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You may be seated. All right.
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Jason will come and read for us our New Testament reading, Hebrews chapter 8.
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Then you can pray for us, Jason, if you will. Hebrews 8, a book which certainly points to the promise and fulfillment of Jesus Christ.
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Everything in the Old Testament pointed to Him, and our salvation was secured through His life, His death, and His resurrection on our behalf.
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Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews 8.
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Now the point in what we are saying is this. We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the
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Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.
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Thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
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They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying,
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See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain. But as it is,
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Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.
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For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says,
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Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when
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I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the
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Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the
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Lord, I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their
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God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach each one his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying,
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Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.
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And speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete, and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
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Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for this passage.
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And we thank you that you are merciful towards our iniquities, that you will remember our sins no more.
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We're thankful, Lord, that you remember our frame, that we are but dust. You are a good
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God. You are a compassionate God. You are a merciful God, a gracious God.
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You are patient. And Lord, we can call you our Father.
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And that is the most tremendous blessing of all, that we have a relationship with you through the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, as we continue to worship you through the preaching of the sermon, we pray that we would get a clear glimpse of who you are in the passage.
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We pray that we would exalt you and that we would magnify you. We pray that we would apply these truths to our lives in a way that is pleasing to you.
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So, Lord, help us now to focus, help us to be undistracted, and help us to grow in our understanding of you.
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Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let's turn in our
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Bibles again to John chapter 8. I always appreciate the prayer requests you write down, and sometimes we may miss them in our pastoral prep here, but we retain them and pray throughout the week, and on Wednesday evenings too when we gather for prayer meetings.
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Well, today we've got rather extensive notes, and I understand that, but there are a few matters here in this, a few verses that we'll consider that are very important that we need to understand and reinforce in our hearing.
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And, of course, our faith may be based on our understanding of the Lord's Word, the
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Bible. And so it's our intention today to advance a little further in our understanding of the fifth discourse of Jesus, that's found in John's Gospel.
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And, of course, we affirm, as the Scriptures themselves declare, that every word of the Holy Bible is inspired by God, that men did not just devise these things themselves, but rather the
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Holy Spirit superintended their writing, so that every word and every verse of the
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Bible is God -inspired. However, we recognize that some verses in the
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Scripture seem to be more weighty than others. And certainly, you know, the
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Lord seems to have more greatly and frequently used some verses in history elsewhere too.
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And it would seem that there's verses here in John's Gospel, of course, that the Lord has used more greatly through history purposes.
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And certainly we have them here in Jesus' discourse, here in John chapter 8, as well as the other discourses.
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This is one out of seven within this Gospel. And the words here that our
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Lord speaks in just these few verses are quite significant. And the statements have implications for us.
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And so we really need to focus our understanding as to what he declared to these people on this occasion.
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And remember, he was speaking to Jewish people within the temple setting, many of which came to believe on him.
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But there were many standing there, particularly Jewish leaders, who did not believe on him. And as a result, there was once again a scene of difficulty and hostility as recorded for us.
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Now, I have set before you in your notes John 8, 30 -41, but we're only going to get through verse 36, if that, in the time that we have this morning.
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But let's read these. As he, Jesus, spoke these words, many believed in him.
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And then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
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They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone.
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How can you say you will be made free? And Jesus answered them,
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Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
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And therefore, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. I know that you are
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Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you.
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I speak what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have seen with your father.
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They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them,
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If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which
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I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.
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And of course the discourse continues onward and gets quite pointed, but we'll have to consider that next
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Lord's Day or the Sunday after. So in these words of our
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Lord, we may draw our attention to a number of very significant matters. And I might just identify a few of them.
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First, we may consider the importance in nature of being a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
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Verse 31. Second, we may consider the promise that God's truth will bring liberty to disciples of Jesus Christ.
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That's verse 32. And third, we may consider the hideous nature of sin, particularly in its ability to bind its practitioners in spiritual slavery.
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And then fourth, we'll read of the ability that Jesus Christ possesses to set people free from sin.
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Verse 36. And that's as far as we're going to get, but I just might cite these other two matters that we'll address probably next week.
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And then fifth, we may consider the distinction and differences between Abraham's physical descendants and his spiritual offspring who were disciples of Jesus Christ in this present gospel age.
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And then lastly, we intended to outline some of the more important truths of this passage.
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And so a number of significant points. Let's begin to work through several of them this morning.
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The first being the importance of being a true disciple of Jesus Christ. This is a matter that needs great attention in our days, even among so -called evangelical or Bible -believing churches.
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As our Lord Jesus taught the Jewish crowds in the temple, even as he engaged and refuted the Jewish leaders that were standing before him, who attempted to discredit him, we read nevertheless that many believed on him.
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Verse 30. As he spoke these words, many believed in him.
