Systematic Theology (part 33)

Bethlehem Bible Church

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Sometimes in the morning after breakfast, we sing a hymn. This last week, we sang this, and I'll just read you the fourth verse of it, because it pertains to where we are at the moment.

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O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me, that He may touch my eyes and make me see.

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Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word, and in Thy Book revealed,

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I see the Lord. So let's pray this morning that the

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Lord reveals Himself to us through the book. Let's pray. Thank You, Father, for Your Word.

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Thank You that in the book we see the Lord. Sailing ships of old were borne along by the wind, and Peter says the prophets who wrote the

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Word were in the same way borne along by Your Spirit. We pray that You'd bear us along this morning as You illumine the

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Word to us as we consider the matter of maturing and growing in Christ. We pray that You would speak to our hearts and to our spirits and to our souls.

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We pray, Lord, that You would reveal Yourself to us. We pray in Jesus' name.

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Amen. Well, let's just review a little bit from last week and not take the whole time to review the whole week.

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All right. What we're considering here for the next few sessions is the matter of so -called progressive sanctification.

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The idea of maturing in Christ, growing in Christ, becoming more Christ -like, experiencing in our experience the predestined conformity to His image that Paul talks about in Romans chapter 8.

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So when we see that word sanctification in the Scriptures, we see two things. There's the sanctification of position.

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When you and I come to Christ, when we are justified, when our sin is forgiven, when

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His righteousness is imputed to our account and our sin is imputed to His account, we are at that point immediately sanctified.

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We are set apart. And as stunning as this may seem to some of us, we are made holy.

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Same word. Okay? On the other hand, there is the whole process of what do

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I do in the 70 years or so that I have here now that I have come to Christ.

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And I told you last week I'm really bringing this because we are considering this in our

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Sunday night Bible study over in Hardwick. We have some folks that have just come to Christ.

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And the question is, now that I've come to Christ, now what? See, the

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Lord could have saved us and just zapped us out of here. Okay? I trust Christ. You're gone.

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But it hasn't worked that way. And there are several reasons that it doesn't work that way.

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And so here we are. And so here's the working title or the working definition that I gave you last week.

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Progressive Sanctification. And don't let that throw you off. Okay? That's not just a seminary term.

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Okay? Maturity in Christ. Growing in Christ. Conformity to Christ.

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All of that. All of that is a lifetime of learning and adjusting to what

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God says I am. All right? And what we're trying to do here at the beginning of this is to get ourselves positioned correctly to even begin to think about this properly.

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And so that working definition fits well. Now those slides on that first page of the handout that you have.

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I looked at the first two, I think, last week as we were closing. And I am, after all, practicing the bailout school of homiletics.

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When the clock says it's time to bail out, I'm bailing out. And so that's how it'll be.

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Pradeep has some handouts. If you don't have one, you can get them.

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$5 .95 on the Sunday following Black Friday.

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All right? All right. I simply tried to diagram a situation.

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Let me say this. There are times in the Scripture, many times in the Scripture, when the terms soul and spirit are used interchangeably.

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But there are many times in the Scripture when the terms soul and spirit are used and they are distinguished from each other.

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And so these slides, these pictures of slides that I have here, are an attempt to follow that thread which seems to distinguish soul and spirit.

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Well, I'm not going to get into that. Okay. In any case, there is a discernible thread between the

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Spirit of God, the breath of God, the Spirit of man.

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There is a discernible, distinguishable thread through the whole Bible. It's not an accident that in both the

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Old Testament and the New Testament that the word which is translated spirit, meaning

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Holy Spirit, spirit meaning Spirit of man, wind, breath, all of those words are the same word.

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In the Greek New Testament, it is the word pneuma. It refers to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of man, the wind, the breath, and so on.

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And there is a discernible thread in the Scriptures between the breath of God or the

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Spirit of God and the Spirit of man. It begins right in the very beginning.

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God created Adam. He breathed into him the breath of life. And Adam became a living soul.

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Some people say that's no big deal. Don't get too excited about it. I think it's a big deal because it's not used of any other part of creation, not the animals.

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And so Adam becomes God conscious. We human beings are uniquely

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God conscious, and I think it begins right there. God breathed into Adam the breath of life.

