The Gospel of Luke (42):How to Inherit Eternal Life 10/22/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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It's amazing a church that Paul had never visited. He had so many acquaintances there in that church and they're listed many of them here in Romans 16 and it really reveals the great mobility of people in the

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Roman Empire in that first century and So now we get to listen to Pastor Jason pronounce all these names

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Romans 16 I Commend you to our sister

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Phoebe a servant of the church at Sen Craya that you may welcome her in the

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Lord in a way worthy of the Saints and Help her in whatever she may need from you for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well

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Greet Prisca and Aquila my fellow workers in Christ Jesus who risk their necks for my life

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To whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well Greet also the church in her house greet my beloved

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Eponidas who was the first convert to Christ in Asia? Greet Mary who has worked hard for you greet

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Andronicus and Junia my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners They are well known to the

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Apostles and they were in Christ before me greet Ampelatus my beloved in the

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Lord greet Urbanus our fellow worker in Christ and my beloved stockists

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Greet Appellus who is approved in Christ greet those who belong to the family of Arastibulus greet my kinsmen

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Herodian Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus Greet those workers in the

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Lord Trifonia and Trifosa Greet the beloved Persis who has worked hard in the

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Lord greet Rufus chosen in the Lord Also his mother who has been a mother to me as well

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Greet a syncretus flag on Hermes Petrobus Hermas and the brothers who are with them greet

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Philagos Julia Nereus and his sister and Olympus and all the

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Saints who are with them greet one another with a holy kiss all the churches of Christ greet you

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I Appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles

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Contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught avoid them For such persons do not serve our

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Lord Christ But their own appetites and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive

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For your obedience is known to all so that I rejoice over you But I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil

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The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet the grace of our Lord. Jesus Christ be with you

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Timothy my fellow worker greet you and so to Lucius and Jason and so sapater my kinsmen

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I Tertius who wrote this letter greet you in the Lord Gaius who is host to me and the whole church greets you

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Erastus the city treasurer and our brother Cordis greet you Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ According to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages

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But now has been disclosed through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations

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According to the command of the Eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith To the only wise

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God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen Let's pray

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Lord God, we thank you for this morning where we could gather together as a reprieve from the wickedness of this world

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We gather together to worship you to exalt you and to glorify you

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And we pray Lord that we would see you clearly as you have revealed yourself in the scriptures

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We pray Lord that the words that we hear today That you would implant them deep within our hearts and that we would live them out in our day -to -day lives

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We pray Lord that everything we do would be to your glory We ask that you help

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Lars and his proclamation of your word We pray that you'd give him clarity of mind and clarity of tongue

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We pray Lord that as these words go out that you would be pleased and you would be honored

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Thank you Lord in Jesus name. Amen well, let's turn in our gospel of Luke to chapter 10 once again and Today we'll give attention to verses 25 through 29

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This is a short account of our Lord Jesus Engaging a

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Jewish scribe and Luke calls him a lawyer Who sought to test

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Jesus with a theological question and so this man was not teachable He wanted to discredit

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Jesus Through this inquiry of he of him He was attempting to discredit

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Jesus in the eyes of others as well But in the manner that Jesus responded to this scribe not only did

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Jesus foil the man's intention To discredit him but Jesus brought about the scribes own failure to live in order to enter eternal life

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And so the scribes test of Jesus resulted in Jesus's test of the scribe and the scribe showed forth his failure

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In Jesus's response to this scribe. He set forth the course of the Christian life How we are to live?

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In order to inherit eternal life Jesus drew forth from the scribe a summation of the law of God as the standard of Behavior for Christians the moral law of God should govern our lives and so here's the passage and Behold a certain lawyer stood up and tested him saying teacher.

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What shall I do to inherit eternal life He said to him what is written in the law, what is your reading of it and So he answered and said you shall love the

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Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself and He said to him you've answered rightly do this and you will live

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But he wanting to justify himself said to Jesus and who is my neighbor? The concluding question that the lawyer posed to Jesus and who is my neighbor resulted in Jesus giving the parable of the

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Good Samaritan Which was his response to the lawyers question and So really these two episodes go together what we just read and the parable of the

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Good Samaritan that follows One express their close relationship in this way

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The story of the lawyers question and the parable of the Good Samaritan Manifestly belong together in the mind of Luke Although the latter appears to follow as a kind of appendix it is integral to the pericope in other words the entire episode and forms the climax the two sections in fact fit perfectly together and It is difficult to imagine the parable without its present setting to provide the context for it

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But though they do go together and should be best addressed together because of the time that would involve

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We'll need to address the parable next time obviously we can't do so today

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But we should recognize that they go together However in acknowledging that these two episodes go together

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We should not view the first portion before us verses 25 through 29 as a mere introduction to the parable that follows

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These verses convey an important truth in their own right They set forth the way a person may inherit eternal life

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Granted it is set forth in a thoroughly Jewish fashion through setting forth the two great commandments of the

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Old Testament But in doing so it really demonstrates the continuity of salvation between the

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Old Testament and the teaching of Jesus Christ the promise Messiah of the

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Old Testament scriptures the way or the Life of the one who will inherit eternal life is the same in both

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Testaments It is a life ordered in conformity to the law of God Now considering our

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Lord's teaching before us it will require a careful consideration because this passage is easily misunderstood

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May the Lord help us all to understand our Lord's words rightly

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As we look at these verses we can establish a simple outline as follows First the lawyer asked

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Jesus a question verse 25 Second Jesus responded by asking the lawyer a question

