Hebrews 4:11-13 | Belief in the Word of God Pt. 3

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Covenant Reformed Baptist Church Tullahoma, TN August 22, 2021 Pastor Jeff Rice

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John Pt. 4 | John 1:14-18

John Pt. 4 | John 1:14-18

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So good to stand before you again today. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4.
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Hebrews chapter 4 verses 11 through 13. Hebrews 4 verses 11 through 13.
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Let's pray. Oh God, we come and worship you, the
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Christ, Holy God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Lord, we pray right now that you will speak to us through your word, through this broken vessel that stands before your people,
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Lord. I pray that you will, at this moment, convey your message to them through me.
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We have come to Mount Zion to feast upon the manna which came down from heaven, your
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Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord. Be with us,
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I pray in this moment. In the name of Jesus, amen. So our theme for the past three weeks has been the word of God.
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And I made a statement last week that whenever I began to read this word, I presupposed,
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I came to it already having a knowledge that this was the word of God.
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And so when I picked it up, I knew as lost as I was, that I was about to be reading the word of God.
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And I'm here today to tell you that when you open the Bible, or when you listen to a man behind a pulpit proclaim to you, to read to you the
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Bible, this is the very word of God. If I say anything here today that comes from this text of scripture, listen, it is
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God speaking. Problem is, and I'm not saying it doesn't happen here,
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I am infallible. I'm not saying that my interpretations are always correct, though I wrestle with the text.
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There's moments when I feel like I'm Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord, and God, and he touches the hip and he knocks it out of socket.
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Whenever I'm preparing for these messages, that's how I feel. I have the angel, I want it to bless me.
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I have the book, I have the scriptures, I'm looking at the original text, I'm looking through commentaries,
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I want it to bless me so I can bless you, until the moment where it pops my hip out of place.
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But I could still stand before you and say something that is not of this book, and that is not the word of God.
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But if I accurately interpret what this book has to say, and to that, every preacher behind a pulpit should tremble while being humble.
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It's an amazing and a fearful task. And so I stand before you today believing that this is the very word of God.
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Our timeless truth has been the word of God is as much alive today as it was then, or as it ever will be.
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This is the living word of God. And it seems to me that the one thing that this world is in need of is the one thing that this world has been fasting from, the word of God.
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Whether it be reading or listening to biblical sermons, listening to the text being explained, expositioned.
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And today I want to express my thankfulness for each and every one of you.
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You allow me to stand before you 40 to 50 minutes, more so on the 50 minute side, to listen to what
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God has to say, to listen to me explain to you the word of God. And to that,
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I am truly grateful. So please join me as we read our text.
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Hebrews chapter four, verses 11 through 13.
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The text says, let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
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For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two -edged sword piercing through the division of soul and spirit, of joint and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and the intentions of our heart.
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And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him whom we must give an account.
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Our outline, the writer of Hebrews lays out three ways that the word of God is being used.
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Point number one was the word of God points us to our Sabbath, and we saw that two weeks ago, that the word of God points us to our
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Sabbath, Jesus being our Sabbath, that we enter that Sabbath rest by belief.
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We enter that Sabbath rest by belief. Jesus has accomplished the work of salvation.
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You and I cannot accomplish the work of salvation. Jesus Christ did.
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That's why we're saved by grace through faith. We enter that rest by belief in the word of God.
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And the word of God points us to Jesus as being our Sabbath, that God sent his son to accomplish the purpose.
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Point number two, we partially looked at last week, was the word of God is skilled for judging.
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And point number three, by the word of God, we will give an account.
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So my hope today is that we will get through the rest of this portion of scripture, and we will begin verses 14 through 16 next week.
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So as we transition, let's do a quick recap of last week. We focused on the word of God.
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I gave a, well, I believe the Bible gave this, a word picture of a warrior with a sword.
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It says that the word of God is living, that it's active, and it's sharper than any two -edged sword.
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And we walked through the scriptures, we see that in the book of Revelation, Jesus is described as the word of God.
