Words of Warning from the Loving Savior (Part 2)

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John 8:21-30

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I'd like to get started and finish this message I did not have a chance to finish last Lord's Day.
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In John chapter 8. You can go ahead and turn there if you like,
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John chapter 8. Let me give a background of what's happening here.
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Now we're speaking about the words of warning from our loving
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Savior. Jesus no doubt loves undying.
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His love is undying and He warns them with truth.
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Even these self -righteous Pharisees. The background here Jesus is interacting with the
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Pharisees at the end of the Feast of the Tabernacles. And at that feast in conjunction with the ceremony that is commemorated with water.
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As we spoke about several weeks ago that God in His goodness provided for Israel in the wilderness.
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His claim to be able to give living water. Jesus says that that flows out of our innermost being.
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Of those who believe in Him. And in saying that in conjunction with a lamp lighting ceremony.
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That remembered God's presence in the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness.
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Jesus has claimed to be the light of the world. These are amazing claims of who
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He is. 7 IM's.
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His identity. His claims. And promised that one of those who follow
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Him will not walk in darkness but have the light of life. John 8 .12.
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Great verse. Beloved there were astounding claims that our
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Lord made. That you and I cannot push aside and dismiss.
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And it demands a response. And Jesus brings this right to the table of the
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Pharisees. And actually you see great grace in this and patience of our Lord. That Jesus would even tell such great revelation and truth of Himself to these self -righteous
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Pharisees. It's amazing. And there is a time that He goes on.
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Of course. He moves on in the will of God. But here in the temple it is
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God's will that Jesus preaches. And these self -righteous, hard -hearted, unbelieving
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Pharisees of the Sanhedrin come to Him. And they respond.
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How do they respond? Tragically the self -righteous, hard -hearted Pharisees respond with hostile challenges to our
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Lord. And they do not respond in faith in who
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Jesus is. In our text today, in this Lord's Day morning, the
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Pharisees continue to throw comments that actually reflect their hardened hearts.
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It's very obvious. What we believe is acted out.
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There's no way around it. And this is what they believe. They did not believe in Christ as being the
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Messiah. Jesus came unto His own, His own received
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Him not. So they rejected Him outright. Rather than trying to take the speck out of the
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Pharisees' eyes, I'd like to bring this personal to you and me today, because we all need to examine ourselves before we come to communion.
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And I'm preaching to myself as well, okay? That we, I conclude a we here, not just me but we, and it's not you but me, need to take the logs out of our own eyes by recognizing that by virtue of our fallen nature, our remaining sin, that we're just like the
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Pharisees in many respects. We do not need to be throwing stones at them and say, Ah, they're
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Pharisees but I'm not. Well, I know there's a difference between a child of God and a child of the devil.
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I definitely know that. The chasm is huge. The gulf is great. But in this text before us, it's very serious of how
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Jesus speaks to them about how they will die in their sins. And we always need to be very sober and soul -searching and testing ourselves to see whether we are in the faith because this is so critical for all of us.
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So here in your Bibles, John chapter 8, let me read the text once again before us because there's so much here.
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Verse 21, beginning with verse 21 to verse 30, hear the word of the living God. And again,
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Jesus predicts His departure. And listen to what He says and I'm reading from the New King James Version.
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Then Jesus said, verse 21, to them again, He repeats Himself to them,
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I am going away and you will seek Me and will die in your sin. Singular there in that text, that verse.
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Where I go you cannot come. So the Jews said, will He kill
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Himself? Because He says, where I go you cannot come. And He said to them, you are from beneath,
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I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.
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Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am
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He, you will die in your sins. How important it is to believe who Jesus is.
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Verse 25, then they said to Him, who are you? They're basically saying, another translation of this, who do you think you are?
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That's what they're saying. Who are you? Who are you? And Jesus said to them, just what
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I have been saying to you from the beginning, I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which
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I heard from Him. Verse 27, they did not understand that He spoke to them of the
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Father. Then Jesus said to them, and here is a key verse because this speaks about His death and resurrection.
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When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my
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Father taught me, I speak these things. And He who sent me is with me.
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The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please
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Him. And as He spoke these words, many believed in Him.
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May God bless the reading of His holy word from the hearing of our ears.
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How blessed are our ears to hear. Lord give us ears to understand, but also to understand with our hearts in this time of worship.
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Let's pray. Our Father and our God, Holy Father in heaven, the
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Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to pray as your disciples, hallowed be
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Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. Father, our concern today here is truly first and foremost is hallowing
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Your name. Your name is Holy, Holy, Holy, O Lord God Almighty.