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Now, we might assume that at that time these people became true Christians. After all, they believed.
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The scriptures say that. They had become justified before God through faith in Jesus Christ because we are justified through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
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So they must have become true Christians. And no doubt that was true for some of them, but not all of them.
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For then Jesus told these believers, and I put that in quotations, they would all say they believed on Jesus at this point, they must prove themselves to be his true disciples because the
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Bible teaches that only disciples of Jesus Christ have salvation. And so we read in verse 31,
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Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed.
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Very important statement. They would prove themselves to be the disciples of Jesus Christ by abiding or continuing in his word, hearing what he has to say and then putting it into practice because they believed those words.
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Or to say it another way, the only way that these believers could legitimately show themselves to be Jesus' true disciples was if they continued to hear, believe, and do his words in order to order their lives according to his will.
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And his will is found in the scriptures. We were to teach disciples all things
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Jesus commanded, and that's everything in the Bible. If they demonstrated in the way they lived that Jesus Christ was their
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Lord, then they would be disciples indeed. Now again, it's important for us to understand that although these people had believed on him, only those who were true disciples would receive salvation from their sins.
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All true believers in Jesus Christ are true disciples of Jesus Christ according to the
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Bible. Again we read in verse 31, Then Jesus said to those
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Jews who believed on him, And if you abide in my word, then you are my disciples indeed.
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According to the Bible, to be a Christian is to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. To be a true disciple is to be a
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Christian. They're one and the same. They're equivalent. A disciple of Jesus Christ is not an extraordinarily, extremely dedicated believer, although that's commonly thought to be the case.
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You become a Christian, but if you want to become a disciple, to be really sold out to the Lord, you become his disciple.
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And that is not what the scriptures teach. A disciple is a true Christian. A true Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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This is incredibly important and very distinguishing. It separates true
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Christians from all those who claim to believe on Jesus Christ. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ is not the result of progressive sanctification.
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In other words, it's not a process of growing and maturing as a Christian. It occurs decisively at the outset of the
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Christian life. You become a Christian, you become a disciple of Jesus Christ, is what the
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Bible teaches. The commitment to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is therefore concurrent with saving faith itself.
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They are inseparable. They go together. And so the life of a true disciple of Christ is the way of life for the true
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Christian, the true believer, the one who has salvation through Jesus Christ. And so all those who claim to have faith, but are not demonstrating that they are true disciples of Jesus Christ, if they're not abiding in his word, they do not possess or manifest saving faith.
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They're just fooling themselves if they think they're Christians. Jesus said, if you abide in my word, then you're true disciples, then you're disciples indeed.
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And those who are not disciples will not inherit salvation. Their faith is dead being alone, as James wrote in his epistle.
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So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. In other words, it's not true faith.
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It's nonexistent. It's not saving in nature. And so according to the Bible, to be a
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Christian is to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, to be a true disciple is to be a Christian. A disciple of Christ is not an extremely dedicated believer.
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Once again, a disciple is a Christian, and we must understand that. The Reformed pastor
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James Montgomery Boyce, who's now with the Lord, he died in around 2000, I think, year 2000.
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He was a leading Reformed Presbyterian pastor down in Philadelphia at the 10th
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Presbyterian Church at a wonderful inner city ministry for many decades. He published over 50 books, and he wrote this regarding the nature of true saving faith and discipleship.
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He shows, and he states basically the same thing I've already said, only he gives weight to it because of who he is.
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There is a fatal defect in the life of Christ's church in the 20th century, a lack of true discipleship.
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Discipleship means forsaking everything to follow Christ. But for many of today's supposed
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Christians, perhaps the majority, it is the case that while there is much talk about Christ and even much furious activity, there is actually very little following of Christ himself.
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And that means in some circles there's very little genuine Christianity. Many who fervently call him
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Lord's Lord are not Christian, and he quotes Jesus in Matthew 7. There are several reasons that the situation
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I've described is common in today's church. The first is a defective theology that has crept over us like a deadening fog.
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This theology separates faith from discipleship and grace from obedience. It teaches that Jesus can be received as one's
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Savior without being received as one's Lord. Discipleship is not a supposed second step in Christianity, as if one first became a believer in Jesus and then if he chooses a disciple.
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From the beginning, discipleship is involved in what it means to be a Christian. Is faith minus commitment true biblical faith?
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It's implying no. If faith without works is dead, how much truer is it that faith without commitment is dead?
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True faith involves these elements, knowledge, heart response, and commitment, and without which faith is no different from the ascent of the demons who believe in shudder.
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He goes on. In one of Jesus' most important sayings about discipleship, the
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Lord pictures discipleship as putting on a yoke. This suggests a number of things, but chiefly it suggests submission to Christ for his assigned work.
