Book of Romans - Ch. 2, Vs. 11-24 (11/28/1999)

Park Meadows Church

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Chapter 2 verse 11, but I want to back up just a little bit and make a statement concerning verses 7 through 9 if you want to look back at that, to them who by patient continuance and well -doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.

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The verses from 7 through 10 are a general statement of how

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God punishes evil and rewards good. It has nothing to do with salvation. In the book of Revelation chapter 20 verse 12, if you want to make a note and I'll read, and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, the death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works.

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In the book of 1st Samuel chapter 16 verse 7, the last part of that says for the

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Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance but the

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Lord looketh on the heart. Now we come to verse 11, there is no respect of persons with God.

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Fred, since you've studied your lesson, what do you suppose or what comes to your mind when it says there is no respect of persons with God?

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That's right. In the Greek we have two words here, one meaning face and the verb meaning receive.

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The compound word is to receive face.

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So the verse reads like this, there is not a receiving of face in the presence of God.

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That God, that is God does not receive anybody's face.

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God gives no weight to man's condition and this is what Fred said, makes no difference whether he's high, low, rich, poor, so forth.

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God has no favorites among his people. In Hebrews 4 12 we find this, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, piercing even to the dividing and the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

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The word of God is a very powerful tool. This is a terrible truth for the ungodly.

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Verse 12, for as many as have sinned without law, meaning the

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Gentile, shall also perish or die without law. And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, meaning the

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Jew. Now let's come to something along the same line, but suppose we in this church have been given the light, which is the

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Bible, but I have not learned it.

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I have not studied, I have not spent much time in it, and I'm a

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Christian, all right, and it just was never very high on my list.

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Will I not be judged less than, say, Brother David, who has spent a lot of time in it?

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All right, by what criteria does God judge? Say, take the little black boy in the middle of Africa someplace, has not had the opportunities that we have.

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Will he be judged the same? Why? What does that mean in terms where I can understand?

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Roger? What do you mean by opportunity?

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All right, you all have answered correctly. Remember this, each person will be judged according to the light

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God has given them, not according to what they have learned. You understand?

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That's right. Well, like we just read, he doesn't look on the outside, he looks on the heart, and if your intent is right, your motive is right, and you're a little slow -minded, all of that will be taken into account, but if he has given, he's given all of us in this room the same amount of light.

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We'll all be judged on what we, on the light given, not on what we learn, not on what we know, meaning that each one of us needs to study all the time, because some learn faster than others, and it's true the

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Holy Spirit reveals certain things to certain people as they study. You have to study first.

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He does not reveal it by osmosis. You can't put the

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Bible under your pillow and learn. No, but he judges on what he has given, not on what you've learned.

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If that were true, if that line of reasoning were true, and there's lots of them who think that, then we'd lock all of our children away somewhere and never let them learn anything, therefore they'd be perfect.

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So, yes, yes they do, or I just heard on the

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TV, some news commentator quoting some unquotable source, that you should not force on your children, you should not do anything in the spiritual realm until they're 21, and then they can make up their own mind.

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Yes, well the parents will have to answer for that. Alright, it is according to what he has given us, not according to what we have learned.

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Big difference, big responsibility. In verse 13,

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For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

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Now the word hearer, or hearers, as it's used here, is not the usual word, to echo, which refers simply to the act of hearing.

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The word that is used here is askeros, used of Christians who hear with understanding and practice what they hear, so the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

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Not the hearers, let me read it again, for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law.

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Can you do unless you've heard and understood? No. That's right, that's right, absolutely.

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In John 6, 28, Then said they unto him,

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What shall we do that we might work the works of God? They had just seen miracles.

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They want to do the same thing. Debbie, they wanted to know the magic formula for being able to do miracles like he was doing.

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What can we do in order to do that? What did he tell them, do you remember?

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Him whom he has sent. He did not go ahead and tell them, you cannot believe unless the belief is given.

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We find that over in Philippians, but it's still true. Then in 37,

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I couldn't stop there. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me

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I will in no wise cast out. All that the Father gives to me shall imperative come to me.

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Now Roger, what is this about the Father giving to the

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Lord certain people? What's that mean?

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Alright. Debbie, what do you think? David, what do you think?

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So how do we get in this group that is given to Jesus? Let him hang himself.

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He decided to. He decided to. Alright. Then you're saying to get into this elect group, we have no choice or anything to do?

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Who were the parents in this case?

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Alright, can you prove that by scripture?

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Prove it. There's one even more straight to the point.

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Philippians 2 .13. Turn to it. Greg, I'm surprised you can't quote it.

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Read it Greg. Now go back to 1 .29.

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Philippians. Read it.

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Now does that mean that the belief has been given to us on behalf of Christ? Greg?