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Father, as David says in Psalm 19, who can understand his errors?
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Cleanse now me from secret faults. Keep back
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Thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me.
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Then I shall be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
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So Father, let the words of my mouth this morning and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight.
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O Lord, my strength, my redeemer. Father, speak to us for Your servant hears.
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We ask this for Thy honor and glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Sin is very serious.
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Very serious. Let me read to you something from one of my favorite tracks.
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It's in booklet form, but I'm sure we got some around here. Ultimate Questions. John Blanchard.
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Listen to what he says about sin. I'll just read a couple, just a few paragraphs here, but listen, this is very good.
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The question is, he takes you through a series of where to begin.
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First, beginning with God. Is anyone there? What is God like? He's personal.
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He's a one God. He's Trinity, Spirit, eternal, independent. He's holy.
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He's just. He's perfect. He's sovereign. He's omnipotent. He is speaking. Who am
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I? Again, that's where Jesus takes these Pharisees. They need to have a correct understanding of who they are, but a correct understanding of who
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Jesus is. But John Blanchard basically goes, Who am I then? What went wrong?
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He goes basically through the order of the Scriptures. Then he comes to the part, and you can read it right in Genesis chapter 3, but he talks about, asks the question, is sin serious?
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Is sin serious? Well, we need to take sin more serious, don't we? Listen to what he says.
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When disease is first diagnosed, it is important to ask the question, is it serious?
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It is even more important to ask the question about the spiritual disease of sin. Many people almost cheerfully admit to being sinners because they have no idea what this means.
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They treat it as being just human nature, or they shelter behind the fact that everybody does it.
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But those statements dodge the real issue. He goes on to say, is sin serious?
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Here are some of the things that the Bible says about you as a sinner. These are hard words, but Jesus basically says harder words than this to the
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Pharisees because He says, you are going to die in your sin. And you think of it, just to say that they were going to die should have been a wake -up call.
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But to die in your sins, in other words, saying that you are not going to be forgiven. Well, here are three things that John Blachard mentions that this is what the
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Bible says to you and I about us being sinners.
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And the Scripture to go along with it. Number one, you are debased. You are debased.
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What does that mean? This does not mean that you are as bad as you could possibly be. Nor does that, that you are constantly committing every sin.
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Nor does it mean that you cannot tell right from wrong or do things that are pleasant or helpful. But it does mean that sin has invaded every part of your nature and personality.
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Your mind, your will, your affections, your conscience, your disposition and even your imagination.
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Scripture says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
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Who can know it? So the root, he goes on to say, the root of trouble is not what you do but what you are.
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You sin because you are a sinner. Not only are you debased, he goes on to say, you are defiled.
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You are defiled. The Bible pulls no punches here. Jesus says, from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.
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I don't know about you but that list hits me every time. He says this, notice that the list includes thoughts, words, actions.
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This shows that in God's sight all sin is equally serious. Some people limit their idea of sin to things like murder, adultery and robbery.
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But the Bible makes it clear that we have no right to think of sin in this way. Sin is anything that fails to meet
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God's perfect standards. The perfect law of liberty,
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James says. Anything we say, think or do that is less than perfect is sin.
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Now face up to this question. Who can say I have made my heart clean? I am pure from my sin.
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Can you? If not, you are defiled. Not only are we defiled, we are defiant.
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We are defiant. He goes to say, the Bible teaches that sin is lawlessness, deliberate rebellion against God's authority and law.
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No civil law forces you to lie, cheat, have impure thoughts or sin in any other way.
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You choose to sin. You choose to break God's holy law. You deliberately disobey
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Him and that is serious. Because God is a just judge.
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And God is angry with the wicked every day. God can never be soft about sin.
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And you can be sure that not even one sin will go unpunished. And I'll close.
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He's got much more to say. Great, great track, folks, to hand out. It's in booklet form.
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And I'll read this one more paragraph. Some small part of God's punishment of sin comes in this life, though we may not recognize it.
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But the final punishment will be inflicted after death. When the day of judgment, each of us shall give an account of himself to God.
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Think of it. That's exactly what the Scriptures speak. And here Jesus pours forth very hard words of warning to these self -righteous
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Pharisees. Now, let's talk about going to heaven. What does it take to go to heaven?
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Now, children, I'd like for each and every one of you to pay close attention. Because I'm going to try to make this as simple as I can.
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The Bible says in Ezekiel 18 .20, The soul that sins, it shall die.
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Death. For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
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Lord. It always tells us that we earn those wages. And sin has brought this on.
