The Gospel of Luke (51) Controversy with the Pharisees (2) 01/07/2024

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Runaway slave who became a Christian under Paul's ministry please Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus in Timothy our brother to Philemon our

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Beloved friend and fellow laborer to the beloved apathia in Archippus our fellow soldier

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To the church in your house grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ I thank my

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God making mention of you always in my prayers Hearing of your love and faith, which you have told the

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Lord Jesus in to all the Saints that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the

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Acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus But we have great joy in consolation in your love because the hearts of the

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Saints have been refreshed by you brother Therefore though I might be very bold in Christ who command you what is fitting yet for love's sake

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I Rather appeal to you being such such a one as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ I Appeal to you for my son onesimus whom

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I have begotten while in my chains Who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me

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I'm sending him back to you you therefore receive him That is my own as it is my own heart whom

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I wish to keep with me That on your behalf he might become a minister to me in my chains for the gospel

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But without your consent I wanted to do nothing that your good deed might not be by compulsion

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But as it were voluntary for behalf she departed for a while for this purpose

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That you might receive him forever no longer as a slave, but more than a slave a beloved brother

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Especially to me, but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the

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Lord If then you count me as a partner receive him as you would receive me

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But if he has wronged you or owes anything put it on my account I Paul in writing with my own hands

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I will repay not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides yet brother

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Let me have joy from you in the Lord refresh my heart in the Lord Having confidence in your obedience

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I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say But meanwhile also prepare a guest room for me.

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I Trust that through your prayers. I shall be granted to you Epaphras my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus Greets you as does mark our

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Arcus Demas Luke my fellow laborers the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you in your spirit.

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Amen Lord we come before you this morning, and I am grateful and thankful for the snow

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Because you are faithful and true and your word says Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though They are red like crimson.

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They shall become like wool. We thank you Lord for the forgiveness of sin and For the righteousness of your son

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Jesus Christ I pray that you open the eyes of your people to see the truths that are going to be refilled by our pastor

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May you enable us in heart in mind and give us eyes to see the gospel of your son

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Jesus Christ his birth life death burial resurrection and throw man on high as King and In his name do we pray?

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Amen? Now we did

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We do have some notes available And if any of you haven't received them yet,

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Mary has them I assume They're in the back. All right in the North X Well here we are snow day, of course and It's good to see you.

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I Think there's what three five. There's about a dozen of us. Maybe maybe more maybe about 15 with us

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Thankfully we have this of course YouTube video Internet access and so many of our people are at home

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That have tuned in with the scripture reading that Leo just gave and now the message

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And we're very happy that we have this medium. I just might say this though.

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Don't get used to it It's much better to have you here than not here

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All right. Well today we are Addressing we continue to address this rather large section in Luke's gospel

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Luke chapter 11 In which we read of our

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Lord's controversy with the Pharisees and so we'll look at Luke 11 and Be focusing on actually two verses

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But in this larger section Luke 11 14 through 54 we read of this controversy Set before us in four stages.

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We identified these last Lord's Day Well, we'll mention them again as we're working through this

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The controversy involved the first controversy involved the authority of Jesus The second portion of this passage the second section or division

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Contains two verses verses 27 and 28 and we intend to address these this morning

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And Here Jesus asserts before the crowds the importance of hearing and obeying the

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Word of God that he taught them and So these two verses do not directly refer to the

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Pharisees again. It's within this larger passage of controversy with the Pharisees But perhaps these verses are subtly directed to the

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Pharisees by Jesus The third section of this passage contains verses 29 through 36 in which

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Jesus Responded to a request that he produced an authenticating sign in order to bring legitimacy of him before the crowds will address this next week

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Lord willing and then lastly in section 4 verses 37 through 54

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Jesus criticized the Pharisees for their legalism and Their focus on external things rather than obeying the

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Word of God and So again today, we're addressing the second division of this of this rather large section of Luke's gospel

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Before us we read of our Lord reacting and responding to a well -intentioned woman Who sought to praise him by expressing praise of his mother who had given?

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Him birth and had nursed him as an infant and Jesus responded to her by emphasizing the supreme importance and God's great blessing upon those who hear the

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Word of God and who order their lives Accordingly to hear the word and obey the

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Word of God And so let's consider this short, but weighty word in these two brief

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Verses Jesus pressed upon the crowd the importance of hearing and obeying the Word of God that he taught them so we read in verse 27 28 and It happened as he spoke these things that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said

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To him blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you but he said

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More than that blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it we might say that this was the progenitor of Mary worshipers

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She was the first one who wanted to venerate Mary and the Lord corrected her for having done

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So there's something far more important than giving credit to Mary we will first address the details of this account, then we'll consider several implications and Applications of our

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Lord's words and so let's consider the details first here while Jesus was teaching before before the crowds a woman spoke up praising

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Jesus by Speaking of the blessedness of his mother who had given him birth and nursed him as an infant

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Now the first portion of verse 27 links this event with what Jesus had just been teaching the crowds

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Because Luke records and it happened as he spoke these things And so it would seem like it's an almost an interruption on her part

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Jesus was speaking or teaching and then she spoke these few words and so these words

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According to Luke connect Jesus responding to the woman with what he was teaching respecting his

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Opposers and so there you have the continuity of this subject this conflict with the

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Pharisees And so it was while Jesus was correcting and refuting that his detractors that the woman spoke up the very well respected

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Lutheran commentator Richard Lenski gave the connection of this woman's words with what

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Jesus was declaring to his detractors Jesus had called the Pharisees and the scribes to him and had publicly answered the slander.

