things, what do you think about this?

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His response was this clarifying statement, look, if he understands the difference between law and gospel, he's like a doctor of holy scripture.

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You can trust that God. That's some powerful statement right there. In agreement with Luther, C .F

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.W. Walther, known in his day as the American Luther, he said this, Scripture is, and remains, a sealed book.

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Theodore Baezer said, Hear that.

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I believe the Bible will be an impenetrable mystery as long as we're confused about this.

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So let's define our terms. Law, what does that refer to? It refers to everything

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God commands of us in scripture. I'm not just talking about the Old Testament, I'm not just talking about the five books of Moses, which are often known as the law,

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I'm talking about the principle of law, which is do this and you will live.

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The commands of God. And we find those commands in both the Old and the New Testament.

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In fact, you can be reading a verse in any part of the Bible, and you can describe it as law, and in the next verse see gospel.

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What is gospel? Gospel refers to Jesus Christ, his person, his work, and what he's done for us through his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and how by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, we can receive the benefits of that death.

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The gospel refers to glad tidings, good news about what he has done for us.

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Now, once we understand that law is about what God commands, the gospel is about what

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Jesus Christ has done for sinners, we can define terms and understand and make progress in this.

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Jesus was very, very clear. In Mark chapter 10, we're going to look at a passage that is well known to us.

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In verse 17, it says, Let me just stop here for a moment.

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The man, obviously very excited to be close to Jesus, ran to him, wanted to get a question answered.

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Burning on his heart was the question, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good?

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He was showing, as we're going to see things unfold, he was showing the man, he had no idea what goodness was.

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This man thought he was good. And as a fellow good person, he was saying, good teacher, what must

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I do to inherit eternal life? Now, the personification of goodness was standing right in front of him.

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Jesus said, no one is good except God alone. People have used this to say, well, Jesus was saying he wasn't

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God. Not at all. He was just talking to this man saying, do you have any idea who you're talking to? Why do you call me good?

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Why do you call me good? We as Christians call him good because he is goodness personified.

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He is God himself. He is God. But this man didn't realize this.

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No one's good except God alone. And then he directed this man to see by a series of questions whether he would hold up to his end of the deal in inheriting eternal life.

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How would you do that? Well, keep the commandments. You know them. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery.

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Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. In other words, he was walking this man through known territory, the commandments of God.

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We find them in the book of Exodus chapter 20, the 10 commandments. He was walking him through.

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He listed a number of them here. And the man incredulously said,

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Teacher, all these I've kept from my youth. This man thought he was good. He had no idea of goodness.

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First of all, in who he was talking to, didn't realize the goodness of Jesus, but he didn't understand that he himself was not good.

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He thought he'd kept all these things from his youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,

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You lack one thing. And we'll talk about what Jesus said in response. He loved him and said,

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You lack one thing. Jesus knew very, very quickly because he is

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God manifested in the flesh. He knew this man had no idea about goodness.

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And he realized that this man was caught up in sin. His heart was estranged from God and he didn't even realize it.

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He says, You lack one thing. Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.

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Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. We could say great possessions had him.

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But think about that. Jesus, with one command revealed to this man, they had never kept the law of God because the first commandments talk about no other gods before him.

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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and have no gods before him. And money was a god with a small g to this man because he just couldn't do it.

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He was disheartened and he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. This man had not even kept the first of the 10 commandments.

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Jesus walked this man through the law. Now, we need to say this about the law.

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The law is perfect. It's holy. It's good. There is nothing wrong with it.

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Any time we come across the law of God in either the Old or the New Testament, it's the right thing.

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It's what God commands. It comes from God. It is perfect.

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The law of the Lord is perfect. The Bible even declares that. But we've got such a superficial understanding of goodness.

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We don't understand oftentimes none is righteous, no, not one. No one does good, not even one.

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We think of that and we think the Apostle Paul was just using hyperbole, wasn't he, to say that?

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No, he says none is righteous. And then he says it this way. No, no, get this, not even one.

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No one does good, not even one. No one has done good for a single day of their lives.

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And that is very, very bad news. To understand the good news of the gospel, we have to understand the bad news of what the law has shown us.

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And walking through those commandments, we see it very, very clearly. We have not kept the law of God.

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The standard of righteousness in the kingdom of God is God's own character.

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When Jesus talks about good, its comparison is not to Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin.