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And then third the lawyer answered Jesus's question Fourth and Jesus affirmed the correctness of the lawyers answer to his question

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And then last this resulted in the lawyer posing another question to Jesus question answer question answer affirmation question

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Let's work through these verses the lawyer first asked Jesus a

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Question we read in verse 25 and behold a certain lawyer stood up and tested him saying teacher

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What shall I do to inherit eternal life? The question posed by the lawyer to Jesus was one that was commonly addressed by Jewish rabbis

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What could be more important than knowing what God requires to those of whom he grants eternal life

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It is recorded of a later Jewish rabbi that his pupils asked a very similar question of their teacher toward the end of the first century

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Rabbi Eliezer Was asked by his pupils rabbi teach us the ways of life so that by them we may attain to the life of the future world

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We read of a lawyer commonly called a scribe, of course Sometimes referred to as an expert in the law the

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Mosaic law That is the Hebrew Scriptures This man was the theologian of his day

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He must have been sitting and listening to Jesus teach But we see he was there not to be taught.

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He didn't come to Jesus to be taught but to find fault with the teacher How we must guard against this spirit we who feel ourselves to be experts in the things of God And so often that is characteristic of professing

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Christians It is difficult to remain teachable when we've acquired a bit of knowledge, but it's essential that we do remain teachable

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This man had failed in this respect and we see he would not only judge Jesus and dismisses in his own mind the teaching of Jesus But he knew so much or so.

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He thought that he would discredit Jesus in the minds of others So there was an arrogance of this man a self -sufficiency

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He wasn't teachable and so this bold man stood to test Jesus and asked him a very important question a

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Valuable question perhaps the most important question a person could possibly ask

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Teach her. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? And so this man asked a good question

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In asking this question this man revealed some things about himself This scribe knew and believed that there was such a thing as eternal life

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Not all would oppose this question to Jesus because they did not all believe there was such a thing the

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Sadducees That group of religious people who predominated the Jewish priesthood

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For example did not believe in a resurrection in the future. They did not believe in the bodily resurrection

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They claimed all that is is what experience in this life only they didn't believe in an afterlife

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They didn't believe in angels And so many would never have posed such a question to the master

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But this man revealed that this was the most important of all matters and he was right in this

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Now it's true that he was testing Jesus nevertheless He could best test

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Jesus by asking Jesus the most important of all questions Hoping perhaps the

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Lord would either stumble all over himself or say something that was in violation of the law or at least would discredit him and they in the view of others

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Perhaps this scribe was revealing his self -righteousness by him verbalizing this question. Perhaps so There may be in the idea suggested that he thought he could earn or merit eternal life by something he did

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I think later on we see that this was certainly characteristic of his thoughts But this of course would be a terrible defect in his faith and practice

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So again, he asked Jesus teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life

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Now It would be a very easy thing to misunderstand the nature of this question and what it suggests

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The question involves how one with faith Should live with view to one day inheriting eternal life

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How would God have his people live in this world with view to entering life everlasting?

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Now as we've said before on a number of occasions It's important to understand the nature of eternal life set forth in the biblical record by the biblical writers most evangelicals equate

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Obtaining eternal life when first receiving the forgiveness of sins That is when the believer becomes justified before God through initial faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior I Have eternal life most people most

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Christians would claim But the scribe here was not asking Jesus how a sinner may obtain

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God's forgiveness of his sins He was asking Jesus how God would have his people live out their lives in Order to inherit eternal life at the end of one's life in this world.

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Do you see the difference? There's a significant difference between these two

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Meanings of his question To better understand this matter

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We must remember that obtaining or possessing eternal life is set forth differently by the writers of the

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New Testament in John's gospel and in his short epistles John sets forth eternal life is that which the true believer in Jesus presently possesses

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This is clear in the following verses John 5 24 Jesus most assuredly

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I say to you he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has noticed present possession has everlasting life and Shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life

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Speaking about when he was that person was born again Life is a present reality eternal life is a present reality for the one who believes on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior Also, John 3 36 he who believes in the

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Sun has presently possesses eternal life Presently is characterized by having eternal life and He who does not believe the

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Sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him And so here is declared the true believer in the

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Son of God for salvation presently possesses everlasting life And The same truth is stated in the next two verses cited

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John 6 47 Jesus most assuredly I say to you he who believes in me has everlasting life and First John 5 12 now we go into his short epistles.

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He who has the Son has life He who does not have the Son of God does not have life

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And so in the above verses Everlasting life or eternal life is a present possession. It's set forth as a quality of life

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Not just an unending duration It's it's a quality of life not the quantity or extent of life in John's writings

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It characterizes those who have been regenerated or born again by the Holy Spirit. They have life

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It is unfortunate however that many do not readily see that in the New Testament eternal life is often set forth and I would say in the majority of Cases eternal life is often set forth as received or obtained at the end of a life of faith in These instances eternal life is not a present possession, but it's set forth as a promised inheritance that we have not yet received

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But They God has promised us after having continued through persevering faith and obedience to Jesus Christ and so consider these verses and Here you see we don't currently possess it.

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It's promised to us. We'll yet receive it. That doesn't put it in doubt It just means it it's a future promise

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Entered by the narrow gate For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in By it because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life

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See life is at the end of the journey this pilgrimage on this on this

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Difficult way and there are few who find it and Then Titus 3 4 through 7

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But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness, which we have done

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But according to his mercy he saved us Past tense. He saved us

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It's when we first repent of sin believed on Jesus through the washing of regeneration

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That was his work of grace in us the new birth and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

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He gave us new hearts new lives Whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our

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Savior that having been justified again past tense we've been forgiven and The righteousness of Christ credited to us who faith alone but notice by his grace we should become heirs

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We haven't got it yet Heirs according to the hope of eternal life and by biblical definition

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Hope is always fixed on something that you haven't yet received It's a certain day.