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And it says that he had a sharp sword coming out of his mouth. We went to Ephesians, and the sword of the spirit was the word of God.
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And we looked in John chapter one, it said, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was
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God. And then verse 14, it tells us that the word became flesh, the hypostatic union, the
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God -man, Jesus being both God and man, for it took Jesus to be truly
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God. It took Jesus to be truly God to do what?
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To bring man to God. The chasm was so wide that no normal, ordinary man could make man right with God.
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It took Jesus being truly God to do this. It took Jesus being truly man to die.
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But it took Jesus being truly God to come back. Jesus has accomplished salvation,
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Jesus is the word of God, we have before us the word of God. The word of God that was in context, that was the antecedent right here to the living word of God was
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Psalm 95. And so I asked the question, which I just answered, which is the word of God?
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Is it Jesus? Is it the revelation says that Jesus is the word of God, he has a sharp two -edged sword, or is it the sword of the spirit being, speaking of at the time would have been the
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New Testament, I mean, the Old Testament, but also the letters that were being wrote by the apostles.
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And the answer was yes. That when the Bible speaks, the Lord Jesus speaks, they both are the word of God.
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And if you look back to the first chapter of Hebrews, verse one and two says this, long ago at many times and in many ways,
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God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son.
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So it was a time where God spoke to the people by prophets.
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But in these last days, the book of Hebrews says, he has spoken to us by his son.
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So what we have here in the word of God today,
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I also pointed out, it wasn't last week,
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I think it was the two weeks before Cal spoke, Pastor Cal, that a verse was quoted and it was quoting
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Psalm 22. And how many theologians believed that when
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Jesus was on the cross, he didn't just say one verse that's quoted in Psalm chapter 22, but Jesus actually recited all of Psalm 22.
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And so that this was a picture in Hebrews telling us that not only is the
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Holy Spirit speaking to man to write this word the same way that I would use a pen to write a letter,
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God is using men to pen his letter. But this prophecy of Jesus in Psalm 22 speaking or this portion of scripture that we have here in Psalm 95, which the writer of Hebrews is bringing to bear.
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But ultimately, ultimately, with the knowledge that we have now about the word of God, it's
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Christ speaking. It's the very words of Christ.
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It's not just the red words. It's not just the words in red, but it's the whole
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Bible. The whole Bible is Christocentric. If you truly have a covenant framework of Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ is speaking to the whole
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Bible. It's all about him. And that this word picture that it gives us of this warrior with a sword that's living and active, that is sharper than any two -edged sword, it was able to separate the soul from the spirit.
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And that's what we looked at last week. So point number two, we will begin with it again today.
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The word of God is skilled for judging. So verse 12,
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Hebrews chapter four, verse 12. Let's just read that one more time. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit.
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And I pointed out that this word division was to divide to the soul and spirit of joint and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts.
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Last week, I pointed out that the text seemed to be outlining our being.
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And I mentioned what I pulled together from the text. And by that,
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I mean mind, body, soul, and spirit. Now, what I'm not saying,
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I wanna point this out. What I'm not saying is that I'm teaching a doctrine, because there's a doctrine out there that we're triune being, that we in of ourself, our mind, body, and soul can relate to.
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That's not what I'm teaching. That's not what I'm teaching. What I'm saying, the text seems to lay out a clear distinction.
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And I'm not saying that the soul and the spirit are one. You can't divide it if it was one.
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But I am saying they're internally connected. And I'm not really the one up here that spoke that.
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The scripture itself says that, that the sword is able to, it says piercing to the division.
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The word division is to divide and separate of soul and spirit. So I just wanna point that out, that we are to love the
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Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our spirit, and with all of our mind.
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Now, I'm not trying to formulate that into a doctrine. I don't believe that that can be done.
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But I'm just trying to tell you what the text seems to be saying. And last week, we looked at soul and spirit.
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So today, before we get to our third point, I'm gonna look at mind.