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It's the picture of an animal yoked to others as well as to the plow. A yoke is also the connection between submission and subjection.
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Submit comes from the two Latin words, sub meaning under, and mito, mitere, meaning to put or place.
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So submission means putting oneself under the authority of another. Subject also comes from two
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Latin words, in this case sub meaning under, and iacto, reactere, meaning cast or throw.
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It means being put under the authority of another. In other words, although the first word has an active sense,
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I put myself under another's authority, the second word has a passive sense, I am placed under that authority.
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The idea is nevertheless essentially the same, and moreover is connected with yoke in this way.
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In ancient times it was customary for a ruler when he had conquered a new people or territory to place a staff across two upright poles, perhaps four feet off the ground, and require the captured people to pass under it.
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And by this act they passed under his yoke or submitted to his authority. And when Jesus used this image, he was saying that to follow him was to submit to him.
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It was to receive him as Lord of one's life. In other words, to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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And so when one becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ, is due to having exercised true repentance from sin, and turning to the
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Lord in faith and submission to Jesus as Lord. When a person exercises saving faith in Christ, he becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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He is committed to follow Jesus Christ in faith and obedience throughout life. Baptism illustrates that, as we attempted to say earlier.
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It's a commitment to live for Christ. He's my Savior. He's my Lord. I'm going to follow him as he leads me in his word.
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And the promise of the disciple, his end, will be eternal life. That the Lord has promised for all of his faithful followers.
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And here in John 8, 31, our Lord Jesus emphasized the need to persevere in faith and obedience to his word.
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Again we read, Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed.
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It's all important that each of us are a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Obedience to Christ is essential to receiving our future, final salvation.
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Now we don't merit salvation because of our obedience. We merit salvation only through Jesus Christ's merit.
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Through what he did, not through what we do. But there are many church members who wrongly think they have salvation regardless of how they live, as long as they believe rightly.
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They would be like those in verse 30. There are many hearing him who believed. But Jesus said of them,
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Those who abide in my word, they are truly my disciples. My disciples indeed.
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And so to think that all that matters is if I believe the right things, and I'm a Christian, I have salvation from sin,
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I have everlasting life, is error. Now again, we certainly affirm that it's through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone that results in our full justification before God.
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We're forgiven our sins and treated and regarded as righteous as Christ. It's not good works that we have done, but due to the works that Jesus Christ has done that merit salvation for us.
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But to conclude, however, all I need is to have faith irrespective of works, and I will be saved, is not biblical.
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True saving faith is seen in one's discipleship to Jesus Christ. If you're not abiding in his word, if you're not a disciple of Jesus Christ, and yet you claim to be a believer, you should really carefully examine yourself.
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Because salvation is promised to disciples only. Well, what then more specifically, precisely, is a true disciple of Jesus Christ?
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The Greek word disciple has its root meaning of being a learner. We learn from Jesus Christ.
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But it's not just sent in a student to a teacher, but it's as, say, an apprentice to a craftsman, a mentor to the one who is learning at his feet, as it were.
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And so a disciple of Christ is one who learns from his master while following his instruction as well as observing his behavior.
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And so a disciple is a follower or an adherent of another. We read in the scriptures,
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John the Baptist had his disciples, the Pharisees had their disciples, Moses had some disciples, and we are called as Christians to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
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And those are true Christians. We're commanded to baptize disciples, not baptize believers.
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Everybody claims they're a believer. A lot of people do. We're commanded to baptize disciples according to the
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Lord Jesus. And yet even when we examine the scriptures as to the term disciple, we find it used in a number of different settings.
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Sometimes the word disciple, the term disciple is used rather broadly, not of a specific follower of Jesus, but simply ones who follow
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Jesus even for a short period of time. They're called disciples. They weren't true disciples.
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Sometimes the disciples is used of the twelve apostles only. The twelve apostles were the twelve disciples.
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So sometimes the disciple, the term is used more narrowly depending on the context. But then here again in John 8, 31,
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Jesus speaks of true disciples over against all others who may claim to be disciples.
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And so the term is also used of those who believed him, confessed him, were baptized, and obedient to the faith.
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We find that throughout the book of Acts, by the way. True Christians are true disciples. And in fact, it was at Antioch, and not until Acts 11, 26, several years after the crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus, the disciples were first called
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Christians at Antioch. In other words, you're not a
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Christian and then you become a disciple at some later stage of the Christian life when you really become sold out.
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No, you're a disciple and then you can be legitimately called a Christian. If you're not a disciple of Jesus Christ, you're not a
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Christian, regardless of what you claim to believe. And so we may posit this biblical definition of a disciple of Christ.
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A disciple of Jesus Christ is a professing Christian, one whose purpose is to devote himself, herself, to obey the teachings of Christ.