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And according to human goodness, we're doing pretty well. No, the standard is

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God's own holiness. So the first function of the law is to be that mirror that reflects to us the character of God and reveals his righteousness, and it reveals our sin.

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Jesus knew this man had no idea of goodness, and he had no idea who he was talking to either.

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Jesus then reinforced the law. But the man was so misguided and deluded, he thought he could live a life that was good enough for God.

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And Jesus loved him even in that hopeless, lost condition, that condition that thought he himself was righteous.

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Now, understanding this, Martin Luther and others made a statement that I think is very, very helpful.

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The law is for the proud and the gospel for the brokenhearted.

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Here's what we do, though. In most of our churches, we tell people go out and evangelize, and they go out and they talk about the gospel, about Jesus died for you,

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Jesus rose from the dead. And depending on who you might be talking to, most people have the reaction, well, that's all very nice for you.

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I'm glad it means something to you, but I don't need that. But the fact is, what

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Jesus did with this man and what he did elsewhere, we're going to see another passage where he did this, is he walked people through the law before he ever gave them good news.

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Paul did the exact same thing in the book of Romans. Just as a digression, if you read through Romans 1 through 3 from chapter 1, verse 16 and 17, where Paul outlined the theme of the book,

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I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it's the power of God for everyone who believes.

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And then in verse 17, talks about the righteousness from God that is by faith. And then verse 18, he talks about the wrath of God, the anger of God that is justly against all human beings for their rejection of a godly lifestyle, not honoring him.

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Not being thankful. And from chapter 1, 18, right through to chapter 3, verse 20, it's bad news.

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It's bad news for the Jew because they have the law and they haven't kept it. It's bad news for the religious person.

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They have the commands of God and they haven't kept it. And then the Gentiles, they have the law written on their hearts and yet they're in the same boat.

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They're all under sin and with just divine scrutiny, quoting the

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Old Testament over and over and over from verse 10 through the 17th verse of chapter 3.

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The apostle Paul is just loading up a machine gun and firing it at anyone left still standing in their thinking so that everyone might be brought under the guilt of God by means of the law.

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In Romans chapter 3, verse 19, the apostle Paul made it very, very clear.

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No one can get to heaven and right standing with God based on their performance, based on their law keeping.

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Now, we know that whatever the law says, Paul wrote, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

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For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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He does get to the gospel, verse 21, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law and he just is exuding the wonders of the gospel in Romans chapter 3, 4, and the early part of chapter 5.

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It's wonderful, wonderful, good, good news. But before he ever gets to the good news, he's outlined the bad news.

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Just as a jeweler to show the diamond doesn't find a white background, as they set up their jewelry store, they set up a black background to show forth the beauty of the diamond.

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The gospel is the diamond and God shows us the beauty of it by, first of all, showing us our utter dependence on grace, not just a grace that is necessary, but a grace that is sufficient.

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That was the heart of the Protestant Reformation, the difference between God's grace being necessary, which

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Rome would affirm, but sufficient to do all that was necessary.

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The law is a mirror. The law restrains evil and it reveals what is pleasing to God and the law reveals that we have never kept the law.

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By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified.

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So in telling the man, well, what must I do to inherit eternal life? That being the question, well, what have you done with the law?

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Have you ever murdered? Have you ever committed adultery? Have you ever not honored your father and mother?

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Well, I've done that. I've done that. I've done that. Well, if you've really kept the law, let's talk about money.

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Let's talk about where your heart is as regards to riches. Is God really first place or do you have a

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God before him? I want us to go to the most famous sermon in human history found in Matthew chapter five.

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It's called the Sermon on the Mount and most people misunderstand these words and I want us to walk through it because there's very little good news here and I'm amazed that people enjoy the

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Sermon on the Mount because if you actually read it, it's even more strict than the

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Ten Commandments. He quotes the Ten Commandments and says, you don't just need outward conformity to this.

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You've got to get it right in your heart as well. He lifts the law to an even higher degree than even

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Moses had done and we're thinking this is wonderful stuff. It is not wonderful stuff. It's condemning because the law is sent to condemn.

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It's never brought anyone into a right standing with God and the whole purpose of this sermon was that man should throw up their arms and hands and say,

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I can't keep this. I need a savior and he goes, yeah and here

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I am. Come to me you who are weary with law keeping and heavy laden with law keeping and I'll give you rest.

