Ken Duncan, Genesis 1,27 29, etc

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church

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Genesis chapter 1 verses 27 to 29 Hear the word of the Lord So God created man in his own image in the image of God.

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He created him male and female he created them and God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth and God said

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Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth and every tree with the seed and its fruit

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You shall have them for food If the Lord has blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Well now we're glad to welcome mr.

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Ken Duncan It's good to come to any place where you see

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God's people still worshiping and You can go anywhere in North Carolina you'll find a place where people are worshiping

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God and praising him and I feel a real spirit of faith in here of a real seriousness about Jesus what he did for us on the cross and So I want to keep that spirit of seriousness here, but I my name is

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Ken Duncan, I'm from Wyoming, but I moved here 20 Years ago, I guess well, it's 22 years ago now and so I guess

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I'm North Carolinian and I was told today so I'll be part of the group now

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So my daughter did tell me a joke on the way here. So I'll go ahead and share it I don't want to get unserious because this is

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God's place, but it was a good joke. It was funny What do you call a person without a body and a nose?

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Nobody knows That's kind of funny. It's kind of cute. So Preaching God's Word, but we're still people and a little humorous fun

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We're talking today about you know, the beginning of the first fall of man and The reason

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I like this passage of scripture is because it's I just go back to this passage a lot because it's very personal

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It seems to me like it's a very personal. It's just God man and His temptation and his woman with them man

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Adam and Eve or you can say a man a woman together. It's just personal. It's just You know, it's just you and God and this is just the way it is it's like I can put myself in Adam's shoes and say well, that's me and nothing has really changed there's billions of people on the earth and This whole thing happens over and over again every day millions of times

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The same situation and so instead of making it so perplexed and seeming so small and minute

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It's like wait, I'm in God's presence. This is my situation with God. God is near to me and I'm as if I was the only

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Adam here and so are you and all of us are so we can take the situation as a Very personal and so I like this because it's uncomplicated.

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It's just Just the way life is It's me in the world and another reason

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I've chosen this is because I'm focusing Not on the verses of the temptation where Adam and Eve fell and all that stuff

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I'm focusing on God's commands here God's Word that he gave them. So I'll read these again if you have your notes,

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Genesis 1 27 20 to 9 215 to 17 and 312

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I've chosen these verses because these are God's commands What God said to Adam and Eve and that's where our focus needs to be as we live in our day -to -day world is

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Not our situation not the enemy not our past not all this stuff, but we need to focus on God's Word So that's where I want to focus here is

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I don't want to read the situation their fall We need to focus on God's Word or God's commands, which is what we need to do as Christians is focus on God's command so We do this in prayer and we'll we'll go into this father.

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We just pray as we study your word and I've studied your word that your spirit go to be upon me and upon this message help each one of us take something from this

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Today we've come here for a purpose that's to go closer to you because our faith is in you and Because you really need your father to hold us until that end and just pray to open up your word we pray in Jesus Holy name.

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Amen Look, give me read this again here John 1 I'm sorry Genesis 1 27 to 29

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God created man in his own image in the image of God. He created them male and female. He created them

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God blessed them and God said to them God spoke to them Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth then

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God said Behold, I've given you every plant yielding fruit yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth and every tree which is

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Fruit yielding seed it should be food for you okay, so I just look at the point there's

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God is speaking here God said to them and And The point here is in also 215 to 17

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Then the Lord took God took the man put him into a garden Eden To cultivate it and keep it

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Lord commanded the man saying saying from every tree of the garden you may freely eat

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Okay, so we see God is speaking to man. God gave them commandments you can eat And he told them what you can eat what you can't eat

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Verse 17, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day you eat it You will surely die

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Okay, so God gave him commands And so we believe we ought to please God do we do we think that's what we ought to do?

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That's the right thing to do to obey God Well the fact that you're here today Probably testifies that well,

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I think God deserves my obedience God deserves me To obey him why ought this be let's just take an illustration to start off with Let's just say

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I have a company and I use my own money my own investment I worked hard and I raised this company up and I built it and now

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I have say 50 employees and Well, we're getting into the 21st century here and and things are advancing and my computers are getting hacked

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And so I need to hire somebody to For cyber security and so I hire this hire this guy.

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He's got good credentials. He's got his degrees and he's pretty well trained I hire him to come do cyber security for my company and So I hire him and then

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I come to work one day and I just wander around watching what everybody's doing I see him and He's he's dusting

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What's wrong dusting everything and then that's strange I go away and do my thing come back the next day and he's vacuuming and then

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I'm like hmm And then later on he's mopping and then I I do what

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I really don't want to do What no manager really wants to do comes up to him has to have a confrontation.

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It's like I Notice you're doing a lot of cleaning Are you getting paid by the hour and he says yeah,

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I'm being paid by the hour and you're on the clock, right? yeah, and I thought I hired you to do cyber security for my company and He says yeah, but I really like to clean.

