Jeff Durbin | The Sovereign Grace of God

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So we had a what I want to do is is stand on the foundations and provide that To continue from what we talked about last night and make a little bit of an adjustment

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Tonight in tonight's message dealing with the sovereign grace of God and tomorrow really unpacking the gospel getting

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Into the Word of God and seeing the Apostle Paul defend the gospel and systematically explain it but before as I said last night we get to that to have real

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Understanding of grace and the assurance that we have in our salvation. We have to have a firm foundation

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We can't build a house without a foundation. It will collapse when the winds blow you cannot

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You mentioned I was a Ninja Turtle. It's true. Yes. I was a Ninja Turtle and my turtle was a nunchucks and the bo staff so Michelangelo and Donatello and The way that I got to that place to be able to do things like that like Mortal Kombat I did

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Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat the live tour Ninja Turtles was I had By the grace of God in the providence of God I ran into at a tournament one of the greatest coaches in the world and I begged him and pleaded with him for about two weeks to teach me and He's world -renowned

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He's truly to this day one of the best coaches in the world has put more people into the world champion status

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Than really any coach coach. I know and at a very young age he did he took me on because I begged him and I harassed him and called him and He'll tell you to this day when he tells the story of taking me on that he accepted me as a student

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Because he wanted to he says destroy me so I would leave him alone That's what he says to this day

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And what he did I was already a black belt and a competitor when I went to him But what he did when he got me is he recognized that he says there was somebody who had a lot of zeal very strong a lot of passion he said but was really sloppy and So what he did was is for the first couple of months that I trained with him is he went back to the basics

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He went to the very foundation with me And he drilled me and put me through so much torture and so much pain with just the basics

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The sorts of things you learn when you are a white belt Literally, and it was the kind of thing where it was like an hour of front stances an hour of front kicks

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And you're thinking as you're doing this. I know this stuff like I understand this I can I could teach somebody else how to do this very basic stuff

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He used to put 30 pound weight vest on me. I was a very skinny scrawny kid

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You can see I've changed a lot now I'm supposed to be a joke Very skinny very scrawny not very strong he put a 30 pound weight vest on me, and he put these he built a contraption where he put this belt around my waist and He had these elastic bands that went from the belt to my wrists and from the belt to my ankles

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And it was hard to even stand up and keep your legs straight or get your arms out So 30 pound weight vest vest and this elastic band thingy and I was required to do all the foundations all the basics with that on and As fast and as strong as I'm required to do it without it on and I can tell you the truth

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I'm glad there were no cameras there. I was a mess I mean there were times where I was bawling my eyes out, and he did not care

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I'd fall on the ground crying He grabbed me my in my belt and swing me around the dojo and get me back on my feet again truly

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He did and it was all drilling the basics into me and initially I couldn't really understand is he is he just trying to torture me and he says yes,

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I was But not really because actually I went from never being able to win in a division that I wanted to win

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So after two weeks of being with him two weeks I went to a national championship the US Open one of the biggest tournaments in the nation and I won first place in the nation

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And it was because he focused on those foundations So I understood where everything else came from from that point.

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I understood from that point Oh now I see how this is all applied everywhere else because they had those foundations strong and Right and in every area of life.

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We can see that whatever your skill whatever your trade you have those foundations solid so that everything else comes from there and in Scripture It is vitally important for us to get the foundation of when we're thinking about what does

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God say about how a person is saved? from their sins Just how does a sinner have peace with God?

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How are we reconciled to God when we're asking that question? We have to have a solid foundation so that when we go to the

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Word of God to have God tell us We can understand I can believe this I can trust this

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I can stand on this My conviction is much of the darkness in Christianity and the

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West today much of the darkness We mentioned heroes of the faith like Whitfield and Edwards and Spurgeon and all those before us

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Those men had a firm grasp on the foundations They knew where the starting point was

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They know they knew what you were supposed to rest on their theology and their application came from a solid

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Foundation it wasn't just a matter of proof texting here and there they knew what they believed and they knew this is important why they believe that and I believe that much of the darkness in Christianity in the

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West today comes because of The pulpit this is where the problem actually is.

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It's in the pulpit We do not train our people to know what they believe and why they actually believe it

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You've seen the surveys. I'm sure you've seen the the questionnaires that go out to evangelicals you have evangelicals

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Largely not even believing that Jesus is God Evangelicals largely believing professing evangelicals if that word has any meaning anymore

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Believing that you know, everybody's gonna be saved you believing that you know, you don't need to trust in Christ for salvation

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You have it's a mess theologically and I truly believe is because of the pulpits We do not treat we do not teach the

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Word of God boldly We do not teach the Word of God with clarity our people don't understand why we believe what we believe what the firm

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Foundation is and if we're gonna have assurance of salvation and assurance of the grace of God We need to start first where scripture starts

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Consistently throughout scripture. Where do you start the Word of the Living God God's Word is authoritative

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It is the ultimate authority God himself is the very reference point for truth

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That's where we have to begin and so I'm gonna continue and expand a little more on where we did last night

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I mentioned the word last night and and I want you to love that word and really embrace that word because of what it means

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I mentioned a reformed epistemology and an epistemology that is Revelational meaning

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I know what I know I have certainty about what is true and knowledge because God has

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Spoken I mentioned that and you can I know you're gonna hear this at RTS and even at Westminster I'm not sure if I want to say this in the room.

