Beza Briefing: Jesus Truly God and Truly Man (Continued) a

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A deep dive into the depths of Calvin’s successor.  

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the
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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. Take three. I usually don�t do take threes.
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I usually just go for it, plow ahead. In real life, we talk and stutter and say �ah� and �um� and stuff like that, but the first two little shots,
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Over the years, we�ve gotten tons of emailers. Probably the number one question would be, �Why don�t you shut up ?�
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Just kidding. Just kidding. Oh, that was right up there.
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When I was on the local radio station here. I think I�m still on Wyoming and Alaska stations, but when
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I was on the local one here, I took over some kind of Christian financial guy.
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I didn�t really get a good answer, so I was maybe thinking it was the first, but we just thought, �Hey, I thought when I was in New England, you just, you know, people won�t stab me in the back.
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It�s a straight on full front approach, right ?�
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Anyway, today we on No Compromise Radio are back to Beza, Theodore Beza, and he published something that kind of, kind of a bestseller.
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James Clark would call it a bestseller back in those days in the Protestant Reformation. I wonder if you have it.
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Christian Faith is what it�s called, and if you would like a summary, a mini systematic theology, a description of Christian thought and doctrine derived from somebody who moved to Geneva in 1559 and took over for John Calvin, then you should get
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Beza�s Christian Faith. And what we do here on the Beza Briefing is, basically when
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I�m hurting for content, I pull up Beza. I should be pulling up stuff that I�m going to preach this
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Sunday, but I�m actually not going to be in Ephesians. I�m going to go to 1 Corinthians 1, and I�ll look at that later today, and Saturday, snow day, 24 inches tomorrow, and I think we�re going to get 30, and then
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I�ll practice it on Sunday morning as well. I used to come into the church, stand in the pulpit, and preach the sermon.
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Now I just review it, usually on the life cycle or the treadmill. Every day of five, six days a week,
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I�m either on the treadmill, and I�m increasing the angle of inclination.
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Speed, two and a half, three miles an hour. I�m not really trying to kill that, but on the bicycle, 60 minutes
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I usually ride with a higher level and higher RPM, so slowly getting better, thankfully getting better.
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Theodore Beza. Theodore Beza, like other systematic theologians, is logical in his content, table of contents.
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He starts off with the Trinity, then the Father, the Son, any guesses on the third one?
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Holy Spirit, church, etc. So today we�re at 3 .20, and it�s a section on Jesus Christ, the
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Son of God, and the way this works is, I read a section, maybe a short section, maybe a word, maybe a longer section, and then
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I talk about it. I talk about it as long as I want to talk about it, then I go to the next one. Why was it necessary that Jesus Christ be true
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God? And again, no compromise, radio listeners, we�re trying to shy away from words like �100 %
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God� and �fully God�, we�re trying to go to quantitative terms, and we go to those terms and throw them out the window.
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We want qualitative terms. True God. Perfectly God. Truly God.
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Those are the words we want. Why was it necessary that Jesus Christ be true God? If I ask you that question, what would you say?
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Because of prophecies? Because an infinite
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God -man can assuage the infinite wrath of God? I mean, what would you say? Well, let�s see what
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Beza says. �It was necessary that this same
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Mediator be true God and not only man ,� John 1 .14, �at the very least for the following reasons.�
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Or more, but at the very least. �First, if he was not true God, he would not be
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Savior at all but would himself have need of a Savior.� Isaiah 43, Hosea 13, and Jeremiah 17.
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�Second, it is necessary from the justice of God that there be a relationship between the crime and its punishment.
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The crime is infinite, for it is committed against the one whose majesty is infinite.
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Therefore, there is here need of an infinite satisfaction. For the same reason, it was necessary that the
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One, who would accomplish it as true man, be also infinite, that is to say, true
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God.� And of course, dear listeners, we understand that if someone kills another person, well, that�s bad because we�re not taking another person�s life, unless it�s self -defense, etc.,
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or if it�s an accident. But first -degree murder, thou shalt not murder, there are reasons why we�re told not to murder.
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Image -bearing and things like that. Well, things get even more complicated. It�s always wrong to murder someone, but there�s a higher crime, there�s more of a penalty, when you murder somebody that has an exalted position.
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If you murder the president versus murder a regular person on the street, both would be murder and wrong, one would come with a more severe penalty.
