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Rome and the Bible do not mix. Find out why.

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No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,
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Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the
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Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.
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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.
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When I was a kid, I remember sitting on Grandpa's lap. My grandfather, my mother's father,
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Carl, died in 1972, just before my 12th birthday. And what I remember the most about Carl is
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I remember sitting on his lap. He was dying of prostate cancer. He couldn't do much except he could tell stories like no one else.
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And the good news is I got to be the star of the stories. And so he would begin to tell a story about exploring in a cave, and then
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I would say, yes, but Grandpa, I have a knife. Yes, you have this wonderful, great, sharp knife, and then
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I have this gun. And he would just weave this wonderful myth, and it was just a great time of storytelling the world of make -believe.
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I thought about that, too, for Christmastime. There's all kinds of Christmas myths floating around, and you don't have to go very far to notice some of the
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Christian myths. For those of you who are Greek, there's a Greek legend where there's some malicious creatures named
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Kalkansari, and they do horrible things to people during Christmastime.
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So what you need to do to get rid of these little demon creatures is you have to burn an old shoe because they don't like the smell, or you could hang a pig's jawbone by the door so they don't sneak down the fireplace.
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Interesting myth. There's another myth during Christmastime. People like to eat boar's head, at least in the
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Middle Ages. And it started back in the Middle Ages. Why would you eat a boar's head? Well, it's been said that a university student saved himself from a charging boar by ramming a book of Aristotle's writing down his throat, down, not his throat, but the boar's throat.
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He cut the boar's head off and brought it back to college, and they had a feast. It's an interesting myth.
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Maybe a little closer to home, Jingle Bells, people think is a Christmas song, and actually it was written as a
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Thanksgiving song by James Pierpont. It was originally called One Horse Open Sleigh.
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Today we sang Joy to the World, and I'm glad we sang Joy to the... Did we sing
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Joy to the World? No. Did we sing Joy to the World? In my heart of hearts, maybe we sang it.
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It actually was written for the second coming of Christ, not the first coming, although I love to sing it during Christmas time.
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But the one that I found that I like the least in terms of Christmas myths was written by the
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Diocese of Los Angeles, Episcopal News, written by Reverend Benison, the rector of St.
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Mark's Church, Upland, California. Tell me if you think this is a myth or not. Quote, There are few causes to which
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I am more passionately committed than that of Santa Claus. Santa Claus deserves not just any place in the church, but the highest place of honor, where he should be enthroned as the long -bearded
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Ancient of Days, the Divine and Holy One whom we call God. Santa Claus is
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God the Son. I'm not kidding when I read this next part. You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout.
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I'm telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town. This phrase simply refers to God the
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Son slipping into the secrets of the hearts of people just as easily as he slips down the chimney.
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Santa Claus is God the Father. Besides the modalism, it just gets worse. The creator of heaven and earth and whose hand is a pack bursting at its seams with the gifts of his creation.
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Santa Claus is God the Holy Spirit who comes with a sound of gentle laughter, with a shape like a bowl full of jelly to sow in the night seeds of good humor.
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Santa Claus indeed deserves to be exalted and enthroned in the local church. So, here he is,
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God the Son, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit. I've seen him in a toy store. I've seen him in his car on the freeway.
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And when I saw him with his crazy beard and his baggy red suit, I saw more than the seasonal merchant of cheap plastic toys.
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I saw no less than the triune God. I wonder if that guy got a pension.
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I want to correct another myth today. I want to correct this myth.
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That when Jesus came to earth, he failed in his mission of salvation. That somehow it didn't work.
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It was an aborted mission. The Romans crucified him. He ended up as some kind of messiah that didn't do his work to the very end.
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And he was crucified by the Romans on a tree. Dead, naked, ashamed.
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Why is that important? Because if Jesus did not accomplish his mission, then we are all still in our sins and we have no hope for the future, right?
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Where would we go to take a look at this great truth that's opposite of a myth where Jesus comes and saves his people from their sins?
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That's what I want to talk about today. Do you have forgiveness? Let's spin it a little bit, look at it from this perspective.
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When Jesus came to save his people from their sins, did he in fact do it and can you lose what he has done?
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If you think you can lose your salvation, then my strategy today is to say to you that Jesus didn't accomplish what the
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Father sent him to do, save his people from their sins. In other words, will salvation last?
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Frankly, if we could undo our salvation, we would all undo it. How soon? How fast with our thought life and what we do?
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If we had to keep our salvation, who is strong enough, who is righteous enough to keep their own salvation?
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What about the future? Will salvation last? My premise this morning is because Jesus was born in a manger 2 ,000 years ago and then accomplished his work, you can be secure.
