Spiritual Transitions from Benedict Arnold

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So, this is the point in our Striving Fraternity Academy class, before class, where you guys in the chat room give me something to transition to from whatever you may give me to the gospel.

00:16

We actually have two things. I may choose one, but Benedict Arnold, can you transition from Benedict Arnold to the gospel?

00:25

I was also asked to transition from transgender, but let's go with Benedict Arnold.

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So when we look at Benedict Arnold, what is he most known for? This is a guy who was a general.

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Most people know very little about him, other than the fact that he's known as a traitor.

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During the war, Benedict Arnold had felt that we really should be siding with England halfway through the war.

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Some think that he thought that England was going to win, but essentially he gave information to the enemy.

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He has been known throughout American history as the classic example of a traitor.

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When people want to talk about a traitor, they call you a Benedict Arnold. His name has been associated ever since with being a traitor.

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He was, though, a very accomplished general, very skilled, and his allegiance switching did cost a lot to the revolution, not just in the information he gave, but just in his expertise and things like that.

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But when we look at a guy like Benedict Arnold, a name that has now become really associated with being a traitor and being bad, and because of one act that this man did, all of the good that he did has been forgotten in history, unless you study history.

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Most people don't know much about him, other than that he was a traitor. And that is something that we have to realize, that one act in our life can define the rest of not only our life, but the way that people throughout history view us.

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You know, in a fact, one act can not only define our life, and not only define our legacy of how people view us, but can define our eternity.

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See, one act of violating God's law, of breaking God's law, makes us a criminal in God's sight.

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And immediately we are under a punishment and a penalty. And because of that, that one act of breaking

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God's law makes us guilty. But you know what? There is someone else that is defined by one act.

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See, we were defined just like Adam was defined by one act of sin. But there's another

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Adam, a second Adam spoken of in Romans 5. The second

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Adam is Jesus Christ, who by His one righteous act, He became the penalty of sin.

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He became the righteousness that we can now possess because of His righteous act.

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And though all of us through Adam's one act have violated God's law, we all sin because of what

03:50

Adam has done, through Jesus Christ we can have the righteousness of God. And through one act, if we trust in Him, that one act that we might do of repenting, well, it's not really an act.

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It's something God does. But through that one thing defines our eternity. Because of one act that we do, just any one sin that we do would define our eternity.

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But turning to Christ can also define our eternity. So just like Benedict Arnold is known from one act in his life, so will we be known by one act in our lives.

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And the question is, how is your life going to end? Will you end up being defined by the act of sin, or end up being defined by Christ's act of righteousness?

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That's how I would transition from Benedict Arnold to the gospel. How would you go about it?