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And then it's not for nothing that the words that are translated spirit, breath, and all of that are the same.

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The words, the word, are the same word. And the context governs.

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Okay? So Adam became spiritually conscious. And in the beginning, Adam had a spirit -to -spirit connection with God.

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After all, God is spirit. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth, says

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John. Adam had that spirit -to -spirit direct connection with God. If we distinguish between his soul and his spirit, and that can be done in several passages, in fact, commentators commentating about this say no matter where you are in the idea of what makes up a man, no matter where you are, when the

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Bible talks about the spirit of man, it is talking about man knowing

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God. It's the faculty of knowing. Now, understand, there's a difference between knowing and figuring it out.

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A lot of things in the Bible, a lot of things about God we cannot figure out. That would be with our minds.

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It's not a question of our willing to know God. We know that. You did not will to be saved, although you accepted the salvation after the

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Holy Spirit drew you to Christ. It was not simply a matter of your will to be saved.

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All right? And so the difference between knowing and figuring it out and willing to do it and being excited that it's done and so on, most commentators say that when you talk about God consciousness, the times that the

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Bible does use the term spirit referring to man, it is about his

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God consciousness. Even though the term soul and spirit are used in many places interchangeably also.

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Well, when Adam sinned, that spirit -to -spirit connection with God was broken. You see that in the second slide down.

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They go down, okay, not across. And then Jesus comes on the scene.

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Jesus is termed the second Adam. Jesus came fully equipped. He did not have a dead spirit.

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He had that spirit -to -spirit connection with his father, with God. That's why he says things like,

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I always do what I see my father do. I always do what my father says to do. I always say what my father says to say.

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The Lord Jesus was getting all of his input sort of from the top down, okay?

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His spirit was alive. The spirit of everybody born after Adam is dead, separated from God.

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It doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It means it's dead. It's separated from God. The God consciousness is gone.

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And I might say if you run around with a dead spirit, and people outside of Christ do run around with dead spirits, then all of the impulses that lead your inner man, your mind, your will, and your emotions, all of those impulses are fundamentally governed by the appetites of your body.

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And if you don't think that's true, look around our culture and ask yourself why it is that every kind of perversion on the scene is now acceptable.

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It is because unregenerates do not get their information through a live spirit.

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They get their information from the appetites of their body, and there is no spiritual input to speak of.

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And there are some nice unregenerates. Don't misunderstand. There are some nice guys that are unregenerate.

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But they are unregenerate, okay? Now, up in the top right, that diagram, you see the man before Christ.

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He has a dead spirit. He's separated from God. But, when he comes to Christ, when he trusts

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Christ, when the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him, and his sin is imputed to Christ, in other words, he is justified, he is then said to be in Christ.

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And so in the diagram, I've moved him over, so that now you have a living spirit.

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That's what Paul says to the Romans, doesn't he? Your body is dead because of sin, but your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

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Suddenly, I have a living spirit. Why? Because I am in Christ. Jesus talked about this.

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He talked about I in you, you in me. All right?

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So Christ in you. Paul blurts out, Christ in you, the hope of glory. So we are in Christ, and Christ is in us.

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In the person of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ that was in him, the

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Scriptures talk about. In the person of the Holy Spirit, Christ is in us.

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Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit? Paul says to the Corinthians, the squirreliest church in the

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New Testament, deacons meeting after every service, because of what was going on in Corinth.

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Okay? Do you not, you Corinthians, you squirrely Corinthians, do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the

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Holy Spirit? And Christ is in you. He says further, we have the mind of Christ.

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So you get it? We are in Christ. Christ is in us. That is our position of sanctification.

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Now, if we are going to grow in Christ, if we are going to grow in Christ, then we have to start from that point on.

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Next page. There are two ends to this progressive sanctification.

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All right? And back in the 80s and into the 90s, I would say the end of the 70s, yes,

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I was alive during that time. Some of you had yet to be born, but I was alive during that time.

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Okay? During that time, a very popular thing was, well, if Christ is in me, and if I am going to be sanctified, and if I am going to be

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Christ -like, then I do nothing. God does everything. It is what

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I call the flake out before the Father program. I am not involved.

