Can I Know I am Saved?

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I invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the third chapter of the book of Romans.
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The third chapter of the book of Romans.
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Recently, I became aware of a conversation which was going on within our church and caused me to want to respond with a sermon.
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Because for years, I've sought to give sound theology.
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I've sought to preach, and sometimes I can get into really deep stuff.
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And some of you guys know that.
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Sometimes I go really far into some of the deep stuff, and sometimes I think I forget about some of the stuff that's maybe not as deep, but is still very, very important.
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Stuff that we don't want to forget about.
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Stuff that we don't want to leave behind.
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And a lady asked me, she had had a conversation with another person in the church about the assurance of salvation.
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And can we know for sure that we have salvation? And I said, you know what, that would be a great topic for a sermon.
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So, here we are.
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And I'm not a big topical sermon guy, but as you know, we've spent so many years going through the book of Hebrews, and I'm getting ready.
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Our next big series will probably be through the Sermon on the Mount, but I'm just not ready to launch the series yet.
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I've got some more research to do.
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So, in the meantime, I wanted to address some of the things that I know are questions that we can address in the church and look at certain specific scripture verses that deal with those.
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And again, the question for today then is, how can I know that I'm saved? And while on the face that may seem like a simple question, it really is a question that in itself has quite a bit of depth.
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And it is a question wherein there is not a lot of agreement within the community of faith.
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You ask a lot of Christians, you take a poll of any group of Christians and you'll find that there is great debate about this particular topic.
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Some say that the certainty of salvation is impossible.
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You just can't know absolutely certainly.
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And some even believe, like in the Roman Catholic communion, that assurance of salvation is a sin.
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To say that you have assurance of salvation is to lack epistemological humility.
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You don't have humility.
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You have hubris if you believe that you are sure of your salvation.
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So, that's no good.
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Others say that the assurance of salvation is necessary and that a person should never ever experience doubt in any way.
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So, it seems to be that there are two ends to this very long swinging pendulum.
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You have those who say you can't ever have salvation and there are others who say you can't ever have doubts.
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So, if you spend any time searching through resources about the subject of salvation and assurance, you will undoubtedly come across a myriad of different views on the subject.
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In fact, this week I was spending some time kind of looking at different texts, looking at different things I could learn about, kind of ramping up, getting ready for this sermon.
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And one of the things that I found was that there are checklists.
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There are checklists on the internet.
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If you want to know if you're saved, here's 15 things.
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And this will tell you if you're saved.
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Or here's five things.
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Or here's three things.
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And you can know you're saved if you've got X, Y, and Z.
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Some of them have boiled it down to just one.
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What's funny to me is that none of them agree.
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The checklist of 15 certainly has different than the checklist of 5, the checklist of 3, and the checklist of 1.
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And here's the deal.
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The problem with the checklists is that if you begin to look at a checklist, you will inevitably begin to focus on the areas wherein you fail.
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And they will often create within you a sense of spiritual and emotional exhaustion.
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So with that in mind, we are going to examine the question of can I know I am saved, and we're going to do so without a checklist of do's and don'ts.
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Because I believe that such lists are not the appropriate question that we need to examine.
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Instead, we're going to examine what the Bible says about salvation.
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We're going to examine what it says about God's role as the provider of salvation and our role as the recipient.
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And we're going to see how assurance naturally flows from understanding how salvation works.
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Because here's the deal, beloved, I'm going to give you the tip off.
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Here's the end of the sermon at the beginning.
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If you are relying on you, then you're relying on the wrong thing.
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If you are trying to find something within yourself which is redeemable, then you are looking in the wrong place.
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That's the key.
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And we'll see that as we go through this morning.
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We're going to look at Romans chapter 3.
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We're going to look at verses 19 through 26.
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As we do each Sunday to give honor and reverence to the Word of God, we're going to stand as we read.
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Romans chapter 3, verse 19.
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And we're going to read down to verse 26.
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It says in verse 19, Now we know that whatever the law says, 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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But the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
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For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.
