We need Peace and Hope…BUT we got it…? SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

Whitten Baptist Church

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He turned with me to Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 5, and I was going to restart

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Israel today, but I thought it would be best to wait until we got through a couple of other things to restart it, because I hate to restart it, stop and restart it again.

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And I think that this sermon is good for all of us in these days and climates and times.

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Yesterday, there was a protest that walked by my house.

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I happened to be working in the yard. And so I immediately got to a high vantage point with my 308

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Winchester and was able to zero in on said protest.

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Now, me and Jeremiah got water bottles and went and handed them out to the protesters and asked them to come into our house and use the restroom if they needed to.

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You see. That is described as a peaceful protest, and it was good.

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I watched there was no violence, there was no nothing, there was just peace.

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But in reality, that wasn't peace. Guys, do you understand what peace is?

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The hippies hijacked that thing. Peace is not an emotional state of being.

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You can be sad and still have peace. Some of you do not understand this concept, and I'm going to tell you why.

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Because you're not believers. You come to church, you believe in God, but you've never had the regenerative power of the

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Holy Spirit indwell within you, which is the essence or the ebbing flow of where peace is.

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Read with me Romans chapter 5. We're going to be just in the book of Romans. We're going to key in on two verses in chapter 5.

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Romans chapter 5 verses 1 and 2. And it says this.

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Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

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Ladies and gentlemen, our country cannot be at peace.

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It cannot be. And I tell you, be very careful when you say there should not be violence in protesting.

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Be very careful when you say that, because in reality, there was this thing called the revolution, and it turned really violent really quick.

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Now, there's a massive difference between the two. But just because we revolt, just because we come to a place, people,

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I hear Christians all the time to say violence is never the answer. You are wrong. Violence is always an answer.

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It doesn't have to be the answer that's used, but it is an answer. It truly is.

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I point you to Calvary. Propitiation is the very essence of violence.

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The cross of Jesus Christ was not sterile. It was not some, like the pictures you see painted, that Jesus was a bloody hunk of meat hanging on a wooden stake in a very violent and grotesque way.

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And propitiation, the turning away of God's wrath, is what enables us to be sitting here in having that peace.

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Remember that peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace in itself is the presence of a right, standing heart, mind, and body with God.

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Here in Romans 5 .1 it says, Having been justified, King Jimmy style, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. What is justification, church? It's rendered innocent.

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It means to be rendered innocent, but it's more than just rendered innocent. It's rendered innocent before God.

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First of all, we have peace with God. Now the reason we have peace, by implication and contrast, if you go down to verse 10, read verse 10 in chapter 5, it says this.

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It says, For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through faith.

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Understand that we were enemies of God. Enemies.

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We weren't just naughty boys and girls. Sometimes preachers sit there and try to make it to where we were

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God's children, and we just made a mistake. That is not Scripture.

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Remember, we are not all God's children. We are all God's creation.

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Only those covered by the blood of Jesus Christ with the hope and the promise of eternal life are

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God's children. But we weren't just errant children. We were rebellious enemies of God, deserving of that wrath and justice.

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But why? Why were we enemies of God? Go back to Romans 1. Everybody uncross your arms and wake up.

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Go back to Romans 1. Guys, I want you to leave here today not being regular Baptist church attenders, but actually educated in the power, because I think some of us forget how beautiful God's grace is, and that's why when we praise and worship

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God, we're thinking more about the style of worship than we are the one who we are worshiping.

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You understand what I'm saying? Okay, so let's focus just for a second. Romans 1, starting in verse 18.

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Read with me. This is why we were enemies with God. For God's wrath is revealed.

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Remember, violence is an answer. God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteous suppress the truth.

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Since what can be known about God is evident among them because God has shown it to them for His invisible attributes, that is,

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His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what

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He has made. Watch this. It says, as a result, people are without excuse.

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For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense and their senseless minds were darkened.

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Claiming to be wise, they became fools. Guys, it's not our sin.

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It's not our sin, in other words, the acts that we do with our bodies that condemns us.

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We're already condemned. And understand this, that you have a sin nature.

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You were born in it. It's not that children are innocent and grow up in sin. You are totally without hope and sinful and in front of a holy and righteous

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God. But notice the depths in which we go to that sin. Notice how that sin nature is played out.

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It doesn't say anything about murder or robbery or anything like that. It says, this is the ultimate guilt factor that we suppress the truth.

