The Doctrine of Salvation

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Alright guys, good morning.
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We are continuing our 12-week Rotating Principles of Theology and Doctrine class.
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We are on week 8.
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This has gone by a lot quicker than I thought it would.
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How many of you have been here since the beginning? You've been through all 8 classes, okay.
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Only a couple of you.
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Alright, well, that's why it's a rotating class.
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So if you are new, or you've missed a few, you'll pick them up again on the next turn.
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Now, I will say this, this 12 weeks should end the week before Thanksgiving, and then we host Thanksgiving at our church, so you guys who are here will be having Thanksgiving with me.
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It's fun.
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I enjoy it.
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I spend all Wednesday cooking, and then Thursday morning cooking, and then my family's there with us, and we have Thanksgiving together.
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We are your family.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Amen.
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And then, so that will end this 12-week course, and then I'm not going to pick it up right away, because that will put us at Christmas time.
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So I'm going to do a few weeks on the more specific to the doctrines of Christ and the virgin birth, and what happened at that particular period.
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We're going to look at Matthew.
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We're going to look at Luke.
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We're going to compare the texts.
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So there will be a few weeks in between, and we'll start over again after Christmas.
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We'll start over with the 12 weeks after Christmas.
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So today we're going to look at the doctrine of salvation.
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We've looked at several doctrines.
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We've looked at the doctrine of revelation.
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We've looked at the doctrine of God, theology proper.
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We've looked at the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
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We've looked at the doctrine of man, which is called anthropology.
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We've looked at the doctrine of sin, hamartiology.
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And today we're going to look at the doctrine of salvation, and we're going to begin.
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I want to just sort of tell you a story, and this is actually not my story.
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It's a story from a theologian that I respect.
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Many of you probably know his name.
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You've heard me mention him before, Dr.
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R.C.
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Sproul.
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Dr.
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R.C.
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Sproul was a theology teacher.
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He was a university professor and a seminary professor.
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And he was teaching at Temple University.
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One day when he was trying to find time to have lunch, you know, trying to find a little private time, you know, when you're a professor, students sort of bombard you with questions.
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So he was trying to find a way that he could get away and have a moment's peace.
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And while he was going towards his lunch area, get away from folks, a man sort of challenged him, stopped him, and said, hey, are you saved? And Dr.
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Sproul, without really thinking much about it, said, saved from what? And so that's what we're going to start with today.
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We're going to start with answering the question, saved from what? Because most of us are familiar with the language, and probably you've had somebody in your life say, are you saved? Are you saved? You know, you maybe have a Christian friend or a Christian relative, or maybe you grew up in a church where the pastor would ask you, are you saved? Are you saved? And we get so familiar with the language, we get so familiar with the vernacular, we forget sometimes that we don't always understand what we're saved from.
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And so to understand the doctrine of salvation, to understand this idea, we have to first understand what we mean when we ask the question, are you saved? Or what are you saved from? The doctrine of salvation is called soteriology.
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Soteriology is based on the Greek word sotso, or soter, depending on its use.
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And the Bible uses this word soter or sotso in several different ways.
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Do you remember when Peter was on the water with Jesus? Come on, do you remember? And Jesus was walking on the water and Peter got out of the boat and walked to Jesus and he began to sink.
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What did he say? Save me! That's what he said.
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Peter said, save me.
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Now what, what was he talking about there? Save me from drowning.
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Right? When he said save me, he meant don't let me drown.
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So in that sense, save regards physical salvation.
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In 1 Timothy chapter 2, it talks about women and men being different and it says that women are saved through childbearing.
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Now that passage can be a little confusing, but I will tell you what it does not mean.
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Sometimes it's hard to explain what it does mean and I don't really have time for that, but I'll tell you what it doesn't mean.
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It does not mean a woman is saved eternally simply by having a baby.
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Like you get saved by believing, but she gets saved by getting pregnant.
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That ain't how it works.
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That's not what that means.
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So that's two different ways that the word saved is used that really have nothing to do with the way we normally use the word.
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Right? When Peter's falling in the water, save me Lord, he's talking about saved from drowning.
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When Paul is writing 1 Timothy and he writes a woman is saved through childbearing, I don't think he's referring to eternal salvation there.
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And again, if I had time to go into the context, I would explain what I do think he means, but it's not eternal salvation.
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And so we see the word sotso, we see the word saved used different ways throughout the Bible, but most of the time when salvation is used, when the word sotso or soter is used, it is used in the spiritual sense.
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And to begin to understand salvation in the spiritual sense, we must first understand why we need to be saved.