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I'll give you all that I have. Let's just walk through some of these wonderful scriptures that Jesus gave us and recorded in the

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Gospel of Matthew chapter five. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth.

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Everything stands still when Jesus opens his mouth. This is God speaking to us and he taught them saying, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Some people find that a very comforting verse. I don't because qualifying for the kingdom of heaven depends on me being poor in spirit.

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That means I've come to a place where I recognize my absolute poverty spiritually.

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I see nothing in me as able to gain entry into the kingdom of God.

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Nothing of me gives me an acceptance with God. That's what it means to be poor in spirit.

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I am abandoned with such poverty of spirit that I cannot even hold my head up towards God and ask for anything because I have nothing, nothing by which

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I can say, God, I can be accepted because look what I did. Have you come to that place?

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If not, you don't qualify for the theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's what it means to be poor in spirit.

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You've abandoned all self -righteousness. That's the first thing

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Jesus said. That should whip us right there and say, well, that's not comforting. It goes on, blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

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Well, yes, I remember grieving when Aunt Betsy died and when my mother died and all of that. I understand.

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But have you mourned over your sin the way we should, the way you should?

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Have you really mourned? Have you really come to a place where you say, oh,

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God, I'm shocked. I'm saddened. I cannot even stand the fact that I've committed high treason against you.

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I mourn internally. God says, Jesus speaking here, these are the people who will be comforted.

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Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Are you truly humble?

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Really? Or do you want to be recognized? This is interesting. When people give to ministries, they want to have oftentimes some recognition for it.

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They build a hospital. They want their name on the side. Blessed are the meek for they shall.

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Have you ever had a prideful thought? Just one? Well, yes.

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Back in 1984, on December the 3rd, I felt good about myself. Well, then you don't qualify for being meek.

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Well, I'm generally meek. Well, it doesn't say blessed are the generally meek. It says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

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Oh, yes, I'm hungry. Really? Yeah, I go to church once a week and maybe twice a week and I read my

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Bible. And really, are you hungry? Are you consumed with such a hunger and passion for righteousness?

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You cannot get through a morning without hearing the word of God. And have you always been that way?

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What about blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy? You ever walk past someone in need once?

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If we're not struggling already, we're forever slain by verse 8.

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Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Really? You're pure in heart? Pure?

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Really? Never had an impure thought? Do you see what

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I'm saying? Jesus is laying the ground rules for the kingdom of God. And he's elevated the law to a place where we should be throwing up a hand saying,

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I can't do this. What does Paul say? By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified.

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Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Maybe we get a little bit of comfort there.

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Yes, I got a strange look in the store when I showed them my

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Bible. Yes, really. It goes on. Jesus talks about being salt and light.

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He goes on to talk about he had not come to abolish the law, verse 17, or the prophets, but to actually fulfill them.

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Jesus had a high view of the law. He said, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota.

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Iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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He talks about anger and he says, you may not have committed murder, but if you've even been angry with your brother, you violated what

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God intended when he gave the law. You may have avoided physical adultery, but if you ever had a lustful thought, you've broken, you've violated the command.

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Do not commit adultery. Do you see what Jesus is doing in this so -called comforting sermon?

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He's bringing us to an end of ourselves. He talks about divorce.

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He talks about oaths. He talks about retaliation. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. But I say, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

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Yeah, love your enemies. It gets worse. It gets worse.

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Give to the needy. I want us to look at one verse, and I hope you can see this in your own

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Bible. Simply these words. You ready?

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Verse 48. Summing up Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

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What do you do with that? Well, you see,

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Pastor John, my studies of the word perfect have shown me that you could translate that word mature.

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Now, I agree it's a possible translation. It's number two. But number one, as an interpretive structure, is the word perfect, which is why our translations say perfect rather than mature.

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But we understand that the Greek word used here is interpreted by means of its context.

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And so does the context spell out the idea of perfect or mature?

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And the answer is perfect because it talks about God being perfect. And God is perfect rather than mature.

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God is not a maturing, evolving God. It's not like, well, he had a few temper tantrums and now he's more mature.

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He's learned his lesson from Noah's flood, went a little bit too far, and he's much more kinder now.

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Really, you read through the New Testament, are you seeing the same Bible I am?

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There's just as much wrath revealed in the new as the old. And when Jesus comes back, it's not going to be a party for the unbeliever.