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They were uttering behind his back This courage as well as the masterfulness and the stunning effect of the answer which

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Jesus gave So impressed the people that stood about that a woman carried away with her admiration exclaimed aloud and pronounced the mother of Jesus blessed

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With holy envy she desired to have been in the place of Jesus's mother and having such a wonderful son

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Many a woman has shared her wish Lenski may have been reading into it a little bit, but it certainly is a historic reality of what he was suggesting

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And so it was certainly true that many a woman has shared her wish that is many Jewish women of the

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Old Testament even before the formation of Israel In the earliest chapters of Genesis God had first promised

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Eve of course in Genesis 3 15 That her seed her seed her descendant

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Would arise to destroy and dethrone the devil that he would bruise the head of the devil speaks about demoting dethroning the devil

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Destroying his authority and so it speaks about really the ascendancy of a descendant of Eve above the devil

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It's commonly understood that when Eva gave birth to Seth who was regarded as a replacement for her slain son

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Abel that she had faith that through her seed the Redeemer of the world would one day Be born and women down through history had hoped to be that blessed woman

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Becoming the mother of the child the Savior King who would redeem his people and deliver them from the dominion of the evil one

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And this woman praised Mary the mother of Jesus Luke perhaps saw this woman blessing the mother

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Jesus to be a fulfillment of Mary's own words record Recorded in the

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Magnificat of Mary that we read back in the early infancy narrative of Luke back in Luke 1 48

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When Mary was visiting her cousin Elizabeth she sang a song which contained these words my soul magnifies the

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Lord That's where the Latin term Magnificat is Magnificat is derived and my spirit is rejoiced in God my

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Savior For he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant for henceforth all generations

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Will call me blessed and that is a truism and here this woman is calling

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Mary blessed and Maybe Luke and recording this and see if this is a realization or fulfillment of what

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Mary projected back in Luke chapter 1 And before this even when

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Mary sang these words When the angel Gabriel had first come to Mary to tell her that she would mother the coming

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Savior the angel addressed Mary as blessed We read in Luke 1 now in the sixth month the angel

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Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth To a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was

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Joseph the house of the house of David. The Virgin's name was Mary and Having come in the angel said to her rejoice highly favored one.

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The Lord is with you blessed. Are you among women? And here in Luke 11 27 this woman calls the mother of Jesus blessed

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Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast which nursed you Luke 11 27

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Now it should be pointed out that our Lord did not directly upbraid this woman for her comments regarding his mother

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Matthew Henry addressed Her in this manner the applause which an affectionate honest well -meaning woman gave to our

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Lord Jesus upon hearing his excellent discourses while the scribes and Pharisees despised and blasphemed them this good woman and Probably she was a person of some quality

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Admired them that is the words of Jesus and the wisdom and power with which he spoke as he spoke these things verse 27 with a convincing force and evidence a certain woman of the company was so pleased to hear how he had confounded the

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Pharisees and Conquered them and put them to shame and cleared himself from their vile insinuations that she could not forbear crying out

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Blessed is the womb that bore thee What an admirable what an excellent man is this surely never was there a greater or better born of a woman

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Happy the woman that has him for her son I should have thought myself very happy to have been the mother of one that speaks as never man spoke

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That is so much of the grace of heaven in him and is so great a blessing to this earth of course

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Matthew Henry Expounding and expanding on what he perceived this woman was feeling and expressing

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He went on to say this was well said as it expressed her high esteem of Christ and that for the sake of his doctrine

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And it was not a miss that it reflected honor upon the Virgin Mary. That was not a mistake

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For it agreed with with what she herself had said and he alludes back to Luke 148 all

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Generations shall call me blessed some even of this generation bad as it was

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Well in our Lord responding to this woman's words Jesus was Indirectly upbraiding those who had been accusing him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub the devil

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Jesus had said to her more than that Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it obey it

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It was as though Jesus and responding to the woman was saying unto them rather than charging me with power employed by the devil you should be obeying what you're learning through my teaching and Take note that our

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Lord was equating his teaching with the Word of God That's very clear What Jesus was teaching was the

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Word of God and these detractors should have been listening intently and obeying

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Putting to practice what he taught them as one wrote For Luke the

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Word of God is the teaching of Jesus so that the saying forms a suitable conclusion to the preceding discourse

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Jesus's critics should receive and obey his sayings instead of attacking his mighty works

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And so this is how this woman's words can fit within the context of controversy with the

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Pharisees However It must be acknowledged that this woman rather than giving glory directly to God for what

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Jesus had been doing Desired to give credit to his mother Give a fallen man half a chance and he'll deflect glory from God to another

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But our Lord did not directly rebuke her for her words rather he set forth before her and the others present that faith in what he was teaching and Obedience to what he was teaching

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Manifests far greater the blessing of God than even his mother had incurred in giving him

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Physical birth and nursing him as an infant Jesus placed her words in a proper context by not elevating her words of praise of his mother to the highest of human blessings