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If the Holy Spirit wants to catch me and sanctify me and turn me into the image of Christ, then the

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Holy Spirit can catch me and do that. I have nothing to do with that. Or, at the other end of the spectrum is the

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Avis plan. Only those of you that are somewhere approximately near my age will understand that phrase.

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Long ago in a land far away, okay, the Avis Rent -A -Car

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Company had a whole series of ads going, and the punchline always was, we try harder.

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We try harder. A lot of frustrated Christians running around the landscape on the

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Avis plan. We read in the New Testament the characteristics of what it looks like to be

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Christ -like. We read in the New Testament the characteristics of those who will not inherit the kingdom of God is one way that that's characterized.

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And when we see those lists, most often we see ourselves in the latter list, not the former.

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Okay? We see ourselves in all of those lists of things that ought not to be.

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And it's hard to see ourselves in the lists of what ought to be. The fruit of the

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Spirit that lives in us is what? Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, and all of those things, ending in self -control.

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We read that on a morning in the Scriptures, and we just wilt. And then we say,

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But today, today I am going to be loving.

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All right? And even if those little weasels that ride on the school bus

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I drive are totally out of control, I am going to love them.

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This is going to look Christ -like on that bus today. I am determined that it's going to look

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Christ -like on that bus today. Third kid that gets on the bus, it's the end of the program. Okay?

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And so the question is, what do we do that is effective? Self -determination, which is the usual thing.

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Why is that? The Flake Out Before the Father program has kind of, I think, sort of gone by the boards.

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But why the Avis plan? I'll tell you why the Avis plan. Because we are worksy people.

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We are worksy people. We think that it is imperative that if anything is going to happen, whether it's this or anything else, it is imperative that we be the people that do it.

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You suck it up and get it done. And if Christ -likeness is one of those things, you suck it up and be

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Christ -like. And that's our nature. And that comes from before Christ.

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I observed, I think, last week that there are only two religions in the world. One of them goes by a thousand names, but it's a religion of works.

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I work. I do whatever muggus is prescribed in order for me to be accepted, accepted by whatever, whomever, even myself, even the self -esteem movement, which has given us an interesting generation.

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The self -esteem movement is, I do some things to become acceptable to myself, for I am

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God. That's the root of that deal. And what things do we do to make sure that our self -esteem has arisen?

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I sit in a corner, contemplate my navel, tell myself, I'm okay, you're okay, everybody's okay, and all of that.

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And guess what? But we know deep down, it's not okay. And so it's a matter of great frustration, and it is a matter of ineffectiveness when we attempt to be spiritual by our works, either to be saved, and that includes to grow in salvation.

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The Scriptures talk about this. I've listed some Scripture here. This is certainly not exhaustive, but there's some.

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So let's go to Galatians. Oh, foolish

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Galatians. Who has bewitched you? Somebody had bewitched the Galatians.

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Now let's get the picture here of the Galatians. The Galatians are fundamentally

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Gentiles. I'm sure there were some Jews mixed in there, because when Peter went there, he was having a great time with the

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Gentiles, eating ham sandwiches and lobster and all of that kind of stuff, okay?

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And then when a committee of Jews came up from Jerusalem to Galatia into Gentile land and all of that, then

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Peter separated himself from those Gentiles, and that was enough of the lobster and enough of the ham sandwiches and all of that, and he just ate the stuff that was ceremonially clean.

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And Paul says, I withstood him to his face when he did that. So these Galatians are Gentiles. They're like us, okay?

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And so Paul writes to them, You are foolish, Galatians. Somebody has bewitched you.

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Who had bewitched them? Well, it was in part the committee that came up from Jerusalem to see what was going on.

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You understand, at the beginning, this whole thing in the mind of many people, even people who had come to Christ, the whole business of salvation was a

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Jewish operation. So when Philip goes to Samaria and evangelizes and some

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Samaritan dogs accept Christ, got to send a committee to see if that's really possible, that a

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Samaritan could accept Christ. You understand the problem with the Samaritans, right? They were the half -breeds that were the result of the

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Assyrian captivity many, many years before what happens in the

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New Testament, and they were hated by the Jews. I mean, you know, he said, well, that's very racist.