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A disciple of Christ is one whose purpose is to learn and obey all that Christ has commanded of all his followers.
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And that's a realization, really, of the Great Commission. To make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
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Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to do, to observe, Jesus said, all things whatsoever
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I have commanded you. And again, it has to be affirmed because we hear so many other different voices.
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Only true disciples are true Christians and only to them God grants salvation from sin and the gift of everlasting life.
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And the true disciple shows forth he is a disciple by the way he lives, not by what he claims.
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Although it's all important, you know, to confess truth. But it's how you live that matters.
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It's not what your lips declare you believe, it's what your life demonstrates you believe, which designates a true disciple, a true
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Christian. And so we may state this important truth. Although the true believer is justified by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, and although his salvation is secured solely due to what
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Christ has done on his behalf, not on what he does himself, nevertheless, there is much that must be done by the
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Christian in order to receive full salvation. Now that statement will offend a lot of people.
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And a lot of evangelical Bible -believing Christians would object to that statement.
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No, there's nothing you have to do. All you have to do is believe. No, the Bible says yes, you believe, and you are forgiven of your sins through faith alone.
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And you are regarded as righteous as Jesus Christ, through faith alone, as righteousness credited to your account, through faith alone.
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But to say that all that's involved in salvation is just what you believe and not what you do is not in accordance to Scripture.
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Because there are many things in Scripture that are declared that unless you do these things, you won't have salvation.
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Now you don't merit salvation by these things, but by doing these things, you show forth that you are a true disciple, that you have true faith.
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And I listed a number of these, and I cited the Scripture for them. You can look them up for yourself. And so we could say unless you love the
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Lord Jesus, you'll not have salvation. That's a truism. Unless you deny yourself, you'll not have salvation.
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Jesus himself said that. Unless you take up your cross daily, you'll not have salvation.
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He who seeks to save his life will lose it. He who loses his life for my sake, Jesus said, will save it.
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Unless you follow Jesus, you'll not have salvation. Unless you enter the narrow gate, in other words become a true disciple of Jesus, you'll not have salvation.
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Unless you travel that narrow, difficult road, in other words living as a disciple, you'll not have salvation.
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It leads to life, that narrow way. Unless you do what Jesus commands you, you will not have salvation.
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Similarly, unless you live according to the law of God as directed by King Jesus, you will not have salvation.
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Depart from me you who live lawlessly, Jesus said. Unless you repent of your sin, you'll not have salvation.
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Unless you show mercy to others, you will not have salvation. Unless you forgive others their trespasses against you, you will not have salvation.
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Unless you sow to the spirit and not sow to the flesh, you'll not have salvation.
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Unless you practice righteousness, you will not have salvation. Unless you confess Christ before others, you will not have salvation.
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Unless you persevere in faith, you will not have salvation. Unless you love your Christian brethren, you will not have salvation.
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Unless you continue in faith to Jesus Christ, you'll not have salvation. This is what the scriptures teach.
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These are all of course a manifestation of faith in Jesus Christ. This is how you prove yourself to be a true disciple, by how you live, not by what you claim to believe.
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And yet so many think, as long as I believe the right things, doesn't matter what
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I do, what I don't do, I'm saved. And that's just not what the scriptures teach.
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Again, even if you did all things, it in no way merits salvation for you. It in no way qualifies you to enter the kingdom that the fathers prepared for those who are in Christ.
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Nevertheless, entrance into Christ's everlasting kingdom is only granted to those accordingly.
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It is due to Christ's work alone that God qualifies us to enter eternal life. But this is what true disciples of Jesus Christ do.
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Their faith in Jesus leads them to follow Jesus, or obey Jesus. This is who we are.
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The grace of God has made them so, and they cannot be or do otherwise. This doesn't mean that all these things come easily, or that they're done perfectly.
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None of us have arisen to that level in this life. To live in this manner takes great effort and much discipline, but most of all it takes the greatness of God's mercy and grace, or it's not going to be done.
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But our resolve should be to use all our effort and all of the resources that our Lord has given us to live in this manner.
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And he's prescribed a course for each of us. And it's the highway of holiness, as described in Isaiah.
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It is an endurance race to be run and won. And this is how Paul expressed his own resolve and effort to fulfill his calling, so that in the end he might also receive the benefit of the gospel.
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Even his own salvation. Paul wrote, if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of.
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It doesn't bring any credit to me. For necessity is laid upon me. It's absolutely necessary I proclaim the gospel.
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Yes, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. You see that word, woe? That's an announcement like the prophets of judgment.
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He had a course of life that he was to follow in faith. And necessity compels me.
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I've got to do this. I'm going to do this. God will help me do it, but I resolve to do it.
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And so he says in verse 19, For though I'm free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win them more.