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It's not like we wish we'll have eternal life, but we will have eternal life and this gives us hope

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Which is the staying power which gives us strength to persevere through tribulation and difficulty

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We didn't put it in our notes But I believe that this is one of the major reasons why many evangelicals are not prepared for the difficulty that's coming to them

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Because they say only eternal life is something that they have that they received in the past If you don't fix your hope on the eternal life that is promised to us

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You're not going to have the grace of strength to endure difficulty. You're going to become disillusioned perhaps overwhelmed by it

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Very important now abides these three faith hope and love. Yeah, the love is most important but hopes there too in the top three very important and so take note that in this

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Titus passage Paul sets forth that Christians have been saved through the washing of Regeneration renewing of the

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Holy Spirit. He stated that we've already been justified by his grace. Nevertheless eternal life is still a future

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Inheritance to be received by us. He asserted that we may have assurance that we will one day inherit eternal life

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It doesn't put it in doubt this assurance of our future entering eternal life gives us hope in this life

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And so the New Testament presents eternal life as a present possession John's writings

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But also as a future inheritance the other writers of the New Testament and often this present and future aspects of the possession of eternal life is set forth in terms of entrance to the kingdom of God and Here we have again the notion.

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We are in the kingdom of God and yet there is a future full entry in a realization of the kingdom of God present and future

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To have eternal life is to be a citizen of the kingdom of God and Just as eternal life has presented both as a present possession and a future inheritance

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So it is regarding our citizenship in the kingdom of God True disciples that is true believers of Jesus are presently citizens of the kingdom of God Paul wrote he

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God the Father has delivered us Happened in the past from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love

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We're presently in the kingdom of God in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins

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We're citizens of another realm. We're citizens of the kingdom of God But we also read that we will in the future enter fully the kingdom of God after our bodily resurrection from the dead and after we experienced and stand exonerated on the day of judgment and So Jesus will say to the sheep on his right hand come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom

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See just like eternal life inherit eternal life inherit the kingdom Prepared for you from the foundation of the world

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Paul also set forth our future inheriting the kingdom in other words eternal life in 1st

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Corinthians 6 9 to 11 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God see its yet future?

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Do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor Extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God They'll be damned and such were some of you thankfully

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But you were washed speaks of regeneration sanctified. You're no longer those things

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You were justified forgiven pardoned Regarded as righteous in the name of the

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Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God But again, the kingdom of God is a future inheritance rather than present possession

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And we can also read in James 2 5 Listen, my beloved brethren has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom

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See, we're it's promised to us. It's a certainty It's reserved in heaven for us our salvation and we will inherit it

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Which he has promised to those who love him And so eternal life as a future inheritance is really what the scribe was addressing in his inquiry of Jesus Again, he asked

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Jesus teacher. What shall I do to inherit eternal life? From the time that we come to initial faith in Jesus Christ for salvation

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Until the day that we are granted entrance into our promised everlasting life. God would have us live before him

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What is the standard by which he would govern our lives by faith and the answer is the law of God That's what

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Jesus says here the moral law of God The lawyer answered

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Jesus rightly Jesus says you've answered rightly do this and live and this is how we are to live and If we live in this way, which is the way of true believer lives.

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We may be assured of Entering eternal life at the end of our life of faith

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And so the law of God is our is the rule of life for the believer Now among evangelicals this they don't understand this at all.

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Well, doesn't the Bible say we're not under law, but grace We're not under the law as a covenant, but we're still under the law as a moral force as a moral rule

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No, no, we're supposed to be like Jesus not according to law conform ourselves to Jesus the more you're like Jesus The more conformed you'll be to the law of God because his life was a perfect Manifestation of what it is to live according to the law of God The moral law of God is our standard

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You cannot be saved because you keep the law of God But you're not going to be saved unless you order your life according to the law of God This is the way this is the course of faith

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This is the narrow gate you go through and the difficult way that you proceed that leads to life and that's what the scribe was asking

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Jesus and So Jesus responded to this question when he asked

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What do I do to inherit eternal life Jesus responded by asking the lawyer question verse 26

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And so after the lawyer asked his initial question of Jesus the Lord responded to him with a question recorded in verse 26

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What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? The Lord directed the scribe to the law that is the teaching of the

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Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament Here our Lord was affirming the source of spiritual truth and the divine

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Authority of the written Word of God to find answers to questions regarding God and our relationship to him

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How should I live of him? I'm going to inherit eternal life. What do the scriptures say is what

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Jesus? Answered what is written in the law what you're reading of it Now by this question the

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Lord Jesus revealed something about himself He asked what is written in the law and so we see the

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Lord's teaching agreed with the Old Testament He was demonstrating that his teaching was perfectly consistent with the

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Old Testament scriptures Everything he taught was based on the scriptures He had not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it as he stated forthrightly in the

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Sermon on the Mount Don't think that I came to destroy the law of the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill and he did

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And he does in us too by the Holy Spirit For assuredly I say to you till heaven and earth pass away

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One jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled

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There Jesus is affirming the abiding authority of the moral law of God Well, I'm not under the law doesn't matter how

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I live because I'm saved by grace that's heresy We're saved by grace and Enabled and empowered by the

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Holy Spirit to live according to God's moral law and So he said those who break the least of these commandments and teaches men.