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And that's why we start with the question saved from what? Last time we were here, last week, we talked about hamartiology.
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What is hamartiology? Come on guys, wake up.
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What is hamartiology? What did we talk about last week? The doctrine of sin.
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Right? That's what hamartia is, the word for sin.
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Hamartiology is the doctrine of sin.
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What is sin? Missing the mark.
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We talked about that.
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But what is the mark? Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ is the standard bearer, that's true.
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We would also say the law of God, right, because Jesus perfectly kept the law of God.
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So we said that the confession defines sin as any one of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.
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Anywhere that we miss the mark of God's law, that's sin.
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And therefore we stand before God guilty of having broken His law.
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Just like if you stood before a judge guilty of breaking the law of the land, you would have a punishment that is due.
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We stand before God guilty of breaking His law, every one of us having broken the law, therefore every one of us has a penalty that is due.
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So, letter C on your sheet should say this, and make sure I'm looking at the right one here.
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No, I'm ahead of myself.
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Letter B.
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It is not just that we are being saved from sin, but ultimately we are being saved from the wrath of God.
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Is that what it says? Yes.
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Yes.
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Okay.
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I'm making sure I get them all.
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My outline is a little different than yours, mine has my notes.
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Everybody turn in your Bibles to John 3, verse 36.
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John 3, 36.
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Now most of us are familiar with John 3, 16, and everybody likes John 3, 16.
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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
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That's John 3, 16, and everybody loves it.
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But most people are very unfamiliar with the context of John 3, especially as Jesus goes on to discuss the condition of man.
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And listen to what He says in verse 36.
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It says, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
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Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the what? The wrath of God.
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God remains on Him.
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Notice it says remains, or abides on Him.
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Here's the thing that we have to keep in mind.
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And this is the thing that is so often missed, it's so commonly misunderstood.
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You deserve the wrath of God.
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You don't deserve it a little bit.
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You don't deserve it half way.
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You deserve the wrath of God in its full measure.
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And people say, I don't like to hear that, I don't believe that, I'm a good person.
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That's hogwash.
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You're not a good person, neither am I.
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Neither is your nice old grandma.
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All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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Don't come back, don't you talk about my grandma.
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Know what I'm saying.
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All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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The Bible says there is none good, no not one.
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There is none who understands.
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There is none who seeks after God.
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All have turned aside.
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Together they have become worthless.
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Murder is in their hearts.
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The venom of asps is in their lips.
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There is no fear of God before their eyes.
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This is the condemnation of the Apostle Paul upon all men.
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That all men deserve the wrath of God.
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Not just you who are here at set free, but everybody.
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I'm not coming here and saying you're worse.
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I'm coming here and saying we're all horrible.
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People say, well what about all the nice people? They're horrible too.
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I don't like to hear this.
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I don't care.
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Listen to what the text says again.
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Whoever believes in the Son has life.
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Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
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God does not apply His wrath to someone who does not deserve it.
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Because God is a good judge.
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People ask me all the time, well what if there was a good man? What if there was a good man over in the island somewhere and he's only done good forever? He's never sinned.
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I say, well he'd go to heaven.
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The problem is that man doesn't exist.
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You've never met a good man.
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And there's never been a good man.
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We all have the seed of sin within us.
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We are all sinners.
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This is why a lot of times, I'm going to tell you something right now.
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This is going to be offensive.
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And you can take it and write me a letter and then fold it up and put it in the trash.
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I don't care.
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When I say something that's offensive but true, it's just going to have to be the truth.
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I ain't saying I don't care about your opinion, but when it comes to the truth, it's the truth.
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People get all upset.
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Recently we had to celebrate Columbus Day.
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People said, no, we shouldn't celebrate Columbus Day.
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We should celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day.
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Because Columbus came in and he brought war and terror to this continent.
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As if the people who lived here before Columbus came were not already warring and hating each other.
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There were 85,000 ritual killings two years before Columbus ever set foot here.
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Man is evil.
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Whether you're white or black, you are evil.
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And this is why racism is stupid.
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Because what you're saying is that guy because he's black or that guy because he's white is worse than me.
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No.
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We all have a heart of stone.
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Whether we're white, black, Native American, whatever.
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The Native Americans were killing each other long before we ever came because the heart of man is sick and desperately wicked.
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So I say that, like I said, I'm not trying to be offensive.
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It's just the truth.
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You know the natural state of man is war.
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I wrote a research paper years ago.
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My secular degree, I have biblical degrees, but I also have secular degrees.
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My secular degree is in social science.
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Social science is basically the study of how societies function and how social structures function.