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And we understand that. Now, if we sin against the infinite majesty, well, then it�s an infinite crime.
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So, who can pay for an infinite crime? Beza, �Thirdly, the wrath of God being infinite, there was no human or angelic strength known, which could bear such a weight without being crushed.�
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John 14, 2 Corinthians 5. He who was to live again after conquering the devil, sin, the world, and death, united to the wrath of God, had to be, therefore, not only a perfect man, but also a true
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God. As I alluded to earlier, when I was making a couple stabs at this, what did they call that?
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I�ll take a stab at that. What were you stabbing? To get that kind of word.
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I learned the other day that this is a dumb moment, but it was a new moment for me.
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Analogy, or analog. The second part of that word is the Greek word, word.
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Logos, L -O -G -O -S. We don�t say logos because it�s not an omega, hard O, it�s an omicron.
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Ever hear the word omicron? It�s a softer O. Ah -micron, not oh -micron.
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And it�s oh -micron. Omega -ah -micron. So this has got two ah -microns,
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L -ah -micron, G -ah -micron, S, to kind of mix up Greek and English. And then if you put ana in front of it, ana -log, ana -logos, ana means again, a re.
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Ana -baptist, re -baptize, to baptize again. A re -word, and here�s a less -than -divine being going to assuage an infinite amount of wrath.
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That�s his point. Lastly, in order to better manifest this incomprehensible goodness, God did not wish that His grace should only equal our crime.
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He willed that where sin abounds, grace superabounds. Isn�t that good? It�s not like equal, it�s better.
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It�s better, like the last Adam, Jesus is better than the first Adam. For this reason, while He was created in the image of God, the first Adam, author of our sin, was earthly.
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I didn�t even know I was going to talk about the second Adam and first Adam, but there you go. As His frailty showed well, 1
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Corinthians 15. Jesus Christ, on the contrary, the second Adam, through whom we are saved, while being true and perfect man, is nevertheless the
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Lord come from heaven. That is to say, the true God. For in essence, all the fullness of divinity, our deity, dwells in Him.
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Colossians 2. If the disobedience of Adam made us fall, the righteousness of Jesus Christ gives us more security than we had previously.
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We hope for the life procured by Jesus Christ better than that which we lost in Adam, even more so as Jesus Christ surpasses
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Adam. Therefore, we see Jesus Christ�s righteousness as better than Adam�s righteousness, while He had it, while Adam, the first Adam, had it.
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That�s so good. I like it how Bezos said, �In order to better manifest this incomprehensible goodness.�
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How do you manifest something incomprehensible? But a little bit we can learn, and we�re back to archetypal, ectypal distinctions when it comes to knowledge, what
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God knows and what we know, and what the infinite knows and what we finite can know.
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It�s just a lovely way to put that, and we see that Jesus in every way is greater than the first Adam.
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No Compromise. Radio Ministry, Theodore Beza, The Christian Faith, Section 3, 21.
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Vienti e uno. How the ministry of our salvation has been accomplished in Jesus Christ.
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Therefore, we confess that, in order to fulfill the covenant promised to the ancient fathers and predicted by the mouth of the prophets,
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Isaiah 7, Luke 1, the true, unique, and eternal Son of God, the
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Father, Romans 3, John 17, took, at the time appointed by the
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Father, the form of a servant, being conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the power of the
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Holy Spirit, and without any operation of man, Matthew 1, Luke 1. He took human nature with all its infirmities, comma, sin accepted,
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Hebrews 4. I think that�s the exact language of Heidelberg, that little, you know, took on human nature, took human nature with all its infirmities, comma, sin accepted.
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I think Heidelberg does the exact same thing. I like that little final comma, sin accepted.
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I think Heidelberg is accept sin. The two natures, 322, that of God and that of man, have been united in one person since the moment of the conception of the flesh of Christ.
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And here we have what theologians call the hypostatic union, divine human union.
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There are not two sons of God. Isn�t it interesting, when it comes to theology and other disciplines as well, but we have a lot of negatives, right?
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Immutable. He doesn�t change. And here it�s somewhat similar. Now we have to say what it�s not.
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There are not two sons of God or two Jesus Christs, but one alone is properly son of God, Jesus Christ.
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At all times, the properties of each of the two natures remain entire and distinct.