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We suppress the truth. What does that mean, pastor? It means this, and I'm sorry if you're an atheist in here or you're one of those

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Christians that believe in evolution because I'm fixing to offend you. You cannot be that stupid.

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You really cannot. Please, I've asked these questions for decades and I never get answers.

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I've asked, why is water the only element that when it freezes, it expands?

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Do you ever put a beer in the freezer? A Coke in the freezer to get it cold? Have you ever put a

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Coke in the freezer? What happens to it? It poofs, right? And then your wife's got to clean it up, right?

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Guys, how do we have understanding in creation?

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Every element contracts when it gets cold and expands when it gets hot.

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But why not water? Because nothing could live. If ice formed and then got contracted, it would lose the principle of buoyancy and sink and everything in the winter would have died in every lake and river.

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Yet in the entire universe, contrary to everything else that's demonstratable, this element is unique.

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Now you want to tell me, now watch this, this is what people tell me. Well, nature decided.

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Oh, so nature is now a sentient being that has logical construct and thought.

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Really? Can you be that stupid? Yes, if you suppress the truth.

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Guys, there's no middle ground. And if you're embarrassed to stand up in school or in front of anyone else and say that evolution is an absolute lie, guess what you're helping to do?

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Suppress the truth. And that is the indictment that God has here that the evidence of His eternal attribute and eternal nature can be seen in creation.

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How big is the universe? Do you understand eternity? No, neither am I, but it's demonstrated.

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Do you understand God's triune nature? No, neither do I, but it's demonstrated. Let us go down and make man in our own image.

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We have a mind, we have a body, we have a... The trichotomy of the human nature gives evidence to the absolute being and existence of Almighty God.

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This is why we were enemies to God and we need this peace. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, just for you to know, I have a $1 ,000 bet for anyone who can answer to me eight questions about evolution.

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And if they can, I will give them $1 ,000, rip up my license to preach, burn my Bible, and never speak the name of Jesus again.

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That's the rule, okay? So far, it hasn't happened. But anyways, guys, what is this peace that it's talking about?

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It's this. We have peace. Right now. How many of you have really messed up in the past three months?

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Men, pornography, women, gossiping, hatred. All those black people, they're evil.

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Right? All those rioters, I just wish they would all die. I hope you haven't said that.

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But if you have, this altar is here for your repentance. Guys, have you messed up in the last three months?

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Have you ever said this? I feel like me and God are this far apart. Here's another one.

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Have you started praying ever and going, God, I'm sorry that I'm just going to lie and mess up again.

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Therefore, having been justified by peace.

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Listen, we have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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I am not an enemy with God. If you rely on your feelings to validate that, you are going to be psychotic and a double -minded man is unstable in all his ways.

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If you feel closeness to God instead of relying on the word of God to define your position in Christ, you're either going to be a great

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Christian one day and a big poopoo head the next day. But guys, I know that I have peace with God right now.

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Now, how did I get that? Read the whole verse. We have peace with God through our church attendance.

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Through our good works. Through our tithing. Through our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Guys, I am a sinful, disgusting human being.

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But I know right now that if I were to die before I finish this next sentence,

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I'm going home. Not based upon my works, but based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.

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What you're trying to reconcile in your brain is your emotional conduct.

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I mean, your emotional feelings based on your physical conduct. But in reality, the peace that I have now is through the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Also understand this. Is that justification doctrinally is always a past tense in Scripture.

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Always. Why? Because you were justified one time. We have peace with God.

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Now listen. We have verse 2. Look at this. We have peace with God, but we have access to God.

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Romans 5 verse 2 says we have also obtained access through Him by faith.

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Why is that such a big deal? Did you realize in the Old Testament the only person who had access to the

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Holy of Holies was the high priest and that was once a year? They had to tie a rope around his ankle in case he wasn't right and he came into the presence of God and died to death.

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They could drag his body out without going in themselves. Yes, I said died to death. It's okay.

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Guys, listen to me. That is no longer needed. We have access to God.

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2 Timothy says this. For there is one mediator between God and man and it is the senior pastor of your church.

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Yes, if you want to come to know Jesus, you have to come forward here.

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I've got to smack you in the forehead, throw some oil on you, go be healed in the name of Jesus.

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And then for $49 .95 a month, you too can have access to God Guys, when

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Jesus Christ died, when He said, Tell to the least I, when He said, It is finished, that veil in the temple, that massive, thick, huge curtain that took 200 men to hang, ripped in two because now the only mediator between God and man is

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Jesus Christ our Lord. You have access to God. Well, pastor,

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I haven't been living right. You still have access to God. Oh, but pastor, you don't understand.