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Basically just surveys and how to understand this culture from that culture.
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It's sort of a pseudoscience, honestly, because it's hard to really declare it an exact science.
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It's not like math where 2 plus 2 always equals 4.
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It just doesn't work that way.
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Social science is very subjective in a lot of ways.
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But one of the things that I wrote on, I wrote on the concept of war and utopia.
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You know what utopia is? The idea that there could be a place where nobody fights and nobody wars and everybody's good.
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Outside of the redemption of Jesus Christ, that ain't going to happen.
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And this is one of the quotes from my paper.
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I said war is natural.
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Peace is the accident.
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And peace doesn't last.
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Because anytime two men want the same thing that both of them cannot have and enjoy at the same time, they become enemies.
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I'll say it again.
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When two men both want the same thing that they both cannot have and enjoy at the same time, they by nature become enemies.
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And that's how war begins.
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Whether it's a desire for power, or a desire for property, a desire for authority, or economics, whatever.
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And so look around you.
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Do you see any man in here that is righteous? Not one.
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Huh? There's not one.
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Okay, I thought you said I am one.
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I was like, alright brother, let's start over.
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There is none righteous, no not one.
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I can't hear you brother, I'll say it again.
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I said all have pain, sin and pain so.
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That's right, that's right.
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None is righteous.
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And that's the point.
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Why do we all deserve the wrath of God? Because we're all sinners.
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And you say well, how come God's wrath is so harsh? Think of it like this.
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This is very important.
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The amount of punishment due is based on the amount or the worth of the one who was offended.
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Let me say it again.
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The amount of punishment due is based on the worth of the one who was offended.
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So for instance, if I take a rock, I think I've used this illustration before.
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If I take a rock and I scratch up a rock, nobody's going to care.
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If I take my keys and scratch up a rock, carve my initials in it, nobody's going to care.
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But if I take my key to your car and I scratch my initials in it, you're going to care.
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Now if I take my key and I scratch my initials into a Lamborghini, it's going to be even worse because of the value of what's offended.
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Right? The rock didn't matter at all.
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Your car matters to you.
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But a Lamborghini is a lot more expensive than probably any car that any of us could ever own.
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And that would be a terrible punishment.
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Because now I'm attacking something that's worth more.
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You understand? So now think about God.
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When we sin against God, we are sinning against He who is the greatest in the universe.
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We are sinning against the greatest king.
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If you sin against the President, the Secret Service...
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I mean, let's say you went up to the President and took a swipe at him.
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The Secret Service wouldn't even let you get close enough.
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They'd smash you down, face you to pavement, right? If you went after a Hollywood actor, somebody of, you know, Tom Hanks or something, his security, boom! They'd be on top of you.
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Wouldn't even give you a chance to take the swipe.
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Every time you sin, you are spitting in the face of Almighty God.
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Who is much greater than the President, so much greater than Tom Hanks.
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You understand what I'm saying? The amount of punishment due is based on the worth of the one who is offended.
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God is infinitely worthy.
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Yes, sir? So you're saying that other lives are worth more than others? No, no, brother.
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I was simply saying...
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I was trying to make an example of...
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I know what you're saying about against God.
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I understand that part.
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The sin against Donald Trump or whoever.
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If you sin against anybody, it's still the same no matter who it is.
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No, that's true.
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I'm not arguing against that.
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I'm saying your punishment will be different because they have security and all that.
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You know, if somebody took a swipe at me, nobody's going to care.
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Because I don't have any recourse, right? Legally, there won't be much of a fine.
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If somebody punched me in the face, they'd probably get...
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I don't know.
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Six months probation.
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Oh, yeah, yeah.
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Somebody might think it's worth it just to punch me in the jaw.
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You know, six months, that's fine.
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But if you punch the president, you're probably going to go to jail for a long time.
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I'm just talking about the way the law works.
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I ain't saying it's right.
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I'm just saying the way the law works.
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But when we talk about God, He is infinitely more valuable.
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Okay, okay, yeah.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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And so that's why the wrath of God is so severe.
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We forget sometimes who it is we're dealing with.
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We are dealing with the God who created us.
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Adam and Eve spit in the face of their Creator.
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Think about it like this.
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Adam and Eve were in the most beautiful and the most voluptuous garden that was ever in history.
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They had all the food that they wanted.
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They never were hungry.
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They never wanted for anything.
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They were in a comfortable environment, a peaceful environment.
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There was no hate.
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There was no jealousy.
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There was no wickedness.
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God said one thing you must not do.
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Don't eat of this tree.
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You can eat of everything else.
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You'll never go hungry.