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That's my thing I just love cleaning and I said well, I'm paying you $50 an hour not to clean but to do cyber security

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Right, and so and so we have this competition and I said, you know It's got to be my way my uncle like to say this my way or the highway shape up or ship out

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Things like that. So this is my company and I hired you to my thing, right? And so you would say well, that's the right thing to do.

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I'm the manager. I'm the owner I built this company. And so I have a job.

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I needed you to do this and so It's a categorical difference you're the employee you're being paid by the hour you should be doing what you're told to do, right?

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It's just it just makes sense. It's the right thing to do. We believe in the openness there We should believe in the openness there that if you're hired you're being paid by the hour you should be doing what your manager tells you to do and So just this way it ought to be and so when we look at God and creation it's like I Created this world.

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I made it out of nothing. It's my world I put my hard work into it and I made you and Sometimes we don't see ourselves that way and that's the way the world lives and we just we don't really think about God well, the world we live in doesn't think about God and Their life is like well,

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I make my decisions. I have the rights. I have my choices and and It's like well wait

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You came here by God you your existence depends on God And so it is an ought to that if he says this is the way

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I want you to live your life This is the way I want you to be to be and I want to be your focus

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I made you for this then it ought to be that we please him And so we got to think of ourselves in the openness of where we should be

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We ought to walk and please God Is what we ought to do. So We ought to please

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God that's the first point I have here the message is we ought to please God and Well, Adam and Eve chose not to obey

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God and we see in Genesis 3 12 Turn the page here

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Says the man said the woman who you gave me To be with me. She gave me from a tree and I ate

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It's interesting Adam just made a confession He made a confession. This is the woman who you gave me see

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Adam in this situation is he he neglected God he he temporarily suppressed the knowledge of God from his life and Thought I'm gonna make my decision the way

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I want it But deep down and in this His answer is he understood he recognized that God gave him the woman.

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He understood his place Everything I have came from you this woman you gave me so he understood

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That he wasn't his own person he didn't create himself everything came from God He understood the situation that God made him

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God gave him the woman he's making a confession that God you are

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God and you you know, I can't just claim innocence that Well, I just do my own thing because it's my world.

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No, he recognized that you he understood his relationship with God You gave me this woman.

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So he's making a confession and we see all through these commandments that we looked at God said him

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I have given you this to eat. Where did it come from? It came from God I gave you everything to eat be fruitful multiply.

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I gave you The trees but don't eat this tree from this tree and so he understood his place with God and So in today's world people suppress the knowledge of God Romans 1 is talking about the creation is testifying to people

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You didn't make you you didn't make the world you ought to know that you should please God But what do we like to do?

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We suppress God and we think but but we know we're with that excuse because we do know like Adam.

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I Should obey God. I didn't just come out of nothing We try to make up these stories that well the world makes up these stories that we came from You know primal primordial soup or something like that, but they're just suppressing

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God this oughtness But it's the world testifies clearly loud and clear

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You didn't come from nothing you came from God so we ought to please God so but there's others

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Who have made a good confession Job made a confession? Job 38 once you said

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I have to look up some of these verses most of them I won't have to look up, but I'll go ahead look up Job 38 1 through 7

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Oh Job 38 1 through 7 the Lord answered

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Job out of the woodwind and said who is this that darkens counsel? By words without knowledge.

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This is between Job and God God's questioning Job You know and why are you doing this to me?

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I'm Job's ass been questioning God. Why are you doing this to me? It doesn't make sense and God's talking to Job saying

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Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man

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Job And I'll ask you and you will instruct me So he's been a little sarcastic and that's okay

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Where were you Job when I laid the foundations of the earth? He's just the same question here the same question of Adam and Eve you know

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What's your place Job what's your place Adam? What's your place you and me? What's our place in this world?

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What's what's the Ottness here? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding well,

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I Don't know. It's pretty obvious question. I wasn't around. I I guess I don't know I wasn't there Who said it's measurements since you know

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Job or who stretched the line on it or what were its bases sunk? On what were its bases sunk or who laid its cornerstones when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy

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Okay, so Job's getting quiet here move on verses 42 1 through 6 couple pages

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The job answered the Lord and said I know that you can do all things that no purpose of yours can be thwarted

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Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge therefore? I have declared what he did not understand Job's confessing

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I'm speaking and I shouldn't be speaking things too wonderful me, which I did not know Here now and I will speak.

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I'll ask you and you will instruct me. So now Job's getting it, right? I should be the listener. You'll be the instructor

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I've heard of you by the hearing of my ear, but now my eyes sees you therefore repent or retract and repent in dust and ashes

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Okay, so we see through the Bible. It's the same story the same picture. We got to get things straight in our mind

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You're God I'm man, that's just the very or woman it's just a very simple structure and it's the

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Basis of everything that he's God and we're just us I think we think too highly of ourselves and too small of God That's I think that's our human.