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That sends me racing for my safe space. And I think, give me some Play -Doh and crayons. I don't think we can...

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Give me a blanket so I can curl up in a fetal position. Well, that's how it was, okay?

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The Jews hated the Samaritans. Why? Because it was pure racism.

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Jesus got that, didn't he? It tells a story about a guy who got beat up and thrown by the side of the road.

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A Levite walks by, one of the guys that helps in the temple. A priest walks by, whoa, crosses the street, goes around the guy, and then a

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Samaritan comes along and cares for the guy and pays his bill. Let me tell you what, that story, well, we said, well, that's the story of the good

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Samaritan, kids, and it's a great story in Sunday school and all that. But look, that story was a, here's a finger in your eye,

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Jews, to whom that story was told. Gentiles were no better.

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Cornelius receives Christ, right? Got to send a committee to see that a

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Gentile, Gentiles who might be worse than Samaritans in the minds of many, that Gentile, now we're getting closer to home because that's us,

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Gentiles. I could be wrong, but I doubt that there are many Jews sitting in this room this morning.

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So these Galatians were more like us than like others in there.

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And yet Paul writes to them, somebody has bewitched you. And who bewitched them was this, were these people, so -called

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Judaizers, people that came up and said, okay, this is great. We have decided and it's okay, you know, 15th chapter of Acts and all of that.

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Okay, the great council of Jerusalem, yeah, let's accept the Gentiles. Okay, you guys are saved and it's great.

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And here comes the appeal to works. But you want to be really spiritual?

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Want to be really spiritual? Then you men need to be circumcised. You need to keep the ceremonial food laws.

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See Peter over there? He's not eating ham sandwiches and lobster and scallops and all that stuff anymore.

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Okay, see Peter's moved over to the really spiritual side. Okay, you need to keep the ceremonial holidays, maybe the feast days of the

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Old Testament. That's great that you've come to Christ, but if you want to be really spiritual, you do these things.

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Maybe you join the worldwide church of God that Herbert Armstrong used to do because we keep all of those

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Old Testament feast days. Man, that is really spiritual stuff. Paul says to that, oh, foolish

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Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who had bewitched them was those that appealed to them to be spiritual by works.

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And that is the appeal that comes right out of my insides to me when I am chagrined that I am not the spiritual man that I had expected to be.

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I, as you probably have observed, although I sometimes have to say in Dunkin' Donuts, do

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I get the old guy discount? Because they can't tell, all right? You probably have observed that I'm just over 30.

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I thought that by the time I reached this stage of the game, that I would be this mellow, gentle, spiritual old man.

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When the hammer hit the wrong nail, I would say, oh, bless the Lord. But it hasn't worked out that way entirely.

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I think there is some progress, but it hasn't worked out that way.

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And when I am chagrined about the level of spirituality that I exhibit, there is an impulse in me, and my guess is it's the same impulse that's in you, to say,

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I've got to grit my teeth now and try harder. I've got to do better. I've got to be in the

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Word more. I'm going to memorize the Word. And so on. All right?

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It's because we are worksy people. And so anybody that comes along and says, you want to program?

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You go into a Bible bookstore today, and you can find shelves of books that are how -to books about how you grow in Christ, 13 steps, 37 steps, 10 steps, 3 steps for the mentally challenged like me, and all of that kind, just a few steps.

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And you do this, and you will fly spiritually. Those are appeals to works primarily, and they will be unsuccessful.

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Maybe you've been on the no Bible, no breakfast plan. That lasts until about Wednesday.

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Okay? So I get it. We all get it. There is an appeal to us, in us, to try to become

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Christlike by our own effort and by our own works. And so Paul says, you

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Galatians, somebody's bewitched you. And then he says, it was, or you might even say was it before your eyes, that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

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Yes, it was. Yes, it was. When the gospel was preached to these Galatians, the crucifixion of Jesus was portrayed to them,

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His burial, His resurrection, and the fact that they could have new life in Christ.

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Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit, Holy Spirit, by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

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Let's ask that question just for a moment. This will be a review for well -taught people, but I'm asking it big time on Sunday night.