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What'd they do? They spit in the face of God.
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And people say, I can't imagine how stupid they were by doing that.
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How could they be so dumb? I say, how dumb are you? You spit in the face of the same God every time you sin.
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How dumb am I? Every time I sin, I'm looking the same God in the face and saying, no, I know better than you.
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And then when I read, the wrath of God abides on me, why do I get upset? Well, I don't deserve it.
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Yes, I do.
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I don't know.
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Something feels like it ain't getting through.
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Guys, the reason why we even care about salvation, the reason why it matters is because of what we actually deserve.
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We deserve God's punishment.
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And we are saved from it.
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That's the key to this.
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What are you saved from? You might not like to hear this, I'll tell you what you're saved from.
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You're saved from God.
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Saved from God, by God, for God.
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You are saved from God's wrath, by God's grace, for God's glory.
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That's it.
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From His wrath, by His grace, for His glory.
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So when somebody says, if anybody ever asks you, are you saved? Ask them, saved from what? I bet you they don't know.
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A lot of people don't understand it.
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Now, I feel like I've lost some of you, so let's get back on track.
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Let's look now, let me just get the handout.
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Alright.
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On letter C of your handout, you'll notice I've given you three words that I want to define.
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Because when we talk about salvation, there are three principles that we need to understand.
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Get down there and get it.
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Stop acting up.
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Number one is the word justification.
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Number two is the word sanctification.
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Number three is the word glorification.
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Now, I imagine you guys have heard those words before.
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Because you've been here.
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I imagine those are words that Pastor Mark uses, maybe Mark Terrell, maybe some of the other teachers here have used.
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Amen? Alright, well, again, my class is sometimes simply reinforcing things you already know.
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So if you already know this, that's fine.
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But I do want to make sure that you understand what these words mean.
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Justification is how a sinful man is made right with a holy God.
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Justification is how a sinful man is made right with a holy God.
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Because God's righteousness demands that we have a penalty.
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Justification is salvation from the penalty of sin.
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Now how are we saved from the penalty of sin? Do you have your hand up? I know.
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Jesus died on the cross for us.
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That's right.
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Everybody turn to Romans 3.
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Romans 3 and go to verse 21.
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Alright, verse 21.
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But now righteousness from God apart from the law has been made manifest to which the law and the prophets testify.
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This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
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There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
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God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood.
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He did this to demonstrate His justice because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.
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He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time so as to be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus.
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That takes us through verse 26.
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So what does that mean? It is salvation.
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And it is salvation from the penalty of sin.
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Somebody say something? That's right.
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Being justified.
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Being justified.
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Justified means to be declared righteous.
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And it is a legal declaration.
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And the way that God makes that legal declaration is He says even though you are a sinner, I am going to declare you righteous based upon the work of someone else.
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And it's the work of Jesus.
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And therefore you are justified.
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You are declared righteous because of the work of Christ.
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That is salvation from the penalty of sin.
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Now, that could be all salvation is.
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Salvation could just be you are all saved from the penalty of sin so don't worry about it.
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Just go about your lives.
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Just know this.
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When you die, you are going to be alright.
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The penalty has been paid.
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And that could be all salvation is, but it's not.
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Salvation could just...
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And that's the way a lot of people treat it.
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Think about people who say...
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I've even heard pastors say this.
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They'll say, come forward.
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Raise your hand.
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Come forward.
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Be baptized.
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And your sins are washed away.
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Justified.
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Justified, never sinned.
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Right? Some of them use that sort of term.
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To be just as if you'd never sinned.
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You know, justified.
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And then, nothing.
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You're saved.
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So what? Salvation does not end when you say, I believe in Jesus.
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Walk the aisle.
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Get baptized.
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Whatever.
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That's not where it ends.
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That's where it begins.
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Right? So justification is the first act of salvation.
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The second is sanctification.
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And now I want to use my board because I want to make a point on this.
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No, not right now.
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Justification is a once-for-all declaration.
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It is a once-for-all declaration of righteousness.
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You are declared righteous.
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And I use this example, and I think it's a good one.
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Let's say you want to get married to a woman.
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You came to me and you said, Pastor, I want you to marry us.
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And after a time of counseling, I said, okay, we'll do the marriage.
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So you come to me with your wife.
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She walks down the aisle.
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You all join hands.
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You hand her a ring.
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Sometime during the service, usually at the end, I'll say, by the power vested in me by the Lord Jesus Christ and the state of Florida, I now pronounce you man and wife.
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You may kiss your bride.
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Up until that moment, you are both single.
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But when that declaration is made, something changes legally before God and before the state.