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Jesus rather pronounced the blessedness of those who both hear and obey the words of God The words that he was teaching the people

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Calvin wrote on this blessed is the womb By this eulogium the woman intended to magnify the excellence of Christ Again, her desires were pure For she did had no reference to Mary whom perhaps she had never seen and yet it tends in a high degree to illustrate the glory

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Of Christ that she pronounces the womb that bore him to be noble and blessed Nor was the blessing inappropriate

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But in strict accordance with the manner of Scripture for we know that offspring particularly when a dude with distinguished

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Distinguished virtues is declared to be a remarkable gift of God preferable to all others

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It cannot even be denied that God conferred the highest honor on Mary by choosing and appointing her to be the mother of his son and yet Christ's reply is so far from us

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Ascending to this female voice, but it contains an indirect reproof Yes, rather more blessed is someone who hears the

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Word of God and does it Nay, rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God we see that Christ treats almost as a matter of indifference that point on which the woman had set a high value and Undoubtedly what she's supposed to be

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Marius Mary's highest honor was far inferior to the other favors Which she Mary had received for it was a vastly greater importance to be regenerated by the

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Spirit of God Than to conceive Christ according to the flesh in her womb

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To have Christ living spiritually within her than to suckle him with their breasts And it were the highest happiness and glory of the

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Holy Virgin Consisted in her being a member of his son so that the Heavenly Father Reckoned her in the number of new creatures.

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That was her true Blessedness that she was received salvation through this son

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Not that she bore the son as wonderful as that was and then

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John Gill the Baptist preacher who pastored Spurgeon's Church a hundred years before Spurgeon Wrote regarding our

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Lord's response to this woman the Persic version. That is the version the Pashida the

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Persian version or translation as Correcting her though not denying it nor reproving her for it, but improving upon it

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Yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it Intimating that though his mother was happy and bearing and suckling such a son yet It was a far greater happiness to hear the

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Word of God Meaning either himself the eternal law gosh So as to embrace him believe on him have informed in the heart or the gospel preached by him

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So as to understand it receive it as engrafted word Bring forth fruit and act in obedience to it observe it abide by it and never relinquish it

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This is a greater happiness than to be related to Christ in the flesh though ever so nearly and then the

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Ethiopic Translation or version reads that hear the Word of God and believe and keep it

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For faith comes by hearing and shows itself in doing Barely to hear the word and even given assent to it will be a little avail

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Unless what is heard and believed is put in practice And so Gil is emphasizing the importance of obedience

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Not just hearing it And so here and Luke's unfolding of his gospel.

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He addresses and stresses the importance of both hearing And what he means by that is carefully listening and understanding

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The words of Jesus, but then secondly Obeying his word

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Now you may recall in the early days of our study of the gospel of Luke We set forth an unfolding emphasis of Luke's gospel.

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We stood back and attempted to show his emphasis in The first chapters of our

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Lord's ministry mainly from Luke 3 and and following Our Lord's ministry

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Luke set forth the great authority of Jesus as a son of man and this continued through several chapters

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Luke relayed how Jesus had authority over demonic forces over nature

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Over disease and as the Son of Man that is as the Messiah. He even had authority to forgive sins

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And so Luke established the authority of Jesus But after having established the authority of Jesus then secondly

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Luke recorded episodes that gave emphasis on hearing Jesus's teaching Since Jesus has authority it follows that people have a responsibility to hear him that is to understand and believe and to embrace what he says and You might recall the voice of the

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Father on the Mount of the Transfiguration He gave this word of command to Peter James and John There we read a voice came out of the cloud.

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This is God the Father say this is my beloved Son And what was the word of instruction hear him?

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But having established the responsibility of people to hear him because of the authority that the Father had given him

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Luke then began to emphasize thirdly his hearers are to obey him we

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Read of Jesus commanding the wind and waves and Luke 8 and the response of the miracle of Jesus were these words

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They were afraid and marveled say to one another who can this be for he commands even the winds and water and they obey him

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So that's the third Emphasis that Luke begins to display in his narrative

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And we can see that clearly in these two verses before us here Luke 11 27 and 28

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They give obedience they give emphasis to obedience to the words of God even the teaching of Jesus Christ And so before us we read of our

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Lord Emphasizing it's not enough simply to hear and believe the Word of God The blessing of God comes only upon those who obey the

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Word of God that they hear And so let's consider

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Next aside from the details of the two verses the essential nature of obedience regarding our salvation

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This is an important message in our evangelical world that needs to be declared all the time

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God has given us instruction in his Word on how we may discern in ourselves and others true and false conversion

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Even Though in external matters, it's easy for one who has never been truly converted or born again to appear as a converted person externally

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Especially when among true converted persons the Holy Scripture set forth in sharp relief the false from the true the manner in which we may distinguish between true and false conversion is

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Not merely in one's knowledge of who Jesus Christ is and what he did on behalf of his people. It's more than hearing and believing

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People can believe all the right things and still be unconverted Rather the manner in which we may distinguish true and false conversion is an identifying the presence of a true inward work of grace in the soul and That inward grace is shown forth in that person's obedience

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And So it's a biblical truism that a true work of saving grace in the soul

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Will be evident in outward Evident in outward conformity that is obedience to the

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Word of God as John wrote in 1st John 3 7 and verse 10

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Little children let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous

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Just as he God is righteous This is declaring that the one who practices righteousness.