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So and some people do They should be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever doesn't teaches them

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He should be called great in the kingdom of heaven For I say unto you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness that describes in Pharisees Which was merely external or outward.

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In other words, it has to be inward a true inward righteousness of the soul the art

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You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven So by Jesus asking this question, he was confirming that all answers to spiritual questions of this life death eternal life and Damnation are to be found in the

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Holy Scriptures the Bible All questions regarding God and matters of faith and practice should be questions that are posed to the

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Scriptures So whenever a question is posed to us regarding our Christian faith and practice, we should immediately reflect prayerfully

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What does God's written word teach about this matter? What says the

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Scriptures? The standards of God do not change although men's laws do nothing but change

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We see that in our own society What is written in the Scriptures and the right answer is not according to what you think or I think

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What difference does that make or what society thinks? we cannot allow ourselves to be squeezed into the world's way of thinking or Accept and reject the things that the world approves.

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We shall not follow a multitude to do evil The Word of God is our soul and final authority in all matters of faith and practice

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But notice the Lord asked a second question You know, what what say the Scriptures what's written in the law?

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Secondly, what's your reading of it? That's a different kind of question As soon as we begin to tell someone of what the

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Bible teaches about a matter We enter the realm of our understanding of what the Scriptures say It's one thing for us to quote a verse of Scripture for that is the authoritative inerrant

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Word of God But when we begin to speak of our under own understanding of what the Word of God teaches Then other factors come into play

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The question that our Lord posed was an attempt to reveal this scribes interpretation of the Word of God, how do you read it?

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And that's a good question to ask of others And so in our Lord's questions he clearly revealed his understanding that the

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Scripture that which is written takes precedence over man's interpretation What does the law say?

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How do you read it? Let's make a determination now. Do you read it rightly? We should always ask first what is written but then it's good to ask the one with whom we are discussing the matter

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How do I read it? How do you read it? how do you understand it and We are then to correct it and conform our response to the

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Scriptures alone And so in the end, it's not how you or I read it It's not how this church reads it not how the

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Roman Catholic Church or the Lutheran Church reads it rather The question is to ask is what is written?

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Those who claim tradition is equal to the authority of the Scriptures like Rome does have departed from the

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Scriptures as the Lord's method of understanding truth

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The Lord Jesus always judged tradition according to the Scriptures you find that throughout the Gospels He never judged scripture according to tradition

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That's what the Pharisees did and they were condemned by Jesus for doing so what is written

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As well as where is it written are two questions that we have a right to ask of anybody Who claims to speak on behalf of God pastor?

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Where do you get that? is a legitimate question to for anybody to ask any time of Any teaching that comes forth from me or anybody else in this church?

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Where do the Scriptures say that? Where do you get that and When man's interpretation differs from what is written.

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It must be corrected according to what is written so the question

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What is your reading of it is a good question to ask when speaking to someone about the Lord? And I happen to have that occasion this week

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I Employed this query when speaking with a young housewife and mother in New Hampshire who listens to our daily radio program?

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and I've spoken with Denise three or four times in the past half dozen years or so and the other day she first expressed appreciation for a radio program because It weaned her from a lot of common, but spurious teaching regarding the end times and she was very happy about that And she then asked if I were a

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Calvinist Which he knew that I would affirm See, yeah, and then she told me that she accepted some of what

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Calvinists believe and taught but she could not accept everything She was not thoroughly convinced, but she'd very sincere.

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She wanted to know what's true So I inquired of her what it was it troubled her and why she had a different understanding and she told me she couldn't accept the doctrine of total depravity and And The reason is and I asked her why why you know, why is that the case she said it did not seem to conform with Her perception of all non -christian people for many seem to her to be very good and moral in many ways

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Which is true Even though they were unbelievers And so I then explained to her that she misunderstood the biblical teaching of the total depravity of man.

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That was her problem And so I explained to her What total depravity does not mean first of all

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Total depravity does not mean that every person is as wicked as he possibly could be Rather it means that every aspect of the human person the total person has been adversely tainted and spoiled by sin

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Total depravity does not mean that every man is at the worst state He can be that every man expresses the full extent of his evil nature at all times we don't believe that and so the doctrine is not utter depravity or Absolute depravity as Arthur pink once wrote

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But rather total depravity and so I explained to her that if it were not for the common grace of God Each of us and all of society would manifest evil in our lives to the fullest measure

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If God takes away his restraining hand God restrains even non -christians in their sin saying this far no farther and Moreover, God has given us a society laws a legal system fear men's opinion of us fear of temporal consequences

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Which prevent us from manifesting our simple natures more than what they we currently do

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It's not because of a love of God and righteousness that fallen man does not live more wickedly Rather do the common grace of God But further the biblical doctrine of total depravity does not mean that man is incapable of human good

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Fallen people do many acts of kindness generosity heroism and self -sacrifice

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Non -christian men can love their wives wives love their husbands their children And it does not mean that unsaved man is incapable of distinguishing to a degree between good and evil

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Because God has given each of us a conscience by which right and wrong can be distinguished however, because of sin even the conscience of fallen man is corrupted so that a fallen man cannot discern the presence of all his own sin and the exceeding sinfulness of his sin

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Well after I explained to her what total depravity doesn't mean which was helpful for her

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I explained to her what total depravity does mean Total depravity understands that a fallen man is incapable of doing anything that can merit

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God's favor with respect to salvation All his good deeds are performed without a view of glorifying

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God Solomon wrote in Proverbs that even the plowing of a farmer the plowing of the wicked is sin