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Before we get to our third point, we will look at mind and body. So just for points of facts, so this is what the text says, but I kinda separated it to kinda identify what's going on here.
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It says that since the word of God is living and it is active, so it's kinda like, since this is true, then this over here is gonna be true.
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So just have that in mind. Since the word of God is living and active, it is sharper than any two -edged sword.
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Since the word of God is living and active, it is able to pierce and to divide the soul from the spirit.
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Since the word of God is living and active, it is able to separate your joints from the marrow.
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And since the word of God is living and active, it is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of your heart.
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All these things are a byproduct because the word of God is living and active. None of these things would be possible if the word of God was not living and active.
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That's the whole purpose of this text, I believe. I believe the writer of Hebrews here is going out of his way to explain to us that the word of God will not, listen, will not return void.
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I think that's what the writer of Hebrews has been wrestling us,
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I mean, has been causing us to see. He wants us to wrestle with this text to understand that it's all about the word of God.
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He brought it to bear last week in the text. I showed that he brought it to bear and my plan today is to bring to bear the text that's before us.
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But if you will look in Isaiah chapter 55, 55 verses 10 and 11.
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Isaiah 55, 10 and 11. For as the rain and snow came down from heaven and do not return, they do not return there, but they water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.
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It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which
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I purpose. And shall succeed in the thing for which
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I sent it. So here in our text, our text says that it separates the joints from the marrow.
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And we get that because of the argument that's been pointed at, that it's pointing to.
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That it separates the joints from the marrow because I believe it's shed in light from the separation of the soul and spirit.
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So we have the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two -edged sword, so the antecedent here to the division of soul and spirit and joints and marrow is because it's sharper than any two -edged sword.
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So I only think that when it speaks of joint and marrow as it's speaking of the body, that it's just pointing to us how sharp the sword is.
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I think it's just showing us the division that's taking place between soul and spirit.
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That the joint and marrow is only emphasizing the blade, which is the word of God.
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That the word of God affects our whole being, that which makes you, you.
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The word of God affects it. If you ever just, again
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I can just remember back almost 20 years ago when I picked up the Bible and started reading it.
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And it began to affect my thoughts, the way that I was acting.
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It had an impact on my life even before Christ saved me.
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And it could be because of this presupposition that I had when I picked it up, that it was the word of God.
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It had such an impact in my life, I could not put it down. I could not get enough.
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And in our text, in the context of where we're at, the context is about them resting in Christ.
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And that is only done by belief, as I stated earlier. But it is preceded by an exegetical argument of Jesus being our high priest, the one who intercedes for us.
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You go back weeks ago, I pointed out, well the text pointed out that in chapter two, that Jesus had to be made like his brothers in every respect.
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Speaking of him being a Hebrew, not a Caucasian white male, but he had to be made a
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Hebrew in order to be a high priest.
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He had to be made like his brothers, pointing to a physical descendant of Abraham in order to be made a high priest.
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And by his high priestly office, he is able to make sacrifice. And then we'll get into more of that, a deeper understanding of that in the weeks to come.
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The text tells us that the word of God is discerning the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts.
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Now I don't know about you, that's probably one of the scariest verses in the Bible for me. Hallelujah?
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Hallelujah? Amen? That'll get a Baptist shouting amen. That has been one of the scariest verses in the
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Bible for me. It is not separating them, being thoughts and attentions, into two categories, but it is telling us that God knows our thoughts and he knows the reason why we do certain things.
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Man, that's scary. I don't even know the reasons behind some of the things that I do, right?
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You and I cannot discern the thoughts and attentions of our own heart, much less the thoughts and the attentions of the hearts of someone else.
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But God can, God does. That you and I are prone to do the wrong thing for, we are prone to do the right thing for wrong motives.
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Right? We are. We are prone to do the right thing for wrong motives.
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And then we have people say, oh, well, God knows my heart. Yeah, he does, and it's weakly deceitful above all things.
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Who can understand it? It's what Jeremiah says. You do not know your own heart, but God does.