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In other words, he's being sanctified in his life He's obeying the Word of God he is the one who is righteous in other words justified before God a sinner is not justified before God through faith alone unless they show forth obedience to Jesus unless they order their life in righteousness and Then a few verses later

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John is very clear in this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest You can tell not infallibly

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But every time we make a decision about somebody joining this church elders make this assessment

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How do you tell the difference between a child of God and a child of the devil well John says in this way their manifest whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God Nor is he who does not love his brother?

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now by emphasizing the biblical teaching that obedience to Jesus Christ according to the Word of God is essential and necessary for salvation

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We're certainly not saying that sinners are justified through their works But that's the common accusation leveled against us

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That is a person is not pardoned and declared righteous by God by their works.

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That's the heresy of legalism We're not justified before God except through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone

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But the way of salvation in which the justified believer orders in life is a life of obedience to the

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Word of God We're not saved by our works or because of our works

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But we will not be saved apart from that is without good works of obedience that characterize our lives

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Again Jesus said to this woman into the crowds Blessed are those who hear the

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Word of God and keep it and that word blessed is conferring This person is right with God.

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This person is salvation who hears the Word of God and obeys it

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Charles Spurgeon long ago and I've quoted this probably a dozen times over the years Wrote in his book the soul winner there must also be a willingness to obey the

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Lord in all his commandments This is in his first chapter of the soul winner entitled.

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What is it to win a soul? It is a shameful thing for a man to profess discipleship and yet refuse to learn his

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Lord's will upon certain points or even Dare to decline obedience when that will is known

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How can a man be a disciple of Christ when he openly lives in disobedience to him rhetorical question implying he can't be

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You're not a Christian if you live in open disobedience to King Jesus If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares, he knows his

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Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it You're not to pamper his presumption, but it's your duty to assure him that he is not saved

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As not the Lord said he that take him not up his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple

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Now mistakes as to what the Lord's will may be and are to be tenderly corrected

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But anything like willful disobedience is fatal to tolerate it would be treason to him that sent us

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Jesus must be received as King as well as priest and where there is any hesitancy about this

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The foundation of godliness is not yet late and we would reason in evangelicalism that the foundation of godliness is not laid down in a lot of places frankly and Then he gave this little quotation of a hymn his grandmother

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Challenged him when he was a little boy to memorize hymns and she paid him money and it got to the point

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He memorized so many hymns. She had to back off. It was costing her so much money And so throughout his preaching he'd always throw out these

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You know these stances of hymns that he had memorized as a boy Faith must obey her makers will as well as trust his grace a pardon

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God is jealous jealous still for his own holiness What does the

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Word of God say about the necessity of obedience to the Word of God with respect to our salvation?

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Well, we might say a few things about this First we may view our obedience to God's Word as a distinguishing evidence of true saving grace in the soul

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First John 2 3 these words are these words now by this we know that we know God if we keep his commandments

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Obedience, it's one of the tests of assurance of salvation How do you know you know him truly if you're ordering your life according to his commandments

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Obedience to God's Word to God's commandments to God's law is a sign of true saving grace

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But of course this matter needs to be understood rightly Obedience to God's commandments is the evidence or the effect of knowing

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God not the cause of it You don't know God because you keep his commandments

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It can be said there are three different ways that one can obey the commandments of God first. There is complete and perfect obedience

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Which only Jesus Christ and the saints who are now in heaven can do You can't

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I can't Second there is imperfect obedience, but it's nevertheless sincere obedience unto

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God This is the obedience of the true child of God The obedience that John described in the verse above and then third there is an external obedience

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Perhaps with some inward emotional effects But this obedience is is of that one who has not truly been converted to Christ.

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The Pharisees had this kind of obedience It's partial obedience or external obedience only

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This is obedience. It's only seen when others or seen by others. So only when a person feels like That's what he wants to do

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He's not driven principally by a desire to please God He does not obey

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God's commandments because God is the one who directed him But because for some reason he is momentarily and partially decided he wanted to conform his life to one or some of God's commandments

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He might be a moral person unconverted but moral Due to the general common grace of God, but the obedience of a true child of God is born out of love for God The scriptures describe

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Christians obedience as faith working by love A life characterized by obedience to God's law is expressed in his commandments is a sure indication

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That a person is in a state of saving grace This is true because only the grace of God can lead and enable a sinner to keep the law of God Paul wrote in Romans 8 the carnal mind that is the unconverted man.

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The carnal mind is enmity against God. There's hatred. There's warfare, they're

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They're hostile toward one another It's not subject to the law of God a non -christian cannot is not subject

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To the law of God nor indeed can be it's not possible This implies the spiritual mind that which is controlled and empowered by the

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Holy Spirit is subject to the law of God In fact, it cannot be otherwise They were led by the

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Spirit of God They are the children of God and in that context being led by the Spirit of God. It's ordering your life according to the law of God However, secondly, we should understand that our obedience is true

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Christians is an evangelical Obedience and not legal obedience now

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This is a distinction that a lot of people don't understand but it is critically important There are books written about this by the

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Puritans First of all, what is legal obedience? This is born out of thinking that one's works are meritorious

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Roman Catholics are taught this Or it is present when obedience is rendered only out of fear punishment

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That's your motivation. I Better do what's right. Otherwise, I'm going to hell in contrast to legal obedience

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Christians are to be characterized by evangelical obedience now, by the way true

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Christians Can for a long period of time be under that false understanding of legal obedience and they need to be taught and corrected

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But that's the wrong way of thinking But what is evangelical obedience?