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To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews. To those who are under the law as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law.
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To those who are without law, in other words Gentiles, as without law. And then he qualifies himself, not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ.
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That I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. To the weak I become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
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And then he declares his motivation in verse 23. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
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This is the way he showed he was a disciple of Jesus Christ. To declare the gospel to the world as Jesus Christ instructed him.
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Paul declared that the Lord had set this course before him and he must complete it. In other words, he would be under God's wrath if he failed or refused to do so.
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He would have failed to live in faith to follow the Lord. It's important how you live.
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You cannot have salvation because you simply believe the right things. Your faith is to move you to govern your life according to Jesus as Lord.
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Jonathan Edwards, and I cite him because he is respected and nobody questions him because he was so biblical thorough.
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And everybody acknowledges the most prominent, best theologian that America has ever produced.
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And he ministered at the Congregational Church right out here in Northampton. He wrote these words.
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Even when he was asserting you're justified by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
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He wrote these words. There are many other things besides faith which are directly proposed to us to be pursued or performed by us in order to salvation or eternal life.
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He's not saying you earn it by that way, but he's just saying there's an order leading to our full and final salvation.
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And there are many things that are listed. I listed them on the previous page. Many of them.
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Which if they are done or obtained, we shall have eternal life. If not done or not obtained, we shall surely perish.
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He'd be accused of being a heretic if that statement was declared in many pulpits. But later in the sermon he wrote, so are many other things besides faith.
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And yet nothing in us but faith rendered us fit, meet, or fitting, that we should have justification assigned to us.
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He's not talking about coming into a right relationship with God by doing all these things. That's heresy.
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He said no, we're justified by grace through faith alone. But there, the Lord has laid out all kinds of things that he requires of us.
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And if we have true faith and we're a disciple of Jesus Christ, by his grace, we're going to move to do that.
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And he's going to see to it that we do. He alone gets the credit. And then he added, obedience and salvation are connected in fact, which nobody denies.
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He made that statement back in the early 1700s. Nobody denied this, he says. All preachers agreed with this.
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You cannot have salvation apart from obedience. That is no longer the case in today's world.
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But the fact remains, in this day to day, many who claim to teach biblical Christianity deny that obedience is in any way connected with salvation.
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As long as you believe it does not matter what you do, is often the message that is either explicitly stated or is implicitly implied in a skewed twisting of this doctrine.
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And although faith alone justifies that, faith is not a mere affirmation or assertion of who
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Jesus is, Christ is, and what he's done. The faith that saves is a living vital force that shapes the course and nature of the entire life of a justified person.
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And this is so much so that God can say, did say, the just shall live, and there's the emphasis in Hebrews, the just shall live by faith.
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And if any man draw back, in other words, doesn't live by faith, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
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He doesn't have salvation. In other words, there's no salvation promise to one who does not live as a
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Christian is to live. The nature of faith that alone justifies will move the believer to become and live as a disciple of Jesus Christ, a follower of Jesus.
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And the Lord Jesus declared here in John 8, verse 31, and then later in verse 36, that a true disciple is one who abides in his word.
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Consider this significant call of our Lord Jesus to live as one of his disciples. He said these words to those who believe on him.
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If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
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And then he gives the consequences if you fail to do so. Damnation. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
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For what profit is it to a man who gains the whole world and loses his own soul?
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Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his
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Father with his angels, and he will reward each according to his works. There's responsibility that the
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Lord placed upon his people. So our Lord informed his disciples of the nature and cost of discipleship to himself.
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The certain prospect of eternal life itself is the result. What a grand incentive for people to believe on him and respond in their commitment to him, to follow him.
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And the consequences of failing or refusing to follow him, taking up your cross, denying yourself, is too horrible really to imagine.
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And so our Lord was teaching his followers, they must be totally committed to him, wholly surrendered to him.
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No one can generate that kind of thinking and that attitude and that desire in their life.
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This is all a product of the work of grace in the soul. God has to move you to desire to do so.
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How can you explain, you know, that happening to someone, you know, ten weeks ago had never even seen a
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Bible. The last thing he wanted to see was me and Jason coming and visiting him some months ago when we came to his house.
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And now he loves the Word of God, wants to follow Christ, wants to learn from the
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Scriptures. That didn't come forth from his heart, it came forth from the heart of God, doing a work of grace in his soul.
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And we're seeing the evidence of it. The Scriptures do not promise eternal life to any but disciples of Christ.
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And certainly the Lord Jesus made this very clear on this occasion. And we should attempt to make the same kind of converts.
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The Great Commission is not merely to evangelize, as it's frequently described this day, to get people to say they believe in Christ.