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But God in His grace and mercy has given us the gift of His Son. Let me tell you about the
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ABC of the Gospel. It's very simple, but it's profound. I love this.
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And I think it goes way back. Somebody put a little picture of these people looking at this wall and it says
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ABC. That's pretty simple, isn't it? But what does the A stand for? The A says, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
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That's the A. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. B. Behold the
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Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And C.
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Come unto me, Jesus says, All ye that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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If you can't remember anything, remember the ABC there of presenting the Gospel. And you've got the
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Gospel. A. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
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B. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. C. Jesus says, Come unto me.
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Come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Hallelujah. Now I was thinking about this as I was jotting these words down.
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Everybody wants to go to heaven, doesn't it? There's even people in hell right now that had a tendency to want to go to heaven to enjoy the benefits of it.
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But the question is really this. Does people want God? That's the question.
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Because heaven is a holy place for holy people. Because God is holy.
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And it's His city of habitation. It's Zion. It's where He dwells as we inhabit
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His manifest presence. His presence is everywhere, a lot of people think. How can He be everywhere and there at the same time?
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Well, He's God. But He's omnipresent. Amen. And His manifest presence is in the city of heaven.
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In which all the saints and angels dwell. Anything defiled, dogs, will be outside of that city.
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So we must have a delight and a desire for God. It's not enough to just have a desire for heaven.
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Even though I believe heaven is our home. But we must, if we are to get to heaven, and by the way, the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.
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What did Jesus say? He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
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No man comes to the Father except through Me. No other way.
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No other way. That's very simple. And we must remember, Jesus is the only way. So we must go the way
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Jesus says. He's the way. His person. His works.
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There's nothing that we can do to earn our way to heaven. Just count that out.
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For by grace are you saved. Through faith, that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It's been bought and paid for by the blood of the
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Lamb. So to get to heaven, we must recognize several things. And I like to bring out some certain things before we have communion.
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How we can get to heaven. The first thing to get to heaven, we must first recognize our true condition before a holy
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God as a sinner. And that's why I read that from John Blanchard. Because I think he does a pretty good job in bringing out that we are sinners.
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Scripture does even a far better job because he's basing it on Scripture. For we all have all sinned.
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All of us have missed the mark and come short of the glory of God. Well the first thing is, we must understand and recognize our true condition.
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Our condition is serious and our condition as a sinner.
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We are sinners. People don't like to be called sinners. But that's what we are.
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And that point is where we begin. If you go to John chapter 8, look at verse 19.
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And they said to him, where is your father? And Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father.
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If you had known me, you would have known my father also. Here is the root problem folks, in this verse, in verse 19.
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The root problem with the entire human race is that we're born sinners.
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We're born blind. We're born fallen. We're born with the Adamic nature. And Jesus was not born that way.
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Thus through the incarnation, He comes into the world without Adam's sin.
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We don't know God or the one He sent to bear our sins, who is
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Christ. And who bore it on the cross. And that's why He came and that's why
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God sent the Son. Was to deal with the sin problem. And the sin problem is serious before God.
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It's always serious. We have no idea of the awesomeness of God's holiness, do we?
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But you know something? God's holiness needs to be spoken. In church and outside of the church.
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People need to hear about the awesome holiness of God. I never will forget Brother Keith. I believe he, was that before you were married?
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It might have been. We were talking at the strawberry patch. And we was talking about God's holiness at a picnic table.
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It might have been right before you met me. Several years back, Brother Keith asked a great question.
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He said, Pastor, what do you think is the most needed subject to be spoken of?
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And I just thought, you know, it's God's holiness. That is so missing. We began to speak about the holiness of God, just in fellowship.
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And next thing you know, people were just... It got their attention. You could almost see them just wanting to peek in.
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But you know, as R .C. Sproul says, God's holiness is traumatic. It is traumatic.
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And it is supposed to be traumatic. Because God is a consuming fire.
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He is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12, 29. And He dwells in an unapproachable light that no one can even see.
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And since we don't know how holy God really is, I like what Ravenhill says. He's holy, holy, holy.
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These children were singing that wonderful song this morning. Great job, children. But it's great truth you're singing before God.
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Because God is holy, holy, holy.
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Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit. God in one person in Trinity.
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Three persons. One God in three persons, I meant to say. But think of this. We can't get a hold of one holy.
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God is so holy that we don't see how holy He is unless the
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Spirit of God shows us through His Word. And we don't see how sinful we really are unless God the
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Holy Spirit reveals it to us. And we need the Spirit of God to show us our sin, right?