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Jesus comes back and he says he will tread the winepress of the wrath of God, the

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Almighty. Here's what's happened in the church. There are two main schools of thought.

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John Wesley would have looked at this verse, be perfect even as your heavenly father is perfect, and said, well, if God has commanded us to be perfect, we must have the ability in and of ourselves to be perfect.

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That is a huge error. That is not true. We have not got the ability to be perfect, even though it is right for God to require perfection.

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Here's the thing. God's standards are perfection.

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His standard is perfection. He will not reduce the law down to the level of people's performance and say, come on in guys, let me negotiate my holiness to bring you in because of my love.

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He will not do that. He has to hold true to his character, which is moral perfection.

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Wesley and his influences vast in the church would say, we've got the ability to do it.

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And people will walk through the Sermon on the Mount and say, you and I can do this. Let's be more pure in heart.

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Let's be more merciful. Let's be more perfect. You know what

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Martin Luther would do? He would look at that text and he would say, let me ask this question.

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Is this law or is it gospel? Is it commanding us to do something or is it

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God's remedy for our predicament? And he would say, it's obvious this is law and by works of the law, no flesh will be justified.

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It is right for God to require perfection in us. But what the law, if it has its right function in us, is that it is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.

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And it should tell us, I can't do this. I can't keep this. I need a savior.

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And that is the whole message. And so Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is using the law to speak about himself being the answer to the need of man, which is righteousness.

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The man and woman in the street today who does not sense his need of righteousness needs the law, needs to understand that before a holy

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God, he has committed high treason against him. He has violated all that is holy every time he's done anything that is in conformity to the law of God, either in thought, in action or in word.

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The law can never justify us. It only condemns us, even though it's good. Both law and gospel are necessary, but both have different functions.

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The law has the power to reveal sin, but not the power to remove it. There are churches that you could call law churches, and there are churches that seem to be gospel churches.

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What we need is law and gospel churches. The message of the Bible is law and gospel, not law on its own, not gospel on its own, but law and gospel.

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Imagine a doctor trying to cause sales of his most favorite pill, red pills, going around door to door saying, will you buy my pills?

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Will you buy my pills? They're nice. They look good. I feel good when I take them.

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Would you have some pills? Would you buy some pills? I'm not sure people will sign up for that.

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How about a medical procedure? I've got this amazing medical procedure. Would you like to come into my office?

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I'll do surgery on you. I'm not sure anyone would really want to sign up, but imagine this scenario.

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You go into the doctor's office, and they've taken tests, and they come back, and the man, the doctor says, we've got bad news.

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You have a condition that unless treated will be 100 % fatal, and as the bad news hits your mind and sinks down into your very soul, you say, is there any hope?

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Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I've got this medical procedure. I've got these pills, red pills, and in tests, although it's a pretty new study, 100 % of people that have these red pills and go through this procedure find that it's not fatal.

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After all, they are actually free of this condition. Are you interested? Oh, yes. Sign me up. I don't care how much it costs.

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I want the pills. I want the procedure. So it is. The law tells us our predicament.

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It tells us our diagnosis. It tells us we're lost, and there is nothing more pressing on the human heart than the need to be right with God.

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We're not promised even that this night we will see midnight. Today is the accepted day.

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Now is the accepted time. Now we must come to God because we don't know when we're going to stand before him as a holy

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God and be naked before him. So the message of the gospel is something

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I would sum up in two words, total substitution. The gospel doesn't defy the law.

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It's a fulfillment of it because Jesus did two things. He died for our sins and he lived for our righteousness.

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His death blotted out all our transgressions. Isaiah 53 tells us of this coming one 700 years before the time of Christ.

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It says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.

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All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, our own way, and the

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Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus died for our sins, but he also lived his perfect life, the life that John Samson should have lived but didn't, the life that you should have lived but didn't.

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Only of Jesus could God the Father say, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

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Only of him. Only of him. And when we believe the gospel, what happens is our sins are canceled because of his death and righteousness is credited to us because of his life.

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It's his very life of righteousness that is credited to our account.

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You read this in so many places. Romans 4, 4 and 5. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.

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Philippians 3, 9. It's a faith that gives us a right standing with God that is outside of us based solely on Christ.

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Let me give you a quote from Tullian Chevigian. You got to say that quickly and speak with authority as if you know how to say his name.