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Let's turn our Bibles to the most famous Christmas passage ever. So go ahead, famous Christmas passage, just turn there right now.
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Romans chapter 8. You said, what does it have to do with Christmas? It has everything to do with Christmas because it clears up this myth.
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When Jesus was sent to save his people from their sins, he accomplished that and now you'll see the great promises that come from his work.
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Romans chapter 8. Now originally I was going to preach this because it was going to work out well congregation because today was the day lots of unbelievers come because it's the last
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Sunday before Christmas except lots of unbelievers don't come on days like today because it's too wintry out or whatever.
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And so I'm not going to preach it the way I was going to preach it. I'll preach it as an encouragement to you all today.
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Romans chapter 8 because you'll see these promises of God. God accomplished his work and you can be thankful.
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And as you watch Romans 8 unfold, it's going to drive you to one thing. This is my desire at least that you would praise
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God for his goodness and his greatness and his sure promises. It's the highest thing you could ever do in your life.
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Higher than any vocation, hobby or anything else and that is to praise God, to thank him, to exalt in him that he has done what he said he would do.
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Thomas Watson said, praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion.
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Jesus accomplished his salvation mission for you and your response should be, come see, come saw.
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Oh, that's nice. No, I want you to be fired up. I want to stoke the coals of your heart today with Romans 8, this passage that by the way, when
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I die, somebody preach Romans 8 for me, would you? This is the passage I want preached so you will remember
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God accomplished his mission and God is worthy to be praised in life or in death whether we bury the pastor or whatever happens,
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Romans 8 is this anchor, this rock for all. I don't know about you but I could have a little shot in the arm today to help my praise life, couldn't you?
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Can you praise God more and better? I turn on the news and it's this problem and that problem and healthcare and 60 votes and all these kind of things and I think my job is not necessarily to control the world or respond with feelings in accordance to what the world says.
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My responsibility, yes, privilege and duty is to praise this great God no matter what.
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God is on the throne. As Spurgeon said, if I did not praise and bless Christ my
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Lord, ready for this, I should deserve to have my tongue torn out by its roots.
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Wow. It's difficult to praise the Lord in a fallen world. It's difficult to praise the
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Lord since we're fallen but Romans 8, it's like a propellant to just help you burn for the
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Lord. Romans chapter 8, I don't know about you but I like having this section of my
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Bible just like Romans 5, just so it opens up just naturally and normally to Romans chapter 8.
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I remember a couple guys standing out front of the building several months ago and I thought what are these two guys doing kind of just talking like this to each other.
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Like overthrow the pastor or something. You know they're scheming outside the building and I kind of peeked over and said what are you guys doing?
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Oh we're doing our memory verses and we're up to Romans chapter 8. They'd memorized Romans 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, skip 6 and 7, backsliders, and then they were moving to chapter 8 and they were rehearsing
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Romans chapter 8. So I hope that you would even see this today and say, Lord, let me be certain in my heart that you have saved me and I can have comfort and assurance and I know you have done what you were sent to do.
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And Romans chapter 8 is the security in Christ that all Christians have.
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Security by the Holy Spirit that each Christian can experience. Spinner said if Holy Scripture was a ring and the epistle of Romans its precious stone, chapter 8 would be the sparkling point of the jewel.
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And I love chapter 8. You can hear MacArthur preach it, you can hear Boyce preach it, you can hear anybody preach it and you go back and you go, it's just so good.
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It's anything less than zirconium. The castle, the fortress of security.
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And so what we're going to do is, I don't know how far we'll get today. Just so you'll know, I'll give you a little inside scoop since you were the frozen chosen and you got all the way here to church today.
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This is Inside Scoop Sunday. I have 73 pages of notes.
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So, we'll see how far I get. In Romans 8, there are seven promises.
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Not that I made up, but that are in the text. Seven promises that all drive you to say, thank you that I have comfort and security, then
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Lord I should respond with praise. I don't know how far we'll get, but there's seven kind of lockjaw promises.
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When I was a kid, I just thought, I've got to go get that shot because I don't want to get lockjaw. I was always afraid
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I was going to get lockjaw. In a good way, this is kind of a vice grip or a lockjaw passage that you can go back to when your world is falling apart and say,
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God still is worthy to be praised. In Romans 8, seven great promises that every
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Christian should read, experience and then respond to the Lord with praise.
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You say, well, why do I even need this? Let's start in chapter 7. Romans is written to talk about the righteousness of God, the righteousness from God.
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We don't have righteousness and we need it and we get a little taste of that even for the Christian in Romans chapter 7.