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I've repented 15 times and fallen back 16. Guess what? You have access to God.

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It's not based on your works, good or bad, not based on your feelings. It's based on the finished work of Jesus Christ.

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So if you're a Christian that's beat up, discouraged because of your own failures, quit blaming everyone else, quit feeling sorry for yourself and come face to face with God and here's what you need to do.

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Repent. Well, I've done that 20 times. Then do it 21.

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Then do it 22. You don't win a fight by staying down and backing up. You win a fight by moving forward.

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Guys, I was not the most athletic guy in the world. But you know how

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I won my fights? I refused to quit. Refused.

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And man, I got punched so hard sometimes that I lost control of things sometimes.

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Some of you who fought know what I'm talking about. I refused to quit. And it wasn't because I wanted to win so bad.

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It's because I hated losing more than I loved winning. I hate losing.

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I hate losing anything. Play Monopoly with me. I will win. I'll cheat, but I'm gonna win.

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Okay? Listen to me. Listen to me. We have access with God.

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If you are beaten up, if you're sitting there going, but I don't feel like doing this, but I don't feel this, and I don't feel that.

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You're gonna spend your entire existence here on earth wasted. And the only memorial to you is gonna be what's made of human hands.

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But to hear those words, well done, thou good and faithful servant.

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Man, I love to win. Last thing. Not only do we have peace, not only do we have access, but listen to the last part of verse 2.

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It says this. It says, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

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Man, I remember a Christian guy once telling me. He was an older gentleman. Mr. King was probably one of the greatest

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Christian men I ever met, but he came to me one time, and he said, Pastor, I don't feel like I'm a

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Christian. And I went, really? Okay, let's talk about that. And so we talked about it.

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He felt so guilty about certain things that he had done in his past.

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And I was like, these were like 30 years ago. He says, yeah, but I just can't escape the guilt. Brother, you don't have to escape the guilt.

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The guilt is not from God. It's from you. God does not use guilt.

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He uses conviction. He is not a codependent mommy twisting and manipulating you.

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He is a sovereign judge who has declared you righteous by the vicarious atoning death of Jesus Christ.

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Guys, we have hope today. Now, what's that hope mean? Hope is not a strategy.

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Guys, it's not. Oh, my gosh. We need to empower people and give them hope.

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Guys. I have hope once again. It's a state of mind.

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It's a state of mind. Do you have hope today? I mean, ask yourself that.

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Are you one of those people worried that if you mess up, God's going to go and fry you and kill you to death?

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Are you one of those folks? Are you one of those folks in here that are going, God looks at you and He goes...

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Yeah, He did that. It's called the Garden of Eden. Since then, He's been at work and finished the work to reconcile and redeem you back into His child.

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Read with me. Watch this. It's okay. It's a baby, guys. We hear them all the time.

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Relax. Focus. Listen. Watch this. Go to Romans 3. And I'll close with this.

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Romans 3. Watch this. Understand that we were previously unfit for God's presence.

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Now, Christians, I'm going to talk to you for just a second. You non -believers in here, hold on. But for you

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Christians, I'm going to talk to you for just a second. And if you're a non -believer and die in the next five minutes, sorry.

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But, guys, if you're a believer in here, listen to this. I want you to understand the total depravity and the issue of what total depravity means.

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It means this. 100 % of us are 100 % unable to meet back to God.

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In chapter 3, v. 9 -12, I want you to read chapter 3, quit listening to a sermon and start listening to God's Word.

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Wake up, some of you. Listen. Chapter 3, v. 9 -12. What then?

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Are we any better? Not at all. For we have previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin.

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As it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands.

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There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. All have become useless.

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There is no one that God does good, not even one. Except for white supremacists.

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They do good. Or white Anglo -Saxon Protestants because they're not

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Catholic. Or because I don't smoke or cuss.

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Or except those people who don't have tattoos. Or no one.

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Which one is it? Guys, when we come to a place in our life where we realize that the pastor on the pulpit and the street -walking whore are on the same level, we begin to understand how beautiful God's grace is.

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The reason you don't understand or appreciate God's grace is because you don't understand how disgusting a human being you really are.

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Oh, but child molesters and you are the same. The only thing worse than a politician is a child molester, right?

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But guys, we have to understand God said if we break one of His rules, guess how many we're guilty of?

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All. Oh, but pastor, I don't. You got condemned for it.