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We're not called to make believers, we're called to make disciples. This entails baptizing converts and teaching them to obey all things that the
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Lord ever taught. And we do a disservice to God and to those who see themselves as believers if we do not fully press upon them the claims of Christ.
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The fact is that there are multitudes that claim to believe all the right things, but it's clear that their faith does not govern their life.
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And there's going to be a sore, sad awakening one day. Indeed, we want people to be fully aware of the costs of their conversion to Christ.
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It's a difficult path. It's a narrow gate and a narrow way. And Jesus said it's a difficult path.
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Not like the wide way that many find that's easy, that doesn't cost anything, that you can go down that path and reach your end or what you think is a desirable end quite easily.
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No, to live the life of a disciple requires discipline. We get the word discipline from the word disciple, don't we?
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They're one and the same. By following Jesus Christ through faith. And so we desire that God would help us make dedicated disciples of Jesus Christ.
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And so the scriptures teach that if you're no disciple, you're no Christian. A believer, to be a true believer, must be a submissive, obedient father of the
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Lord. And this is again something that God has to put within our souls or it's not going to be there.
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Because we're not born into that. We're born from above into that. He puts a new heart within us with new desires, aspirations, desires that we never had before.
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He makes us to love the things we used to hate and hate the things we used to love. We're new creatures.
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Behold, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new.
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And that's what happens when a person becomes a Christian. Well, again, we're not going to get far, but we can go a little farther.
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We can now look at the promise that God's truth gives us that it will bring liberty to disciples of Jesus Christ.
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Verse 32. Jesus declared to his true disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
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That's a statement of scripture that is commonly recited, not by Christians only, but people out in the world.
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Particularly in academia, by the way. It's rather popular, commonly quoted.
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The truth will set you free. And so you'll commonly see it in academic circles. Commonly you'll see it emblazoned on a sign or a plaque or maybe over the door of an educational building on a university campus.
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The truth shall set you free. And what they are advocating by that, of course, is they think that a higher education is necessary for a free and liberated people.
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That's what they're suggesting. And then some people sometimes quote that verse, the truth shall set you free, because of their motivation to disclose some secret things, to bring to light wickedness or corruption, and then justice will be rendered.
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And so the news media will quote this verse oftentimes. And yet realize that even as they do, the truth shall set you free, they're really not expressing that verse truthfully, are they?
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Because they're wresting it from the context in which you find it here in John chapter 8. Jesus was talking to a crowd, but specifically he was talking to his disciples, who were true disciples.
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If you abide in my word, you're my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
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That wasn't a promise to all people indiscriminately, that was a promise to his disciples. The truth will set you free, is what he declared to them.
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And so this is very important. He was speaking to true disciples of verse 31.
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And yet even though our Lord was speaking before the Jewish people in the temple setting, and his promise was only to those that were his true disciples, you shall know the truth and set you free.
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Even as he promised these disciples true liberty, those others who were hearing him immediately reacted, well by saying to know the truth and you'll set us free, you are saying we're all in bondage.
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Yes, they drew the right conclusion, didn't they? He was saying you're all in bondage, but if you come to know the truth, the truth shall set you free.
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And that was a promise to his disciples. And then notice in verse 36, he reiterates his statement, therefore if the
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Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. And so here we see in verses 33 through 35, in the reaction of these
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Jews who were not his disciples, we see the power of sin become quite evident, and we see the power of sin and its ability to enslave people within sin.
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Again, let's remember the setting. Our Lord declared these words to these believers, challenging them to show they were truly disciples, but as he was speaking in front of this mixed crowd, those who believed and those who didn't, they were offended.
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He was implying that all who were standing before him were presently not free, but rather they were in a state of slavery and they needed to be set free.
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And this is what generated the reaction to Jesus by the Jews, which is recorded in verses 33 through 35.
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They answered him, we're Abraham's descendants, we're Jewish people, and have never been in bondage to anyone.
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That is such an absurd statement itself on the face of things, it's amazing. How can you say we'll be made free?
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And Jesus answered them, most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
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What's going on here? What's he saying? Again, these Jews were as many of the
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Jews in John's Gospel, when they heard Jesus speak of spiritual matters, they misunderstood his meaning, and they thought in only terms of physical things.
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They thought he was speaking of physical or worldly matters rather than spiritual truths. And so whereas Jesus was speaking of spiritual slavery to sin, they thought he was speaking of physical or political bondage, or slavery, which they vehemently denied that they were in bondage.
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Now, aside from the ludicrous claim, we're Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone, they ignorantly and errantly challenged
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Jesus. How can you say you will be made free? But the fact is, these
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Jews, although physical descendants of Abraham, had often been in bondage to many peoples over the centuries.
