Preaching The Gospel To Yourself (part 2)

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Spiritual Gifts 101 (part 3) - [1 Corinthians 12:4-11]

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Preaching the gospel to yourself. Why is that important? It will be topical, textual, and we'll get into the passages as well, but I'd like to talk about that topic tonight, and I could ask you the question to start,
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Have you preached the gospel to yourself today? I could ask you another question,
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What is the gospel? Remember, the gospel has nothing to do with imperatives.
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The response to the gospel is imperatival. Repent is not the gospel.
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Trust is not the gospel. Believe is not the gospel. Turn is not the gospel. Follow is not the gospel.
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Those aren't the gospel. Except Jesus in your heart, it's not the gospel. Come up to the front of the church, it's not the gospel.
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Nothing you do is the gospel. The gospel was done at Calvary, and let's take a look at what happens in 1
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Corinthians chapter 15 to make sure we understand the gospel, so if you've got to preach this to yourself, you at least know what it is.
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The gospel calls for a decision, it calls for an imperatival response, but it in fact is not full of commands.
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So here we have in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 1, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel, good news
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I preach to you, which you received in which you stand. So this is language, remember, of formal passing down.
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I've got the baton of truth, Paul says, I put it in the back of your hand, and I put it there nice and firmly, and I did not let go of that baton until you grabbed it and started to run away.
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Who used to run relay here? See, I'm talking your language. It's a felt need kind of message tonight, right
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Rachel? Trying to identify with the needs of the congregation. But it's that language, it's formal passing down the truth.
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In which you stand, verse 2, and by which you are being saved. Remember, salvation is when you first get saved.
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Salvation is for glorification. Salvation is progressive sanctification. If you hold fast to the word
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I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. There is a non -saving faith that believes in vain.
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Now we get to the point, verse 3, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died not for His sins, but for our sins.
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Notice the word Christ there. Yes, Jesus died for our sins, but Paul is trying to highlight that the
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Anointed One, that the Messiah, that the King of Israel, died a substitutionary death in our place, on our behalf, in our stead.
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It's the Anointed One dying for our sins. It was a penalty substitution.
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Penal substitution on our behalf. In accordance with the
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Scriptures. And remember, when you see the word, according to the Scripture, chapter and verse, he's referring to a particular passage.
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When he says, according to the Scriptures, the general Scriptures, the general tenor of the
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Old Testament, pointed to the Messiah who would die. That's what he's saying here. According to the Scriptures in general.
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And He was buried. He was raised on the third day, in accordance with the
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Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Notice how
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Jesus is the one acting. Christ died. He was buried.
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The writer Paul doesn't even say, they buried Him. Like the burying ones were the active ones.
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All the language here is what God did. God died. God was buried.
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God was raised. God appeared. He's the actor. And so when it comes to salvation, the good news is, we were sinful people.
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We could not save ourselves. And so the Rescuer, the Redeemer came, and He did everything.
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Remember Spurgeon, salvation is not do, do, do. It's what? Done, done, done.
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Look to your neighbor and say, done, done, done. No, just kidding. Why do people do that? I have no idea. So the
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Gospel is good news of what God has done. Remember, determined in eternity past, fleshed out at Calvary, and now still having effects as the
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Spirit of God begins to quicken people's hearts as they hear this good news that even though you can't save yourself, there is a
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Savior, and He saves you from your sins, from the wrath of God, from eternal judgment. God did that all.
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And when Jesus dies on the cross and is raised from the dead, God calls you to respond to that.
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Remember the languages of a runner in the military back in those days.
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So the general is back here and he's guarded and protected, and he sends a runner to the front lines to determine, is there victory?
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Has there been the battle won or not? And so the runner goes up there and he says, yes, we've won.
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We've killed them all. He runs back to the general and says, what? We won. They're killed.
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They're slain. We won. And the general responds with, amen, I believe it.
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And he does give a response, but the response doesn't determine the battle. Similarly with the
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Gospel. It's been done, and the good news is that we tell other people we're the runners. We're the ones coming back from the front line.
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Jesus Christ has crushed Satan at Calvary. He's defeated death and sin and hell.