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This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins.
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It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ.
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Let's pray.
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Our Father and our God, we thank You for Your Word.
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We thank You for this awesome opportunity to hear it.
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We pray, O Lord, that now You would give me strength to preach it, that You would give me clarity of mind and of heart, and Lord, that You would keep me from error.
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And Lord, I pray that You would open the hearts of the congregation to hear Your Word.
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And Lord God, that if those who are here who are unsure about their salvation, that they would turn to You, that they would repent, that they would fall before You, and Lord, that they would receive You fully and holy.
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And Father, for those who are confident in their salvation, I pray this would just increase them, give them more confidence and more strength, and that away from this sermon, we would all walk with a closer walk with You.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.
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There are so many verses in the Bible, which I could exegete on the subject of assurance and salvation.
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In fact, there is an entire book of the Bible, which is dedicated to knowing that you have eternal life.
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Byron's Sunday School class did it last year.
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Jack's Sunday School class is just finishing it now.
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Are you guys done yet? Oh, you're at 3rd John.
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I was talking about 1st John.
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You all did 1st John, right? 1st John ends, or the beginning of the last chapter says, these things have been written that you may know that you have eternal life.
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That's what the book's about.
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It's about knowing.
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So, some might say, well, why didn't you go there? If you're going to talk about assurance of salvation, why not go to 1st John? These things have been written that you may know that you have eternal life.
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Why not go right there? I mean, that's what it says it's for.
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But I didn't do that.
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I didn't choose to go to the typical passages in regard to assurance.
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I haven't because I believe that the biggest danger that people have in regard to the assurance of salvation is that they try to find some magical measuring stick to compare themselves against.
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And they end up inevitably coming up short.
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And what this leads to is a constant attitude of doubt and confusion.
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Now, let me make a point.
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I do believe we need to evaluate ourselves.
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Always.
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I do believe we need to be insuspective.
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We need to take stock of our faith.
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The last thing any of us want to happen is to face the Lord on judgment day and say, Lord, Lord, and have Him say, depart from me for I never knew you.
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I mean, none of us want to be there.
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So, personal evaluation is not a bad thing.
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It is a good and necessary thing.
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We are told to evaluate ourselves prior to taking communion.
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That's why in this church, it's such an awesome opportunity that every Sunday we have to come before the Lord's table because every Sunday there is an opportunity for self-evaluation and introspection.
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But when it comes to our salvation, what we need to understand is that our assurance cannot come from within.
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The more we examine ourselves, the more we put ourselves under the microscope, the more we will realize that we are really unworthy of salvation.
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And if we are basing our assurance on ourselves, then we will live in perpetual fear and doubt.
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The Bible is clear that we are not supposed to live with worry.
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Didn't Jesus tell us that? He said, don't worry.
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It won't add a day to your life.
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It won't add an inch to your height.
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All it's going to do is add gray to your hair.
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I'm starting to see that a little.
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Worry is not the way we are supposed to live.
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So if we are constantly worried about our salvation, then we are not living as we are supposed to live in Christ.
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So what I want to show you from this text is that our assurance of salvation comes from God and not from ourselves.
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Because salvation begins and ends with God.
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That's the beauty of Reformed theology.
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I know there's a lot of people that don't understand it.
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I know there's a lot of people that talk against it.
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I know there's people in this very city who say it's hogwash.
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But I say it's not hogwash.
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It's biblical.
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And here's the truth.
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Reformed theology begins with God and ends with God.
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And salvation is of the Lord.
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And that's what we teach.
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So our assurance is from Him.
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Not from us.
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So we begin in the text.
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Verse 19.
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It says in verse 19 that we know that whatever the law says, 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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The Apostle Paul is talking about the fact that the law condemns everyone as sinners.
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In Romans 1, he's already demonstrated that all of the Gentile pagans are sinners.
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In Romans 2, he has demonstrated that all of the Jewish law people, the people who have the law of God, he's demonstrated they're sinners.