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Okay You're you'll hear The foundations that have been given to us by so many faithful men behind us about the revelation revelational epistemology and that we can actually argue this in a rigorous fashion you can bring a revelational epistemology into time to the toughest square of Public debate you can do that but really in essence a revelational epistemology a theory of knowledge is simply this for us as Christians followers of Christ the foundation of knowledge is simply this

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God says God says and we shouldn't be fearful about actually saying that and defending that in the public square

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God says It's one of the reasons you'll see such a distinction in methodology between those who would not stand on Scripture those who would pretend

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Neutrality and defend the Christian faith with some general form of theism, right?

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Yeah Let's just see where the evidence takes us Versus those in distinction that would actually stand on the

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Word of God Stand there assume the truthfulness of God's own self attesting word and argue from that position.

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There is a distinction There is a difference between how you defend the faith how you argue for it because there's a difference between What we believe is a solid case for how we know what we know a revelational epistemology, there's only

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I believe one place of Actual certainty and that is

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God's Speech God says I mentioned to you as we finished last night that the

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Lord Jesus When he was in conflict as he was many times in his day with the leadership in Jerusalem the covenant breakers in Jerusalem he often went to the very

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Word of God and he actually Challenged them on the fact that they were supposed to know these things

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They were entrusted Paul says with the very oracles of God. They knew what their scriptures were and Jesus Held them to it now get this.

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This is very very important Jesus is God incarnate Amen, so no problems with the evangelicals in this room.

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Okay. He is God incarnate He is God truly God and truly man

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Jesus did say things on his own authority as God in the flesh.

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Yes, he did and he could always do that But don't you find it interesting that when

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Jesus who is God very God and very man in the flesh When he's in conflict with these people

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Over whatever issue whether it is marriage or the resurrection, whatever the issue was

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Jesus would point to the revelation of God that they actually had Entrusted to them.

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You're supposed to know this. These are the words of God He could have always pulled rank.

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He's God These are his words, but Jesus held them to the Word of God the revelation that they actually were entrusted with Vitally important to recognize that Jesus says that and here's what's important when we think about how we know what we know

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Let's do it this way people today will say, you know, we need to apply scientific principles

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We need to use evidence. We need to use reason and rationality things need to be consistent

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You can appropriately challenge the humanists the secularists the atheists the unbeliever

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You can appropriately challenge them and say where'd you get that idea? Right. I mean who says that we need to appeal to evidence who says that evidence matters at all?

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Who says that I have to be consistent or rational? I mean, is there some law obligating me to be consistent?

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Who says that I need to actually be moral in my debate in my exchange with you?

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I mean am I allowed to actually win in a debate if I'm losing the debate? Am I allowed to punch you in the nose to win?

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I mean, why isn't it just might for right? Why can't I actually use physical force to win the debate?

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Why does it have to be reason and rationality? we think about this for a moment and that in today when you think about how the

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Word of God and Christianity is so influenced the world and transform people's minds and Science and rationality and all the rest no matter where you are in our culture people will appeal to things that actually only comport with the

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Christian worldview in terms of debate rationality reason evidence Honesty and integrity and debate but here's the thing you can't just claim that somebody ought to appeal to science

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Or they ought to be rational or they ought to be honest in debates You have to be able to justify that and I want to argue that apart from God's revelation

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You cannot justify those things or appeals to those things because Colossians chapter 2 verse 3 one verse one text

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Says that Jesus in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

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Now if you know your Bible and you know that text You know what the Apostle Paul and John are dealing with even in a

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New Testament the early forms of Gnosticism secret knowledge and all these claims about knowledge That's a pretty bold claim.

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The Apostle Paul is saying you want knowledge. You want to have knowledge you want to truly know something You're not going to know it apart from Jesus Christ because in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

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It's all deposited there. You're not going to get to knowledge without this God And it's not something new that the

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Apostle Paul is doing in the first century simply to deal with the Gnostics This is something that actually is throughout scripture

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What does the Bible say about the fool the fool what says in his heart? There is no

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God. What does the scripture say in terms of knowledge and wisdom in just the book of Proverbs? It's the fear of the

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Lord. That's the beginning of knowledge, right? Not the middle part. Not the conclusion

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It is the fear of the Lord. That's the very beginning So here's my point and answering the question about the grace of God and the assurance that we have in our salvation

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We're not going to get to a true conclusion Apart from an understanding that it is the revelation of God that determines this

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It's not the voice of the enemy It's not the voice of those who ape Christianity not the religious organizations that co -opt scripture and then they distort it

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It's not your own inner monologue. It's not your perception. It's not my perception.