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He's assuaged the wrath of God in our place. And there's victory and life and forgiveness for all that look to Christ Jesus.
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So the response to the Gospel is repent, believe, and trust. But the Gospel isn't, do something.
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By the way, that wouldn't be good news. Have you ever met someone and you've said to them, you know what? I've got good news for you.
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If you just turn from your sins, you go to heaven. Is that the right way to say it? Well, if they're thinking properly, let's make it even clearer.
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You go to someone who's stuck in sin and they're stuck in homosexuality, and you just say to them, by the way,
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I have good news for you. If you'll just stop being a homosexual, you can go to heaven. Is that good news to them?
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It's not good news. The heaven probably, carrot dangling, might be good thoughts, but we don't say that to a homosexual, do we?
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I sure hope you don't. You just change the color of your spots, change the color of your skin, and you get to go to heaven.
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What do we say? How do you preach to someone enslaved to sin?
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Stop, and then God will find you acceptable. By the way, is homosexuality sin?
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Right? Is it unrighteousness? Yes. By the way, this is getting stuffed down the throat of evangelicals and the world.
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This sin is being propped up as something as righteous. But the Bible teaches, all sex outside of marriage is unrighteous, including homosexuality.
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So what do you tell a person enslaved to sin? Stop it?
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Repent? Could you tell them repent? Could you tell them trust Christ? I hope you could tell them those things, but I hope you never say, stop that sin, and then
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God can save you. Stop that so you could be saveable. If that could happen, then the cross of Christ is null.
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Right? That's Galatians 2. The cross is made void because if you can change your behavior without the cross work of Christ Jesus, then why did the
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Father kill the Son? That would be wrong to do. So we tell homosexuals what we tell everybody.
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I have great news for you. I have great news for you that you can have all your sins forgiven.
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That God can look at you and instead of seeing any sin that you've ever committed, He can see the righteous perfection of Christ Jesus.
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I have great news for you. Although you, like me, have earned hell, God grants heaven.
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God grants fellowship with Him. God grants forgiveness for all who look away from themselves and look to Christ Jesus the
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Lord. The good news is not do something. The good news is God has done something.
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Believe it. Trust in it. So when it comes to preaching the Gospel to ourselves, why is that important?
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So we started this. How many weeks ago did we start this series, by the way? Everybody's going like that now.
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Now see, if this wasn't the church I pastor and I needed these lights up here for my eyes, I would bring my music stand right down there to talk to you.
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You're so far away. You're removed. It's kind of this consumeristic thing. We'll decide if we like this or not.
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I'll tell you if it's up or down. Two thumbs up on that sermon. No, forget all that.
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Here's what I'm after. Did you preach the Gospel to yourself today? Or did you fall into the trap? I got saved.
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That was back then. That's introductory stuff. That's ABC stuff. That's to get me in the kingdom and now tell me what to do.
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Jerry Bridges said preach the Gospel to yourself every day because it's very, very important. Why? Let me give you two things in review and we'll get to our third new truth today.
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Why should you preach the Gospel to yourself every day? One, we saw this last time, because if there were days in heaven, the
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Gospel would be preached to you every day in heaven. We looked at Revelation 4 and 5.
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There's no time in heaven, but if there were time in heaven, what you'll see there every day,
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I can't use the word day if there's no time, but what will be before your face over and over for all eternity, never getting bored, is
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Christ Jesus and those five wounds. The Lamb standing as if slaughtered
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Christ Jesus. When we talked last time, what in our world can keep our attention for more than five seconds without us changing the channel or becoming bored?
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Well, that's just kind of boring. Can you imagine for eternity and for all of the eons, an eternity future, you'll never be bored with worshiping
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Christ Jesus. That's a far cry from people going, well, you know what, all the clouds up in heaven and all the harps and all these kind of things.
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It just kind of sounds boring to me. I'd rather party in hell with my buddies, rock and roll. It's just foolishness.
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Christ Jesus, the Lamb who had been slain, is the center of attention in heaven.
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Number two, you should preach the gospel to yourself every day so that you can forgive others much.