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Once that declaration is made, you are now in a new legal position.
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You go from being two singles to one couple.
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When you come to faith in Jesus Christ, God declares you righteous in the courtroom of the Almighty.
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You are from that moment on at peace with God because of the work of Jesus Christ.
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You are righteous, not because you are righteous by what you do, but you are declared righteous based upon the work of Christ.
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He took your sin.
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He gives you His goodness.
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You are declared righteous in the courtroom of God.
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That's why I say it is a once for all and by that I mean once for all time.
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A once for all time declaration of righteousness.
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It doesn't have to be repeated.
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You don't have to keep getting re-justified.
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See, we are going to talk about that next week because next week we are going to focus just on justification and we are going to talk about the Reformation.
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See, the issue with the Reformation was that during the Reformation, prior to the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church had established a doctrine of indulgence which meant you had to purchase your justification and you could lose it.
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So you had to buy more.
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And they had letters that you could purchase.
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They were called indulgence letters.
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And they used that money to build up the power and the facilities of the church.
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It was an ungodly thing and that's why the Reformation happened.
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The Reformers said, no, justification is a declaration of God.
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Once for all, you have been declared righteous.
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So that is justification.
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Sanctification, and I am going to switch colors.
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Sanctification is different.
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Sanctification is the ongoing process by which we are conformed to Christ.
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It is the ongoing process by which we are conformed to Christ.
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So justification saves us from the penalty of sin.
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Sanctification saves us from the power of sin because we are daily conformed to the Person of Christ.
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In fact, Romans 8 says that's what we've been predestined to.
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Predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
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Right? Romans 8.
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29.
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For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.
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In fact, that's the most important thing.
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Not just that you're saved from the penalty of sin.
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That's good.
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But you're also saved from the power of sin so that God conforms you to the image of Christ.
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I always say it like this.
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God picks you up out of the dirt of your sin and He begins to clean you off.
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Here's the problem though.
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The cleaner you get, the more you recognize how dirty you were.
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It's like the guy who was walking to a dinner party and as he was walking, he was walking in the nighttime and a car went by and splashed water on him.
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And it was muddy water and it got on his suit.
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And it was so dark, he said, ah, it's not that bad, I'll keep going.
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So he walks a little further and as he gets closer to his destination, there's a streetlight that he's getting closer to.
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And the closer he gets to the streetlight, the more he recognizes how dirty his clothes are until finally he's standing under the streetlight and he sees himself just covered in muddy water.
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And I think that's a good illustration of we come to Christ, we don't really recognize how bad our sin is.
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And the more we get conformed to Christ, the more we look down and say, oh boy, how sinful.
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I mean, I think about my thoughts sometimes.
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I think about how could a man of God think the things I think? How could a man of God, which I claim to be, how could a preacher man of God have some of the issues that I deal with in my own heart? I mean, you know, anger, frustration, jealousy.
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If I can't get an amen out of that, I don't know what I'm going to do.
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So here's the picture.
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You may even want to draw it on your sheet.
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Hold on.
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There's somebody in there now.
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When he comes back out, you can go.
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Sit back.
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I always say, justification is one time, one and done.
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You don't have to be re-justified.
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If you're justified in Christ, it's declared.
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But sanctification, let's say you begin here, and our goal is Christ.
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It's growth.
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So it's like this.
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But the problem is, it ain't really like that.
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The problem is, it looks more like this.
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Wham, wham, wham, wham, wham.
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A bad heartbeat.
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And we'll never be perfectly conformed to Christ, ever.
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Until the last one.
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Everybody see the third one? Notice I said there's three, right? Justification.
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Sanctification is the process.
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We're being made like Christ.
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But glorification is when we are given our new bodies.
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And our new bodies, according to 1 Corinthians 15, will not lust, will not desire sin.
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We will have bodies that do not want sin.
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It will still be us.
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And see, that's the thing I don't even understand.
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Because I don't understand how I can be me and different.
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Because I've got to be different.
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Right? We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed.
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In the moment and the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, the dead in Christ shall rise first.
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And then those who are alive together, we caught up with them in the clouds.
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It's all right, go ahead.
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He's fine.
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He's fine.
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Yes, sir? We said 1 Corinthians 10.
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15.
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That's all about the resurrection.
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In fact, when we get to our last class, class 12, we're going to look at it more closely because we're going to talk about eschatology.
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We're going to talk about what happens when we die.
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Everybody talks about eschatology.
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They want to talk about end times, you know, millenniums and all that.
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And that's important.
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But the most important part of eschatology is this.