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Okay. So we find scripture after scripture after scripture that tells us that it is to please the

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Heavenly Father that he has done this. He has chosen us,

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Ephesians 1 .4, just ahead of that. Read that. According that he has chosen us in him, that means in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before him in love.

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Alright. If there had never been any sin, just suppose

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Adam never did sin, would there have been anybody born? Greg says yes.

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David nods his head. Alright.

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Now, have you come to a decision?

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You know you're right, you think. Alright. Then you said, and correctly so, that there would have been children born if there had never been any sin.

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Who would have been born? Only God's children.

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Those that Ephesians 1 .4 speaks of. Those that we speak of here as being given to Jesus.

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Those that will spend eternity with him. Those are the ones that would have been born if there had never been any sin.

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But sin came. And the seed of Satan comes.

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And that's why the conception had to be multiplied. Now you're anxious to say something.

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That's right. That's right. Yes. See, that's another reason that he was called the son, was because that would make us brothers.

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Okay? Alright. Yes.

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No. No. Sure.

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He ordained that the human race would fall. Now God did not sin. Lucifer sinned and man sins.

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But he had ordained that it would fall. That's right.

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Well, let's look for a moment at a few of the things we would never know about if there had never been any sin.

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Somebody name something. What? Grace. Just take notes,

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David. Alright. Grace. What else would we not have known?

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Faith. Alright. What else? Alright.

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Alright. So when you get to thinking about it, sin was a good thing from God's viewpoint.

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It is what causes us to grow. It's a tool of God. Now we don't, as Paul says,

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God forbids such a thought as to go out and sin so that we can grow more.

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That doesn't work. You never have to go to school to learn how to sin.

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Now, in the 14th verse. A guilty conscience is just like a whirlpool.

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Did you ever see a whirlpool in the river? What's going on?

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There was a circle in the water where such whirlpools came from.

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Jesse, did you ever get caught in a whirlpool? Did you ever see any person or anything that did?

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Have you ever seen a whirlpool? Tell us again,

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Fred, what you said. Well, it's a circle in the water.

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And they did. And we go on for 20 some years, and they never did tell their father exactly what happened, or at least we have no record of it.

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But all of that time, they never forgot it. Now, it might get to where they didn't talk about it quite so often.

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But just the moment that something happened to them in Egypt, they didn't know it was

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Joseph. But immediately, that guilty conscience come to the front. And boy, was it waiting.

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And then everything that occurred in the story, they laid to the fact that they had mistreated their brother.

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Of course, they thought he was dead. And even after he revealed himself to them, they were still in the state of a guilty conscience.

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And the end of the story was that they tried to persuade Joseph that their father had said for him to forgive them.

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You remember what Joseph told them? He said, you meant it for harm,

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God meant it for good, and I'm not God. You'll still have to answer to Him.

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Conscience. Guilty conscience. David, who put it there? God. Is there any way we can determine when we have truly confessed?

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No. That's right. He put it there, and only he can take it away.

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And he does that only when we sincerely confess and say the same thing he does about the sin.

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Yes. Now, we must remember this.

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It depends upon a lot on the family, on the society. You can be raised with a good moral character and still not be a

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Christian. Yes.

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Yes. And the world is growing in that category.

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Don't use those $10 words in there. Verse 15.

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Verse 16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the gospel.

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Now, Greg, I've been saving this one just for you. What does it mean when it says, in the day that God shall judge?

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What's that mean? No. In the day when

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God will judge. What's that mean?

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Alright, then could you say that there is a time of judgment?

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Okay. Alright. And He shall judge the secrets of men.

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Now, Greg, what's this secret thing? You mean even the most fleeting evil thought

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I have? And He doesn't know it unless I dwell on it?

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But you're not saying He doesn't know even the fleeting thoughts? So, what did

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He say about those? Can you forget?

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On purpose? No. Okay. He said they'd be removed as far as the north is from the south.

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Is that what it said? Your mother sat back and said, yes.

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Why? Nothing tricky about it at all.

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How far is it from the north to the south? No.

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No. No. Why can't you measure how far the east is from the west?

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Who said no poles? Jesse. Well, Roger, how far is it?

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East to the west. You see the wisdom of God just in a simple, little, insignificant statement.

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They're always behind you. Wherever you're going, they're always behind you.

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All right. The secrets of men, and He's going to judge by Jesus Christ.

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David, why by Christ? Why doesn't He judge Himself? Yes. That's a safe answer.

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Fred? Because of what

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He has done. Because of His work. Did you know we are saved by works?

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Explain that, Jesse. That's right. Not by ours, but what

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Jesus did here on earth. The human manifestation of God because of what

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He did. He's elevated above everything, everyone. And He has thereby been given the right to judge.

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Only Paul says, according to my gospel. Now, who can help me out here?