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Guys, there's hell and then there's hell. Without Jesus, that's where you're going.

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We are all totally depraved. Some of...

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I fuss, not these three beautiful ladies over here, but I fuss sometimes at my older...

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I hate this stupid thing. I fuss sometimes at my older peoples because they look and they don't...

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they think you people, some of you dress bad, right? And I say, well, we're working on that because I don't want to see certain anatomy parts.

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But other than that, you come as you are. But your gossiping tongue about said person is just as sinful as said person what they're doing, right?

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And then some of you dorks on this side of the room, right? You'll sit there and go, well,

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I don't... and the old people don't understand. It's seriously, it's like sometimes pastoring a kindergarten class and it's really sad because some people have been

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Christians for 20, 30 years. They've never matured past the first grade. Guys, total depravity is understanding this.

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There are none righteous, not even one. There is not one person in the entire world since creation, since creation, who is perfect.

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And I know some dork out there is going, what about Jesus? Jesus wasn't just a person. He was God. Okay?

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Not one. Now, watch this. We were all unfit for God's promises and there's only one way, and I won't go too far into this, but if you want, just keep reading verse 21.

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If you read verse 21 through 26, there are nine doctrines in there for you to understand.

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And for you people who say, well, I know the doctrine. No, you don't. Read those five verses and start learning some doctrine.

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But anyways, I'll close with the last point because I know I'm going too far. Guys, we have hope with God.

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There is glory in our future. For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing for the glory that's going to be revealed to us.

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Oh, Pastor, what's the world coming to? It's coming to an end, dork! Hadn't you read the end of the book?

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It's going to be over! We're going home! What part of that don't you get? Do you really think we're all going to be eating apple pie, driving

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Chevrolets and hot dogs and singing America the Beautiful? No! This place is over.

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We're out of here. We're going home. That's it. And it doesn't matter what happens.

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We need to stand for justice. It's always amazing to me that people think social justice and God are separate.

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You haven't read much of The Mind of Prophets, have you? You know all those books you probably skip over?

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That's what they're all about. It's social justice. God's not real happy about God's people treating other people worse than they are just because they're different.

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But anyways, we'll get to that some other time. Watch this. Because we all share His glory. Guys, this blows my mind.

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Watch this. Chapter 8, verse 16. The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are

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God's children. Now listen to this. And if we are children, we will stand for 10 ,000 years in white robes and sing in a choir and it will be boringer than all get out.

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No. And if children also heirs, heirs of God and co -heirs with Christ.

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Guys, I used to think when I'd go to heaven, I'd be like Casper the ghost floating around with a little harp going or whatever they sound like.

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And I thought I'd have to sing Amazing Grace for 10 ,000 years. And I was like, Oh my God, it's going to be so boring.

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And then I felt guilty for thinking that. First of all, when you die, you do not turn into angels.

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Angels will be the servants of us in heaven. But watch this.

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It says we will be co -heirs with Christ. Think of the Garden of Eden.

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Now supersize that. And that's what heaven's going to be like. That's what heaven's going to be like. I'm going to be walking up and I'm going to be going,

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Hello baby Dana. And this time she won't leave us and stab us in the back. Guys, heaven is going to be so much awesomest, awesomer, better, whatever.

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It's going to be gooder than what we have right now. Listen to me.

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That's the hope that I have in glory is that I'm going to reign with Christ.

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I'm going to have a planet. I don't want to get too Mormon here, but I'm going to have a planet that's going to be

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UT Vols only. And they'll win every game, right? That might not even be possible in heaven, would it?

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Hey, we're in a rebuilding year. Guys, I'm going to have a shooting range. I'm going to have 30 point bucks so Marty can actually shoot one once.

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I'm going to have, I'm going to have the greatest place ever.

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I don't really know if all that's true, but I know this, I'm going to reign with Christ forever.

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And I'll never watch Robert get sick with cancer again. I'll never watch a guy cry out for his mama as a cop kills him.

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I'm never going to watch again a baby be aborted. I'm never, ever, ever going to have to say goodbye to a brother and sister in Christ.

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Ever again. I long for that day.

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Guys, do you have that hope? Or have you been going to church and believing in religion so long you're just burnt out?

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You have access to God. Repent. The little girl in our church today sitting in here, this room, she goes,

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I'm closer to God. And I went, how? She says, well, I've been reading my Bible and praying, serving.

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Cause and effect. You communicate with someone, you get to know them better.

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You become closer. You serve something greater than yourself. You become more humble.