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In fact, he's demonstrated they're worse because they have the law and yet they still sin.
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He said you've got these pagans.
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They know what's right in their heart, but they suppress it and they sin.
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The Jewish people had it written down, handed to them, and yet they still sinned.
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So he gets to chapter 3 and he says at the beginning of chapter 3, there is none good, no not one.
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There is none righteous.
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There is none who understands.
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There is none who seek after God.
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How does he say that? He says that based on two chapters of evidence.
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He's given us chapter 1 of evidence.
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He's given us chapter 2 of evidence.
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And in chapter 3, he tells the story simply, there is none good.
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You can't find any good among the pagans.
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You can't find any good among the Jews.
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And that's really the only two categories in which he speaks.
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He speaks of the Jews and the Greeks.
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And there's none good.
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So in verse 19, he says that the law speaks to those who are under it.
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Who is under the law? Well, in Paul's mind, everyone is under the law.
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The Jews had it written.
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The Gentiles, who did not have the written law, have it written in their hearts.
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He says that in chapter 2.
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So when he says the law only applies to those under the law, he's talking about everyone, which is why in just a second, he goes out to say the whole world is condemned.
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The whole world is accountable.
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Because there's no one in the world who does not have the law.
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Either in written form, or it's written on their hearts.
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So everyone, in that sense, is under the law.
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And that is what the law does.
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It stops the mouth.
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Look at what he says.
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He says, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped.
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The law stops our mouth.
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What does that mean? Well, let me paint you a picture.
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Someone claims to be righteous before God.
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And most people do.
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In fact, the Bible says in Proverbs 20, verse 6, most men will proclaim their own goodness.
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Is that right? That most men will proclaim their own goodness? Yeah, it is.
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Just go out and ask a person, are you a good person or a bad person? Well, I'm a good person.
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Are you good enough to go to heaven? Well, if God's going to let good people into heaven, and I'm a good person, you know, what is it if A is B and B is C, then A is C? Well, if God lets good people into heaven, and I'm a good person, then I'm going to heaven.
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But when faced with the law, the mouth can no longer proclaim its own goodness.
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The mouth is stopped.
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Once a person sees that he is accountable to God for his sins, and that he is indeed a great sinner because of his sins, all the talk of goodness goes out the window.
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That's what it means when it says, so that every mouth will be stopped.
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I've seen it happen, folks.
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I've literally been in evangelistic situations where I was talking to someone, and they're proclaiming their goodness, and I say, but have you ever lied? Well, of course I've told lies.
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Well, what do you call somebody who tells lies? A liar? So, do you think that you're a liar? Well, I'm not a liar, but you tell lies.
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Okay? Have you ever stolen anything? Well, nothing big.
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I didn't ask you if you sold something big.
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You know, because we have to confront the law.
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The Decalogue.
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The Ten Commandments.
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We have to confront the law.
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We have to ask the question.
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And of course, the big one.
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Have you ever looked with lust? Jesus said, He who looks with lust in his heart is committed to adultery in his heart.
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And I tell you what, that stops the mouth right there.
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There's no more justifying it.
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We recognize our sin.
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We recognize where we're at.
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That's why it says the whole world may be held accountable to God.
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And then the text goes on to say in verse 20, For by the works of law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
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You see, the law of God causes us to see ourselves as we truly are.
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It forces an internal introspection which causes us to realize that we are not good enough in and of ourselves to merit God's blessings.
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In fact, in the law, all it shows us is our shortcomings.
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The text tells us through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
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That agrees with Galatians chapter 3 in verse 24, which tells us that the law is our schoolmaster which leads us to Christ.
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I always like that term schoolmaster.
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Some of the newer versions say it's our tutor.
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But I like the term schoolmaster because it gives you an idea of what the law does.
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The law teaches you this lesson about yourself.
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That you need a Savior.
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That you can't do it on your own.
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That you're not good enough.
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And it points you to Christ.
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That's the purpose of the law.