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He said this, the law, to paraphrase Luther, is a divinely sent Hercules sent to attack and kill the monster of self -righteousness, a monster that continues to harass the redeemed.

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Christians, in other words, need the law to regularly reveal that we are worse off than we think. We need to be reminded that there is something to be pardoned even in our best works and proudest achievements.

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But then once we are re -crushed by law, we need to be reminded in the words of an old hymn that there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.

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We need to hear that the sins we cannot forget, God cannot remember. Or as another old hymn puts it, that though the accuser roar of ills that I have done,

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I know them well and thousands more, Jehovah findeth none.

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We need to hear over and over that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, that nothing can separate us from God's love and that Christians live their lives under the banner that reads, it is finished.

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That's a great quote and it's so true. Understand this, the law gives us the command, the gospel gives us deliverance.

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The law says do, the gospel says done. The law says,

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I will crush you. The gospel says, I will cure you. The law condemns, the gospel justifies.

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The law kills, the gospel makes alive. The law accuses, the gospel acquits.

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The law exposes, the gospel exonerates. The law is the first word, the gospel is the final word.

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Christian, don't go straight to the good news of the gospel when you are sharing your faith.

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Make sure you've brought them to the place where they're brokenhearted over their sin. The law is for the proud, the gospel for the brokenhearted.

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It is. I'm talking about a high view of the law, a low view.

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J. Gresham Mason said this, a low view of law produces legalism. A high view of law makes a person a seeker after grace, grace.

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God's grace will only become indispensable to those who realize that God's law is inflexible.

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A cheap idea of law relaxes God's demands, but in reality, they are inflexible.

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Do you believe you can fulfill the law?

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If you think that for a moment, you've never come to a place of poverty of spirit. Let me give you a quote from a friend of mine,

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Greg Francis. He said this, God demands 100 % faultless, perfect obedience.

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And if you can't do that, you better find someone who can do it for you. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the gospel.

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We must preach the law of God. And then when we have brought the sinner under conviction,

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Psalm 19, 7, King James version says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converted, converting the soul.

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Why would we try something else? Some other strategy to bring people to Christ.

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Christ will satisfy you. Listen, it doesn't matter if you feel satisfied. The question is not your satisfaction in God, but God's satisfaction because Jesus satisfied him by his work on the cross for us.

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The gospel is not a promise of a changed life, but is the blood bought story of an exchanged life.

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That's another quote, Greg Francis. The message of the Bible is all about the Christ, not the Christian.

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How many sermons do we hear? It's all about the Christian. Christian, rise up. Christian, do this. Christian, come on, you can do this.

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Rather than Christ being our very life. Paul wrote this,

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Philippians 3, 3. Later on in verse 9.

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I can't say that Jesus satisfies me. What I can say is Jesus fully satisfied

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God for me. On my behalf, the demand maker became the demand keeper and died for me, a demand breaker.

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Jesus said it this way. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Everybody was sinners, but not everybody recognized they were sinners.

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He cannot help someone who thinks they're righteous in and of themselves. The law reveals our sin.

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The gospel reveals salvation. Jesus didn't come to help the righteous, but save sinners.

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Christ Jesus came into the world. The Bible says to save sinners, not merely try to, but to save them.

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1 Timothy 1 .15. Who cares if you feel satisfied? Who cares if you feel good because Christ is in your life?

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That's all a benefit of the gospel. But it's not the gospel. The gospel is an announcement of news that happened long before you were ever here, honey.

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Long before you arrived on planet Earth. Jesus came, was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died an atoning death, was buried, rose again from the dead, ascended on high, and is now at the right hand of the

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Father. And anyone who believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

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Why? He will cancel out all your sins, and he will give you the gift of righteousness. Romans 5 .17.

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Those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, someone else's life will reign in life through the one

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Christ Jesus. Our message is not law, and it is not gospel.

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It is law and gospel. Let me say something else. It's not law and gospel and then law again.

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Christian, you're not on probation. You, if you've come to faith in Christ, you can look back on your justification as a past tense event.

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Romans 5 .1. One of the chief verses that Dr. James White will tell everyone about.

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I remember him signing a Bible and putting Romans 5 .1 in it. It's a verse dear to his heart. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

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A past tense event for the Christian who's believed in Christ. Justification is not some point in the future where God might one day, if he sees internal righteousness in us, pronounce us right in his sight.