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That means there�s no blending. You don�t have a weird kind of formation of two natures blending together, a divine human hybrid something.
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For the divinity separated from the humanity, it�s not separate either. It�s not commingled and it�s not completely separate, right?
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For the divinity separated from the humanity, or the humanity just joined from the divinity, or the one being confounded with the other, would profit us nothing.
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He�s kind of going through certain heresies that are easy to come upon when you think of incomprehensible things.
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Okay, God the Son assumed human nature with weakness, sin accepted.
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It�s pretty heady. 3 .23. The Virgin Mary is mother of Jesus Christ, God and man.
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Jesus Christ is therefore true God and true man. Matthew 1, Luke 1. He had a very true human soul and a true human body formed from the substance of the
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Virgin Mary and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God making sure that there�s no sin, no sin -tainted egg.
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How he did it, I don�t know, but I know he did it. Therefore, we�re going to protect Jesus and he�s not going to be made of, you know, he definitely doesn�t have the
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Father�s seed for lots of reasons. But here, protected, the power of the
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Holy Spirit making sure this is happening, conceived and born of this virgin, I say before and after the birth.
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So, she was a virgin before and after, and then later with Joseph.
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He doesn�t deny that. And all this was accomplished for our redemption. So, let me just reread that, in case
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I confused you. He had a true human soul and a true human body formed from the substance of the
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Virgin Mary and by the power of the Holy Spirit. By this means, he was conceived and born of this virgin
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Mary. Virgin, I say, before and after the birth. 3 .24.
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So, so far, we�re just working our way through and he, Beza, is making sure we understand the complexities, but in a pretty simple way.
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He�s definitely not trying to say things in lofty terms.
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He�s trying to say them in terms we can understand. But for us these days, we are so biblically illiterate, it sounds like it�s a seminary class.
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I have that book by Ramsbottom and it�s called Bible Doctrines Simply Explained.
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And the original title, I think it�s in the 1800s, the original title was Theological Doctrines for Children.
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Oh, brother. I just got a text from my friend. They just had a baby.
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I was excited about that. I said, send me a picture. Very, very cute. 3 .24.
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Summary and accomplishment of our salvation in Jesus Christ. He therefore descended to earth to draw us up to heaven,
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Ephesians 2. From the moment of His conception until His resurrection, He bore the punishment of our sins in order to unburden us of them.
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Matthew 11, 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 3, Isaiah 53. He perfectly fulfilled all righteousness so as to cover our unrighteousness,
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Romans 5. He has revealed to us the whole will of God as Father by His words and by the example of His life as to show us the true way of salvation.
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Now, when He writes from the moment of His conception until His resurrection, He bore the punishment of our sins in order to unburden us of them.
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Now, Scott Clark can correct me if I�m wrong here, but I think what�s happening is Baez is trying to talk about the suffering servant.
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He�s trying to talk about what we might call passive obedience. Uh, we might talk about, uh, his whole life as one of suffering.
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And you think about what sin does to people. And I don�t think
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Baez in any way, shape, or form is trying to imply that the actual propitiation for our sins, uh, was started at His conception.
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I don�t think it�s that. Here�s just this suffering servant. Finally, to crown the satisfaction for our sins, which
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He took upon Himself, Isaiah 53, He was captured in order to release us, condemned so that we might be acquitted.
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He suffered infinite reproach in order to place us beyond all shame. He was nailed to the cross for our sins to be nailed there,
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Colossians 2. He died bearing the curse which we deserved as so to appease forever the wrath of God through the accomplishment of His unique sacrifice,
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Galatians 3, Hebrews 10, 2 Corinthians 5. He was entombed to show the truth of His death, right?
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That�s why we think about that, uh, 1 Corinthians 15 and the Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, dead, buried, and to vanquish death even in His own house.
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That is to say, even in the grave. He experienced no corruption there to show that even while dead,
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He had conquered death. He was raised again victorious so that all our corruption being dead and buried, we might be renewed in new spiritual and eternal life,
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Romans 6. By this means, the first death is no longer to us a punishment for sin and an entrance into the second death, but on the contrary is the ending of our corruption and an entrance into life eternal.
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Now let�s dwell on that for a moment. Because of what the Lord Jesus did for you, dear Christian, upon your death, that is, your death of your mortal body, it�s not going to be an entrance into the second death that is eternal death, eternal judgment.