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You've been forgiven of much, Matthew 18. You should therefore preach the gospel to yourself, realizing,
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God, I have been forgiven for two billion sins, and when my wife, when my husband, when my,
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I was going to say spouse, that's the same thing pretty much, I think, when my children, when my friends, when that guy at work, when my neighbor sins against me,
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I want to exact vengeance. But if you realize what God has done for you, what you've earned, yet what you've been given, you say to yourself, no,
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I want to make sure I forgive. Why should you preach the gospel to yourself? Because you can forgive other people much easier.
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Number three, new truth for tonight, why should you preach the gospel to yourself? Number three, because it provides lasting motivation for the
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Christian. Lasting motivation for the Christian. How do you motivate Christians?
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Can you imagine? I think of some seeker -sensitive churches where they think, all right, how am I going to motivate the Christians today? Remember Ed Young, Jr.,
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he takes the tank, the military tank, and drives out on the platform, standing on the tank with jeans and a
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Bible. You're going to be motivated. And if I was a kid, I'd be thinking, wow, that's a pretty cool army tank.
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But then I ask myself the question, I have one question for Ed Young, Jr., when he drives out on the tank to launch his
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Ephesians 6 series, what's the question? What are you going to do next week? How can you kind of top that?
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So for the Christian, how do we stay motivated? What makes you motivated to do the right thing, to honor
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God with your life and with your thoughts? Listen to Charles Spurgeon.
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Maybe my all -time favorite Spurgeon quote, which says a lot. When I thought
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God was hard, I found it easy to sin. But when I found
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God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion,
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I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against one who loved me so and sought my good.
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We sang the song this morning, Jesus paid it all, all to him what? I owe. God would do that for me?
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That's motivating. Let's turn our Bibles to Galatians chapter 2 for a moment. Galatians chapter 2, and I want you to see how
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Paul discusses this very thing. Paul is speaking in the present tense,
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Galatians 2 .20, but he's going back to something that happened in the past.
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Galatians 2 .20 is a very famous verse, and my point here is to show you that the gospel motivates
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Christian. Some people think you motivate Christians by having some revival, tent revival.
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Maybe we should have a tent revival next year. Maybe. There's nothing wrong with tents.
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That's right. There you go. 83 Sewell. Is it 85?
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I'm correcting Mark with the wrong information. No, no, no. It's 83. It's not 85.
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Galatians 2 .20, the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the
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Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Right there in the context of justification by faith alone.
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Notice the tense. The life I now live.
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He's not only talking about his sanctification, he's talking about his justification, going back to his being declared righteous by God through the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
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He says that was a past tense thing, which is also a present tense reality.
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How are you motivated, Paul? I'm motivated by something that happened in the past, the gospel of justification by faith alone because of what
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Christ did. Now, here's what happens in Christianity. Some people say, well, since I've been justified by faith alone,
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Christ's righteousness is imputed to my account. My sins are imputed to Christ's account. God can't unsave me.
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I can't unsave me. I can't somehow become less righteous in God's eyes.
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I can't become more righteous in God's eyes. I'm just going to cruise. I'm going to just coast.
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I can just live it up. I can actually sin. What do we do with that?
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Let's go to Romans chapter 6. This is fascinating. Romans chapter 6. Justification is a judicial act of God where he pardons us based on the work of Christ's righteousness, our sins to Christ's account,
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Christ's righteousness to our account. And I say our sins to Christ's account,
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Christ's righteousness to our account. And does that motivate? You go to that and you say, well, you know what?
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Some people think that that gives you carte blanche to sin. That's not what
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Paul says. Paul says, no, I want you to know that it should motivate you. Have you ever preached justification by faith alone so that people say that leads to moral, loose living?
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Immoral living. If salvation is all of God, all of grace through faith alone, no human effort, why don't
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I just live it up? Hey, I got a great idea. God loves to forgive. I love to sin.
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It's a match made on earth. And what does
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Paul say? Verse 1 of chapter 6. The gospel should motivate us not to sin.
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What should we say then? Don't you like how Paul talks this way? What should we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
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Chapter 3, justification by faith. Chapter 4, justification by faith. Chapter 5, justification by faith.