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No, we can look back on it. The moment we put our faith in Christ, we've been to the courtroom, and God has declared us not guilty.

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I reckon you righteous. It's as the old man once said, justified means just as if I'd never sinned.

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You know, that's true, but it's not the full picture. It's more than that. It is that, but it's more than that.

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It's not just, just as if I'd never sinned. It's just as if I'd always obeyed. You see, if all

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Jesus did was cancel out our sins, if the zero mark represents just our sins being forgiven, and all of these sins under the zero mark have been forgiven, it just brings us to neutral, to zero, to a place where we have not done anything positive.

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The negative has been canceled by the death of Christ. But here's what the life of Christ does. When the life of Christ is credited to your account, the same thing that happened to Abraham, Genesis 15, six,

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Abraham believed God, and God counted it to him for righteousness. Not only are our sins removed, but God gives us absolute righteousness as a gift.

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If you look into your spiritual bank account, you might expect to see a zero balance. But if you're a Christian, you're loaded.

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You are rich in righteousness because your righteousness is not your own. It's an alien righteousness.

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It's the righteousness of Christ himself, his righteous life credited to your account.

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And it's perfect, and you can't add to it. And it answers the cry of all of our hearts when

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Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no way enter the kingdom of God.

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Outwardly, there's no way we could beat them. They had it down. In terms of outward conformity to the

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Lord, they had it down. They were not just tithing their money. They were tithing their plants. Every 10th petal went to God.

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They had it down. They were meticulous, scrupulous. And Jesus said, unless you're better than that, forget it.

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But Jesus looked in their hearts and saw lust and anger and murder and all of these things that he outlined in the

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Sermon on the Mount. And they were guilty before God. Every one of them.

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But the one who just says, oh God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

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The Bible says, Jesus speaking, that's the man who went to his house justified.

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Why? He was justified not by his works, not by his human merit, but by mercy alone.

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That mercy was sufficient. I'm excited about this gospel.

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I hope you are too. I hope that you are understanding that law and gospel is the message of the

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Bible. Do you know in heaven, there'll not be sections where we have to just wait for the

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Jews in the Old Testament. They've got their service. And now the Gentiles in the

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New Testament, they've got their service. And it's very, very different because they've got a Jewish flavor and they got into the heaven by a different means than us.

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They got in by the law. No, no one got in by the law. Romans 3, 19 and 20 tells us,

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Abraham will be there singing the exact same songs we will because he's saved the same way.

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Abraham believed God and God credited to him as righteousness. Genesis 15, 6, as I've said.

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And that's why we can say, you know what? Abraham was justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone before he ever did any circumcision.

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Abraham believed God and God gave him righteousness as a gift, credited to his account.

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Where did that righteousness come from? Christ had not yet come. Christ has not yet gone to the cross, risen from the dead.

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No, but he believed the message of God at that time. And God knew

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Christ would come and based on what God would do through Christ, gives

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Abraham the same righteousness that you have after the cross. And that's why in heaven, we'll all be singing the same song.

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The book of Revelation captures it and says, you are worthy. You are worthy, O Lord, to receive power and riches and glory and strength.

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Revelation 5 says, by your blood, you redeemed people for God out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

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It's the same for the Chinese. It's the same for the English and the Swiss and the Canadians.

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Anyone from any tribe, whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

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And then we'll be singing the same exact redemption song. We're justified the same way.

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I believe there needs to be a revolution in the church or even a new reformation back to the things that were so dear to the hearts of the reformers.

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Not that I think that they were infallible. They were not. But I tell you what, they got the gospel right. And to get the gospel right, we must understand the distinction between law and gospel.

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Law is what God commands. Gospel is what God does for those who cannot keep those commands.

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That's all of us, Jew and Gentile. Romans 3, 9, we're all under sin.

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And each of us, all of us are justified by the same mechanism, by God's grace alone received through faith in Christ alone.

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That's why the reformers cry was not faith or grace or even

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Christ, but grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone.

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I just marvel. I just marvel at the gospel. I marvel at the grace of God.

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I trust that your life is impacted by that gospel. And if not, I would tell you there is nothing more pressing upon your heart than the need, should be, the need to be brought into a right state with God.

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I don't care what your religious background is. The law of the Lord will slay you like it slays me.