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He's not plowing and Sowing seed looking for a harvest with view to glorifying

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God Rather to feed himself and his family and therefore it's sin. Whatever is not a faith is sin

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It means that in his natural state fallen man is incapable of doing anything or desire and anything that is truly pleasing to God It means that his loves and loyalties lie in the things other than God and his will

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He lives for himself not for God He loves darkness rather than light he chooses to serve self rather than God and so I stressed to her that by total depravity

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We mean that man is as bad off as he can be and that there's no part of him Which has been unaffected by the fall his mind with its understanding his heart with its affections

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His loyalty is a preliminary to himself and Satan It means apart from a work of God's grace in regeneration

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He'll continue in this state for he is both unwilling to change and incapable of remedying his situation

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It's going to have to be by God's grace or it's not going to happen It means that although free offers of pardon and salvation may be presented

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Because his will is so bent on ordering his own existence. He's unwilling to be subject to the law of God.

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He cannot be Scripture say and if left to himself, he will reject offers of mercy

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Persist in his self -directed existence to his own destruction He's totally depraved and so it means that man does not have a free will if what is extended by that term is that he's free and capable as A sinner to respond to God's commands apart from being born again

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Jesus told Nicodemus you can't even see the kingdom of God unless you're firstborn again You can't enter it unless you're firstborn again, and you cannot cause yourself to be born again

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That's something that God has to do in his sovereignty And so it follows that if he's to be saved

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God must choose to save him and work his grace in him so that he will Be saved for if left to himself, he cannot and will not choose

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God Well, we spoke I spoke with Denise for about an hour and my explanation satisfied her completely

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And so she hung up with a with newly reformed convictions Thanking. Oh, I misunderstood what total depravity is

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And it really all stemmed from the question, you know, what does the law say? What are the scriptures say? How how do you read it?

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and She revealed to me her misunderstanding What is your reading of it? And so you learn the ways of a person the way they're thinking

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According to scriptures and in what ways they're in error by asking them. How do you read it? Well, you know as I was reading this verse,

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I recalled a pamphlet written by JC Ryle and so Mary and I looked for it and I finally found it on the shelf there and It's he wrote this book entitled.

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How readest thou? And it's the King James Version, of course from from this verse

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And so in his introduction, he referenced this verse with these words reader The question before your eyes is 1 ,800 years old it was asked by our

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Lord Jesus Christ It was asked concerning the Bible. I invite you to examine and consider this question

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I warn you is just as mighty and important now as it was on the day when it came from our

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Lord's lips I want to apply it to the conscience of everyone who reads this paper to knock at the door of his heart

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I would feign sound a trumpet in the ear of everyone who speaks English and cry aloud how readest thou?

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Dost thou read the Bible? and so the whole pamphlet is Urging people to read the

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Bible Why do I hold this question to be of such mighty importance?

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Why do I press it on the notice of every man as a matter of life and death? Give me your attention for a few minutes and you shall see follow me through these pages and you shall hear why

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I asked How readest thou? Dost thou read the Bible? We used to have a whole bunch of these pamphlets

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Downstairs and I looked out in the gym. There's none out there Ron. We probably ought to have them Okay, you might take note of that And so I basically distilled the whole pamphlet in these notes here on this page and so I just gave the headings and then he

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Treated each one of these in quite some detail and so he set forth reasons why this matter is so important First I asked first of all because there's no knowledge

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Absolutely needful to a man's salvation except a knowledge of the things which are found in the Bible If you want to be saved if you want eternal life

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If you want the forgiveness of sins, the only way or place you're gonna find it is in the Bible That's it

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Second I ask in the second place because there's no book in existence written in such a manner as the

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Bible it is unique And he gave four reasons There's extraordinary unity and harmony in the contents of the

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Bible. We're seeing that in our class on typology in Sunday school Second there's an extraordinary accuracy in the facts and statements of the

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Bible, which is above man Third there is an extraordinary wisdom sublimity and majesty in the style of the

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Bible Which is above man and for there's there's suitableness to the spiritual needs of all mankind in the

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Bible And then third Another reason I ask in the third place because no book in existence contains such important matter as the

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Bible There's an extraordinary depth fullness richness in the content of the Bible The Bible alone teaches us that God has made a full perfect complete provision for the salvation of fallen man and only there

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For I ask in the fourth place because no book in existence had produced such wonderful wonderful effects on mankind at large of the

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Bible It's transformative They turned the world upside down the doctrines teachings of the

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Bible in the days of the Apostles And then this book turned it Europe upside down in the days of the glorious Protestant Reformation Which we'll be celebrating next week

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Fifth I ask in the fifth place because no book in existence can do so much for everyone who reads it rightly as the

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Bible It's transformative You pick up the

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Bible and you start to read it and the Holy Spirit Blesses it and you're going to become a new person a transformed person and it'll be a work of God.

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I Asked in the sixth place because no gift of God to man is so awfully neglected and misused as the

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Bible How long has the Bible somebody told me recently he had a Bible sitting on his nightstand for 20 years

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Picked it up three months ago started reading. It was converted Incredible story wonderful Seven I ask in the seventh place because the

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Bible is the only rule by which all questions of doctrine or duty can be tried Which we've emphasized already

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Eight I ask in the next place because the Bible is a book which all true servants of God have always lived and loved

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This has always been the standard and then last because the Bible is the only book which can comfort a man in the last hours of his life

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No other book can do that And then toward the end of his treatment while made an appeal to those who purpose to take up the

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Bible to read it and so these instructions he very briefly stated

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He said for begin reading the Bible today not tomorrow today Read the

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Bible with an earnest desire to understand it Read the Bible with deep reference

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It's God's Word With earnest prayer for the teaching and help of the Holy Spirit.