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They were in slavery in Egypt for 400 years. They were repeatedly under bondage to the
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Canaanites during the period of the judges, cycles of enslavement. They came under bondage for an extended period of exile under the
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Assyrians and the Babylonians in the 7th and the 6th century BC. And they had been under the
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Seleucid domination a few centuries before this occasion.
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But even when they made this claim, they were of course under the rule of the Roman Empire. They weren't free by any means.
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And yet here they claim, we've never been slaves, we're Abraham's offspring. And so it was really a false and absurd claim.
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And so our Lord could have easily won the argument had he gone there. But he wasn't talking about physical literal slavery, he was talking about spiritual slavery to sin.
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And so he would go there, that way. They were totally ignorant.
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Jesus answered verse 34, Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
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Here we see a clear difference between the way that God views mankind and its sin and the way mankind views itself in sin.
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Fallen man thinks he is free when in actuality he is in slavery to sin.
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Fallen man thinks he is most free when he can commit his sin without any restraint and without anyone preventing him or condemning him in doing so.
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They think that's freedom. And who could deny that? That's their understanding of freedom in today's world.
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I think of the liberty, again, that so many sacrifice their lives to secure our liberty and what's being done with that liberty.
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It's just incredible to me. Man loves his sin. He loves to indulge in his sin.
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He doesn't see his sin as oppressive to him from which he must escape to be brought into a state of liberty.
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So sin no longer controls him. He foolishly and wrongly believes he's free. Jesus said you're not.
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Anyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. In short, a fallen man generally has a rather high opinion of himself and his abilities.
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I came across an old evangelistic sermon of D. Martyn Lloyd -Jones when he was a young man in Wales. He said there is one thing so deeply entrenched in human nature that it never varies, never wavers, and that is our good opinion of ourselves.
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We like a gospel that interests us, that charms us, that appeals to our emotions and sentiments. We like it insofar as it presents ideas and ideal of life.
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But when it promised to free us and to give us liberty, we stumble at it and object because in promising us freedom it implies our present bondage.
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Yet this is what Christ offers and what Christ says and our whole difficulty concerning it centers around our false conception of freedom.
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People think they're free when they're free to sin in any way they want, to any degree they want, and nobody stops them in doing it.
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They think that's what liberty is. Our Lord made this statement very strongly.
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Most assuredly, I say to you, we've seen that repeatedly now in our New King James text, that the first two words, most assuredly, that is how the
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King James, you know, translate it, verily, verily. It's the repetition of the two Greek words or Aramaic words, amin, amin, amen, amen, verily, verily.
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And then Jesus says, I say to you to give additional weight. This is a strong assertion that Jesus is making to get their attention and drive it home to them, that the one who commits sin is indeed a servant of sin.
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And so the very fact is, top of page eight down to the first full paragraph, sin by its very nature is enslaving.
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And you and I know that if we've had any experience with it and if we're honest about ourselves.
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We speak of addictions and substances as addictive. Basically, we try to sanitize it, take away personal guilt.
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There is a Jewish, non -Christian Jewish psychologist a generation ago wrote a book that was a
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New York Times bestseller and the title of it was, he was a psychologist, Whatever Happened to Sin?
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As a psychologist and as a Jewish man, whatever happened to sin with I in the middle of it, sin?
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Is there no longer any responsibility? Is there no longer any guilt? And then he goes on to talk about how psychology tends to treat everything as though it were a health issue rather than a moral problem.
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Quite an amazing statement. We talk about addiction, but the
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Bible says sin is enslaving. Sin at first appears to be enticing to fallen man.
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It's attractive. Maybe in committing it, it troubles his conscience at first for the
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Lord has placed an inner voice within him, the conscience. But when he yields first to sin, then there's often a lessening of objection or resistance to sin.
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And the second occasion of committing that sin takes place then with less resistance and before long the seriousness and sense of evil associated with the sin is abandoned.
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The sin is indulged in more frequently, perhaps more openly, and sin is soon excused and then justified.
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And now we're at the point, you better celebrate with me what I do or woe is you.
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That's where we're at now in society. And by then the sinner has usually been captivated and placed in the spiritual chains that's been with that sin all along.
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Oh yes, weariness in doing the sin may occur. A measure of shame may exist, especially if found out.
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Regret or remorse of consequences of the action may trouble him. But by then there is no real desire to escape for the sin is not necessarily believed to be enslaving.
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That is, unless and until that enslaved one attempts to break free. Then you find out how enslaving sin is when you try and break free of it and you realize you can't.
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And by the way, this is usually when the pastor gets called in. Jason gets called in for counseling when there's been efforts made to break sin with no success.
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At first he thinks he can quit anytime and he begins to care so.
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But again he makes effort, he soon discovers he's been shackled and rendered unable and impotent to escape. But thank
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God, God has sent his son to be the savior and deliverer of sinners. And Jesus assured his true disciples on this occasion he'll set them free through the spiritual truth that he proclaims and embodies as they believe it and obey it.