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Every one of us have failed to honor God, to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength for even 10 minutes, let alone all our lives.

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None of us can say, I can stand before God based on what I have done.

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All of us are under sin. All of us need a savior. And the law rightly applied to the human heart will tell us, you know what?

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You've lied. You've blasphemed. You've committed adultery of heart.

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There's been murder in your heart. You've not honored your father and mother as you should.

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You certainly have not honored God as you should. There's been other gods before him in his face.

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And every one of those sins, whether we have done it blatantly or internally, outwardly or inwardly, every one of those sins are cosmic treason.

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We're shaking our face, our fist in the face of God. It's amazing that God has allowed us to even breathe the breath we're breathing.

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So many say, well, this is not goodness. Yes, it is. It's the glorious good news that this holy

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God will not dispense with his holiness, but will freely justify anyone who comes.

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All rebels of the king, hear the word of the Lord, come to Christ, flee to Christ, run to him with all the passion inside.

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I say, come to Christ. There is nothing more pressing upon your heart as to the need to come to Christ and find your covering in him, find a righteousness that is not your own.

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The hymn writer in the song, Rock of Ages, got it right. He said, not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands.

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I can't do it. Could my zeal, no respite, no, could my tears forever flow all for sin, could not atone.

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Thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross

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I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress. Helpless, look to thee for grace.

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Foul, I to the fountain fly. That's true poverty of spirit. Foul, I to the fountain fly.

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Wash me, Savior, or I die. The hymn writer got it right.

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So did John Newton in the hymn, Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

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I once heard of a church that changed the word wretch to person. That saved a person like me.

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Really? No. The hymn writer got it right. It was wretch. This gospel is not just for the non -Christian to hear.

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It's for the Christian to hear. I remember receiving a phone call one Thursday night. Someone said, pastor,

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I need to be honest with you. I won't be there on Sunday. I said, why is that? Well, it's been a bad week. Really, what happened?

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Well, I've had a fight. Well, tell me. Well, I'm embarrassed. I was in an aisle in the supermarket and I put my hand on a particular item and someone else put it on the same item just a second after me.

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But I got there first and this person was trying to get the same thing I was. And we got into a verbal fight and it actually became a fist fight.

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Yeah, I actually punched someone. Oh my gosh, I said, that is pretty bad.

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I said, but you're not coming on Sunday, why? Well, I just feel embarrassed. I think I need to lie low for a little while.

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And I said, God, give me wisdom. What shall I say? I said, so this week has been a bad week, huh?

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Yes. Yes, I need to tell you, pastor. I may be there the following Sunday, but not this one.

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I said, well, tell me about the week before. Did you live a perfect life so that you could come last

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Sunday, but your sin is causing you not to come this? And he said, she said, where are you going with this?

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I said, well, any week, any day of the week, we are still sinners. Whether that sin is large or small in our eyes, every sin is cosmic treason.

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And the only basis upon which any of us can ever come to church or to God, more importantly, is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

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You've never lived a day good enough whereby you can say I can approach God today based on my performance.

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There was a silent pause for a little while. And then the lady said, pastor,

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I believe you will see me on Sunday. How many Christians are like that? They're tormented by their sin.

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They've been brought under the condemnation of the law. And rightly so. But the accuser of the brethren has accused them and said, you have got no right to come to God now based on your performance.

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Hear the word of the Lord. It's never been your performance that gives you an audience with God.

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It's Christ's performance for you. It's not you and Jesus together.

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It's Christ alone. And Christ is worthy of an audience with his father.

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And that's why we're to come boldly to the throne of grace, coming in Christ, in his finished work, his death for us, his life for us, his intercession for us.

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It's all him. In heaven, we'll not be saying, well, what a wise choice I made.

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What did I do to get here? It's all going to be an abandonment of joy in the savior who saves in the one who came and died for us, who rose again from the dead.

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We're running out of time here. We'll be back on Tuesday. I hope your heart is gripped, gripped by the gospel, go and share the gospel.

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But first, before you get to the good news, would you tell them they need good news because the bad news is really bad.

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Hallelujah. Just thank God for the gospel. Would you thank him and then thank him again?

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That's all our response should be. A thank you to God for Jesus. My name is

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John Sampson. It's been a joy to be with you. We'll be back on Tuesday here on The Dividing Line. God bless you.