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Coming to church is a good thing, but many people do it for the wrong purpose, right?
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Coming to church, being part of the body of Christ, that's a good thing, but many people do that for the wrong purpose, whether it's to gain favor, meet a husband, meet a wife, right?
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If your being at church is anything outside of worshiping God and fellowshipping with his saints, your being here is for the wrong reasons.
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The church is the community of believers gathering together under this book, this word of God, and worshiping
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God the way this book tells us to. That we're sold out to the word of God.
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We're sold out to this. Christ has removed the heart of stone.
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He has given me a heart of flesh. He's sprinkled me with clean water. He's put a spirit in me that causes me to obey his law.
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And I'm here gathered together today with you to worship him with the people of God whom
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I have the most in common with, the most in common with. My new friend
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Robert came in here today. I have more in common with him than most people in my family because they're lost under the word of God.
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The word of God is sharper than any two -edged sword, and we can do the right thing for wrong motives.
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And I'm definitely guilty. I stand before you today guilty. And in our text, the writer is speaking.
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We want to know who the writer is speaking to. He is speaking to a Jewish congregation.
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And some of them, though they are in the body of Christ, their mind isn't. Their mind is at the temple.
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Their mind is at the temple with the other Jews, dancing around the sacrificial system as if it was the goading calf.
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During the fullness of time has come. Jesus Christ has died for our sins according to the scriptures.
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He was buried and he rose again according to the scriptures. These people have professed
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Christ with their mouth. They have been baptized, and yet he's having to write this book to rebuke them and telling them not to go back to the temple.
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Stop going to the temple. They're with the body of Christ, but it's for the wrong purpose because they're not truly there in their mind.
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Loving the Lord our God requires our mind. Love the Lord your
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God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your spirit, with all. You cannot do that apart from your mind.
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Please turn with me to John 17. This is the high priestly prayer. John 17, verse 17.
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Excuse me. John 17, 17.
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Jesus says, sanctify them in the truth.
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Your word is truth. So Jesus is praying to his father. He's about to be betrayed by one of his disciples.
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He's looking, he says, sanctify them. Speaking of his disciples, and then we get into the context.
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He speaks about the generations to come. He says, sanctify them, those who believe in him.
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Sanctify them in the truth. And he says to them, your word is.
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The scriptures are self -attested that they are the word of God.
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Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the father except through me.
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Sacrificial system. The sacrificial system will not get you to the father. As a matter of fact, it never was intended to get you to the father.
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It's always been Christ. If you understand covenant theology, it's always been
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Christ. And Jesus is testifying.
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He's praying to the father that he will sanctify his believers in the truth.
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And the word is the truth. So pointing back to the
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Hebrews at this time, and though they may have fooled some of their brothers, some of their sisters, the writer is making it clear that they are not fooling
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God. That God cannot be fooled. God cannot be mocked.
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Whatever a man sow, that is what he will reap. You can't plant tomatoes and expect watermelons.
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That does not happen. And this is why the statement is made in verse 11.
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Go back to verse 11 of Hebrews, where he says, let us therefore strive to enter that rest.
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He doesn't want to leave his brothers behind. He doesn't want to leave his brothers behind.
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He says, let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
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What was the antecedent to the disobedience? Unbelief. We need to believe
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God. What was going on? We had the context with Psalm 95, going into the land of Canaan.
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They did not believe God could rescue them from the giants that God had given them the land.
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They had to go into the land of Canaan to take it over, but they were afraid of the giants.
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Here in our text, the prophecy of Jesus' return has been made.
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He said, within that generation, the generation is about to end. Persecution is coming down upon them.
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They're being killed by the religious Jews. They're being killed by Rome. They're being set on fire. Their private parts are being eaten by Nero.
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And all they think about, if we just go to temple, if we just go back to temple, none of this will happen.
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They're just a few years off from the return of Christ where he was going to come and judge that nation.
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And they were going to be entering into a new land, the oikomene to come, chapter two, verse five.