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How did you begin in Christ? How did that happen? It happened by the

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Holy Spirit. Really, it happened by the whole Trinity. The Father draws people to Himself.

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When these Galatians were preached to, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

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Think about that. In America in 2016, you think that you and I can convince people of sin?

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In this culture? No. Only the Holy Spirit can convince of sin.

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If people are not convinced of sin, then they end up with boo -boos.

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Then they end up with little idiosyncrasies. Then they end up with, I'm not perfect, you know, but it's okay.

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All right? They end up with all that kind of thing. And it's not until we come to the place where they came when

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Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, and it says they were cut to the heart. Until men and women are cut to the heart about their sin, there cannot be any salvation.

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And who does that cutting to the heart? That cutting to the heart is done by the Holy Spirit of God as He convinces of sin.

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But not only that. See, you can't go to heaven if all you've got is forgiven sin. Not only that,

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He convinces of righteousness. There is a righteousness you must possess. And that righteousness is in Jesus Christ.

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You know, it's been said, and I think it's true, God is big in America. God is big in America.

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But Jesus is not. And the righteousness that fits men and women for heaven is found only in Christ.

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And that righteousness of Christ must be counted to us, imputed to us, and so on.

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So how did we begin? We began in the Spirit because the Spirit moved in on us. And you know what, folks?

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We need to be praying for our nation that the Holy Spirit sweeps over this nation, convincing people of sin, righteousness, and judgment, because anything else, including elections, is not going to save this nation.

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This nation cannot be saved. It cannot even think back to its roots, apart from a biblical worldview, and that comes only when men and women receive

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Christ as their Savior. And then, of course, to quote

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Daniel Amos, if you will not take the forgiveness of sin, if you will not take the righteousness that comes from Christ, then there is judgment.

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In Daniel Amos' words, your barbecue, all right? There is judgment that comes by the

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Holy Spirit. You walk up and down the streets of New England today and ask people if they think there really is judgment to come after they die.

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If they think there is really hell, they go, Oh, no, there's nothing like that. Surely a loving

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God would not send me. Okay? People cannot be convinced by our arguments that there is judgment to come after they die.

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Only the Holy Spirit can do that. And so the Holy Spirit has to move in on people.

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So what happened in Galatia? Those proclaiming the Gospel came and they lifted up Jesus to these

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Gentiles. What's happened in West Boylston? Those who preached the Gospel came and they lifted up Jesus.

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And what did Jesus say? And I, when I be lifted up, will what? Draw all men to Myself.

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That's why it's important. And that, incidentally, is why we have not been saved and zapped out of here. Because we are the ones that are going to lift up Jesus.

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And when Jesus is lifted up, He will draw people to Himself. But the Holy Spirit will at the same time be convincing of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

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And maybe before all of that has happened, the Father draws them to Himself. Yes? And so these

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Galatians, how did you begin? How did you receive the Spirit? How is it your bodies became the temple of the

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Holy Spirit? How is it that it's Christ in you, the hope of glory? Was that by the works of the law?

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Was it by stuff you did? No, it was not. It was by hearing with faith.

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Are you so foolish? There's foolish again. Having begun...

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Now here's the punchline for us. Having begun by the

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Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? That applies to every believer.

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Having begun by the Spirit. And if you have begun, you have begun by the Spirit. Now we're talking about maturity.

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We're talking about perfection. We're talking about growing in Christ. Will that be done by the flesh?

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Will that be done by what we can do? Will that be done by our determination? Will that be done by our sucking it up and being more spiritual?

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And the answer is no. Does He who supplies the

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Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law? I skipped to verse 5. Or by hearing with faith.

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Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, all of the righteousness that you and I need if we are in Christ this morning.

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All of the righteousness we need to please God, to be qualified for heaven, all of that that we need, we already have.

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We cannot get more than we already have. You know why? Because it's His righteousness.

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And we are in Him. So that's the place that we have to start to begin to think about growing in Christ and maturing in Him that is being progressively sanctified.

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Colossians chapter 2. Same deal in Colossae. Colossians were

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Gentiles just like us. All right? And so they...

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And their story is very interesting. Paul wrote to the Colossians. He had never met those people.

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Never would. He was in Rome in prison when he wrote to them. So he would never meet them. He knew some of them.