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He has to illuminate your mind to the truth of it Read the

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Bible a childlike faith and humility teachable Ness Read the Bible in a spirit of obedience and self application

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Lord, whatever you say I'm gonna do as you give me grace to do it I'm not sitting here making judgments and picking and choosing what

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I want to do what I don't want to do This is your word is authoritative. Give me the grace to do it

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Read the Bible daily Read the Bible and read it in an orderly way Read the

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Bible fairly and honestly read the Bible with Christ continually in view you look for Christ in its pages

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Principally and then he concluded with these words last of all let us resolve to live by the Bible more and more every year

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We live let us Resolutely take account of all our opinions and practices of our habits and tempers of our behavior in public and private in the world

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And by our own firesides or in the home Let us measure all by the Bible and resolve by God's help to conform to it

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Oh that we may learn increasingly to cleanse our ways by the word Well again, the

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Lord asked this question of the scribe and in doing so he turned the table upon the man And now the

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Lord was testing the scribe What says the law? How do you read it? Well the law your answer

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Jesus in verse 27 So he answered said you shall love the Lord your

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God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength with All your mind and your neighbor as yourself It's a summation of the law of God And so the response of this tribe revealed more about this man and his relationship with the

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Lord Though the lawyer recites the Jewish Shema Which is recited daily in Jewish worship taken from Deuteronomy 6 4 and 5 which read hero

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Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your Heart with all your soul with all your strength and then in addition the scribe added

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Leviticus 19 18 which reads in context you shall not hate your brother in your heart

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You shall surely rebuke your neighbor not bear sin because of him You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself

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I am the Lord And so it was said regarding the first citation of the

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Shema the command was rightly regarded as forming the heart of Jewish religion it puts at the center religion a love for God an

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Undivided loyalty to him it refers to the sincere loyalty of covenant partners to each other

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It thus includes notes of faithfulness and obedience To love the Lord God with all your being and of the

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Leviticus passage on loving one's neighbor The question might again be asked how readest thou? For the

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Jews stripped this verse of its broader application Do only some Jews are my neighbor?

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Not all and here again is a description of the comments Jewish take of this verse how readest thou

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The phrase your neighbor means one who is near a neighbor and Was used in the

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Septuagint the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament to translate Ria is the word The Hebrew word

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Ria a person with whom one has something to do Well the

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Jews reason well, I don't have anything to do with him so he's not my neighbor I don't have to love him

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And so the Jews interpret this in terms of members of the same people a religious community fellow Jews He's my neighbor and There is a tendency on the part of the

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Pharisees to exclude even ordinary people from the definition The Qumran community where they you know save the

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Dead Sea Scrolls They so rejected all of Judaism and all the priests the temple in Jerusalem was corrupt and whatnot they weren't their neighbors

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In the Qumran community it was just that couple hundred men who lived there As celibate life they were their neighbors of one another

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And so they limited the Word of God however in Leviticus 1934 the same obligation of love is extended to the

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Hebrew word gare in other words the resident alien of the Gentile But Jewish usage excluded

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Samaritans and foreigners from this category you don't have to love a Samaritan We hate them and So again in the parable the good

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Samaritan Jesus throws his back at him that a Samaritan was more consistent in ordering his life according to the moral law of God than the

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Jews were and That he treated this man abused by thieves and cared for him provided for him

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Well in verse 28 we read that Jesus affirmed the correctness of the lawyers answer

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We read the Lord affirmed the lawyer was correct This is how one was to live in order to inherit everlasting life.

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He said to him you have answered rightly do this and you will live Notice our

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Lord did not correct the man and give him a word of instruction on justification through faith alone Nor did he employ the kind of evangelistic methods that used in every kind of witness setting that arises today

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Jesus Did not attempt to gain a profession of faith from this man rather the Lord responds you're right in what you say

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Jesus affirmed what the law said if you desire to have eternal life You must love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength with all your mind and love

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Your neighbors yourself That is the course of life for true Christians Now this may puzzle some one might ask well in answering this way was

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Jesus not Encouraging this man's thinking that he could save himself to his own efforts. Not at all.

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Just the opposite When Jesus affirmed the law of God Jesus was revealing to this man his inability to justify himself as hard as he might try

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He had to ask the question. What but who is my neighbor? See he had to limit that And so the way the lawyer responded to Jesus Affirmation reveals this man knew that he did not indeed could not live according to these

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Commandments the law convicted the man of sin The scribe would have to redefine

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Or lessen the extent the requirement of the commandment if he were to include himself as one who would inherit eternal life

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The law of God that this man cited served to convict him of his sin righteousness and judgment

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And that's how the Lord employed it The fact that he had to qualify who his neighbor was the one whom he must love as he loved himself

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Clearly reveals his failure to live according to God's law The Holy Spirit was using the law of God to convict this man

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Paul wrote of this use of the law He wrote of his own encounter with the law of God before conversion.