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It's not intended to justify.
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It couldn't justify.
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It's only intention is to condemn us and show us how far from God we are so that we will cry out for a Savior.
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Let me say that again because I want to make sure that my words are clear.
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The intention of the law is not to justify.
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The intention of the law is to condemn, to show us how far from God we are so that we will cry out for a Savior.
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Because if we were left with the law and that's all we had then we would have no hope of justification.
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Because by the works of the law is no person justified.
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The text is very clear.
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Now, before we go on, here's why this text is important for this sermon.
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Remember, we're talking about assurance this morning.
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So many people try to find their assurance in their own good works.
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They try to find their assurance in their own obedience to God's law.
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They try to find their assurance in what they have done.
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And this text tells us so clearly that you will not ever find justification in what you do.
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Because by the works of the law is no human being justified.
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So if that's where you're looking, stop! You see, it cannot be any clearer by works of the law shall no human being be justified.
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That is so clear and that tells us where we can't look.
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That's why the 15, the 5, the 3, all that is looking in the wrong place.
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And from here, the text goes on to tell us where justification does come from.
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Verse 21.
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It says, But now...
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Anytime you see the words, but now, just underline it, circle it, highlight it, because something good is coming.
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After the but now, you know something important and powerful is coming.
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He says, But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.
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Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
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You see, up until this point, we've had nothing but condemnation.
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Chapter 1 of Romans, condemnation.
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Chapter 2 of Romans, condemnation.
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First to the Greeks, then to the Jews.
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Chapter 3 in the beginning, none good, none outlawed, none who understands, none who seeks after God.
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It's condemnation, condemnation.
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And by the law, nothing but condemnation.
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But now, the righteousness of God is manifest.
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Apart from the law.
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A change has entered into human history.
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God's righteousness, which was witnessed to in the law and in the prophets, has now been fulfilled.
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It's been fulfilled in Jesus.
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Jesus fulfills that which the law and the prophets bore witness to.
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He perfectly satisfied every one of God's commands.
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He never sinned.
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He made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us.
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That we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
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Right? That's what the text says.
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Knew no sin.
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That though He was tempted in every way as we are, He was without sin.
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Jesus Christ, perfect and righteous and no sin.
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And that's why it says the righteousness of God has been made manifest.
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How has it been made manifest? It's been made manifest in Christ.
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He was the perfect living example of the righteousness of God.
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And now, those who believe in Him are in Him by faith and through Him receive the blessing of His righteousness.
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All the blessings which Christ deserved, we receive.
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He earned the blessing of God and then He gave what He earned to us.
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People say, do you believe you're saved by works? I sure do, but they're not mine.
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I'm saved by the works of Christ.
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This is why in Philippians 3, such an important text.
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If you're going to memorize some Scripture, memorize Philippians 3, 8 and 9.
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It says in Philippians 3, 8 and 9, Indeed, I count everything that's lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
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For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness of God that depends on faith.
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That's what we have.
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We have the righteousness of God through Christ.
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That's what we've been given.
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The righteousness of God.
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A righteousness that doesn't come from within.
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It comes from God.
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God has declared us righteous before Him.
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Not because of our works, but because of the work of Christ.
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That's the beauty of the work of Christ is that it's perfect.
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We can't taint it.
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And we can't add to it.
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That's the silliness of some of the strange religions that try to claim Christ, but they try to add to the work of Christ.
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You can't do it! You can't add anything to the work of Christ.
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Our works, even after we come to faith, even after we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and we are walking in truth and righteousness, even after that, our works are not perfect.
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Has anybody here ever prayed a perfect prayer? Has anybody here ever lived a perfect day? Has anybody here ever given a perfect gift? No.
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Every day we live limited by the flesh.
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We err daily.
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But Christ's work was perfect.
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And it is on Christ's work that we will ultimately be judged, not on our own.
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This is why Isaiah said in our opening text for this morning, Isaiah 61.10, he said, I will rejoice in my Lord.