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It's not our own understanding It is the word of the Living God that has to be the solid foundation from which we build everything else

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We're there now Yes So let's start This conflict actually begins this question about knowledge and how do

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I know? Begins at the very beginning of the Bible. You see this isn't just something that the

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Reformers Did this isn't just something that we just draw from say the New Testament texts this this conflict on Knowledge and how do

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I know and how am I going to determine? Who has the final say actually begins in the very beginning of our

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Bibles. It's an epistemological conflict It's a deeply it's a deeply complicated philosophical

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Discussion that takes place here, but let's take a look in Genesis chapter 3 This is where we begin to build the case of the foundation of the

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Word of God the self -attesting Revelation of God as the starting point in Genesis chapter 3, you know the text

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It says now the serpent was more Crafty than any other beast of the field that the

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Lord God had made He said to the woman here it is Did God actually say?

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Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden and the woman said to the serpent?

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We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden.

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Neither shall you touch it lest you die But the serpent said to the woman he will not surely die

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For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God Knowing good and evil now watch this so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree

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Was to be desired to make one wise She took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate

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Then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths

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So much this one section the gospel here the the proclamation of what's gonna come in Christ It's it's it's an amazing amazing place to rest, but there's something vitally important to get here

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In Genesis chapter 3 Eve remarks that God said So you have now a couple of voices in the garden, don't you you have number one you have

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God's voice What did God say? What did he actually say you have now Satan's voice the deceivers voice the accusers voice

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You have his voice and you also have working here Eve's and this is very important in terms of our personal sanctification

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How do you know what you know? Your inner monologue your own perception your feelings your emotions

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Think about this God's voice Satan's voice and then what happens with Eve you're dealing with Eve's own perception and interpretation

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It's all here in this text. So you have a conflict at the beginning of Scripture. It's an epistemological conflict

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It's a question about how do you know God said now just think about the conflict for a moment

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I mean, let's let's do the heretical hypothetical, right? I mean, here's the challenge

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God is God He created all these things. He creates his image male and female. He created them in the image of God.

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He created them They're there now He creates the heaven and the heavens and the earth and all these amazing creatures and baboons that look crazy and silly and giraffes

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Long necks weird sea creatures that are terrifying all these things are created God makes it all all this food all this glory and He says you can do this you can't do that think about how basic that challenge is

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It's so simple. It's the beginning of creation very rudimentary this but not that This but not that the day you do that you'll surely die so simple

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So simple this but not that now they've heard the voice of God, but the question could maybe come how does he know?

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I Satan comes in he makes a claim God made a claim Satan makes a claim and you can go

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Yeah, actually, how does he know? I mean, this is all new to him, right? How does how does he know?

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Maybe we should test it out. I mean it looks good to me. I mean, that's my interpretation My perception is it's it's good to eat.

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I mean, so why not? How does God know? So here's the challenge.

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Here's a voice God's voice Here's a voice Satan's voice and here's another voice

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Eve's own internal monologue looks good to me. I Mean, how does God actually know so you see the conflict here now with all these different voices now?

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Here's the question ready? Here's the question on what? basis ought

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Eve to have operated think about it for a moment different voices gods Satan's and now

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Eve's internal monologue on what basis ought Eve to have operated Morally, let's ask that question morally

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What if and this by the way, if you guys ever heard the debate between dr. Sproul and dr. Bonson This was actually a very important part of that discussion that debates on what basis morally ought

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Eve to have operated God said now Satan says Think about it

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What if Eve had said You know Satan you make a good point, but you know what?

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I'm not very hungry right now What if she said that I'm not hungry And so let's say she walks away from the tree because she says

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I'm not hungry would Eve have been obedient if she did that Think about it.

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She didn't eat the fruits, but would she have been obedient? No, she would have had as dr.

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Sproul said External conformity to the law of God, but internally she had different motivations

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So actually if she walked away from the tree and she didn't eat of the fruits because she said no,

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I'll get fat Right Or now that fruit doesn't look very good to me.

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I'm not gonna do it or I'm not hungry. She again would have had external

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External obedience, but she actually wasn't really obedient because she was what not eating on some other

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Basis than the Word of God get this and you'll get the whole thing. Here's the point

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God said That was the truth He has a self attesting authority.

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God said God's knowledge is perfect. He makes the command He has a self attesting authority and Eve ought to have obeyed

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God Here's why ready? It's as simple as this because God said

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She should have yielded to his voice because his voice was ultimate So here's the conflict at the very beginning of the

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Bible. It's a question of knowledge How do you know do I stand on the revelation of God?

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the clarity of his word the perspicuity of his word big word the Clarity of his word or do

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I listen to the voice of the enemy who contradicts his words very subtly but contradicts his word

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Or do I listen to my own internal monologue and my own perceptions my own emotions?

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What do I do? It's a question of knowledge How do you know and the basis then is the same way it goes throughout redemption his redemptive history

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It's the Word of the Living God That is the standard you test every other voice

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Every other emotion every other claim by God's own self attesting revelation.