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It's one thing to say, well, I still struggle as an unbeliever. What about the struggle that Paul has in Romans chapter 7?
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Some people live in Romans chapter 7 and never make it to chapter 8. Some live in 8 and never make it to 7. But here, forget the chapter break between 25, 725 and 8 .1.
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Why do we need this comfort? What's the desperate cry that attends to Paul's words in verse 24?
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Do you see it? I don't think people talk like this much anymore. Romans 7 .24, here's
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Paul speaking as a Christian man and he says what? Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?
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Help me. And the scholars say back in the old days they think that the way you punished a murderer was this.
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You'll never forget it. You take the dead body that you have killed, that that person has killed, and then you tie and you wrap that dead body around the other person, the murderer.
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So the murdered is wrapped around the murderer until all the bacteria and the grossness infects the person and then they die too.
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Could Paul be saying, I basically am wrapped up with this murderer of my old self and it's killing me and I can't wait to be free?
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Are these sins that I even commit as a Christian going to doom me? But then we go from agony to ecstasy.
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You see it in verse 25? That's where the chapter break should be. This should be chapter 8 verse 1.
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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God.
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There's going to be a triumph. There's the security of Christ sheep. Will salvation last?
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Yes. Let's look at the first great promise for each Christian here that should make you joyful enough to praise the
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Lord. Number 1 found in verses 1 through 4 of chapter 8. Your salvation is certain because Christ became condemned for you.
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In other words, no condemnation for you because Christ was condemned in your place.
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Take a look at how the penalty of sin was paid. Chapter 8 verse 1. You know the verse.
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Everybody look up and just say it with me. Don't look down at your paper. There is therefore now no condemnation.
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Okay, we know the verse. Some of us ESV, some of us NIV, some of us NAS. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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Look at how the penalty has been paid. Is there a greater assurance than this? All the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings and everything that pointed to that sacrifice of Christ Jesus, it's been done.
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Outside of Christ, full condemnation. Inside Christ, complete justification.
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The way Paul has written this in the Greek is he's focused on the word no. There's no condemnation.
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It's impossible. There's not an ounce, a smidgen, a little bit, not in a million years, not in a million eternities.
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Never. This is a legal decision. Three times it's used. Condemnation is a legal decision. You are guilty.
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Be imprisoned for life. Guilty off to the gallows. And it is an antonym.
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It is the opposite word for what? Tell me the opposite word for condemnation. Justification.
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There's no condemnation because we've learned in chapter 3 there's been justification. God has condemned the
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Son. I'll never forget the time when I was listening to Piper and when Piper said, God damned the
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Son. Right? He treated the Son as if he'd committed all our sins and he condemned him with a legal decision and poured out his wrath on the
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Son. God isn't so unjust now to pour out double jeopardy not just on the
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Son but on us now, is he? And if Jesus has been punished in your place, will
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God the Father punish you? Not for your past sins, not for your present sins, not for your future sins.
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Jury foreman, do you have a verdict? Yes, your honor. Guilty. But we're not the guilty ones now because Christ has bore our guilt.
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Isn't that good? How many times have we sinned even as Christians? We would all say with Paul, we're still wretched.
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Is there hope? Will salvation last? I would lose my salvation if I could. But for those who are in Christ Jesus by a sovereign act of God and who have been justified are no longer condemned.
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We can praise him. Sin against a thrice holy God has been paid for.
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Past sins, paid. Presence, present, paid. Justified by faith.
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We deserve judgment. High -handed cosmic treason we've committed. But now we are freed.
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You are freed from the damocles sword threat. I don't know if you've ever been around dogs very much, but I remember
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Kim and I found a dog once in California and you inherit somebody else's dog and then you put your foot up the wrong way and the dog's like this.
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Because you know that last owner did what? Was kicking that dog. And so these cringing dogs always kind of walking around.
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That shouldn't be us as Christians. Even though we've sinned and we ought to be ashamed of our sin and confess our sins and agree with God and ask for forgiveness.
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But we don't have to walk around like a cringing dog going he's going to just kick me. We're his sons.
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But I'm getting ahead of myself. The song says all our guilty stains are gone.
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That's why Jude says to God our Savior through Christ Jesus our Lord, glory, majesty, dominion, authority before all time, now and forever.
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That gives you confidence. Sometime do a little story. I don't have time to develop it now. But do a little story on how many people died during the construction of the
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Golden Gate Bridge before the safety harnesses and nets and after. You think they were more productive when they were going to fall off and die or when they knew they were secure?
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What's the worst thing that can happen to us as Christians? We get killed.
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Promoted. You say well that's fine and dandy but I need help now. That's future.