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My soul shall exalt in my God, for He has clothed me with the garment of salvation.
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He has covered me with the robe of His righteousness as a bride gets herself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with jewels.
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That's what we do.
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God covers us with righteousness.
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He wraps us in the righteousness of Christ.
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We're covered, clothed, wrapped, swaddled in.
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Whatever term you want to think of, that is what has happened.
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It has enraptured us in His righteousness.
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Thus, Paul continues in verse 22.
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And he tells us, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.
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This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins.
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It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be the just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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Now, that's a lot to go through.
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But here's the thing that I want to focus on in those remaining texts.
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Have you ever wondered how God can be holy and yet be in a relationship with unholy people? Have you ever wondered how God can be holy and separate from sin and yet be in a relationship with, I'll say, me? I was going to point at you.
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You ever wonder that? Well, this text answers that question.
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It says God is just and the justifier of those who have faith in Christ.
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That means He's holy and He makes us holy.
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That's how He can be in relationship with us.
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He is just because He poured out His wrath on Christ.
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Christ took it all.
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He drank it to the dregs.
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He took all our punishment.
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God is just because not one ounce of His wrath was abated, but it was fully poured out on Christ.
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That's why God is just.
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He's never given up His wrath.
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But, He is justifier because the wrath we deserve has gone to Christ.
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The righteousness which Christ earned has come to us.
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And now, God is just and the justifier of those who have faith in Christ.
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You see, we're all sinners.
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There is no one worthy of His glory.
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We all fall short.
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And not a short shortness, but a long shortness.
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Believe that.
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But God gave us a gift.
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He gave us a gift of righteousness.
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That righteousness comes through three things.
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All three of these words are used in this text.
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Redemption.
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Christ paid the penalty that we owed, purchasing us from the bonds of hell and the grave.
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That's redemption.
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Propitiation.
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He satisfied the wrath of God.
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That's what propitiation means.
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And justification.
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God, having been satisfied of His wrath, looks down and declares you righteous.
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That's what justification is.
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It is a legal declaration of your righteousness.
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That is why in Romans 5.1 it says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we now have peace with our Lord Jesus Christ.
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With God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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We have peace with God because of the work of Christ.
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You see, beloved, the point is that salvation is not something we're working for.
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Neither is it something we're working towards.
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Christ has done everything which was needed to secure our salvation.
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And if we're looking for security in anything other than Jesus, we're always going to come up short.
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Now, here's the thing.
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I need to address this.
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I need to bring this into this thought because I know what some of you are thinking.
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You may be saying this.
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I know Jesus is all I need for salvation, but I don't know if I have Jesus.
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Well, that's a legitimate question.
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Because people say, I believe Jesus is all I need.
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I just don't have confidence in my own faith.
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Did you catch it? I believe Jesus is all I need.
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I just don't have confidence in my own faith.
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Please tell me you're catching the problem.
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Because again, where are we placing the confidence? In ourselves.
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I don't have confidence in my own faith.
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Well, guess what? You're going back in that same situation to putting faith in yourself.
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Putting trust in yourself.
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I don't know my faith is strong enough.
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Who's the focus in that? It's me.
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I don't know if my faith is strong enough.
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We've got to get past that.
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We've got to get where we can just rest in Christ.
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And having said all that, having said all that, I have no doubt, I have no doubt in my mind, that in any group this size, there are going to be people in here who do not have Christ.
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I know most of you have eaten dinner in most of your houses.
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I love you all like family.
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You are as close to any kind of family that I have.
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You all are my family.
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But I say this, that I'm sure that there are those of you who don't have Christ.
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And I don't say that because I want to make an assurance sermon and make you unsure.
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Because here's the thing, I don't think it's a secret in your heart.
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I think you know whether or not you've placed your faith in Christ.
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You may confess Him with your mouth, but if you don't believe in your heart, that's why the passage says, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, I think you know, a confession with the mouth is only lip service if it doesn't accompany a heart of faith.
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Some of you may say, I have faith, but my faith is weak.