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Eschatology is the study of the end.
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And guess what? You all got an end coming.
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And it may be sooner than you think.
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We all have a personal eschatology.
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We all have a personal end.
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I could die on my way home today.
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I could die right now.
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You know, if my heart were to stop working, I'd be before Jesus.
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And you'd be having to carry out a very heavy carcass.
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No, I mean, yeah.
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It's the truth.
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So...
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No, you can't play.
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So anyway.
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So glorification is the salvation from the presence of sin.
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Right? So the simple way to say justification is saved from the penalty of sin.
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Once for all.
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I no longer...
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Romans 8.1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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Right? Penalty is gone.
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Condemnation is gone.
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But, we then have saved from the power of sin.
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Is it empty now? Alright, go ahead.
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Can I go back? Close the door when you go in there.
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I always have to wonder what people...
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Because I do record these and post these because people like to hear the lessons.
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You know, there's some people that are actually taking this class that aren't here.
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I always have to wonder if they wonder why I'm telling people to go to the bathroom.
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It's my son.
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Alright, so saved from the presence of sin.
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I'm sorry.
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Saved from the penalty of sin.
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That's number one.
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That's justification.
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Saved from the power of sin is number two.
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That's sanctification.
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And that is an ongoing struggle.
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Saved from the presence of sin is glorification.
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And that will happen...
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Well, when we die, we'll be separate from the body.
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We'll be with the Lord.
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But that's not the ultimate end.
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The ultimate end is the resurrection that comes at the end of the age where we will receive a new body and live on a new earth.
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You're not going to live in heaven, y'all.
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You're going to live in the new earth.
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That's another thing.
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People always talk about heaven.
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Well, heaven is the abode of God.
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We will be given a new earth and a new body.
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We're not going to be sitting on a cloud strumming a harp like you see in the movies.
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Darn! I honestly think that the new earth is going to be a lot like Eden.
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A lot like what God originally created for us.
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Yes, sir? It sounds like you're talking to a little Catholic now.
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Because my family is Catholic.
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And they believe in like a new world.
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Not like heaven kind of thing.
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Well, whether or not I'm agreeing with them, what I'm talking about is Revelation 21.
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And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth coming down, right? Or a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven.
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And I believe that we will have bodies and that we will have a new world to live in.
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And if you want to call that heaven, I call it the new Jerusalem or the celestial city.
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Those are languages that are used.
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But ultimately, we know this.
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It's a place where there's no sin.
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It's a place where there's no separation from God.
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This is all Revelation 21, right? There's no sin.
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There's no separation from God.
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There's no crying, mourning, or weeping because it's a place of perpetual joy.
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It's a place we can't even imagine because we live here in sin.
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We can't even imagine it.
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So what it's going to be like, I don't know.
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But I know it's going to be a lot better than this place.
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That's right.
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Alright, so last on these three things and then we're going to move to our second part.
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And I'll go through that kind of quick because I've spent more time on this than I thought I would.
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Last thing, justification is something, if you are a believer, justification is something that has already happened.
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Sanctification is something that is happening.
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And glorification is something that will happen.
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So if we think of it in terms of the already and the not yet.
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You're already justified.
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You are being sanctified.
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You will be glorified.
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So you haven't been glorified yet.
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You are being sanctified, but if you are a believer, you've been justified.
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This is why Paul can say, my favorite verse of the Bible.
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I know I say that with a lot of verses, but this one truly, truly, truly, if I were on a desert island and somebody says you can only have one book, it would be the Bible.
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If I could only have one book of the Bible, I don't know, maybe Hebrews.
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But if I could only have one verse scrawled on the wall of my cave, whatever.
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Romans 5.1 Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.
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Having been justified, past tense, we have, present tense, peace with God.
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That's the most important verse when it comes to my salvation.
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Because I've been justified, I have peace with God.
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Romans 5.1 Romans 5.1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Anytime, if I was ever at a church, and they said you're a pastor, stand up and preach, that would be the verse I'd preach.
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If I didn't have any time to prepare, if I didn't have any notes with me, if I didn't have anything, if I didn't know I was going to preach, somebody said stand up and preach, everybody open your Bibles to Romans 5.1.
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So if you don't know it, learn it.
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That's an important verse.
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Alright.
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So now we're going to look at the atonement.
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We're going to finish out, again, this is the doctrine of salvation.
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The doctrine of salvation is more than just justification, sanctification, glorification, but those three things are important.
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But now we're going to look at the word atonement because that is also important.
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I'm going to erase the board, hopefully you don't need it.
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The word atonement is important.
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I'm going to write it.