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Evangelical obedience first is when we Christians strive to order our lives according to God's Commandments But when we fail in our obedience and we often do fail

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For there is no one who does not sin God pardons us for our disobedience Through the covenant of grace.

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He's given us in Christ And so God regards our sincere obedience to his law

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Our righteousness consists more of his forgiveness of us than our obedience to him

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But the general tenor is one of obedience that's Who disciples are?

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of Jesus Christ And then secondly evangelical obedience involves our striving to be obedient to be an act of faith in our

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Savior to enable us By his spirit to do the things that he commands us to do in his

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Word Lord you put it in my heart to do the things you command me

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But I realize I don't have the ability to do so you you gotta give me your Holy Spirit Lord or I'm a goner

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Unless you empower me to do this. I can't do it the obedience of the true

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Christian consists in a In internal and spiritual compliance not merely outward and external conformity to God's law

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Now don't misunderstand our obedience is external, but it's also internal We obey

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God from the heart Albeit imperfectly always imperfectly, but it's from the heart

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The obedience of the true Christian includes conformity to the first four commandments of the Ten Commandments Which represents our duty to God and our obedience also however is to the last six commandments

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Which address our duty to our fellow man? The obedience to God's laws must be an inward matter not just an outward conformity for unconverted people can themselves

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So order their lives in outward conformity to the commandments of God and that's what our Lord Said in his

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Sermon on the Mount when he rebuked the Pharisees They only manifested outward conformity to God's law

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So our Lord said to his disciples. Do you not think that I came to destroy the law and the prophets? I did not come to destroy but to fulfill

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For surely I say to you till heaven and earth pass away One jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled

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The law can no longer condemn the Christian but the law still directs the Christian it's the will of God Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so Should be called least in the kingdom of heaven

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But whoever does and teaches them he should be called great in the kingdom of heaven For I say to you and he's given the ethics of the kingdom to his disciples

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I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees scribes and Pharisees You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

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You will not have salvation unless your righteousness exceeds theirs How can

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I righteousness exceed the scribes and Pharisees? Easy frankly because there's was only external

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What Jesus is saying it has to be from the heart Not just external So our

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Lord was not saying here that his people were in need of an imputed Righteousness through faith alone a lot of people in will speak about justification here

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But he's not talking about our standing before God. He's talking about our sanctification

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Unless your righteousness exceeds if it can't just be external an external conformity it has to be from the heart and this is stated elsewhere quite frequently and forthrightly and So here that in the

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Sermon on the Mount Jesus was speaking of the need for his disciples to have an internal and practical Righteousness that is wrought in us by the power of the

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Holy Spirit And so we see from our Lord's words this truth that external moral obedience under the law of God though It'd be much relied upon by men

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Yet it is no sure evidence for heaven That's what Paul thought wasn't it before he was converted?

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Anthony Burgess Revealed the problem with only external conformity to God's law That there in this moral obedience to all the commandments of God is defective

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Is that it is a body without a soul? He's talked about pharisaical religion a

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Shell without a kernel a picture without life. There's nothing but an outward shape of righteousness as for a principle of regeneration

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And a new life within that is wholly absent Now this was the fundamental miscarriage of the

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Pharisees as Appears by Nicodemus. They were wholly ignorant of original corruption They believed not all was carnal and defiled within them and thereupon saw no necessity of being born again

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Of having a new nature infused into us and so become new creatures And this is the rock upon which thousands split their immortal soul still

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They please themselves thus I live honestly I Do justly to everyone

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I frequent the church. I receive the ordinance of God Baptism Lord supper what further thing is to be done?

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I thank God that no man can accuse me or nor does my conscience accuse me That was

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Paul before conversion But in the meanwhile are miserable seduced men and are at the very time in the state of gall and wormwood

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Paul though he walked with a good conscience and concerning the righteousness of the law

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Unblameable yet when God enlightened his soul what a heavy doom did he pass upon himself and called all that done

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Which he judged gold wants Therefore herein is the danger of mere moral obedience

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That it is all a glorious house without any foundation a fair apple with a rotten core a comely beautiful face with in posthumed vitals

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Or vials in other words death spiritual death Third way in which the true and false convert may be distinguished is that we may view our obedience in opposition to and abstaining from sin

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To be the evidence of true saving grace in the soul Again, we read verse 10 earlier, but verse 9 coupled with that in 1st

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John 3 whoever has been born of God does not sin And that's a present tense verb is talking about habitually sin.

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You can't do it You go out and live as a liar. You can't do it

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You know now every one of us lie in some way where there's a little hypocrisy in all of us But you're not a hypocrite.