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I need help now. Oh let's keep going then. Verses 2 to 4. Did you know not just the penalty of sin has been paid, verse 1 but the power of sin is broken for the
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Christian. Verses 2, 3 and 4. You're liberated from the law's bondage. This is wonderful.
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Verse 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
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What's the practical application of no condemnation? Here we have it. The power of sin has been broken.
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I call this the law of sin gravity has been reversed. The law of sin gravity has been reversed.
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Unbelievers. We all were unbelievers. We were enslaved to sin. We loved sin. We couldn't help but sin.
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We'd get up late at night devising sin. Sin was a sport to us. All illustrations found in the Old Testament.
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And now that enslaving kind of chained up. I went to see the Scrooge yesterday and is it
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Marley who comes in and he's got all those chains wrapped around him. I've earned these chains link by link.
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But for those in Christ Jesus who have now had Jesus condemned for them in their place and now stand justified, this has been broken.
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We get to rise above the sin principle. Always capitulating to sin before we're saved and now we can overcome sin because of the
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Spirit's power. One man said what Christ has won for us positionally, the
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Holy Spirit now works in us practically. How? Verse 3. Here's the divine method.
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Take a look. Verse 3 of chapter 8. For what the law could not do, weak as it was to the flesh,
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God did. Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.
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The law couldn't deliver sinners. Jesus could. And Jesus is the one who sent because it will take the divine
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God -man to do this work. Can't be trusted to anyone else. Can't send Gabriel to do the job.
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Can't send Michael to do the job. It's Christ's work. What's the purpose?
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Verse 4. The purpose is now you can obey God's law. You can obey, verse 4, in order that the 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. So much different than Charles Finney when he wrote, it is self -evident that the entire obedience to God's law is possible on the ground of natural ability.
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To deny this is to deny that man is able to do as well as he can. It is, of course, forever settled that a state of entire sanctification is attainable in this life on the ground of natural ability.
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I don't know what could be more prideful. We can't do it. It's all been done to us, including this, and now the
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Spirit of God enables us to obey His law. Promise number 2.
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First promise is there's no condemnation for Christians. That's praiseworthy. Promise number 2 that should elicit your praise is your salvation is secure because the
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Holy Spirit dwells within you, verses 5 -13. The Holy Spirit indwells you, will help you with both, help you with salvation and now with sanctification.
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This also asks and answers the question, will salvation last? What's the role of the
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Holy Spirit in the life of a believer? By the way, when you look at this chapter everywhere you look is the
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Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit. When you look at chapter 7, what's the dominating personal pronoun in chapter 7?
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I, I, I, I, I. Chapter 8, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit. 19 times according to my calculations.
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I think 30 I's found in chapter 7, although I'm sure somebody will probably correct me at the end of the service.
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I counted. Okay, in the Greek then, how about that? What's the secret of secure living in Christ Jesus?
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It's the Holy Spirit driven life. True or false? God originally attended you, the
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Christian, to live by your own strength. No, that was never the plan.
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We all know what happens when we try to live according to our own strength. Chapter 8, verses 5 through 13 should forever get rid of this in your mind, that you need to just try in your own strength to be a good
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Christian. That you just need to try to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.
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You're just going to have to make a new resolution this year. Remember last year's resolution has come and gone and now at least we have
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January 1st to look forward to again this year. I'm just going to be a better person. I'm going to be more kind.
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I'm going to be more likable. I'm going to be more forgiving. I'm going to lose weight. I'm going to do whatever these things are.
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This is the liberating message of Roman chapter 8. God never intends you to live by your own strength.
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And by the way, when we do, what happens? It's like having square wheels in your car.
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Look at how the Spirit of God changes our mindsets. Changes your mindset. Verse 5, for those who according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.
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But those who are according to the spirit, the things of a spirit. Did you know the Spirit of God directs your mind toward heavenly things?
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Directs your mind and your thinking towards Bible things, Christian things, heavenly things, spirit -powered things?
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Gives you different ambitions? Makes you concentrate and get engrossed by things?
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Remember when I first got saved, I thought to myself, I've never been so engrossed in a subject in my entire life.
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I just want to learn. I just want to study. It's kind of like forget food, forget everything else.
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I just want to learn this book. I want to learn what God thinks. The Word of God tells me the mind of God and I've got to figure this out.
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I've got to learn and study. And you think, who's given me that desire? We know what desires come from an unbeliever.
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We have different desires. And what's the result? Verse 6, for the mindset on flesh is death, but the mindset on spirit is life and peace.
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For the Christian, security, contentment, tranquility, joy, life, peace.
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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.
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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.
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You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE its staff or management.