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Rather than comparing ourselves with the holy God in which we should, we compare ourselves with naturally.
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We do this with other people, don't we? We all have done it. Let's be honest.
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We don't like to compare ourselves with just God because we come so, we fall so short.
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But when we compare ourselves with other people outwardly, more wicked than we are, we don't look so bad after all.
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But we are bad. Very bad. Very dirty.
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And thought, deed, and action, unless the blood of Jesus has cleansed and washed you up.
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Let me show you from Scripture a little bit what Paul says. Look at Romans chapter 2. Now, he's speaking to someone here in Romans 2.
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And in Romans chapter 1, he ends in verse 32, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death.
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And not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. And then he goes into Romans 2.
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He speaks about God's righteous judgment. How righteous is God? God is holy, righteous, perfectly righteous.
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Therefore, you are inexcusable, O man. Listen to these words in chapter 2.
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For in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you judge, practice the same things.
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He's a hypocrite. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.
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What things is he talking about? Everything that he just listed from Romans 1 .18
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all the way to verse 32. And do you think this,
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O man? You know, I'm so thankful he didn't give a name to this man.
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I'm sure there's a name of somebody there in Rome among them that he's speaking of in writing this letter.
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But really when he says, O man, it's all of us, isn't it? Let's be honest.
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You who judge those practicing such things are doing the same? You will escape the judgment of God?
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Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering?
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Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
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That's a question. He gives to this person that is inexcusable and judging unrighteously.
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And then he says in verse 5, but in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart. Think of the
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Pharisees that Jesus is speaking of in John chapter 8. That's them here.
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Your impenitent heart. Or maybe it's us. That you are treasuring up for yourself wrath and the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to each one according to his deeds.
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That's sobering, isn't it? Notice after in verse 7 he basically says, but the positive here, eternal life to those who by patient continuance, continuing in God's Word, Jesus goes there at the end of chapter 8, patient continuance in doing good, seek glory, honor, and immortality.
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Verse 8, but to those who are self -seeking. And Jesus said to follow
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Him, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, what's the first thing He said? To deny yourself daily.
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Take up your cross and follow Him. That's what He said. Follow Jesus.
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But to those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth. How about obedience to the truth? Well, but they obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, tribulation, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil of the
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Jew first and also to the Greek. Verse 10, but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good to the
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Jew first and also to the Greek. Why does He say the Jew first and also to the Greek? Jesus came first to the household of faith, to the household of the
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Jews, and then to the Gentile, the Greek. Verse 11, then
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He says, for there is no partiality with God. God is no respecter of persons.
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You know what He's saying? God throws no curve ball for no one. The standard is the same.
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To the Jew as well as to the Greek and to all.
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For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and as many have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.
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For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.
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For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, to show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.
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And the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel, the judgment.
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And that is what the writer of Hebrews speaks about. It is appointed for once men to die and after that the judgment.
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That's the message we tell people. That's the message. We're going to all die.
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Then there's a judgment. And Jesus Christ is the judge of all the earth. Now there's another great revelation in the
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Old Testament that speaks very clearly about God's holiness.
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And I bring that about the righteous judgment of God because somebody was blind to it because of the hard heart of their unbelief, and Paul lays it straight.
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Isaiah chapter 6, a very familiar passage when we see that in the year of King Uzziah died, he says this,
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I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple, and above it stood the seraphim.
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Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
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It's an amazing picture here that there is the seraphim.
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The Bible basically speaks of this creature as like burning one. Burning one before God that God literally created to worship
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Him continually all the time, and it is happening even now.
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How much God inhabits the praises of His people, folks. Even in hard times, good times, and no matter what we go through, we should not let circumstances dictate our praise to God.
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We always should be praising God. The sacrifice is a praise. Read the
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Psalms. Praise constantly. But here, the burning ones, each had six wings.
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Two covered his face. Two he covered his feet. Two he flew. Think of that.
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He's covering his face. He's covering his feet. And he flew with two of them because of the burning brightness of God's glory.
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Even this creature could not even look upon God. And listen to what it says in verse 3.
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One cried to another. What did they say? To one another. Holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord of hosts. That host means Lord of the armies. The mighty
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God Almighty. Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.
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And here in verse 4, the post of the door were shaken by the voice of Him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke.
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What's the smoke? The glory of God. God, think of His majesty,
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His power. King Uzziah dies. And then the prophet
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Isaiah sees the Lord. And this is a righteous man. This is a godly man. And he sees
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God in this vision. And the post of the door were literally shaken at the voice of Him who cried out.