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Amen We got Reformed Baptist in here, right who are the Reformed Baptists? Okay, hands down.

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Who are the Presbyterians? All right, you guys you guys are afraid you're there like this Why would you hang them up like that?

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Okay, we got two. Okay, so usually it's the Presbyterians that are quiet. All right. All right So here's the point

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Morally speaking She ought to have operated on the basis of God's own word and obeyed because God said that's why

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I'm obeying God said don't do it and that's why I'm not doing it And I reject any other voice

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Philosophically and rationally speaking. There's only one place of certainty Philosophically and rationally speaking in terms of she wanted to use a sharp mind in the image of God She ought to have obeyed because God's Word is the actual foundation for knowledge

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Not Lucifer's not her perception not her own internal monologue if she wanted to be morally right and philosophically, right?

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She ought to hobo have obeyed because what God? said So that's the starting point

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So this question of knowledge runs from generate from Genesis all the way throughout

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Scripture again I mentioned to you that we tend to think in reformed circles of sola scriptura as that Church doctrine it's for the church.

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It's the sole infallible rule of faith and practice for the church Actually the heart of sola scriptura is that claim to revelational epistemology

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I know I Have certainty because God says not what

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Rome says Not what the magisterium says Not what

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Joseph Smith says not how I feel My pastor only has authority and it's a limited authority when he speaks consistently with this revelation

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It's an epistemological claim. It's a claim. Actually we bring to the legislature

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We speak prophetically to the legislature. You're God's deacon You're supposed to be the servant of the true

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God not some foreign God you have to obey God's law Psalm chapter 2 says what about Jesus that he's giving

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Jesus the nations for his inheritance the very ends of the earth for his Possession and God warns the

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Kings in Psalm chapter 2 to obey his son or they'll perish so actually the

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Word of God goes there to the Word of God goes to the area of education the Word of God goes to the area of Media and art and science and to the home and to the church.

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Amen Sola scriptura is not merely a church doctrine

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It's a claim to knowledge and truth. God's revelation is the place of certainty everywhere

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So this question again runs through scripture all the way through and turn around in Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses 1 through 5

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You could see another example of this Principle being applied in Deuteronomy 13 with the people of God and God warns his people

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He warns them. How do you know somebody is truly a prophet of God?

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He warns them even if somebody comes and they have signs and wonders

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So here's the thing. It looks legit, right? It seems it seems right

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They're saying all the right things it seems and you know What's even more powerful is like this prophet is actually doing things that defy the laws of physics

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Like it doesn't even look like normal operations of creation. It's wild There are miracles happening in this guy's ministry.

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God says this to his people in his law Even if somebody comes and they have signs and wonders, but here's a standard

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But they lead you after other gods Gods, which you have not known

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That's how you know, there are false prophets. So in the law of God with the people of Israel. What is God telling his people?

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Don't trust your perception. Don't trust the signs and the wonders Here's the standard if that prophet no matter how legit it looks

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Lead you after a different God a God different than how I have revealed myself to you

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That's how you know, there are false prophets So even in those early stages in the law of God God tells his people what?

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His previous revelation is the place you stand That's what is true if a prophet

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Contradicts the law word of God. That's how you know, there are false prophets. You see it there again early stages

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That's just Deuteronomy 13 We could do this for a long time, but you move throughout scripture and you get to text like Isaiah chapter 8 verse 20 a

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Little further on in the Israel's history the same standard is there for the people of God in Isaiah's day

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Isaiah says in Isaiah 8 chapter chapter 8 verse 20 He says to the law and to the testimony if they do not speak according to this word

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The law and the testimony it is because they have no light in them So what was the standard in Isaiah's day for the people of God same standard

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Same standard the revelation of God to the law and to the testimony if they do not speak according to this word It is because they have no light in them.

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They are in darkness That's the standard and as you move throughout scripture, you see this over and over and over again

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You know how Jesus would actually speak about it in Matthew chapter 7 you can go there in Matthew chapter 7

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Jesus gives a number of examples actually throughout the gospel on this theme This principle of the

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Word of God as the foundation of knowledge in Matthew chapter 7 verses 24

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Through 27 the Lord Jesus says and again, you know this everyone then who hears these words of mine and Does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds?

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blew and beat on that house, but It did not fall Because it had been founded on The rock on the rock of what everyone his word

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Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock

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Do you want to be blown over? Do you want to fall down? Do you want to collapse? I wonder at times in my own life where I'm struggling or if there's a lack of joy or you know

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I'm not rejoicing in God if I'm hurting if I'm dealing with sadness or depression or whatever the case may be

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I wonder And we should all wonder this is it because I'm not standing on the rock in those moments because you fall down you get blown

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Over when you're not standing on the rock. These are the words of the Lord Build your house on his word.