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The oikomene to come, that Christ sent his son into the world to subdue the world.
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And yet they was having unbelief. So that's our context.
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The word discerning here can also be translated to judge, that God judges the thoughts and the intentions of our heart.
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So you got all this stuff going on around these first century Christians. They're present with the body, but their mind is at temple.
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Oh, if I could just go back and sacrifice, I won't be put to death. But they're with a body of believers who are moving forward, telling them, if you go,
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I go, and I'm not going, and neither are you, I'm taking you with me. The writer of Hebrews is pleading with them, don't go back to temple,
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Jesus has already made the sacrifice. God's word is judging you.
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That's what he's telling them, God's word is judging you. Ladies and gentlemen, that's what I'm to say today.
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We're to focus our attention upon Christ. We are, and every time that I'm in here for the wrong motive,
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God's word is judging me. It's judging me, and I'm so thankful for that.
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I'm so thankful that he has not left me as an orphan. I'm so thankful that when I gear off the path, he disciplines me.
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So thankful that God's word judges me. And as we transition, let's look at John chapter five this morning.
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As I was in Sunday school class, and I had to read from John chapter five, I was like, oh
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Jeff, don't answer too much. That's what I was telling myself, don't give too much away. John chapter five, look at verses 19.
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Verse 19 through 29, that little paragraph right there. Well, two paragraphs.
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So the context is Jesus is healing on the Sabbath. But Jesus should not be healing on the
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Sabbath according to the pharisaical rule. So we have Jesus healing on the Sabbath. And Jesus said to them, truly, truly,
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I say to you, the son of man does nothing on his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing.
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For whatever the father does, that the son does likewise.
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For the father loves the son and shows him all that he himself is doing.
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And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
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For as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the son of man gives life to whom he wills.
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For the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son of man. but has given all judgment to the son, that all may honor the son, just as they honor the father.
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Whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. Truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
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He does not come into judgment, but has passed from life to death.
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Truly I say to you, this is the verse I read earlier, truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the
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Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the
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Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself.
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And He has given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the
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Son of Man. Pointing back to Daniel chapter seven. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear
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His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
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So real quick, verse 22, we have Jesus slash the
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Word of God judges, verse 22, for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the
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Son. Who's the Son? The one in Revelation who has this double edged sword coming out of His mouth that strikes the nations.
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What's the double edged sword? Hebrews chapter six, I mean, it's not Hebrews. Ephesians chapter six, the sword of the
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Spirit is the Word of God. The Word of God judges us,
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Jesus judges us. He judges us. That's what's being made clear.
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The Father does not judge us, but has given all authority to the Son. Verse 25, truly, verse 25 speaks of Adam, but from Adam to Christ.
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We looked at this earlier. Brother Alex teaching Sunday school today.
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Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here, speaking of first century
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Judaism, around 30 AD, we have the fullness of time was at the baptism of Christ, the fullness of time.
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He says, it is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the
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Son of God. So who are the dead? We looked at it last week. Those whose soul, whose spirit was separated from the soul.
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Who is that? That's all of us because of the sin of Adam. We were born dead in our trespasses and our sins.
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What does it say? It says, but God made us alive together with Christ and has seated us with Him in the heavenly sword by grace you have been saved through faith.
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Well, how do you get faith? Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word of Christ, the gospel message.
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That ever since the beginning of time, God created the world through His Son. And ever since the fall of Adam, He has been recreating the world through the message of His Son.
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But He's saying that right here at this moment is the moment where the dead can truly come to life.
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So they're gonna hear it on His voice and those who are spiritually dead will come to life.
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That this prophecy of the separation of the soul and spirit, that the spirit is going to come back to life.
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That the sword didn't in one sense cut in half like the soul and the spirit are one and it cut them in half.
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Like that's not what it's saying. It's just a word picture. But basically that the spirit that's in you that can please
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God died with Adam. It died with Adam.
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And so we're born spiritually dead in our trespasses and our sins. But Jesus says that right now is about, something is about to happen that's going to reverse that curse.