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And the whole house was filled with smoke. And then he says this, So I said, Woe is me.
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He pronounces a curse on himself. For I am undone. I'm unraveled. I'm done in.
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I'm disintegrated. Because I'm a man of unclean lips.
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He makes a confession there. Here's a prophet, says I have unclean lips.
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Don't you feel that way many times when you sin? Your lips is what gets you in trouble. Your lips is sensitive.
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Your lips is what we sin with. Because Jesus says out from the heart. It spews out.
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And our lips are dirty. Because of unclean things. I have unclean lips.
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For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. The King, the majestic King.
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High and lifted up. He's high and lifted up. And this whole entire train behind Him of His robe filled that entire temple.
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Can you imagine that? No we can't. Then one of the seraphim, the burning ones flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongues from the altar.
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He touched my mouth with it and said, now keep in mind, Isaiah says
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I have clean lips, unclean lips. And I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips.
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He's a prophet and he recognizes his own sin. Because he's in comparison against God.
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Folks, this is what we need to do. We need to examine ourselves in the presence of God.
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Not with other people. But with God. Examine yourself.
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He touched my mouth with it and now God has the remedy. Behold, this has touched your lips.
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Your iniquity is taken away. Your sin is purged.
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It's purged. It's atoned for.
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By fire. Fire purifies. Doesn't it? I remember being young.
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I always wondered why my grandmother would do this. And if I had a splinter in my palm or my hand or somewhere in my hands or my fingers, it would always take a needle.
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And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about here. Take it and put it under a fire, a gas burner.
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And I noticed she would purify that needle. And I know you nurses know definitely the idea here.
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Purification. To keep it from being contaminated with something else that would make an infection worse when you take the splinter out of your hand.
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And I would see her get that needle red hot.
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Of course, she'd let it cool a little bit or burn my skin. It wasn't like this with Isaiah.
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That red hot coal touched his lips. And it sizzled and burned it.
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But, you know, the needle to get the thorn out has to be purified, the purification.
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And that's the way sin is. If that splinter is in, it causes infection until you get the thing out.
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It has to be a purified instrument. And here he takes hot coals, touches the lips of Isaiah, atones for his iniquity, takes it away, and his sin is purged completely.
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Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? For us?
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What does that sound like? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And then
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I said, Here am I. Send me. Is this you?
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And he said, Go. And I tell this people, keep on hearing but do not understand.
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They keep on seeing but they do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and shut their eyes.
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As they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and return and be healed. Yeah. I don't know if you noticed while we were reading that, you have a woe in verse 5, a low in verse 7, and a go in verse 9.
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And that's God's order, folks. There's a woe. You must see your sin.
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Verse 9, verse 7, Lo, behold, this has touched your lips.
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In verse 9, there's a go. He's commissioned.
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He's cleansed. His lips is cleansed. Well, what's the point,
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Pastor? Why are you saying all that? Making a point, the Pharisees mistook the words of Jesus in 822 back to John 8.
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Probably in a deliberate putting down. Look at verse 22.
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So the Jews said, well, he'd kill himself because he says, where I go, you cannot come.
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And Jesus then continues in verse 23. This is a humanly unabridgable chasm between the holy
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God and heaven and all of us who are born in sin on this earth. Verse 23, he said to them, you are from beneath.
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I am from above. You are of this world and I am not of this world. What's he saying?
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Basically, he is saying that you are unclean.
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I'm clean. You're filthy. I'm pure. You are of this world.
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I am not of this world. You are from beneath.
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I am from above. He says, I am from heaven. This is what he's saying. You are of this world.
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You are sinful. I am not of this world. He basically says, in essence,
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I am going to heaven. You're going to hell. That's strong language, folks.
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Isaiah 64, 6. We are like unclean. Let me read the scripture exactly how it is.
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But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness is filthy rags.
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And we all do fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
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Notice how many times the prophets and even Jesus speaks of metaphors. Brother Keith brings this up quite often.
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I really appreciate it. Metaphors speak much of the spiritual things in which
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God is aiming at. Think about fall time. We're in fall time, right? Here's something to contemplate.
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God speaks to us. He is so gracious and common grace even to sinners.
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The sun and the rain shines and the rain falls on the good and not good, the evil and the righteous, right?
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Common grace. There's four seasons. We're in this fall season.
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Did you ever think that this fall is a good reminder for all of us of during this season to observe the leaves of the trees that fall and fall?
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They fall from the trees. They fade. You notice they get brown and they crinkle away and they're gone.
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At one time that leaf was fresh and green. When does that come? Spring, right? New life comes.