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It's the very rock Jesus says that he says everyone who hears these words of mine It does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew

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And beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it now watch

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This is powerful They recognized What he was saying

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They recognized what he was saying, can I just say can we pull back for just a moment here imagine for a moment

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I'm a teacher. I'm a pastor But what if I came to you this morning in this pulpit and I said to you all

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Everyone in this room who builds their life upon my word Jeff Durbin's word

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You'll be like a person that builds their house upon a rock You will be able to stand and you won't be blown over when you build your life upon Jeff Durbin's word

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What'd you say? That's right run him out of the church That'd be the appropriate response quickly cut the mic and walk me out the door.

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Amen. Yes. Do you recognize it? Jesus is making a claim here that they immediately recognized was audacious

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What? You're claiming that I have to build my life upon your words yours and They heard it because it says in verse 29 28 and when

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Jesus finished these sayings the crowds were Astonished at his teaching for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes

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Because it's it's the kind of thing where the scribes and those who were teaching in those days would build their teaching based upon well this rabbi says here and this authoritative rabbi says here and this rabbi has taught here and this

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Person says here or the Word of God says here, but now Jesus is actually doing something different He's coming to them and he's saying

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I'm the one with authority It's my word. You need to build your life upon they recognize instantly.

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There's something different about Jesus They said he's doing this on his own authority He's forgiving people's sins he's healing people giving sight to people he's walking on water

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He's raising people from the dead and he's saying that his word is the authority. It's a powerful thing next in Terms of dealing with the issue of the grace of God and the assurance we have of our salvation

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We need to see Matthew chapter 15. How did Jesus deal? This is by the way, this is vital. This is vital

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Please hear this if you get anything out of this message Matthew 15 is vital

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Because of the pretenders of Christianity because of those who co -opt Christianity co -opt

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Christian language They ape Christianity and they distort the message of God's grace and salvation Again, whether it be

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Rome whether it be Mormonism or any other religion that co -ops Christian language and apes

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Christianity. We need to know how did Jesus the incarnate One deal with those who had divine religious traditions?

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Even even sincerely held ones that can go long back Jesus is dealing here with a claim to divine tradition in Matthew chapter 15 verse 1

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Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

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For they do not wash their hands when they eat he answered them and why do you break? The commandment of God for the sake of your tradition for God commanded and here's the quote

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Honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die

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But you say if anyone tells his father or his mother what you have would have gained from me is given to God He need not honor his father

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So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the Word of God You hypocrites well did

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Isaiah prophesy of you when he said this people honors me with their lips But their heart is far from me in vain.

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Do they worship me? Here it is teaching as Doctrines the commandments of men now what's happening here.

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Do you know what's happening in this moment? Jesus is dealing with something that had risen up that they held to and they were devoted to it

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It was the Korban rule. It was a tradition that they claimed was a divine

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Tradition that went all the way back to Moses Now get that here.

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You have people that will tell you they believe in that Old Testament revelation

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They believe that those are the words of God the Torah the Tanakh. They believe in the law and the prophets

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They believe in it all but they also have these traditions as well But here's the thing these aren't just traditions of men no, these are divine traditions these traditions go back to Moses himself

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So we have the the the prophets and the law. We've got the scriptures We know what that is

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But we also have these divine traditions that you're required to obey you're obligated to do these things as well

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These are divine traditions. They go all the way back to the beginning. Does that sound familiar to anybody? Does that sound like a claim that you might hear at st.

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Mary's The claim that well, why are you doing these traditions? Why do you want to bind the consciences of God's people with these traditions when they are not in the

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Word of God? Jesus doesn't teach them Paul doesn't teach them what you're teaching about God's grace and how a person has peace with God Contradicts the entire revelation of the

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New Testament in terms of justification and peace with God How come I need to believe you and they'll say well, no, we actually have the apostolic tradition

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We go all the way back to the Apostles with these oral traditions You see we have the scriptures and then we have tradition and see these are two divine

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Deposits you see so the reason you know, we would say that you know, you're not just saved as a free gift

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You know You have to go through the sacramental system you have to do these things and be reclensed and come to mass and come to this this now weekly reoffering of the old sacrifice and Each week you're going in and out of peace with God.

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You got to do all this Because of the tradition of the church We know that it's true because we have this divine tradition that goes all the way back to the

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Apostles sound familiar That sounds somewhat familiar to what's happening here in Matthew 15

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You have the people of God that say in Jesus day we've got the scriptures and we also have this divine deposit of Tradition and how does

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Jesus the incarnate one deal with that? He says

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You say And then he quotes their tradition and he says what?

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Moses says and then he quotes from God's Word and he says These come into collision and he says thus you invalidate

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The Word of God you make it void for the sake of your tradition These are the traditions of men.

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They contradict God's revelation Apparently, this is important Apparently Jesus who is

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God incarnate? Believed that God communicated so clearly in his law that they should have seen the conflict

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Because he says here's your word Here's God's Word your word contradicts

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God's Word. And therefore you've made void the Word of God in Jesus condemns their divine

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Tradition by appealing to what God's own? revelation Apparently Jesus believed that God had so clearly communicated that listen that they could have been held accountable for their perversion of the

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Word of God By holding to these traditions that contradicted his revelation The expensive word that we use in theology is the perspicuity of Scripture, right?