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Hey, he did it all. God loves to forgive. I love to sin. Let's just live it up. He says, no, don't do that.
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How many people have heard of Martin Lloyd -Jones? The sermons are now free. David Martin Lloyd -Jones.
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You can pull them up and listen to them free. I might like his writing better than I like his preaching, but God used him in such a great way.
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And he said something that I never forgot. I mean, I have to read it because it's a long quote, but I've never forgotten the tenor of it.
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The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it.
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What charge? I'll just sin. If God has declared me righteous, there's nothing I can do to be less righteous.
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I'll just live it up. There is no better test, for those of you that go downtown and preach, for those of you that love to evangelize, for those of you that love to teach a
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Bible study, teach VBS, let's give you the test. There's no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the
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New Testament gospel than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you're saved by grace alone, it doesn't matter at all what you do.
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You can go on sinning as much as you want because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace.
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Has anybody ever said, that's true of you when you preach? Now, it's not a true statement, but it could be said of you because you've preached the full and free forgiveness of Christ Jesus and justification.
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Now, look back at that verse, verse 1. What should we say then? Are we to continue in grace, in sin that grace may abound?
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If you teach you've got to do good works to get to heaven, or if you teach that God saved you and you've got to do good works to continue to keep yourself in the saved position to get to heaven, no one would ever ask that question, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
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If you find someone that says, I'm saved by grace, but I have to keep my salvation by works, you would never say, well, you know what,
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I'm going to continue in sin that grace may abound because I lose my salvation. So Lloyd -Jones says this, if you want to be
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Christians, if you want to go to heaven, you must stop committing sins. You must take up good works and you must do so regularly and constantly and do not fail to keep on at it.
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You will make yourself Christians, you will reconcile yourselves to God and you will go to heaven. Obviously, a man who preaches in that strain would never be liable to this misunderstanding.
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Nobody would ever say to such a man, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? That if you go on sinning, you're certain to be damned and only if you stop sinning can you save yourself?
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Such the misunderstanding would never arise. Look at verse 2.
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What's the answer? Since we're justified by God's free and sovereign grace, should we sin?
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Does justification by faith alone lead to sin? That's the question. Does justification by faith alone lead to sin?
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Answer? No, the Gospel motivates. It does the opposite. May it never be.
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Who has King James here? What's it say? God forbid.
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Genesis. Romans 6, verse 2. God forbid.
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How shall we who die to sin still live in it? Fourteen times.
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May it never be. I like J .B. Phillips' translation. What a ghastly thought. If only
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I could have an English accent right now. What a ghastly thought. That would be bad. I can't even do that.
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I have a comment that I'm thinking about, but I was wondering, should I say it or should I not? And whenever you say that in the pulpit, keep moving.
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That's right. Dwight Pentecost said, when Christ died by a divine reckoning, we died with Him.
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And if we died with Him, how can we keep on sinning? Why should you preach the Gospel to yourself? Because it should motivate you not to sin anymore.
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Sin has no legal claim on us. In this kind of language where we think, well, let's just keep sinning. It's unthinkable. It's untenable.
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Grace does not make us continue in sin. Listen to what John Stott said.
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A born -again Christian should no more think of going back to his old life than an adult going back to his childhood.
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Can a married woman live as though she were still single? Stott says, well, yes, I suppose she could.
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It is not impossible, but let her remember who she is. Let her feel her wedding ring, the symbol of her new life of union with her husband, and she will want to live accordingly.
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No wonder James Montgomery Boyce said, the first step in our growth in holiness is...
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All right, here we go. You want to grow as a Christian? Here's what Boyce said. The first step in our growth in holiness is...
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That makes me want to listen. What's the first thing I need to do as a new Christian? I'm an old Christian and I'm struggling.
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I've got these issues in my life. What should I do? What are the basics? What are the fundamentals of the faith? The first step in our growth in holiness is counting as true what is true.
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The key to living the Christian life lies in first knowing that God has taken us out of Adam and has joined us to Jesus Christ.