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The English word is actually weird.
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This English word is a combination of words.
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The combination is the phrase at one meant.
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And the concept is being at one.
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In the Hebrew, the word means covering, and in the Greek it means reconciliation.
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Both sort of having the same idea because the concept is this.
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If you have sinned against God, you are separated from God.
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How do you get back? How are you made at one? Because you were apart.
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How do you bring together what was separated? Reconciliation.
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That's what we call it.
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Let's say you had two brothers, I don't know if you have any brothers.
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Let's say you had two brothers and they were fighting.
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And you brought them down and you said, okay, we're going to sit at the table and we're going to reconcile your relationship.
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You mean you're going to make them at one, right? Let's say you had two friends and they were fighting.
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You're going to bring them together and reconcile the relationship.
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You're going to make them at one.
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Well, that's what the idea of atonement is.
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We have from God, or rather we have with God a separation that needs to be reconciled.
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And the death of Christ is what brings about our reconciliation.
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Turn in your Bible to Galatians 3.
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Galatians 3.13 says this, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.
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He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so by faith we might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.
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So what is that saying? Christ redeemed us.
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What does it mean to be redeemed? And actually the word means to buy back.
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If you think about it, some of you older guys, maybe not some of you younger guys, but some of you older guys used to hear like advertisements, bring your coupon and redeem it for something free, right? Buy one, get one or something.
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And the word redeem means to purchase or to use it to purchase something.
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And the picture is that we are all slaves to sin.
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We are trapped in our sin.
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Christ comes and by His blood He buys us out of slavery and He sets us free in Him.
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Right? So He comes to liberate us from our sin and He does so by redemption or reconciliation.
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He reconciles us to God by His work on the cross.
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And when we think about the word atonement, there are six words that we should know what they mean.
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I put them on your sheet.
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Yep, right there.
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Yeah, I have them.
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I'm just making sure you did.
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Alright, so there are six words that involve our atonement.
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Number one is the word substitution.
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On the cross, Christ substitutes for us because we deserve to be on that cross.
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We deserve the punishment of God.
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We deserve wrath.
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Christ goes to the cross in our place and becomes our substitute.
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2 Corinthians 5.21 God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we could become the righteousness of God in Him.
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God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us.
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That's what happened on the cross.
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A great transaction.
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He substituted Himself in our place.
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The next is the word redemption.
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I've already mentioned it.
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Redemption means to make a payment.
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Christ paid the debt that we could not pay.
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We owe a debt for sin.
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Christ paid the debt for us.
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Reconciliation.
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Christ restores the relationship between God and sinners.
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That's Romans 5.10 and 11.
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In fact, let's look at that one.
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Go to Romans 5.
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Back to Romans.
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Sorry, we're all over the place today.
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Romans 5.10 and 11.
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I'll read it.
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For if when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through His life? Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation.
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See, it says we were God's enemies.
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Now you might not feel like you've ever been God's enemies, but the Bible says that we are by nature at enmity with God.
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Enmity means war or hostility.
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So we are by nature at war with God, and we are reconciled by the work of Christ.
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So substitution, redemption, reconciliation.
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Number four, propitiation.
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Raise your hand if you know what the word propitiation means.
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Propitiation.
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Go ahead.
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Well, it's distinct from substitution.
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Substitution is Christ taking our punishment.
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That's that.
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Propitiation means to satisfy.
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God's wrath is satisfied by Christ.
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So substitution is what causes propitiation, but they are distinct.
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Propitiation, to propitiate, means to satisfy anger or wrath.
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God's anger which burns against us because of sin was propitiated by Christ.
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And that language is used in Romans 3, 25-26.
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It says through Him we receive propitiation.
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We receive the satisfaction for our sins.
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Did you have your hand up again? Okay, I'm sorry.
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Romans 3, 25-26.
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Number five, forgiveness.
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Most of us think of forgiveness in emotional terms.
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You think of somebody who's hurt you, and they come and say, please forgive me.
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And you say, I don't know if I can forgive you.
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You hurt me so bad.
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You know, we've all been there, right? Maybe somebody really harmed you.
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Maybe they hurt your family.
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And they come to you and they say, I want you to forgive me.
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And you say, I don't know if I can forgive you.
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The pain is too much, right? So you know the emotional side of forgiveness.
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But there's also, forgiveness is actually a legal term.
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It means to have your debt wiped out.
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Think of this.
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Let's say you owe to a creditor.
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And they said, you don't have to pay.
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We're going to forgive your debt.
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Right? That's legal.
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When they do that, your debt is no more against you.
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And see, that's what happens because of propitiation.