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You can't be or you're not a Christian Whoever is born of God does not sin for his seed remains in him

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God see God's life. He cannot sin And again, he's talking about practicing sin

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You cannot be a perpetual adulterer and be a true Christian I Had a man and friend a dear friend in Sacramento, California Who was in our church for a number of years?

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And I didn't know it That he frequented prostitutes Regularly and One day he was very happy and very proud for he had gone 30 days

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Without going to a prostitute and he thought that was something to be commendable Mercy, you know and in many ways he seemed to be a stellar

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Christian he wasn't Again whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is he who does not love his brother

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Now this is not a description of a perfect man But of a righteous man who desires not to sin for he has come to see sin as God sees sin

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And so in his new heart or nature, he wants none of it When it declares that he cannot sin it's speaking of the tenor the habit of his life

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The true Christian cannot practice in he can't live in sin sin alarms him sin disappoints him sin

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Discourages him and his sin grieves him deeply when he does sin and he does so often

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Before we were Christians we used to fight against God in order to sin now we fight against sin in order to serve

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God completely changed Because of this antipathy against sin this may be a sign that a true work of saving grace has been wrought by God in the soul

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More specifically we can consider these points of Anthony Burgess again Under this heading first, this is a sign when we perceive a settled fixed frame of heart against sin

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The Christian is born of God God has given him a new nature and that thereafter governs the man's desires and aspirations

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It shapes what he thereafter loves and what he hates Second this is a sign when there is a universal repugnancy in every part of a man against sin

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Not only in his reason and conscience but in his will affections and the whole man

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Paul described himself as one who delighted in the law of God in the inward man. That's Paul the

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Christian who says that So does every true convert to Christ? He rejoices in what

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God has declared is true and good and right He has a version to everything opposite that which is false errant and wrong and Third, this is a sign and that his fear and hatred of sinning renders it no longer possible for For to to give himself over to it now

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Please don't misunderstand that any Christian is capable of falling into the most grievous of sin but the true

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Christian can't continue in it the Lord chastens those whom he loves and Brings him to repentance and recovery and restoration or he takes him home

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For this is a sign and that thereby a Godly man in some measure and by some degrees does not only leave outward grow sins

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But even conquer and crucify the inward body of sin Galatians 5 He hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lust thereof.

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That's the Christian And he has said to crucify the body of sin the deeds of the flesh in other words

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The converted man cares about what his heart and mind give themselves a love and serve he turns away in his very soul from those things that God has taught him to hate and Fifth this is a sign when a man's opposition to sin and the leaving of it is because of the foul nature of sin

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The converted man has come to see it assess it as God does Not as he had formerly done as one in his sin

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So, how do we fare? As God wrought saving grace in our soul

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Yeah, we truly been converted do we have new life in Jesus Christ the kind of life that we have described

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If not, it's imperative to acknowledge our condition and begin to seek God for true conversion that only

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God can bring the sinner to experience So may we pray to God as those who are to cry out to God Turned thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the

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Lord my God wrote the Prophet Jeremiah Trust the Lord Jesus as prophet priest and king to do a true thorough work of grace in our souls

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Don't allow yourself to be deluded by others Do not allow yourself to deceive you

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And may God be merciful and gracious to each of us even to all of us in these very essential and eternal matters

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Because sin creeps in can overtake us if we're not in the word hearing and obey

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Hey look out Now we cannot pass by verses

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Luke 11 27 and 28 Without a comment about the heretical teaching regarding Mary of the

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Roman Catholic Church We would be negligent of our duty if we failed to do so And so let's just consider this briefly as we bring matters to an end

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Our Roman Catholic friends are told by Rome that Mary is to be venerated that's the word they use

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She's to be prayed to she's to be served. She's to be obeyed They come short of say that she should be worshipped, but that she should be venerated

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Which is in effect the same thing they distinguish that but they're the same thing They say that when she passed from earth to heaven, she was given a glorious entrance and crowned

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Queen of Heaven Mary sits on her regal throne in heaven according to Roman Catholic teaching or doctrine

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Now we've already affirmed clearly the Scriptures Describe Mary is blessed

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She's described as such in Luke 1 28 She was blessed for she was chosen to be the mother of our

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Lord But we would contend she was blessed of God because she was chosen Not that she was chosen because she was blessed and that's the

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Protestant Roman Catholic distinction But regardless of her blessed condition the

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Lord declares here in Luke 11 27 28 in Comparison a person who hears the

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Word of God and does it is far more blessed than Mary It is

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Mary as her his birth mother The woman said blessed is your mother

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But Jesus said correcting her rather blessed is the one who hears and obeys the Word of God And so here you have this woman in Luke 11 the first one who would try and venerate

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Mary To elevate the mother of Jesus above all others corrected By Jesus if not subtly rebuked by our

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Lord for doing so indirectly The true Christian that is the disciple of Jesus Christ who hears and obeys the

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Word of God is more blessed than Mary the mother of Jesus She's a disciple of Jesus.

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Of course the last mention of Mary in the New Testament is Acts chapter 1 Gathered there praying waiting for Pentecost But consider the

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Roman Catholic as well a Greek Greek Orthodox teaching regarding Mary We would argue biblically that the veneration of Mary promoted by Rome is idolatrous heresy

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They claim that they but venerate Mary but not worship her which is to be rendered to God alone

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But their words do not agree with their official teachings or practices And over the centuries

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Rome's doctrines of Mary have undergone great change and development They are promoted as essential doctrines to be believed and practiced by the

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Roman Catholic Church They are unbiblical. They are heretical teachings And there are some doctrines of Mary that are promoted with great earnestness and assertiveness.