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I think that�s pretty good news. That�s true for all Christians. We don�t have to have any kind of purgatory.
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Jesus, Hebrews 1, 3, has purged all of our sins, Colossians 2, 14, and 15, all of our sins.
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They are cast behind His back, far as east from the west, thrown in the deepest sea. He remembers them no more.
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A lot of different ways the Scriptures teach us that God is just and therefore will only punish
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His Son for our sins, not His Son and us. See, double jeopardy.
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S -E -E, double jeopardy. And therefore, that�s good news. On the contrary, Beza said, is the ending of our corruption and an entrance into life eternal.
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This corruption that we�re in now, it�s going to be gone. And we�ll enter into life eternal, one day get our new bodies.
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That will be great. By the way, that�s going to be fantastic for lots of reasons.
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And I don�t mean just because you get to then see by sight, not by faith, what does the glory of the
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Lord Jesus really look like to see Him. That�d be pretty amazing.
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You know, you always think, well, is there somebody that�s lived that you could go back and meet them?
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Who would it be? Well, there�s somebody that�s lived, and you�re going to meet Him, right? And all those that believe in Him, you�re going to meet too after plenty of worship.
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You know, I always think of, okay, do you go around in heaven and say, oh, hello to all your friends or your mom.
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Like, I�d love to see my mom, our loved ones. Maybe you�ve lost a spouse or children that were believers.
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But I think the way it�s going to be, and I think you won�t even care that what I say is right.
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Maybe you don�t like it right now, but when you�re in heaven, you won�t care that I was right now. I think you�ll be so enraptured, so caught up in, so mesmerized, so enthralled, so taken with the
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Lord Jesus that you�re not going to look around for other people. Why would you do that?
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I think, therefore I am, I think you will recognize other people as you�re worshiping the
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Lord Jesus. I don�t think you�re going to say, I�m going to just take a little coffee break from worship and let�s just go catch up over at the foosball table.
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I think you�re going to say, oh, I think my mom, although died 15 years ago,
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I think when I get there, like I almost got there in September of last year, I think it will just be a moment in time for her, if there�s not really time, but it�ll just be, as all of a sudden it�s like, you know, heaven�s being populated.
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Oh, one after another after another. If there is time, okay, fine, 15 years. And I don�t think we�re going to go say, hi, and let�s catch up.
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What�s it like here? Let me tell you about the grandkids. Let me tell you what they�re all doing. Did you know
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Haley�s married? I don�t think it�s going to be that. I think there�s going to be a knowledge. It�s not going to be
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God�s knowledge. It�s going to be the perfect knowledge of a glorified person, and I think we are actually going to keep learning in heaven.
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But I think the knowledge is going to such that you�re going to just immediately recognize, in my particular case, my mother, as we worship the
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Lord Jesus together, and I�m not going to be sidetracked with, let me tell you about the books that I wrote,
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Mom, and my speaking engagements. Writing a book is kind of like birthing a baby, not with pain, like a lady would have.
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There could be pain of writing it and all that stuff, corrections, a lot of red ink spilled. But they send you the books to your door, and it�s like, oh, it�s been delivered, right?
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It�s done. And you think, oh, I�d love to call my mom and just send her a picture. The ending of our corruption and an entrance into life eternal.
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Wow. Lastly, being raised again and then having spoken throughout 40 days here below to give evidence of His resurrection,
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Acts 1, Jesus ascended visibly and really far above all heavens where He sat down at the right hand of God His Father, John 14.
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Having taken possession for us of His eternal kingdom, He is for us also the sole mediator and advocate, 1
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Timothy 2, Hebrews 1, Hebrews 9, and governs His church by His Holy Spirit until the number of the elect of God, His Father, is completed,
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Matthew 28. That�s just great news. I needed some great news today from the Christian faith,
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Theodore Beza, translated by James Clark. And you can order that online if you want to get it and catch up.
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I think you�d be encouraged. Well, today on the show, I did a few different things. Thanks for your support.
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Thanks for your encouragement. Thanks for your prayers. I will be in Pittsburgh area,
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Gospel Life Church, Pastor Dave, February 19th and 20th for a three -hour seminar on sanctification and then preaching that Sunday.
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You can go to Gospel Life Church somewhere in Pittsburgh area to find out.
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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible -teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God�s Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.
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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston.
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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.