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Christ takes the penalty.
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God is satisfied.
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Therefore, legally, you no longer owe a debt.
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Oh, come on with the amen.
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That's important.
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You no longer owe a debt.
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I might have to lay hands on you.
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But you understand, for me, when I start, I don't mean to get emotional, and I'm normally not.
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I don't like to cry a lot.
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You know, sometimes I do, but I don't like to.
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But when I think about forgiveness, it really gets to me.
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I mean, I've had people in my life that have really hurt me, and I have had a hard time forgiving them.
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I mean, I've had moments where I've really had a hard time letting that debt go.
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I think we have the capability to forgive.
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I don't think we forget.
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You know the old idea of forgive and forget.
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And if somebody says, well, what's the difference? I do think, and I know this from my own life, I do think there are people that have harmed us that we cannot hold it against them anymore.
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I know I haven't.
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And maybe you say, I just haven't gotten there yet.
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Maybe that's where God's still working on your heart.
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But I do think there's a place we can get where even if we remember the sin, we can love the person and not hold it against them.
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I think it's hard.
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I'm not saying it's easy, but I do think it is possible.
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Brother had his hand up first.
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I'll come right back to you.
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Go ahead.
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I think the Bible says, for I can do all things through Christ, You strengthen me on that.
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Yeah, I think there is a lot of truth to that.
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It's hard.
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I'm not saying it's easy.
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I do think it's possible.
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I don't think it's possible to forget.
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But I want to say this real quick.
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I want to hear what you have to say.
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Here's something important.
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The Bible, when it talks about God forgiving our sin, hush, but since God forgives our sin, it actually says He chooses not to remember.
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Remember what it said? It said He takes our sin and He separates it from us as far as the east is from the west.
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That's what I was trying to say.
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We cannot truly forgive.
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Not like God.
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No, we don't forgive like God forgives.
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But I do think we have the capacity to be reconciled.
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I do think we have the capacity for that.
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But when God forgives us, and this is the thing I often tell people.
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They come to my office and they'll say, Pastor, I still feel guilt.
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I still feel shame for something I did before I got saved.
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I say, why do you remember it? God doesn't.
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Why are you living in this? If God has canceled the debt of sin against you, why are you still living with the shame? But go ahead, brother.
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Well, it's kind of mental to me because I've had people forgive me for my wrongdoings or whatever or stepping on people's toes.
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Why can't I forgive them, others? And that's what Jesus says.
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Yeah.
53:59
Yeah.
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If I'm too arrogant that I cannot forgive someone else, I really do have a major problem in my mind and my heart.
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My wife and I have talked about that very thing because we've talked about how it's easy to want forgiveness.
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It's not easy to give forgiveness.
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And we want everybody to forgive us, but we don't want to forgive them.
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We want to hold against us.
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We don't want nobody to hold against us.
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Or we want to hold against them.
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We don't want it held against us.
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But getting back, I could do a whole sermon on forgiveness and how important it is in our lives because it is.
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I'd have to find that for you, brother.
54:42
I know it's there.
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I'd just have to go look it up.
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I just remember it.
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And it's specifically tied to that where he says I separate as far as east from the west.
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He's choosing to do that.
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He's choosing to separate our sins from us.
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And the funny thing about the east and west thing is that's as far as you can go because east and west never meet.
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You know, north and south have poles, but east and west don't.
55:04
If you start going east, you're going to keep going east forever.
55:08
East and west never meet.
55:10
And it just shows when God said, I separate your sins from you as far as the east is from the west.
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That's beautiful, and it gets me emotional.
55:20
Hebrews 8.12 Thank you.
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So there we have this promise of forgiveness.
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So in Christ, we have substitution, redemption, reconciliation, propitiation, forgiveness, and justification, which I've already explained.
55:35
Justification, we have been declared legally righteous before God.
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Not only is our sin covered and debt covered, but God says not only are you sinless, you are righteous.
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Not only negatively is your sin gone, but positively, you have been declared righteous based on the work of Jesus Christ.
55:55
And that is the doctrine of salvation as quick as I could give it in less than an hour.
56:00
Very simply, we are saved by the work of Christ alone.
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From beginning to ending.
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We are justified by Christ.
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We are sanctified in Christ.
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And we will be glorified with Christ.
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It is all about Him.
56:14
So let's pray.
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Thank you, Father, for this time we've had to study.
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I pray it's been fruitful and encouraging for these men.
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And I pray as we continue in this study, they will continue to be built up in the faith that has been once for all delivered to the saints.
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Thank You for it in Christ's name, Amen.