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I would not have known sin except through the law Now we must affirm that no one can earn salvation because he obeys the law of God, I hope we all understand that For the simple reason nobody ever has or will do these things fully consistently except for the

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Lord Jesus He is the only true law keeper among mankind because we're sinners

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As James wrote For whoever shall keep the whole law yet stumble in one point. He's guilty of all you can't have salvation by Keeping the law if anyone thinks he can or thinks he will be saved on the grounds of his law -keeping is worse than a fool according to the scriptures

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God will justify no one based upon his own works No one can no one ever will be able to sustain a standard of righteous or righteous living

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Throughout life to merit eternal life. Even the lawyer knew he failed here. And so he sought to justify himself

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Yeah, but who's my neighbor? But here's the paradox and it's important to understand this

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Although no one can earn his salvation by keeping God's law. No one will inherit eternal life whose life is not characterized by keeping

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God's laws Now not perfectly nobody can But it's the standard that we orders our life our thinking.

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It's what we pray to To do We ask God for grace to enable us to do so we ask pardon when we fail to do

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So it orders our life directs our life the laws of God John says in one of his epistles.

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This is love that you keep your commandments You order your relationships according to the law of God take the

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Ten Commandments You love your neighbor, but by not lying to him by not coveting what he has but rejoicing what he has

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All the commandments can be applied in this way And so it's true no one will inherit a lot eternal life because he loves

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God for this is love not that we love God But that he loved us and sent his son as atoning sacrifice for our sins

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But it's equally true that no one will inherit eternal life who does not love

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God supremely with an undivided loyalty toward him and Every true Christian loves

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God Did not the scripture say if anyone does not love the

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Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed Do you love the Lord Jesus Moreover the scriptures declare he who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me

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He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Do you love the Lord? Is he at the top of the list?

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supremely Matthew Henry wrote of this command. We must love God with all our heart must look upon him as the best of beings in himself most amiable and Infinitely perfect and excellent as one who we lie under the greatest obligations to both in gratitude and interest

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We must prize him and value ourselves by our elation to him must please ourselves in him devote ourselves

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Entirely to him our love to him must be sincere hearty and fervent. It must be a superlative love a

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Love that is strong as death But an intelligent love such as we can give a good account of the grounds and reasons of it

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It must be an entire love He must have our whole souls and must be served with all that is within us

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We must love nothing besides him, but we love for him and in subordination to him a person born of God a

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Person with the new birth has that love for God God has put it within the soul.

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I Love God, I don't love him enough, but I love God and if I if I if I could have my way

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I'd love him more And not ever put anything in front of him, but I too often do

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But what of loving one's neighbor more than yourself Surely you do not mean to say that one must love his neighbor as himself if he needs to inherit eternal life

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But that's exactly what Jesus said Now again, no one will inherit eternal life because he loves his neighbor

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But it's equally true that no one will inherit eternal life who does not act in a loving manner toward his neighbor in fact

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It will one day be the basis One of the bases on which genuineness of your relationship with Christ will be tested on the day of judgment

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Matthew Henry also addressed this we must love our neighbors as ourselves Which we shall easily do if we as we ought to do love

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God better than ourselves We must wish well to all and ill to none

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We desire that everyone would come to salvation in Christ. We must do all the good we can in the world and no hurt

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We're not going around Stealing and harming people just out of a meanness and whatnot.

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We really desire the well -being of other people Sincerely and We must fix it as a rule of ourselves

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To do to others as we would have them do to us and this is to love our neighbor as ourselves Now in our saying that the way we are to live according to the law of God with you to inherit eternal life

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We are not in to say that we're in conflict with the truth that faith alone is the instrument by which we receive full and free forgiveness of sins of our

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God and Acquire a righteous standing before God to claim that what we're saying is conflicts with that would be a wrong conclusion

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Justification through faith alone does not set aside the standards of God's law rather it affirms them

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Justification by grace through faith alone affirms That the law of God has authority over us

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Paul wrote do we then make void the law through faith certainly not on the contrary we establish the law

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The law of God is our standard of morality Actually our justification before God commences our sanctification by the grace of God, which is evident in a life

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Increasingly conforming to the law of God in Christ Paul wrote of this in Romans 3 8 3 and 4

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What the law could not do apart from Christ couldn't make anybody holy it could only condemn you

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For what the law could not do and that it's weak through the flesh God did By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin

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He condemned sin in the flesh for what purpose then we have a purpose clause For the purpose that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the

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Spirit see God and the Christian wants to Enable us to live according to the law of God, but we can only do so by the power of the

01:00:08

Holy Spirit Listen to these words Let it never be forgotten that what the law demands of us the gospel really produces in us

01:00:19

The law tells us what we ought to be and it's one object of the gospel to raise us up to that condition

01:00:24

Hence our Savior's teaching though. It'd be eminently practical is always evangelical

01:00:31

Even expounding the law. He is always a gospel design Two ends are served by a setting up a high standard of duty on the one he slays the self -righteous

01:00:41

That's what he did with the with the scribe the lawyer Which claims they have kept the law by making men feel the impossibility of salvation by their own works and on the other hand he calls believers away from all content with the mere decencies of life and the routine of outward religion and Stimulates them to seek after the highest degree of holiness

01:01:00

Indeed after that excellence of character, which only his grace can give I shall not hold up the love of our neighbor as a condition

01:01:07

Of salvation but as a fruit of it amen, I Pulled that out of one of my old sets of notes and somehow

01:01:18

I did not put the author of that quotation But it sure sounds like Spurgeon to me True Christians are to order their lives according to the law of God We're not saved because we keep this law, but we will not inherit eternal life if we live in disregard of God's law

01:01:36

First John 2 3 now by this we know that we know him say it's a basis of assurance

01:01:42

How do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments? First John 2 for he who says

01:01:48

I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar. The truth is not in him the law of God is the standard of our morality in Christ First John 5 2 by this we know that we love the children of God when we love

01:02:04

God and keep his commandments see, this is how we relate to others according to God's commandments and That's what love is hoarding your relationships according to the law of God First John 5 3 for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments.