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Dennis? All right. Verse 16, he says, in that day, or in the day when

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God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

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And this is Paul writing. What's it mean, my gospel?

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All right. Debbie, what do you mean, my gospel? All right.

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Okay. What do you want to say, Fred? It's the gospel that God gave to me. That's right.

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But there was a reason for him saying, my gospel, when all the time it's not his gospel.

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Well, that's true. But it still belongs to Christ. But what he's doing is making a reference to the false teaching.

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According to this gospel, not according to the false teaching. And we have lots of it today.

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No, you're not. In Hebrews, the fourth chapter, 13th verse, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

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Hebrews 4 .13. You cannot get any place in sin but what

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God knows it. It is by his holy word that we will be judged.

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We sin and ask forgiveness. Those that never ask because they cannot will have to bear the weight of their sins at their judgment.

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The weight of our sins, Dennis, Jesus bore on himself at the cross.

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Now, that's not just the weight of you, it's the weight of every one of his children. Born, died, not yet born, the weight of all of that.

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But those that cannot and will never be under that blood will have to bear the weight of their own sins.

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And that will be more than they can stand. 17. Behold, for assuming thou art called a

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Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed or corrected out of the law, and are confident that thou thyself are a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor or corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and of the truth of the law.

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You Jews are confident that you're a guide to the blind. None of us really know what it is to be blind.

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The Jew here has persuaded himself that he is a guide of the blind and has come to settle, to a settled conclusion about this matter.

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He is in a position that is fixed. He is the authority.

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No amount of persuasion would move him from that position. This has led to conceited arrogance on their part to lead someone into the truth in this situation.

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Well, let me ask you, how many cannot ride a bicycle? Can everybody ride?

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Anyone here cannot ride a bicycle besides my wife? Then be explained to us how to ride a bicycle.

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You can't.

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These blind Jews are in the same fix. They cannot explain the truth because they've never ridden a bicycle.

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The word of God, David, suffers most by all of those who teach it but will not practice it.

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The verse 20, which has the form of knowledge and of the truth, form of truth and form of the law.

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Metamorphosis. What does that word mean? Great.

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All right. You have the right shape but you have nothing inside. The form.

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2 Timothy 3 .5, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away.

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It's like having everything in the window and nothing back on the shelf. It's all for show. 21, thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?

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Was there ever a teacher that really taught that did not learn themselves?

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Was there ever a Christian in any office that had reached the point where they no longer needed to learn?

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Greg, you mean there are preachers that just claim they don't need to learn? They rely on all their past sermons, seminary work.

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Thou that preachest to man should not steal. Dost thou steal? There'll be no whispering in class.

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This thing of stealing, I made a statement years ago and I've never been able to forget it.

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Do not pick up that which you did not lay down. Think about it.

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You find a $10 bill out on the street someplace.

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What are you going to do? You shouldn't.

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Lay a rock on it so it won't blow away. Somebody might remember exactly where they dropped it.

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Yeah. I don't believe you'd do that.

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Do you rob God of your tithes and offerings? Thou that sayest to man should not commit adultery.

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Dost thou commit adultery? The wedding ring is a disgrace if the one wearing it does not act married.

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Do not be afraid to be exactly that which you are. Thou that have forced idols.

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Dost thou commit sacrilege? Sacrilege. The word literally means to plunder shrines, to rob temples, embezzlement of the

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Jewish temple funds, or a Christian that conducts their business and makes money in ways that they would condemn if done in their church.

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Acts 19 .37.

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For you have wrought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.

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This verse indicates that there were those that robbed churches and temples. It doesn't say that, but it says it by not saying it.

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Thou that makest boast of the law. Through breaking the law dishonorous

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God. Do you practice what you preach? I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, ask yourself.

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Better than that, do you practice what you believe? The name of God is blasphemed.

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David, what does blaspheme mean? It's a stronger word than just being against God.

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It's speaking out openly, a rebellious, haughty spirit against God.

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And who are you worshiping when you do that? Satan. So you're assigning the works of God to that of Satan.

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That's blasphemy. Do not ever say, it makes no difference if people laugh at my poor grammar.

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It does make a marked difference if your clothes are dirty, wrinkled, sloppy.

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Everything we say or do or even think causes others to come closer or to be driven further away.

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If you're standing on a street corner handing out tracts, which I've never done, if that's what you want to do, fine.

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But if you do, you'd be sure you're clean and courteous. Well, in a barbershop, and believe it or not,

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I go to a barbershop once in a while, I heard a very renowned preacher of this city, well known, telling jokes and laughing bigger than the rest of them.

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And some of the jokes were a little off color. You never know who's listening.

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You never know who's watching. Be very, very careful.

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We need to stop here. We'll start with verse 25 and get into the next chapter next week.

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Anything from anybody now? Well, it's been a good class.

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Fred, would you dismiss us, please? I told you.