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But there's only a season. And then the fall season comes and the leaves begin to fall and they fade.
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And the wind blows upon them and they go in the ground and we have to rake them up, right? A lot of work.
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But praise God, as we're working, we should be paying attention to these things. The freshness is gone.
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The greenness is gone. They fall. They fade from the tree to the ground.
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That's like our lives, folks. Brother Keith, you alluded to that day when we saw this big tree just cracking and coming down and we just couldn't believe our eyes as we were just speaking about that.
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And it's like God just blew upon it and cracked. That thing came down. Insurance company calls it even an act of God.
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And they're heathens. But think of this.
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Fall time is a picture of fall. We have fallen short of the glory of God.
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We have fallen into sin. The fading of our life is short. Psalm 90.
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It's been a shadow. It's like a vapor, the Bible says. We're here today, we go on the next.
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It's very short. So consider the eternal things. What does
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Isaiah say about this? Isaiah has something to say about it. The Word of God. Look at Isaiah 40. Just a few verses.
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This speaks volumes, doesn't it? 40. Look at verse 3.
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Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill brought low. What's he speaking about?
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The valleys will be exalted, be lifted up, and the mountains will be brought low. You know what he's saying?
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Jesus spoke about this. He that humbles himself shall be abased, and he that is abased shall be humbled.
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That's what he's talking about. If you're prideful, God will bring you down.
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If you humble yourself before God, God will exalt you in His due time. That's what this verse is saying.
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So he's saying in verse 3, the one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the
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Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill brought low.
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The crooked places will be made straight. The glory of the
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Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
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And then he says this, the boy said, cry out. He even gives a question. He said, what shall
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I cry? Here's the message. All flesh is grass, and all of its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
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The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it.
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Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our
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God stands forever. And I love this next part. Look at verse 9.
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Oh Zion, oh Zion, you who bring good tidings.
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It's almost as if he's speaking to the church. Church, you bring good tidings.
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Get up into the high mountains. Oh Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength.
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Lift it up and be not afraid, and say to the cities of Judah, Behold your
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God. Isn't it what the Bible's all about?
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God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost. Behold the
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Lord God shall come with a strong hand. He did this in Jesus. And his arm shall rule for him.
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Behold his reward is with him, and his work before him, and he will feed his flock like a shepherd.
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That's Christ, the Good Shepherd. And he will gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently, gently lead those who are with young.
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See how tender and gracious the Good Shepherd is, because the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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He loves the sheep, and you are loved with an everlasting love. Moving right along.
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So, oh, how wonderful. Back to John 8, verse 23.
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You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. What a contrast. One is earthly, one is sinful.
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He's contrasting two kingdoms. One is heavenly and holy.
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The other one is earthly and unholy. Any wonder why
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Jesus says, Pray, thy will be done, and earth as it is in heaven, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as it is in heaven.
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See, God's kingdom is in heaven. It's here on this earth in the hearts of men, but it's in heaven. That's where God's will is always done, right?
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It's never always done on earth, but we pray that it is going to be done on earth.
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And that's where we pray. The contrast is there. God's people dwell in a foreign land.
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Aren't you glad that we're just passing through? As the psalmist says, we're companions of those who fear
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God. We're pilgrim strangers in a foreign land, just a passing through.
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So to go to heaven, we first must recognize how sinful we are, how in our condition, and that is to compare ourselves with the holiness of God.
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We always will come short, won't we? Always. Rightly so.
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We're sinners, deserving of hell, deserving God's judgment, and justice.
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The next thing to go to heaven, we must believe in who Jesus is as revealed in Scripture.
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First, we must see who we are against God's holiness, but we must see who
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Jesus is. And Jesus speaks about this with John the
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Baptist. Let me say, I've already briefly mentioned this about the A, all of sin comes short of the glory of God.
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Can someone tell me about the B? Amen.
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Behold the Lamb of God. Just remember B. Behold, right? Behold means what?
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Look. So once you see your sinful condition, what are you to do?
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Behold God's Lamb. What did the Lamb do? He took your sin, my sin.
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He took that horrible sin. Where did He take it? To the point of death, all the way
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He humbled Himself to the death of the cross. Think about who
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God is and how high and lifted up we saw in Isaiah 6. And the Father sends the
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Son and He condescends all the way to this earth, which is His footstool.
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He humbles Himself even in the birth of a stable, a stinky stable, but that was not as low as He went.
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He went to the cross. He went to the cross. That's how much
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He loves you and me. He took it all the way to the cross.