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These include the title of Mary mother of God second the Immaculate Conception Third the perpetual virginity of Mary and fourth the assumption of Mary.

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Let's just address it briefly Mary the mother of God first occasion that this description

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Was ascribed to Mary was in the Council of Ephesus in AD 431

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Never found before then It's never declared in the Bible, of course

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This conference dealt biblically with a heresy regarding the person of Christ, which was called

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Nestorianism This was a false teaching of a man named Nestorius who had gathered quite a following He taught

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Jesus Christ was actually two separate persons in one physical body The divine and human natures of Christ were disconnected from one another even while each nature inhabited the one body

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And so at this Council the official concluding statement asserted that Mary was truly the mother of God and As a result of this wording the heresy of our

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Arianism regained a footing which denied the deity of Christ This was later corrected at the

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Council of Chalcedon some say Chalcedon in AD should be 451 when it declared that Mary was

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Theotokos that's the Greek word and you can see that perhaps the Greek word for Theos God Takos God bearer and That council declared that Mary was the mother only of the human nature of Jesus that the title mother of God or And and this title

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Theotokos has nothing to do with Mary being the mother of the divine nature of Jesus God can't be born.

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He's eternal But the elevation of Mary had had an impact upon people and Christian began to venerate her because of this title and It was a clear departure from the teaching of Scripture that although Mary gave birth to Jesus is truly

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God and truly man Only as human nature was derived from his mother Mary and so Theotokos As a title of Mary was not found in the later statements of the

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Council of Nicaea or constant Constantinople this expression is also not to be found in the articles of the

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Church of England the 39 articles or the Westminster Confession or of course our 1689

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Baptist Confession so that's the title mother of God that Catholics use and then secondly the immaculate conception of Mary I Have found many

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Roman Catholics over the years who thought this was talking about the virgin birth of Jesus No, this is a teaching that Mary was sinless.

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That is she was born without original sin The earliest this teaching is found in history dates to about AD 1000

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It was assumed that in order for Mary to give birth to the sinless Jesus she herself must have been born apart from the guilt or effects of original sin.

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That's characteristic of all humanity This doctrine was not officially declared by Rome as Roman Catholic dogma or doctrine until 1854 and Then the perpetual virginity of Mary Rome teaches

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Mary was always a virgin before and after the birth of Jesus Even after the birth of Jesus she remained a virgin throughout the remainder of her earthly existence

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This was devised in the 7th century AD not before Of course the scriptures speak of Mary and Joseph having children after the birth of Jesus Rome said no

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No, those were cousins or maybe children from Joseph's previous marriage, which the Bible nowhere speaks about We read in Matthew then

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Joseph being aroused from sleep did as the angel of the Lord commanded him took to him his wife did not know her till until she had brought forth her firstborn son and Then of course, they had normal husband and wife relationship after the birth of Jesus And then the fourth major doctrine is the assumption of Mary the

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Roman Catholic dogma claims that when Mary died both her physical body and her soul ascended into heaven

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When she was crowned Queen of Heaven This doctrine was not firmly entrenched until 1950 think about that when

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Pope Pius the 12th defined the doctrine of Mary's bodily assumption into heaven And in the past I've told stories about the cathedrals in Europe That are

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Painted beautiful, you know floral and heavenly scenes and across the ceiling

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Commonly, I saw it many times you have a throne seated in heaven Mary sitting on the throne Jesus is standing next to her with a crown ready to place it on her head

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Crowning his mother as Queen of Heaven That has more to do with Babylonian paganism

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Egypt paganism than it does scripture These are heresies

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And then Roman Catholic teaching regarding Mary's role in bringing salvation Rome teaches that Mary is intrinsically related to bringing salvation to the people of God There are many who claim

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Mary is the co -redemptrix with Jesus This is taken from a

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Catholic website Another element of Roman Catholic Mariology is the belief that at the conception of Jesus Mary entered into a spiritual union with him

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Pope John Paul the second discussed Mary's place in the plan of salvation in the encyclical

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Redemptoris Mater Emphasizing the special presence of the mother of God in the mystery of Christ in his church

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For this is a fundamental dimension emerging from Mariology of the Council Mariology is the official doctrine of the

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Roman Catholic Church regarding Mary Pope Benedict the 16th stated that Christology and Mariology are inseparably interwoven

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Within Catholicism there is a drive to define a new Marian dogma in which

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Catholics as a matter of faith would be Obliged to accept these three doctrines first Mary participates in redemption with Jesus Christ Second grace is granted by Jesus only through intercession of Mary you can't have salvation unless Mary prays for you and Third all for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant

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And from now on all generations will call me blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me.