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No wonder Luther was asked, what shall I do as a new Christian?
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And then Luther said, do whatever pleases you. How can that be?
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Because what pleases a new Christian? Sin? No. No wonder
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Augustine said, this is where Luther got it, love God and do what you please.
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Don't you think that's scary to say as a pastor? All right, this week here's what I'd like you to do. Love God and then do whatever you please.
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Go for it. Take off your tie. Just go for it. Live it up.
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Love God and just live it up. See, what am I tempted to do? Don't watch out, be careful, put the kind of ratchet around your neck to say stop that, you better keep yourself in good stead.
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No, because of justification by faith alone, God has saved you and loved you with an everlasting love. Love God and do whatever you want.
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How nice is that this week? Some of you actually who were sleeping five minutes ago are actually smiling now. I can do whatever
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I want because the Christians shouldn't want to sin. The Christians shouldn't want to sin as much as we would want to go back to our own vomit like the dog does.
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Love God and do what you please. What pleases you?
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I want to honor my King. All right, there's more to be said. Pastors usually say that when there's nothing more to be said, but let's give you number four.
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Number four, the fourth reason why you should preach the Gospel to yourself every day. Only the Gospel gives you a paradigm for godly living.
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Only the Gospel gives you a paradigm for godly living. Please turn to Ephesians chapter 5 if you would. Ephesians chapter 5.
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I talk about this all the time and so some of you have heard me say it more than others, but it's important for you to hear again.
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The Gospel gives a paradigm for godly living. Let's look at a case for a husband and a wife.
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Ephesians 5 .25. Husbands, love your wives.
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So far, is that a Christian statement? What I mean by that is, would that be a good thing for people to do who are military veterans,
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Mormons, good old boys, love your wives. Muslims, shouldn't they love their wives?
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Husbands, love your wives. By the way, is that an imperative or an indicative? Is that a statement of fact or is it a command?
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It is a command. Well, what's the statement of fact that makes this a Christian statement?
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Husbands, love your wives. Here comes the statement of fact. Just as Christ also loved the church and gave
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Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless.
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How do you talk to your spouse, is my question. And is it full of commands?
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Do this, don't do that, bring me that, bring me my slippers, bring me my pipe, bring me my robe.
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It's kind of hitting close to home, isn't it? No, just kidding. How do we talk? Let's talk about children. How do you talk to your children?
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Stop it. Start it. Turn off the lights, I don't work for the power company.
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By the way, Scott, what do you say? I always wondered, Scott Ferrer works for the power company and he could never use that against the kids.
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What do you think, I work for the power company or what? Yes, dad. Okay, rise and shine. Shape up, stop hitting.
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Napkins on your lap. Someone shakes your hand, grab firmly, look them in the eye.
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Stop taking such long showers. Just making all these up,
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I hear the neighbors say these all the time. That is not a gospel -oriented parent.
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That is not a gospel -oriented marriage. That is not a gospel -oriented work relationship. That's not a gospel -oriented church life.
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Because the gospel is what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. And the response is the imperative.
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So too in sanctification. So too in sanctification. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.
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So how about say things like to your spouse, I love you. This is what you mean to me.
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This is who you are to me. And therefore, could you please do this?
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How about say to your kids, you're the apple of my eye. I loved you before I ever even met you.
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I remember rubbing your mom's stomach, singing hymns to you. I can't believe
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God gave you to me. And in light of what I do, just take a look around in your room for a second.
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Everything you see in your room, I bought for you. My own good pleasure. There's nothing in the universe that you own that I didn't give to you.
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Sound familiar, Luke? I love to give these things to you. I love to just give you a good vacation, a good place to go in the summer.
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I love to give you Bible teaching and a good church. All indicative, indicative, indicative, indicative, indicative.
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Therefore, when it comes to me asking you to do something, then you need to do it.
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You don't even have to say that to a kid half the time. If you've got a kid who hits and you say to them all kinds of gospel -oriented indicatives, who they are to you, what you've done for them, and then you say, by the way, in light of all that I've ever done for you and what mommy and dad have done in the past and will continue to do, in light of all that, what do you think you should do when it comes to hitting?