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Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I want to read a few things what
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John said about Him. Verse 29, and next day John, talking about John the
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Baptist, saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, Behold the
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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then he said, This is He whom I said, after me comes a man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.
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I did not know Him, but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.
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John bore witness saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and He remained upon Him.
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I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me,
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Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the
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Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the
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Son of God. Behold the Lamb of God. God's Lamb.
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When we come to the Lord's table, it's not God's Lamb. We remember who suffered and died in our place.
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God's Lamb. In Matthew 16 -15, Jesus says to His disciples, personally, after He asked them,
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Who do men say that I am? And they gave a list. Some said Jeremiah, some Elijah, some of the prophets.
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And then He says, But who do you say that I am? You. Peter said,
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Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Who do you say
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Jesus is? There's no more important question in the entire world than this.
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What did the Pharisees say He is? Verse 25, Then they said to Him, Who are
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You? Who are You? They didn't know who
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He was. Jesus said to them, Just as I've been saying to you from the beginning.
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Jesus said, I told you who I am. I'm the light of the world. I'm the bread of life.
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He says, I am the first. I am the last. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrection and life.
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I am He who is dead, but now I'm alive. He said, I am. Before Abraham was
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I am. We'll be seeing that later on. And He says,
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I have many things to say to you, to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true, and I speak to the world these things which
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I have heard from Him. They did not understand that He spoke to them of the
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Father. They did not. It was not even on their radar. That's what sin does, folks.
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It blinds us. Well, here's some closing application.
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Believe in Jesus as the eternal Son of God sent to earth by the
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Father. We must believe that. Look at 8 .14.
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We've already been there, but look at verse 14. Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I'm going, but you do not know where I come from and where I'm going.
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They did not know. Jesus had clear understanding of it. Notice Jesus repeatedly emphasizes this great truth concerning Himself.
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Look at verse 16. And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true,
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I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. Look at verse 18.
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I am the one who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.
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Look at verse 26. I have many things to say to judge concerning you, but He who sent
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Me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from Him, from the
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Father. Verse 29. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left
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Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him. He constantly tells them, I am from the
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Father. I proceed from the Father. I always please the Father. Oh, that we would see this.
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Then He came to earth because He was sent by the Father. He says in verse 24, unless you believe that I am
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He, in the original, it's the He. He basically says, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.
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Look at verse 28. Jesus said to them, when you lift up the Son of Man, oh, the language there, lift
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Him up. When you lift Me up, lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am
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He, and that I do nothing of Myself, but as My Father taught
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Me, I speak these things. Notice the word lifted up, lifted up. Lift up.
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Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man, identifying with man as representative, substitute for sinners.
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The Lamb of God, born to die, to take the place of sinners. We must believe that who
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He is, who He claimed to be, believe that Jesus lived a sinless life, totally, completely depending on the
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Father. 829, He says, always do those things that please Him. Totally spotless
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Lamb of God, completely depending on the Father. Verse 46, if you look at verse 46, notice what
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He says, which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell you the truth, why do you not believe
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Me? Believe that Jesus was lifted up on the cross to die as the substitute for your sins.
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You must believe that, folks. I must believe that. If we don't believe that, we will die on our sins.
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And when I say believe, it's more than just intellectual belief. It's talking about a belief that goes to the point of loving and obeying
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Him, trusting Him, leaning upon Him, and knowing who He is.
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And it's life -changing. Jesus Christ was the crucified
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Son of Man and Son of God. John 12,
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John chapter 12, look at verse 32 and 33. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
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I will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying what death
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He would die. And the people answered, we have heard from the law that Christ remains forever.
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And how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Jesus said to them, a little while, a longer, the light is with you.
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Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. And he who walks in darkness does not know where he's going.
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While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.
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These things Jesus spoke and departed and was hidden from them. Lifted up was
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He to die. Then He's going to be exalted. But in a sense here, the verb actually means to exalt.
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What's going on? Well, basically the Apostle John is intending some irony here.
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The irony is Jesus will be put on the cross as a public spectacle was the most degrading, humiliating thing that you could possibly have to happen to anyone in that time period to be crucified on a cross.
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Christ and Him crucified. Isn't that the message? Isn't that why we come?
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To hear from heaven, to know who Jesus is and what He did for us. Oh, the cross of Calvary above all else reveals
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Jesus' glory. And the night before Jesus was crucified, He prayed in John 17,
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One Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. The cross reveals the holiness and the justice of Almighty Holy God.
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And but, who cannot allow any sinners to be unpunished?
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But, it also reveals God's abundant love and mercy.