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The clarity of God's Word that God has communicated so clearly That it can be understood that you can actually hold somebody accountable for contradicting

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God's own revelation It's not to say that there aren't things in Scripture that are difficult to understand

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The Apostle Peter says that that Paul writes some stuff. He says that are hard to understand. Here's the thing

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He doesn't say they're impossible to understand. He says they're difficult to understand

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The problem is untaught in untrained men Unstable men who twist the

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Word of God. That's what Paul says. Yes, there's hard things to understand Like you should only baptize believers.

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That's what may be hard to I'm just joking. I'm trying to see if you're still awake I'm teasing. Okay It doesn't mean it's impossible to understand

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It means that you have to not be unstable Untaught you need to you need to have reverence for God's Word God has communicated in a way that we can all understand and he's communicated with clarity

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So this theme again runs from the Old Testament from the very beginning through Scripture you have in Luke 16 another example

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I want you to have these in your toolbox everybody Luke chapter 16 You know the story this is the famous story that Jesus tells in Luke 16

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About the rich man and Lazarus the story starts in verse 19 and moves throughout the end of the chapter

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I'm not gonna read the entire thing here, but you know the story of ones in anguish and ones in Abraham's bosom

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And what's interesting about this story is that Jesus tells the story of the rich man Who's in torment and all he wants is someone to go back?

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To warn others right cool my tongue. You got to send someone and warn them about this horrific place

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What's the word that comes? Look at it verse 27 and he said then

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I beg you father to send him To my father's house for I have five brothers so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment verse 29

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But Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets They have

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Moses and the prophets Let them hear them, and he said no father Abraham Abraham But if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent he said to them if they do not

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Hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead

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There's a lot of implications to this a lot of implications to this particular text and apologetic methodology

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And how we go about arguing for the Christian faith and defending the Christian faith, but this is very very important What's the challenge that said to the rich man?

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If they're not gonna believe God's Word They're not gonna believe because someone performs a miracle Not gonna happen and by the way you see that in the

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New Testament How many times in a New Testament the Jesus does Jesus need to raise someone from the dead or give legs to a person?

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That can't walk or give eyesight to a blind person or hearing to a deaf person. How many times does

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Jesus need to multiply loaves? For people to actually see that he actually is the

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Messiah How many times does Jesus have a crowd that eventually turns on him and walks away?

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They sell the miracles. I mean just think for a moment about the miracle of the raising of Lazarus He's so dead.

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He stinketh. He's dead for days Jesus speaks into the tomb Lazarus come forth this dead guy comes out of the tomb and what's the text say it's amazing

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It says some believed and some didn't what what?

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Because the problem is a problem of authority It's not a problem of miracles

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Right now atheists will often say that won't the atheists will often say, you know If God would just come down right now and just drop down here and do some miracle

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I would certainly believe and the answer is no you wouldn't you would find some natural explanation for why that happens

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I laugh because maybe you guys have seen the video. I maybe I'll put it on my Facebook page today later

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It's just for those in the conference to watch it It's that it's that video of that atheist who's driving in a in a in a in a car

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He's filming himself and he's like challenging God, right? He doesn't expect this to happen. He's challenging

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God He's like he's like, yeah, you know if God were real there would be a lightning strike in three two one

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All of a sudden it goes boom. He goes Okay, this is kind of a problem and like, you know, it ends there

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I wonder if that guy converted doubtful right probably some Oh, that's just a coincidence. It just happened to be three two one.

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And then there it was It's a thunderstorm anyways lightning storm. Anyway, here's the problem people are not converted by miracles they're converted by the gospel and the

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Word of the Living God and this by the way again has implications that go out in terms of methodology of approaching people in the public square or approaching people in the

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Legislature, whatever the case may be. It's the foundation of the rock of God's Word God Says and that's the basis again you see this thread running from the beginning of the

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Bible all the way throughout the Teaching of the prophets into the teaching of Jesus and this is one of my favorites.

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I won't belabor this but in Luke chapter 24 Verses 13 through 35, you know the scene right?

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Jesus has been raised from the dead Now you have these sad saps on their way to Emmaus the road to Emmaus, you know

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Oh, we thought he was the Messiah and Jesus is like what things like where you been? You know, you don't know what's happened here.

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You know, we thought he was the Messiah and he was crucified What does Jesus say to these people on the road to Emmaus?

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What's he say to them? slow of heart to believe foolish

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Slow of heart to believe what? All that the prophets had spoken

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So for Jesus and you see in the teaching of Paul The very basis to believe in the ministry of Jesus is

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God said You see the Apostles don't even argue for the truthfulness of Christianity on The basis of just the resurrection he came to life.