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So is mine.
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God bless you.
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It is.
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You know my favorite passage in Scripture? Outside of maybe 2 Timothy 3.16 and some of the more dynamic passages about the tenacity of Scripture, probably my most favorite text in all the Bible is Mark 9.24 when the man brought his son to Jesus and he wanted him to be healed.
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And Jesus said, if you have faith, you'll be healed.
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And the man said what? Immediately the father cried out and he said, I believe! Help my unbelief! Isn't that powerful if you think about what he said? He said, I believe! Help my unbelief! He said, I do have faith, but it's so weak! Beloved, that's where many of us are.
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We do have a faith that at times cries out, help my unbelief.
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But it's faith.
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It is trust in Christ.
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So I would encourage you to ask yourself, be willing to ask yourself the question, do I have faith in Christ? If I do, then He is all I need for salvation.
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And if I don't, then I need to repent and trust Him because He's all I can ever have for salvation.
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There's no other way.
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God has not made multiple roads to salvation.
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If you try to take Mohammed Road, you're going to go right into hell.
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If you try to take Buddha Road, you're going to go right into hell.
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If you try to take the Indian Road, you're going to go right into hell.
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If you try to take any other mystical road, you're going to go right into hell.
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Jesus Christ said, there are many paths that lead to destruction, but there is only one path which leads to eternal life.
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And He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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And no one cometh unto the Father except by Me.
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It's very, very clear.
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We are to evaluate ourselves.
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But we are never to evaluate ourselves to look for perfection, because if we do, we'll never find it.
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We're never to evaluate ourselves to look for our own salvation, because if we try to find salvation within ourselves, we will not find it.
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We ask ourselves, am I in Christ? And is Christ in me? If He is, it will change how we live.
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If He is, it will change our lifestyle.
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But we will never be able to look at ourselves and say, you know what? I know I'm saved because I deserve it.
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Because that's not what salvation is.
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Salvation is and will always be a gift from God based on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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For by grace, you have been saved through faith.
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And that is not of yourselves.
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It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
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I want to end with a quick story.
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How many of you know Pastor Paul Washer? A few of you.
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Pastor Washer is one of my...
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He's very hard sometimes, because he's a tough pastor.
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He's a really solid biblical teacher.
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He's hard to listen to sometimes, because he'll cut you deep and wide and leave you open before the Lord.
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And that's good.
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It's good preaching.
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But he told a great story and I wanted to share it with you.
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He once had a seminary student send him a message.
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He was afraid.
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The seminary student was afraid that he was too bad.
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That he wasn't worthy of the work that he felt called to.
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And he sent Paul a message.
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And he said, I'm too wicked to be in the ministry.
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And Paul Washer wrote him back and said, you are right.
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In fact, you don't know how wicked you are.
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And the young man sent back another message.
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Thanks.
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And Paul Washer responded after that.
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And he said, friend, your heart is in the Lord.
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Your life is lived in service to Him.
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Your level of sanctification and commitment puts me to shame at times.
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He said, but I'm happy and you're not.
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He said, do you know why? He said, I'm happy because I am trusting in Christ and you are still in part trusting in yourself.
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Beloved Washer was right.
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The problem most people have with their assurance of salvation is that they have not reached a place where they can stop trusting themselves and start trusting Christ wholly and completely.
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So I pray for you today that if you are not saved, that you would trust Christ.
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But yet if you are, that you would trust Him wholly.
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Not find your assurance within yourself, but find it wholly and completely in Christ.
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Our Father and our God, we thank You for this opportunity we've had again to hear Your Word.
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We pray, O Lord, that this Word has brought comfort to the believer and discomfort to the unbeliever.
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We pray that it would be used by You to save souls and to encourage Your people.
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And Lord, that now as we have our time of music, that You would move on hearts as they need to be moved upon.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.
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Beloved, let's stand together.
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We're going to have our concluding song.
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And if you do need an opportunity for prayer, you may come forward and pray.