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And that through death of His one and only Son, He can save sinners, clothe them with the pure, spotless righteousness of Jesus Christ.
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Isn't that glorious? That's what He did. Our Holy God.
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Thus to go to heaven, we must believe that Jesus is the Eternal Son, sent to earth by the
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Father, that He lived a sinless life in total dependence on the Father, and He was lifted up on the cross to die as our substitute for our sins.
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And last, we must believe that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven.
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That's the gospel. That's what we're all about, church, is to tell people this great gospel.
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Paul goes into detail in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 -17, the whole entire chapter. He begins with the gospel that Christ died first for our sins, according to the
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Scriptures. According to the Scriptures. So in conclusion, if you don't want to die in your sins and face the awful judgment of Almighty God, to put it positively, if you want to go to heaven, you must be born again of the
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Spirit of God and repent of your sins. You must recognize your true condition before a holy
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God as a sinner. You must believe in Jesus Christ as the very Son of God, the
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Son of Man, who He claims to be, and He is as He is revealed in Scripture.
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So Jesus always said, repent and believe the gospel. That's the message. And that's what we're to tell this dying world.
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One more thing. Let me close with this. Hebrews chapter 2 actually is an application to what we're talking about in John 8.
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In this section. Listen to this. Therefore we must give more earnest heed to the things we have heard.
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We've heard this today. Let us give earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
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Lest we drift away, for if the word spoken through angels proves steadfast, every transgression and disobedience received a just reward.
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And then He says this. How shall we escape if we neglect a great salvation which at first began to be spoken by the
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Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him? And God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders and various miracles and the gifts of the
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Holy Spirit according to His own will. If you go on, the whole chapter speaks about that the
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Son was made lower than the angels. And then it would be bringing many sons to glory.
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That Jesus Christ is our divine substitute. And therefore in verse 17, therefore in all things
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He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest to the things pertaining to God to make a propitiation for the sins of the people.
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For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted He is able to aid those who are tempted.
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What's it saying? In the first section of this in which I said that we must give more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
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If disobedience to the older covenant of the law, Mount Sinai, brought swift judgment, how much more severe will the judgment of disobedience to the new covenant of grace be to the covenant gospel salvation which was mediated by the
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Son of God who is superior to the angels. Folks, it's bad enough the sin against law, but the sin against grace is far worse.
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So the greater privilege is the greater the punishment. The more light that we hear, the more if we sin against, the greater the punishment it will be.
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When Jesus died and lifted us so that we may be saved, let us go on and look unto
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Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and let's take heed to the things we have heard today.
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For He is now speaking, as He says in Hebrews 1, God at various times and various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, but has in these last days spoken to us by His Son whom
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He has appointed, heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.
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Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your word.
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Very, very hard words. Lord, we thank You for Calvary this morning.
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We thank You for the cross. And Father, I want to say this prayer of the
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Puritans before this congregation this morning, Lord, because I know we all feel this deep in our hearts.
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Because love lusters at Calvary. That's where we turn our heart affections towards.
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Lord, my Father, enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips, supply words that proclaim love's lusters at Calvary.
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Their grace removes my burdens and heaps them on Thy Son, made a transgressor, a curse, and a sin for me.
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There the sword of Thy justice smote the man Thy fellow. There Thy infinite attributes were magnified and infinite atonement made.
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There infinite punishment was due and infinite punishment was endured. There Christ was all anguish and that I might be all joy.
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Cast off that I might be brought in. Trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend.
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Surrendered to hell's worst that I might attain heaven's best. Stripped that I might be clothed.
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Wounded that I might be healed. A thirst that I might drink. Tormented that I might be comforted.
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Made ashamed that I might inherit glory. Entered darkness that I might have eternal light.
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My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes. Grown that I might have endless song.
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Endured all pain that I might have unfading health. Born a thorny crown that I might have a glory died in.
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Bowed His head that I might uplift mine. Experienced reproach that I might receive welcome.
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Closed His eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness. Inspired that I might live forever.
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O Father, O Father, who spared not Thy only Son that Thou mightest spare me.
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Hallelujah. Hallelujah. All this transfer, Thy love designed and accomplished.
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Help me to adore Thee by lips and life. Oh, that my every breath might be ecstatic praise.
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My every step buoyant with delight as I see my enemies crushed,
01:10:02
Satan baffled, defeated and destroyed. Sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood and hell's gates closed and heaven's portal open.
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Go forth, O God, O conquering God and show me the cross.
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Mighty subdued, comfort and save. And we thank
01:10:27
You for this in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, I pray, amen and amen.