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They actually argued. No, this is in accordance with the scriptures It's in accordance with the scriptures. It's in accordance with the scriptures

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They argue on the basis of the authoritative Word of God said this was gonna happen and that's why you're supposed to believe it and on that Amazing day with that incredible Bible study

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Jesus gave there When he challenges them slow of heart to believe all the prophets had spoken

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Jesus then goes into what? He goes into the most incredible Bible study where he shows them from the scriptures everywhere.

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The prophets spoke of him see It's the

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Word of God that was the foundation and standard Jesus again in his teaching Teaches this very principle of the

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Word of God as authoritative as the standard, you know the verse John 1717 and Jesus high priestly prayer.

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It's an amazing Passage John is my favorite gospel so intimate so beautiful But in John 1717 the

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Lord Jesus says in his high priestly prayer. He says this father Sanctify them by your truth

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Okay. Thank you. Lord. Jesus. The father's gonna answer that prayer. I know though my heart

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What is that truth that we're gonna be set apart by he says thy word is truth

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Set them apart Sanctify them by your truth Your word is truth that word there if you've done your homework and you know that study in the

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Greek is the plumb line It's the very standard. It's how you know, something is right. It's the thing by which you test everything else

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It's the measuring line. How do I know this is true? How do I know it's right? Here's the line.

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Is that wall correct? Is it straight? You only know what that plumb line and Jesus says the

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Word of God is that standard by which you measure? Whether it's right Again, this goes throughout scripture.

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It is the standard that God has used throughout the Word of God You see it in Romans chapters 1 through 5 as the

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Apostle Paul is Systematically explaining the gospel and defending the gospel He uses this formula in specifically chapter 4 when he's trying to anchor his teaching of Justification through faith in Christ apart from any work.

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What does he do? Does he just do it in his own authority? Does he say I'm the

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Apostle Paul I saw Jesus does he do that does the Apostle Paul pull rank and Simply say you need to believe my gospel because I'm the

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Apostle Paul because I witnessed this miracle. I saw Jesus. No The Apostle Paul doesn't do that.

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He repeatedly says from Romans chapter 1 throughout he appeals that this was prophesied

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This is what God said This is what the law and the prophets testified about and then he says this when he's defending the doctrine of justification by faith

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Alone in Christ alone. He appeals to father Abraham in Romans chapter 4

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He says what does the scripture say and he quotes Genesis 15 6

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He says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness so Paul builds his case

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For justification through faith alone in Christ alone in the fact that this is how God has always saved people

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Look at father Abraham Here's the point. Are you ready? And this is the distinction between true religion and all man -made false religion and all counterfeit

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Christianity. Here's the point if your doctrine of salvation peace with God Justification, is it like Abraham?

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You're not a child of Abraham. How was Abraham justified? Abraham believed

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God and it was credited to him for righteousness and Paul's whole point is this if your faith isn't like Abraham's You're not a child of Abraham your fit if your faith isn't like Abraham if it isn't that empty hand if it isn't that that scene of someone whose mouth is just open and Receiving living water if it isn't like Abraham if it's some other way, then you are not a descendants

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You're not a child because you are saved in the same way Abraham was and that is through faith What did

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Abraham do? What did he do? He believed He believes

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We're talking about God's grace and the assurance of God that we have in Christ about our salvation

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And let's be honest as believers. There's moments where it's difficult as you mature in the faith you grow

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In holiness you you grow and trust you grow in joy, but there's moments because we are creatures

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We're being sanctified. We're not done yet There's moments where you struggle and you you you think like does he does he is he still there?

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Is he is he is in love with me as he ever was? Right, is he present? Is he is he concerned with me right now, you know, you have a failure

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Maybe you have a week of failures where you're face planting and face planting and God's convicting You ever said you're grieving over your sin and you're struggling and you fall back

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We have a tendency don't we always to fall back into this performance based relationship with God like oh, he's closer to me today

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Because I've been really good. I've had victory for a week. So he loves me today, right?

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But that's not the gospel. That's not where our assurance comes from. We don't have assurance because we're doing really well today

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We don't have assurance because oh I have I've had more victory over the last six months over this sin

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God's he's transformed me and now we're good because he's pleased with me because now I'm righteous in his sight

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We fall back into that but what's the truth? The gospel isn't like that Abraham was credited a righteousness through faith and David had the same thing now to two heavy hitters

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Paul points to you've got Abraham and David He says Abraham is justified by faith. He was credited righteousness apart from works

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He just believed God and how about King David? He was he speaks of God crediting someone righteousness apart from works and not counting their sins against them

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It's all a gift a gracious gift of God through faith But here's the point

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For Paul, what's the anchor? It's not his own testimony. It is the

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Word of God He says what does the scripture say even in this point

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God speaks through David this Here's the Word of the Lord. That's the very foundation and then finally in 2nd

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Peter chapter 1 go there I want to show you another example of this theme running throughout scripture It is the standard that is appealed to constantly in 2nd

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Peter chapter 1 This I think is one of the most incredible claims

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That's made in verse 16. It's a famous section of scripture.