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I don't think I should hit anymore. But if we don't have the gospel before our eyes, we turn into people who are just shouting out orders.
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And I know what this is like. And by the way, this is my default. My father was a Korean War veteran. And I mean, these are all things
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I just learned. Clean up, fess up, shut up, give up. I mean, there's all these things. They all have up in them, by the way.
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And it's just like, okay, it's just the crushing imperative. But then you sprinkle it and shower a few indicatives.
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It changes everything. How about if you're here at the church and you have people that report to you in a ministry?
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How do you talk to them? Don't. Stop. Never on time.
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Show up more. Have a better attitude. Did you pray this week? See, it changes everything if you have people who help you and serve the
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Lord under you. And you say, you did a great job. Thank you for what you've done.
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I noticed the grace of God in your life, and you're different than you were years ago. All right, let's keep going.
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Number five. Why preach the gospel to yourself? Because only the gospel deals with sins that Christians commit.
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I love Michael Horton. He said, one can lose weight, stop smoking, improve one's marriage, and become a nicer person without Jesus.
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It's true. But only the gospel deals with the sins that Christians commit. And we're not going to go there because we've been there for so long.
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Remember the church at Corinth in chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians? They're not dealing with the incestual man properly.
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And what does he say to them? Could he say, stop it? Could he say, purge out the old leaven?
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Yes, and he says both of those, but what does he say? Who does he show, the Christian, to stop sinning?
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For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven.
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In other words, Paul uses the person of Christ to teach them to stop sinning. 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
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We just were there a few weeks ago, weren't we? How do you deal with selfish Christians? The way Paul deals with selfish
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Christians is, show them the selfless Christ. Number 6.
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Oh, this is a good one. If you hear nothing else, this would be a good one to hear. Why should you preach the gospel to yourself?
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Number 6. Because the gospel reminds us that our day -to -day acceptance with the
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Father is not based on what we do, but what Christ has done for us. Let's turn to John chapter 17 for a second.
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How much does God love you? When I read these verses, I couldn't hardly believe it. I couldn't believe that God would love me as much as He loves
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His Son. That is an unbelievable thing. How much does God love me? As much as He loves
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His Son, which I think is much better than showing someone these verses than does
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God love me, He loves me this much, and showing Christ with His crucified arms out on a
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T -shirt. I'll go for this instead. John 17 .22. When you preach the gospel to yourself, you realize that you're adopted in the family of God by His grace.
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Not by your good bootstrap works. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them.
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John 17 .22. High priestly prayer of Christ Jesus. The Lord's Prayer. That they may be one even as we are one.
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I in them, and you in me, and that they might become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, specific of the disciples, even as you loved me.
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That's a shocking statement. Verse 26. Amplifies it.
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I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
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Does an adopted child have to go on trying to earn the favor of his new parents? No. How much more do we have to run from all kinds of things that would make us think,
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God loves me more because I obeyed? Let's just talk shop just for a quick second. Does God love you more today because you went to the
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Sunday night service? And the great hordes of the other people didn't come. Two services this morning, where's everybody else?
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But you came tonight. God surely loves you more. You did a good deed and God loves you more.
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You had devotions this morning. Even though it's a Sunday, you don't need to have devotions because you can have them in the worship service.
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But you read your Bible this morning. God loves you more. You even read some Spurgeon books earlier this week, and you thought, you know what?
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God loves me more because I read those things. But you know what? If we're not careful,
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I know you because I know me. I do these things, God is more pleased. When he can't be more pleased with me because I have
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Christ's righteousness credited to my account, he can't look at me with any more pleasure.
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He can't look at me with any more commendation because he sees his son. It's righteousness and not mine.
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All right, let's see. All right, lastly, number seven. Preach the gospel to yourself because the gospel can strengthen you.
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Let's go to Romans chapter 16. The gospel can strengthen you. How would you like to say no to temptation more?
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Yes to being faithful in trials more. Wouldn't you like both of those? I would love that.
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What can help you? Do better next time. Stay up later next time.
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Sweat more next time. No. I'm actually sweating right now. What would that mean in light of this morning's sermon?