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And then verse 28 and 29, do not marvel at this for an hour's time when the sun is coming, when all who are in the tombs will hear
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His voice. So this is gonna be a different time. So it's not speaking of the same time. Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear
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His voice. You say, well, Jeff, how do you know that's a different time? Verse 29, and come out and those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
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This takes us to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tells us about the resurrection of the dead.
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And it's not gonna happen until Christ has put all enemies under His feet. And the last enemy is death.
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And then it talks about the man of just versus the man of heaven. And at that moment, some are gonna come and they're gonna look like the man of dust.
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And that's speaking of Adam. It's because they got Adam attached to them. But some are gonna come out of the ground, clothed in the man of heaven.
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The man of heaven is Jesus Christ. So those who go into the resurrection of life are clothed in the man of heaven.
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Those who go to the resurrection of judgment will be clothed in the man of dust.
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So at that time, an hour's coming, speaking when the dead can come to life, but this is spiritually dead.
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They hear His voice, they hear the gospel, and they have a spiritual birth, but then another hour's coming.
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So now to point number three, this one's gonna be real quick. And by the word of God, we will give an account.
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Hebrews 4 .13. So in this one, we're just gonna read some scripture and I'll give a little commentary and we'll end it.
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And no creature is hidden from a sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eye of Him who we must give an account.
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All right. If you would, you can or you don't have to, but I'll be in quite a few passages.
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First one is Psalm 62, part of verse 12. Psalm 62, 12.
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Oh Lord, belong steadfast love, for you will render to a man on account according to his works.
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For you will render to a man according to his works.
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Now, if that don't scare you, that doesn't scare you.
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He will render to us according to our works. Now, if I stopped there,
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I wouldn't blame you if you didn't come next week. Well, if I stopped there, right? Right?
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There's no hope there. Acts chapter 17, verse 31.
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Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness. I'm gonna stop right there a second.
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He is not going to judge the world in love. He is not going to judge the world in love.
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He is going to judge the world in righteousness.
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Oh, to be found in the righteousness of Christ. He has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.
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And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
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Romans chapter two, verse 16. Romans chapter two, verse 16.
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On that day, when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of man by Christ Jesus.
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First Corinthians chapter four, verse four. Listen to Paul.
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For am I not unaware of, I mean, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted.
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It is the Lord who judges me. I go back to Romans chapter three, verse 21 through 26.
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21 through 26. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
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For there's no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
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God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.
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And this was to show God's righteousness because of his divine forbearance, he passed over former sins.
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It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ.
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Real quick, I wanna look at our confession. This will be the one, this will be the part that we'll be teaching next week.
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I won't be teaching, but someone will be teaching next week on justification.
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Listen to these words. Those God effectually calls, he also freely justifies.
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He does this not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and accounting and accepting them as righteous.
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He does this for Christ's sake alone and not for anything produced in them or done by them.
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He does not impute faith itself, but the act of believing or any other gospel obedience to them as their righteousness.
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Instead, he imputes Christ's act of obedience to the whole all and passive obedience in his death as their whole and only righteousness by faith.
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This faith is not self -granted, it is the gift of God. Faith that receives and rests on Christ and his righteousness is the only instrument of justification, and yet it does not occur by itself in the person justified.
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But it always accompanied, it's always accompanied by every other saving grace.
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It is not a dead faith, but works through love. By his obedience, speaking of Christ, by his obedience in death,
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Christ fully paid the debt of all those who are justified.
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He endured in their place the penalty they deserve. By this sacrifice of himself and his bloodshed on the cross, he legitimately, really, and fully satisfies
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God's justice on their behalf. And yet their justification is based entirely on free grace because it was given by the
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Father for them in his obedience, and he satisfied were accepted in their place, the satisfaction was accepted in their place, these things were done freely, not because of anything in them, so that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God would be glorified in the justification of sinners.
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Two more paragraphs. Three, sorry. From all eternity, God decreed to justify the elect.