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One of them was a guy named Philemon. You ever heard of him? Oh yeah. One of them was a guy called

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Epaphras. Have you ever heard of him? Well, not unless you've read Colossians. You haven't heard of him. But what happened was,

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Paul went to Ephesus. He held forth there in the school of Tyrannus for between 2 and 3 years.

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And there he proclaimed the Gospel. And the testimony and acts is that while Paul was there in Ephesus, all of Asia heard the

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Gospel. You say, well, how did that happen? Well, that happened because guys like Epaphras who lived 100 miles from Ephesus came down the

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Lycus River Valley on business. A lot of business going on on those roads. He came down on business, heard

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Paul, trusted Christ, went back, back up the Lycus River Valley and there the churches at Colossae, Heropolis, and Laodicea.

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Laodicea. You've heard of that church, right? Churches at Colossae, Heropolis, and Laodicea were founded by Epaphras who gave them the

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Gospel, who lifted up Jesus before them. And the Holy Spirit moved into the headwaters of the

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Lycus River and convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And so these Colossians came to Christ.

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So, Paul writes to them. Never met them. Never would meet them. Therefore, as you receive

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Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. How did you receive

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Christ Jesus the Lord? You received Christ Jesus the Lord by responding to the Gospel with faith.

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Same for the Colossians. Same for the Galatians. Same for the West Boylstonites.

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What are you guys? West Boylstonites? See, I'm a Berryite. That's easy. Because we live in Berry.

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But the West Boylstonites. Same deal. As you receive

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Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. You received Him by the conviction of the

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Holy Spirit and by exercising faith in all that Christ has done. Verse 12.

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Having been buried with Him in baptism. You say, wait a minute. Was I buried with Christ in baptism? Yes, you were.

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Yes, you were. Let me just do a little parenthesis right here.

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The most profound statement that most of us will ever hear we already have sung as little kids.

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And it's this. Jesus loves me. This I know. For the

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Bible tells me so. Not because I feel good about it. Not because I have a lot of warm fuzzies.

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Not because... Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so.

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Having been buried with Him in baptism. I was buried with Him in baptism. This I know.

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For the Bible tells me so. You and I would never come to that by ourselves.

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We would honk off on some program of works to act like Christ.

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Paul says to the Colossians, you've been buried with Him in baptism. You know what else that means? Paul will say it to the

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Romans. We'll get to that down the road. Paul will say it to the Romans. Do you not know that as many of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death?

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When Jesus died, I died. You say, when Jesus died, I died? Yes. When Jesus died,

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I died. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. Alright?

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And by the way, where is it we are most likely to encounter the

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Holy Spirit? I understand. Our charismatic brethren believe that it's an ecstatic experience unlike any other.

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And it just overwhelms you with some kind of ecstatic experience of one of 28 different kinds.

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Alright? What does the Scripture say? Who inspired the written Word? Holy men of old were born along by the

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Holy Spirit as the wind... It's not an accident there that the words that are used when

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Peter says, born along by the Holy Spirit, as the wind bears a sailing ship along.

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Same word that is used to bear a sailing ship along with the wind. The Holy Spirit.

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The wind. Remember that? Pneuma. It's all pneuma over there in that verse. Okay? And the

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Scriptures are, Paul writes to Timothy, all Scripture is what? Breathed out.

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That's the literal term. All Scripture is breathed out. Breath.

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Holy Spirit. Man's spirit. Wind. Got it? So the

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Holy Spirit has produced the written Word of God. So where am I most likely to encounter the

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Holy Spirit? I am most likely to encounter the Holy Spirit in the

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Word. And that's why the closing phrase of that hymn I read to you at the beginning is particularly precious.

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Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word, and in Thy Book. Just in case you thought the word was a little nebulous.

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And in Thy Book revealed, I see the Lord. The old hymn writer had it exactly right.

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And we are most likely to encounter the Holy Spirit when we are in the Book. Meditating on the

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Book. Rehearsing the Book. All of that. Got to get done here. Won't ever get out of here by one.

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Alright. Having been buried with Him in baptism, and we were, in which you were also raised with Him, He was resurrected from the dead, and I was resurrected from the dead.