01:02:21

There it is And his commandments are not burdensome They're difficult, but they're not burdensome.

01:02:28

We delight to do the law of God That he's given that desire in our souls as Christians This is love that we walk according to his commandments

01:02:39

This is the commandment that as you heard from the beginning you should walk in it. Say we we order our lives in faith

01:02:46

But the standard is the moral law of God set forth in the scriptures and then in the last chapter of the

01:02:53

Bible blessed are those who do his Commandments for that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city

01:03:01

Now there's an affirmation of what Jesus said, you know that the that what must

01:03:07

I do? to enter eternal life Well those who do his commandments they have a right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates in the city

01:03:18

Well after all this the lawyer posed another question to Jesus verse 29 It ends the portion ends with this but he wanted to justify himself said to Jesus who is my neighbor?

01:03:30

The lawyer saw that what he had cited to Jesus and what Jesus had affirmed is true was not true of him

01:03:38

He had been honest and truthful about the scriptures, but if he were going to be honest with himself

01:03:43

He'd have to explain away the text For the two his life and the scriptures could not stand as one and so for him the meaning of the scriptures must change as Peter referenced he would twist the scriptures to his own destruction and Notice which of the two commandments gave him the problem who is my neighbor?

01:04:05

He asked he was all too confident he kept the first I love the Lord God with all my heart mind soul and strength

01:04:11

And that's not strange fact is all religionists think that they love God go talk to the people of Hamas Ask him if they love

01:04:19

God And of course, they'll tell you they do But this man knew if he were to be at peace with himself and think himself to be at peace with God He'd have to do something with that second matter.

01:04:30

And so he asked the question. Well, who's my neighbor then? And one's true spiritual condition will most often be discovered here not in the laws of the first tablet

01:04:40

The Ten Commandments the first tablet our duty toward God But those are the second tablet of the

01:04:47

Ten Commandments our duty toward one another toward man Don't tell us how much you love

01:04:53

God. How much do you love your neighbor and By love, I'm not talking about warm fuzzy feelings for them because that's not possible

01:05:00

Apart from the grace of God, but how do you treat them? Say how do you act toward them?

01:05:06

That's what it is to love your neighbor how you Treat them not how you feel about them They might be your enemy, but you can treat them in a loving manner.

01:05:18

Nevertheless, how much do you love the stranger? How much do you love your spouse and children? How much do you love your brother or sister?

01:05:24

How much do you love your boss? How much do you love the one who afflicts you your enemy? Jesus said in another place if you only love them that love you what credit is that to you?

01:05:35

unbelievers do that much Non -christians have that kind of love how much do you love others and that will reveal your true condition before God?

01:05:44

And so the expert in the law was faced with two choices either admit if it failed humble himself recognize he had no hope of salvation apart from God's mercy and grace through the

01:05:54

Savior or Justify himself by obscuring the meaning of the text I'll limit my conception of neighbor to those that I really like And so rather than confessing his failure his moral and spiritual bankruptcy

01:06:10

He sought to lessen his guilt justify himself in his mind by obscuring the text or limiting its application

01:06:16

He had been honest with the scriptures, but dishonest about himself The result he'd have to be dishonest with the scriptures

01:06:25

He'd have to twist and wrestle the scriptures that are stripped of any force He distorted them that would surely result in his own destruction twisting them to his own destruction

01:06:36

And so brethren as we close let us be careful Just because you may not like a doctrine or teaching

01:06:43

Total depravity I did not coincide with the way you're living or the way you want to believe don't resort to distorting the text

01:06:51

What does the law say? Don't twist it about to suit you what how do you read it?

01:06:59

How do you understand it? The scribes and rabbis had dealt with the question quite extensively who is my neighbor

01:07:07

Since eternal life hinged on this it was all important to state clearly who in God's sight as a neighbor

01:07:15

And they would love those persons as as one of the things they felt was necessary to earn eternal life

01:07:21

They thought they were earning righteousness by keeping the law Rather than seeking Christ, of course, and that was the true cause of their damnation

01:07:30

And the response that Jesus gave to the question the parable to the Good Samaritan Will address next time that's how he answered this this scribe

01:07:39

Who's my neighbor? Well, you need to be as good a neighbor as the Samaritan was to to a

01:07:45

Jew and And that has so many twists and turns

01:07:50

That you know how the scribe would have handled that who knows I don't know But we'll look forward to that next time.

01:07:58

Let's pray. Thank you father for your word and and Thank you God for your law

01:08:05

Thank you for grace our God Otherwise, we'd be totally lost For none of us our

01:08:11

God can keep your law We transgress your law in so many ways none of us love you wholly and fully

01:08:20

Lord but our love is corrupted and is not a sincere Faithful and fervent as it ought to be and certainly our

01:08:28

God We're not always loving do others as we ought to be But we see that as the standard you've set for us and so we're in need of great grace

01:08:37

Now you put it in our hearts afresh our God to order our lives and our relationships with others according to your word

01:08:46

According to your law and our God as Christians. We are looking to the Holy Spirit to enable us

01:08:52

Give us the desire and the power to do so or else it will not be done and so grant us grace our

01:08:58

God as we go forth from this place and Father as we speak about your law, we pray that you would use it our

01:09:06

God to convict of sin And particularly of that one who is a stranger to Jesus Christ To show him

01:09:13

Lord his need of a Savior that he is totally helpless bankrupt and damned

01:09:19

Apart from being in Christ and so help that so give him the gift of repentance give him true