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So from all eternity, God decreed to justify the elect, and in the fullness of time,
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Christ died for their sins and rose again for their justification. Nevertheless, they are not justified personally until the
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Holy Spirit actually applies Christ to them at the proper time.
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God continues to forgive their sins, the sins of those who are justified, even though they can never fully satisfy,
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I mean, fall from the state of justification. They may fall under God's fatherly discipline because of their sins, and the condition, in that condition, they will not usually have the light of his face restored to them until they humble themselves, confess their sins, plead for pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.
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Listen to this last one. In all these ways, justification of believers under the
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Old Testament was exactly the same as justification of believers under the
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New Testament. So y 'all hear me say all the time, the same way Abraham was saved is the same way that we are saved.
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If our salvation isn't connected to Abraham, then I am preaching a false gospel.
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I'm preaching a false gospel. The same way Abraham was saved is the same way that we have to be saved.
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And I wanna look back at one verse that we just looked at, last one, verse, well, two verses, because we have all sinned, right?
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Every one of us, we have sinned. And verse 26 tells us that it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith.
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So God has to be just. If a criminal was to walk into your house and butcher knife
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Michael Myers, your Ho family, and he gets caught and he gets arrested and he stands before a judge and that judge lets him go free.
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That's not a just judge. That's an evil judge. If someone kills your
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Ho family and a judge lets him go free, he's evil. The judge is more evil than the man that killed your family.
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God is not going to let evil people go free. And I stand before you as someone that he shouldn't have let go free.
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God has to be the just and the justifier. He has to punish our sins.
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He has to punish our sins. And so therefore he sends his only son.
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And the gospel takes place. His Jesus living the life we could not live and dying the death that we should die.
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And by doing so, he is the just and the justifier of the one who has faith.
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He is able to acquit us of all of our sins because Jesus died in our place.
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He stood in our stead. What happened to him should have happened to me.
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And I always say this, as the axe of God's wrath was coming down to crush me, Jesus on the cross jumped in mine.
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And by that, listen, we cannot hide. We are all naked and exposed before him.
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And we must give an account. But that's where verse 24 kicked in of John.
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It says, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes in him who sent me has eternal life.
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Hold on, let me go back to that again. Listen to that last part, I should have said it. And he does not come into judgment.
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Those who believe in Christ does not come into judgment. Why? Because Christ Jesus has taken our place.
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He has stood in our stead. He has stood in our stead. And so when you read Isaiah 55, 10 and 11,
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I'll close with this. For as the rain and the snow came down from heaven and do not return, there but waters the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.
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Jesus is the word of God. It shall not return to me empty.
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Jesus accomplished the purpose. But it shall accomplish that which
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I purpose. And it shall succeed in the thing in which I sent it. For God so loved the world that he sent his only son.
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Right? What did Jesus do? He accomplished the purpose of redemption. Closing thoughts.
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The only way any of us can rest is if we're resting in Jesus Christ. And the only way anyone can rest in Christ is if they enter that rest by faith.
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I'm available to anyone who wants to talk. If you have any prayer needs, I'd love nothing more than to pray for you.
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Join me in prayer. God, we come to you in prayer, thanking you for your word, thanking you for all that you have done for us.
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Lord, it is indeed a great privilege to stand before your people. I pray that I articulated that message well.
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Lord, we need you every moment of our day. We are so lost without you.
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I pray that your hand of blessing will be upon this congregation. Lord, I pray that they know if they need anything, they can come to me.
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Thank you for all that you do. Please continue to bless us.
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Lord, I ask your blessings upon your supper, the ordinance that you have given us, this wine and this bread,
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Lord, the body and blood of Christ. Lord, we pray that as we take part in this supper, that we do what the scriptures have commanded us to do, that we remember, that we do this in remembrance.
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And the remembrance portion of it is what Christ has done for us, his body broken and his blood shed, that him dying for our sins according to the scriptures, being buried and raised on the third day.