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You abide in my word. You keep my word, you do it. You'll know the truth and the truth, the truth of himself, his whole world view, his teachings.
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You're going to experience liberation, liberty from sin itself.
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What a glorious promise and blessing to be able to live the
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Christian life and be set free from sin. It doesn't happen all at once, sometimes it does wonderfully.
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You know, when I converted at 19, I had a bucket mouth like you wouldn't believe and the Lord took that away,
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I wasn't even aware of it until somebody commented about it. I think it's fine if a guy wants to stop cussing, if he wants to do that,
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I didn't even know I had. And sometimes the Lord does that, but sometimes, you know, the one
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I struggled with, the worst I ever had to deal with was smoking, man, I couldn't believe it.
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Hardest thing I ever did in my life. And I spoke with someone yesterday morning, that's his trouble that he's fighting against, struggling.
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But some of us know sin in far greater degrees and far more enslaving.
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The promise is still here, the Lord can set you free. And it's my responsibility,
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Jason's, our church's responsibility, elders' responsibility to show you how that may be enjoyed and experienced in your life.
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To persist in that sin is to your ruin. You must be set free.
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And disciples are set free. You shall know the truth and it shall set you free.
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And so, our Lord assured them, most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
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And then he makes this statement, a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
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What did Jesus mean by that? Well, he's talking about these Jews who didn't think that they were sinners, they didn't think they were bound by sin.
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And he basically says you're a slave to sin. Alright, slaves can abide in the house for a while.
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And he's basically saying that my Father has allowed you to abide in the house of Israel for a while, the people of God.
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But the son is the one who abides forever. And the time is coming when all of you are going to be put out of the household of God, the family of God, and only those and my disciples whom
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I set free are going to continue in the household of God. He's basically declaring an end to ethnic
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Israel as a covenant nation and declaring that the church was to be comprised of himself and only his disciples.
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That's a very full statement that is made there in verse 35 that we don't have time to unpack at this moment.
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And so the fact is, Jesus Christ is able and willing to set people free from sin. It's something you cannot do.
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It doesn't matter whether you love the Lord, that's not enough. It doesn't matter if you're aware of the consequences, if you don't, that's not enough.
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You need the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as King to give you the power of the Holy Spirit to break the power of that sin because it's like iron shackles about you.
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You have to be set free. If you follow his word, you follow Jesus.
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Don't sound too arrogant in this. If you follow our instruction on what the
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Lord sets forth in the word, we can promise you you'll be set free. Jesus promised it.
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We're just conveying what he promised. There's no reason why sin has to dominate our lives.
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Now sin's always going to plague us and trouble us. And sometimes those sins that we defeat and the
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Lord gave us victory over years ago sometimes rear their head and come back at us in full force it would seem.
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But the Lord's going to have his way. This is his day. And the devil's been conquered through the cross and King Jesus now delivers his people and enables his people to escape the consequences of sin.
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The greatest need in today's fallen world is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not understanding it's not therapy people need new life in Christ.
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And the reason they don't have it now is because they're separated from the life that is in God alone. You come back into relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the life that is in him then can be infused through you and you'd experience all the blessings and glory of life and joy and peace and righteousness.
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Yes, sin will always plague us and trouble us but we're delivered from its condemnation and we're also delivered from its ultimate power.
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It can plague us but it cannot condemn us. It can torment you but you win the day.
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Your very resistance against it is proof that it's no longer your master leading you about that you were so willing to follow at one time.
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God has set his people free and will set his people free as we follow him and as we abide in his word that Bible you have in front of you is the means that God uses to set people free and if you read it believe it, follow it as you're following Jesus you can experience the glories of this kingdom life the kingdom of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. We'll stop here I didn't even get into the part
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I really wanted to get into today and I found a sermon from John Flavel a
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Puritan back in the 17th century that addressed this in a wonderful way and I think this week I'll expand it as I prepare next
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Lord's Day and attempt to convey some of the blessings I received when I read it and considered it.
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Well let's pray Thank you Father for your word for the glorious promises that are in Jesus Christ and we thank you our
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God for your work of saving grace that we are seeing in our midst and again for these ones
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Lord who stood forward and confessed Christ openly in baptism today. Thank you our
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God for them and we pray that you would bless them with your presence and your power give them joy and peace and believing and help them our
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Lord to be able to walk with Jesus Christ in faith and fellowship in the days to come and we pray for each of us our
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Lord would you rekindle and restore in us that right spirit that desire to follow
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Christ wholly and fully. We pray that you would set your people free Lord from sin that so binds and destroys and damages.
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Set your people free that we can enjoy the full life that's in Jesus Christ in whose name we do pray.