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The visitors have no idea what everybody is laughing about. By the way, I do have a correction to make this morning as you're turning to Romans 16.
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I said that when someone here at the church was taught to speak in tongues, they were told to say some consonants.
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And I talked to them this morning and I said, was that a proper reflection, my story, of what happened in your life?
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And they said no. They didn't tell me to say some consonants. They told me to say some syllables.
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But I was right when this person didn't know what a syllable was, so he responded with A -E -I -O -U,
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A -E -I -O -U, A -E -I -O -U. When I was growing up, it was sometimes Y too, wasn't it?
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Who learned in sometimes Y? Okay, there you have it. Take that out of the tape,
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Ezra. All right. Romans 16, 25 to 27. Here we have at the end of the great book of Romans.
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It says here, doxologically, Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to what?
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My gospel. Not that Paul invented it, but Paul was the faithful preacher. God is able to strengthen you according to my gospel.
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Who doesn't need to be strengthened in their Christian walk? And the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, something that God knew before, but we didn't know.
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This isn't mysterious. This is something that was unknown to us, but God made it known. It was kept secret for long ages.
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That's amazing. This gospel, truth revealed, but has now been disclosed through the prophetic writings and has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal
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God to bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ.
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Amen. Hone back in with me if you would to verse 25 in this doxology. To him who is able to strengthen you.
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Who has a translation that says establish you? Good. To make you firm.
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Have you ever seen a tree that's firmly planted in all the weather and all the storms and it seems like it could just be bending almost all the way over, but it's not getting ripped out by the roots.
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Only the gospel can give the Christian roots that sink down deeply so that when the storms of life come you're not just blown hither and thither and yonder and...
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There's something I was looking for there. To just be driven away to and fro.
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That sounds better. It establishes us and makes us settled and strong and unshaken.
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Actually, go back to chapter 1. Keep your finger at Romans 16. But go back to 1 .11.
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Romans 1 .11. And Paul uses the same kind of language early on. This is what he wanted to do when he was longing to go to Rome.
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Hadn't been there before, but he wanted to go. Why would the apostle want to go to Rome? Because he wanted to strengthen them.
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For I long to see you, Romans 1 .11, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.
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That's what I want to do. I want you to be strengthened. By the way, friends, I commend you for studying the
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Word and wanting to dig down deeply because when bad trials come for Christians who have weak doctrines, they get mowed over.
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They get blown over. A tough temptation bullies weak doctrine.
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But if you have strong doctrine, oh, you might have the effects of a hurricane around you, but you're in the eye of the hurricane knowing, you know what?
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My God lives and reigns and I'll trust Him with my life. Not Him who's able to strengthen you,
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Paul says. To keep you strong. To stand. That's what
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I need. I mean, just think of our church in the last several months only. We've lost so many loved ones, haven't we?
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Pastor Steve loses his dad. Marcia Bilton just loses her mom this week.
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We just went and visited Kathy and Russ. She loses her mom. And the list is greater than even that.
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Becky, she loses her dad. What do we do? What do we go to? Do we just say, well, we'll just leave the
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Gospel over there? That's when you first get into heaven. No, this is what establishes you the
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Gospel and keeps you strong. The word there to establish? Steridzo. What's that sound like?
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Steridzo. I know what that sounds like to me. Twenty years ago,
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I'd put my bicep up right there, but now I'd have to prop it up with some thumb or something like that. It sounds like steroids to strengthen.
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These are good steroids. How would you like to say, you know,
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I'd like to have more courage when I preach the Gospel downtown. I'd like to have more courage when people persecute me for my faith.
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It's the Gospel. The power of the Gospel alone. Listen to Colossians 1 .28.
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Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
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Same kind of thing. Mature. Wholly turned to God. Yeah, but here's the thing,
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Pastor. We kind of get tired of the Gospel. You know what? It's the same old story. We sing about it.
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We read about it. We preach about it. It's preached to us every single Sunday, Sunday morning at Sunday school.
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It's the Gospel, the Gospel, the Gospel, the Gospel. Kind of gets an old, old story, isn't it?