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Yes, indeed. This I know for the Bible tells me so. You were raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised

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Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

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God made alive. Those two diagrams come together. God made alive.

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Together with Him, having forgiven all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

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This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. Two weeks ago, I was listening to the radio and I heard Alistair Begg preaching and he said,

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Here you are going to stand before the Lord. And you are thinking as you stand before the Lord, and now they drag out the

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DVD that has my whole life on it. And so before they can get it going so everybody can see all of the stuff that none of us want anybody else to see, okay, before they can do that and get that thing going,

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I start blurting out, Hey, well, you know, I did this and that and the other thing and I didn't do what I should have done here and all of that.

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And Alistair Begg says, And Jesus will look at you and He will say, I don't understand one thing you are talking about.

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I don't know anything about anything that you are talking about. Why? Because His righteousness has been imputed to us and we are in Him and all of that has been set aside and the charges against us including the

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DVD, He set aside, nailing it to the cross. Verse 20,

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If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, what is the elemental?

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That's Numa again there, only this time it's a different context. To the elemental spirits of the world, what are the elemental spirits of the world?

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Well, here's one expression of an elemental spirit of the world. You don't get something for nothing.

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Yes, you do. We are all sitting here this morning and we got a lot for nothing. We got a lot that was paid for by Jesus and we did nothing but take it and we did nothing and could do nothing to have it.

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What are the elemental spirits of the world? Stop with the ham sandwiches. Stop with the lobster. Stop with the scallops.

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Stop with all that stuff. What you need to eat over here is nothing but cow and goat and sheep and all of that kind of thing.

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Okay, that's an elemental spirit of the world. The spirit that moves us to try to be spiritual and to satisfy

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God by our works. So Paul writes to these Colossians, if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world.

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I have died to the elemental spirits of the world. This I know, for the

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Bible tells me so. Okay? Why? As if you were still alive in the world.

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As if you were still alive in the world. Do you submit to its regulations?

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Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch. Referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings.

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Verse 23, These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self -made religion and asceticism.

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You know what asceticism is? I said that at the Bible study. I don't know. No, we don't know what asceticism is.

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Okay, here's what asceticism is. Asceticism is punishing yourself, usually your body.

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We're going to have a chance. Some of you will have a chance to be real ascetics in a few months, probably.

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Okay? You throw off all your clothes and you go out and roll in the snow. And man, you really get spiritual when you do that.

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All right? That's asceticism. If you know anything about the Middle Ages, you know that a lot of this business about the monks being in monasteries and can't talk for 38 years and don't listen for 40, and all of that stuff, that is all the asceticism.

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The hard stuff. I do hard stuff. I grit my teeth to be spiritual.

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Okay? But no Bible, no breakfast program can be a form of asceticism.

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I'm not saying it is. Okay? Necessarily. But it can be, hey listen man,

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I'm up at 4 .30 now reading my Bible. What do all you people think about that? I'm moving right up front here where Pastor Mike can see me when he preaches.

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The rest of you guys that miss three times a week, well, you know, you're believers. We're all going to heaven.

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But you're going to be way back. Way back in the crowd when that happens.

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But me, I'm going to be right up there. Paul says that kind of asceticism, that kind of self -effort, severity to the body is of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

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Can't get plainer than that, can it? Here's the bottom line, and with this we close.

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Self -determined effort will not produce sanctified living.

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Okay? Now next week we'll talk about, okay, so then what do we do?

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I take you back to Hebrews 10 .14 as I close. That stunning verse that says

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He is perfected forever. Those who are being made holy.

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The kind of precious thing about that little verse is the voice of the perfect, the present participle at the end.

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It is in the passive voice. Maybe middle, depends on the manuscript,

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I guess. And what it says is this, and what it's saying. Those who are being made holy. Not because they are acting, but because they are being acted upon.

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And they are cooperating with being acted upon to be made holy.

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All right? That's what we're going to talk about next week. Okay, so what do I do? It's not flake out before the

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Father, but there's something to do. So what is it? Father, we thank

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You for Your Word. We pray always that You would remind us that we see the Lord in the book, and we pray that You would make us wise to the end that we are conformed to Him.