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Holy is his name and Then when you consider the feast day official

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Roman Catholic feast days, I listed them for We're not going to rehearse those but these are feast and festival days on the annual calendar

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Observed by Roman Catholics throughout the world the solemnity of Mary mother of God the nativity of the

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Blessed Virgin Mary known at Mary Moss instead of Christmas Mary Moss Solemnity of the

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Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Then festivals for all these supposed appearances down through history of the

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Virgin Mary Fatima Mount Carmel Lady Guadalupe, and there are many

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More Marian commemorations celebrated in various localities not included in this general

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Roman calendar and then lastly Catholic Rosary of Mary Rome promotes praying the rosary a

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Roman Catholic website defined describes the use of the rosary The word rosary comes from Latin means a garland of roses the rose being one of the flowers used to symbolize the

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Virgin Mary If you were to ask what object is most emblematic of Catholics people would probably say the rosary, of course

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This is the heart of what it is to be a Catholic. They're saying After Vatican to the rosary fell into relative disuse.

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This is from a Catholic website They're lamenting this The same is true for Marian devotions as a whole

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But in recent years the rosary has made a comeback and not just among Catholics many Protestants now say the rosary

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Was horrified when I read that Recognizing it's a truly biblical form of prayer

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After all the prayers that compose it come mainly from the Bible The rosary is a devotion in honor of the

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Virgin Mary. It consists of a set of number of specific prayers And then here the word rosary means crown of roses

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Our lady has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail Mary They're giving her a beautiful rose and that each complete rosary makes her a crown of roses

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And the rose is the queen of flowers. So the rosary is the rose of all devotions is therefore the most important one

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The Holy Rosary is considered a perfect prayer because when it within it it lies the awesome story of our salvation

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So with the rosary in fact we meditate The mysteries of joy sorrow glory light of Jesus and Mary it's a simple prayer

01:00:00

Humble so much like Mary It's a prayer we can all say together

01:00:05

With her the mother of God with the Hail Mary. We invite her to pray for us

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Our lady always grants our request She joins her prayer to ours and Therefore it becomes even more useful because what

01:00:21

Mary as she always received Jesus can never say no to whatever his mother asks for in every apparition every time she appeared to people

01:00:33

And every in every apparition the heavenly mother has invited us to say the rosary is a powerful weapon against evil to bring us to true peace

01:00:41

With your prayer made together with your heavenly mother. You can obtain the great gift of bringing about a change of hearts and conversion

01:00:49

Each day through prayer you can drive away from yourselves and from your homeland many dangers and many evils and then

01:00:56

I Listed the instructions for praying the rosary as you hold each bead whether small or large

01:01:02

You're supposed to recite these prayers and a number of them are praying directly to Mary So pray the rosary underscores many of the heretical teachings of Rome regarding Mary they ascribe divine attributes to Mary That's idolatry

01:01:20

When she is but a human being They claim she is omniscient and that she can hear and knows it in all prayers offered to her in heaven

01:01:28

From every Catholic all over the world. She's omniscient. She knows it all They teach she's omnipotent for she has the ability and authority to grant every prayer that's offered to her

01:01:39

We saw that in their statement above Rome claims she has authority over Jesus for she is his mother and he can never refuse what she asks of him on behalf of those who pray to her

01:01:52

And so Mary ology of the Roman Catholic Church is the epitome of heresy There's nothing taught and believed of Mary that's to be found in the

01:02:00

Holy Scriptures that approach these these matters It is adding to the

01:02:05

Word of God and thus incurs the wrath of God Belief in these matters and practice of devotion prayer to Mary is great sin

01:02:13

And it must be repented of by anyone who desires to know and please God It has been said we may safely affirm that none would be more forward to reprove the honor paid by the

01:02:24

Roman Church To the Virgin Mary than the Virgin Mary herself. She'd be horrified

01:02:30

Is probably horrified if she's aware of what's going on in her name In conclusion

01:02:38

Jesus declared when this woman said to him blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast which you nourish you

01:02:43

But he said more than that blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it You are more blessed of God for hearing and obeying the

01:02:51

Word of God than if you were Mary herself True children of God are more blessed and closer to Jesus Christ than his own mother respecting his human birth

01:03:03

And I just might say this in conclusion if you happen to be watching in your Roman Catholic and you're a disciple of Jesus Christ the first Thing that you ought to do immediately is forsake that false religion that is idolatrous and heretical and Believe on Jesus Christ alone and follow his word alone and not what this

01:03:28

This so -called church teaches you amen Let's pray Thank you father for your word and we thank you our

01:03:36

God for the clarity in which we see so many things taught in your word And Lord, I know that there are many of us in this church family who have loved ones

01:03:46

Many of our own church family were raised in Roman Catholicism and you were wonderfully gracious and merciful and revealing truth the truth of Jesus Christ and bringing them out of that false teaching that false church and Brought them to salvation in Christ We pray

01:04:04

Lord for family and friends that are Roman Catholic in this Roman Catholic region of New England That you would do a great work and and call many people to true salvation in Jesus Christ alone

01:04:16

Our God we had firm Mary The mother Jesus was greatly blessed your word declares that we would never deny it

01:04:25

But on on the other hand our God we we recoil under the the false elevation of her and veneration of her as One to be worshipped her as an intercessor between ourselves and you

01:04:40

Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man Which you have affirmed in Scripture and we thank you father for that So help us our

01:04:49

God to take these matters to heart Help us to be faithful in our witness kind of course

01:04:54

But clear directed our witness to friends and family who are caught up in this false religion