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What would be our response? What if you bring somebody to church and they're not a Christian and they say, you know what? It's kind of fine that everybody gets together.
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They seem to be encouraging and exhorting one another, but they talk about the same thing over and over and over.
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Can't you find something new to talk about? What would you say to them? Well, one of my favorite all -time stories is of Adoniram Judson.
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Who knows of Adoniram Judson? First American, first person who sails, rather, from America as a missionary.
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And from which city did he sail? You can go there, by the way, and see a statue of Adoniram Judson at the port not too far away.
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Where is it? Does anyone know? Somewhere you don't want to go on Halloween. Salem.
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Now you know. Salem, Massachusetts. Adoniram Judson. You can go there and see the little plaque in the harbor.
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And he was a famous missionary. To where was he a famous missionary? Burma. What's Burma called now?
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There you go. You should know, young man. He came home after being gone on the field for 30 years.
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Now, when we have missionaries, you know what I like to tell them? I want some kind of story about snakes and stuff. Some kind of bugs.
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Somehow you had to eat some leeches. You had to put a leech on your skin to draw the blood out, to take care of it.
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Or, you know, back in the old days, they didn't have any iodine. And so if you had an infection in your skin, they'd have to put the maggots in there and let them eat the bad stuff.
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And then once you saw the blood, they'd take the maggots out. You should see your faces. Nobody's sleeping now. It's maggot theology, worm theology.
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But here he comes back after 30 years in Burma. Don't you think he's got some good stories to tell?
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He's invited to speak at a large audience, and they gave him 15 minutes. He got up and he talked the whole time about what
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Jesus did for him, what Jesus did on behalf of sinners, and how much he owed
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Christ Jesus because of what Jesus did. He preached the gospel. That's all he did. On the way home, his friend said, the people are very much disappointed, and they wonder why you did not give them something else.
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What did they want, Mr. Judson replied? I presented to the best of my ability the most interesting subject in the whole world.
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But they wanted something different, a story. Well, I'm sure I gave them a story, the most thrilling one that can be conceived of.
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They've heard that one before. Then I'm glad they have it to say that a man coming from the
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Antipodes had nothing better than to tell them of the wondrous story of the dying love of Jesus Christ.
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My business is to preach the gospel of Christ, and when I can speak it all, I dare not trifle with my commission.
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When I looked at those people today and remembered where I should next meet them, how could
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I stand up and furnish food for vain curiosity, tickle their fancy with amusing stories, however decently strung together on a thread of religion?
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That is not what Christ meant by preaching the gospel. And then how could I have hereafter meet a fearful charge from the
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Lord? I gave the opportunity to tell them of me. You spent in describing your own adventures.
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If you ever get an opportunity to speak any place, you preach the gospel.
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You don't even have to ask them, what would you like me to talk about? I have good news that I'm going to talk about the gospel.
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Let's get as clear as we can now. If you teach VBS and don't preach the gospel, you're fired.
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If you have a Sunday school and you want to tell them about Dare to be a Daniel, and Caleb, and Esther, is it okay to say to be like Esther?
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That's another story. But if you tell them to emulate characters, you're fired.
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You tell them who God is in Christ Jesus and how
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He works through a Daniel, how He works through an Esther, how He works through an Ezra. Because that is of first importance.
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Father, we thank You for the gospel of Christ Jesus. Thank You that where we're the weakest, the most sinful,
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You are the most loving, the most holy, the most gracious. Thank You that we can be heirs of God and of Christ Jesus, our great
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Savior who was rich and became poor on our behalf. Thank You that You would justify sinners like us, slaves set free.
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Father, we also thank You that the door of heaven has been torn open for us by Christ's life and death and stays that way.
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Thank You for letting us hear the gospel. Some nervous soul, some timid soul, some evangelist, some grandma,
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You had ordained to bring us the gospel so that we might hear and understand the good news and that You would give us ability to then repent and believe.
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Father, help us to be men and women who aren't ashamed of the gospel. And when it comes to our parents, our kids, our loved ones, our neighbors, help us to give them a reason for the hope that's within us.