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You probably know this but let me just remind you of it Peter says for we did not follow cleverly devised myths

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When we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were

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I witnesses of his majesty For when we when he received honor and glory from God the

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Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory This is my beloved son with whom

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I am very well pleased We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain and we have the prophetic word more fully

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Confirmed confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp

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Shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts because Because Knowing this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation

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For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the

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Holy Spirit. Did you hear what he did there? He said this isn't a myth what we saw. It's not a myth.

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We're not having you follow fables and tales and mythology He says we were eyewitnesses

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This is a fact of history God entered into history and beyond that we were eyewitnesses to his glory

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We saw him with our very eyes on that mountain and we heard the voice from heaven

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I was there. I'm not telling you tales Paul does the very same thing, by the way Did you know that in 1st

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Corinthians chapter 15 when he's talking about the gospel? What does he say? He says he appeared to him and him and me and at one point he appeared to 500 eyewitnesses at once.

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What's Paul doing there? He's saying look some of these people haven't even died yet. If you don't believe me go ask them they saw it too, but here's the point for Paul even there the standard was

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It was promised by the scriptures in fulfillment of the scriptures in fulfillment of the scriptures It's God's revelation and Peter does this here.

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He says I was an eyewitness of Jesus. I was there it touched him I saw it all I heard God from heaven. He says but you know what the more sure word is

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Not my testimony Not my eyewitness testimony the word of the

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Living God and the prophets because where does this word come from? It's not from men and their own private interpretation

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It's from people who are carried along by the Holy Spirit of God to give what they gave

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See that theme again God is governing his word and his revelation in this process

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It is as Paul says, you know, it's 2nd Timothy 3 16 through 17 all scripture is

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God breathed breathed out by God. They all knew Stas. These are the words of God It is the standard from the beginning of Scripture to the very end of Scripture that the revelation of God is the rock

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It's the starting point and here's the point we don't have prophets living and speaking today this

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Canon is Given to us by God and those Apostles are all dead. They're not still giving revelation.

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So these are the known Words of God and so as we go about now asking the question tonight

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What does God say about grace? How gracious is? this grace

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What does God say about it? How does he actually accomplish this redemption in our lives?

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We're gonna know because it's the very revelation of God. This is what God says not church tradition

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Which is constantly in conflict with itself One thing you have to you know, one thing you have to say about church history is this is that it is a glorious mess

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It's a glorious mess I like to call it that I'm not an expert as some of you are in church history

54:35

But I know enough of church history to know that it is a glorious mess You will see giants of the faith saying some of the most amazing things sounding just like Jesus just like Paul and the very next page an absolute face plant an

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Absolute undeniable face plants. It's a thing God. He has grace for us even in our bad theology sometimes

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But we don't believe what we believe about Salvation on the authority of church tradition on the authority of a good speaker on the authority of our own experience

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We believe we believe about the grace of God and the assurance we have in our salvation because of work because the

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Word of God says Because the Word of God says I'll leave you with this.

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We do a lot of evangelism and outreach Back home at Apologia Church, we go out to strip clubs.

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We go out to ASU we go to Mill Avenue. We go to the abortion mill.

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We go to the Mormon Temple. We go to the Mormon wards We try to engage Jehovah's Witnesses We try to engage with Muslims and to Hebrew Israelites and all the rest

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We try to do public debates and here's the point ready. There's a lot of people out there. They have a lot of religious experience

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Experiences they have They're devoted you could talk to the Mormon and They've been latter -day saint their entire life.

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They're sweet amazing people. That's my favorite community actually to minister to I love latter -day saints

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There's some of the sweetest most amazing people you ever meet There's some latter -day saints I'd rather eat with and hang out with and some professing

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Christians. I'm sorry to say But it's true Lovely people at times and they'll tell you a story incredible stories about their experiences

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Praying about the Book of Mormon feeling a burning in their bosom, right? I feel like this is true

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I just I know it's true because I've asked God and I just can't get away from the experiences I've had

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Now fill the room up with the Mormon the Muslim the Jehovah's Witness the

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Rosicrucian The Christian scientist the pro -choicer, whatever the case may be the atheist the

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Satanist and guess what? Everybody is gonna have an experience they appeal to right in Islam they'll talk about the experience of Allah and going to the mosque and praying towards Mecca and all that has happened in her life to Be transformed because of their commitment to Muhammad as God's prophets

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Joseph Smith and all the rest everybody has a religious experience and here's the thing your experience my experience

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Their experience is not the test for truth It is the word of the

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Living God and So if we're gonna have assurance of the grace of God and salvation

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We need to go to the text and we're gonna do that tonight. Let's pray Father, I pray that you would bless

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Lord the words that went out today that encourage build up and grow us as your people that you transform us and firm up our commitments to your word in our own lives and In Our proclamation of it to the world.

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I pray Lord for the final two messages this weekend that you'd bless me Get me out of the way

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You'd speak to your people transform our minds and our hearts and may you be glorified in our in Delighting in your grace in Jesus name.