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I think that's a part of the fall. It's that's what we've become That's what Adam and Eve fell into you'll be like God and and so we fell into that thing.

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Well I am God or I can we get there. I want to be my own person

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But to get things right the way it should be is no, I need to be humble. I am

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NOT anybody In my own self, I am dependent on God so Thinking highly of ourselves and lowly verse

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Lonely of ourselves and highly of God is an important thing Psalm 50. I'm just gonna read a couple verses here

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Just points these out Psalm 50 16 to 21 But to the wicked

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God says what right of you to tell my statutes and to take my covenant in your mouth For you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you when you see a thief you're pleased with him and you associate with evil doers

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Is it alters? You let your mouth loose and evil and your tongue frames deceit You sit and speak against your brother.

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You slander your own mother's son These things you have done and I kept silent You thought

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I was just like you I'll approve you and state the case in order before your eyes. I like the

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King James Version on this It says you thought I was all together like you Kind of clarifies it.

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You thought I was all together like you. You thought I was just like you But I'm gonna set this straight

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That you're not like me. I am God. You're a man. You thought I was all together like you

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So the clarification is God is putting us in our place we need to begin to think

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Are we thinking God is all together like us or our views of God low and our views of ourself exalted?

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Last verse to really point this out Isaiah 40 12 to 17

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Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens by the span and Calculated the dust of the earth by the measure and weighed the mountains in his balance and the hills and a pair of scales

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Who has directed the spirit of the Lord? Or his counselor or as his counselor has informed him

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With whom did he consult and who gave him understanding who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge?

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and informed him of the way of understanding we hold the nation's like a drop in the bucket and The regard is a speck on the dust of the scales

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Behold he lifts up the islands like fine dust Even Lebanon is not enough to burn nor its beast enough for a burnt offering

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So as we read the Bible, it's so important to meditate on God's Word to keep us

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Proportionate to God that your God I am man So the first point of our message here is we ought to please

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God That's our place. That's That's what should be and that's what is not just for us but for the whole world

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Everybody ought to please God That's what makes everybody guilty

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Because we don't do what we should do that What's makes everybody dead and trespasses and sin because we should be alive to God.

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We should be pleasing God. That's our place But we don't and so that is but we're not innocent just because we don't please

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God We're guilty because we don't please God Job and Daniel had a high view of God They determined in the heart.

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I'm gonna do what God wants Job said I have made a covenant with my eyes I'm not gonna lust for a young woman

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Daniel Daniel said I've made a decision in my heart that I'm not gonna eat the King's meat

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They purposed in their heart. They're gonna do what God said Because why? He is

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God. I Should obey my father. I should obey my maker. He's my creator. He's God My rightful place is not

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I don't make decisions. I'm gonna do what God says to do So God put in their heart to do what is right?

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So Job and Daniel were good view examples of people who have put in the heart to obey God today people have a low view of God And We see this like an issue of homosexuality so many people

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Fight God's Word argue God's Word try to twist God's Word shut

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God's Word out whatever they can do God did not say what they can do on this issue.

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God did not say well I use this illustration because the American Family Association is going for the video

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It's in his image movie and it's in your notes You can look it up sometime. It just came out like last week,

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I think and it really helps us know what God's Word says and it also makes

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God's Word says in real life people who have struggled with this issue and You know, we don't want to be impersonal people have struggled.

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So we're going to deal with this as Humans, yes, these people have their struggles but we're going to see how they can overcome and we're being lied to and people are disregarding

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God and Ignoring God twisting God's Word But I just thought when I present that video to you as a possible thing to look at to help us grow in God's Word God's authority on this issue and I've honestly only watched the promotional videos and If there's something wrong with the video or your pastor,

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I'm sure we'll clarify it But I'm pretty I looked at it looked pretty good. It looked they had at least the right intention motive.

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It's God's Word So I just bring that out there that's something we need to keep learning because we're being lied to about God's Word and in schools education system media everything we're being lied to and we're living in a world of lies and You know,

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I think sometimes maybe you've had this thought before if it was just me in this world and God I could live a pretty easy obedient life.

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It was just me and God and I wouldn't have any trouble But God did not make the world like that He put us in a hostile environment.

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I put Adam and Eve in a hostile environment and we're in a hostile environment. And so There's a reason why we're in this hostile environment is

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Well psalm 119 verse 11, I'm sorry verse 4 says you have commanded your precepts

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That they should be kept diligently If it was just me and God it wouldn't be difficult to keep

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God's laws. I Wouldn't have to be diligent. I just just live and But God gave his precepts to be kept diligently and his precepts can't be kept diligently

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Unless we're in a hostile environment Because then we have to work at it we have to strive and God put us in a hostile environment for a reason that we would

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We would fight and we would work to keep his commandments and so we all have to live in that kind of a world where it's hostile and So we need to work together we're lights in the darkness in the midst of a crooked and a perverse generation and that's the world we live in and so That's why we're together.

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That's why we don't forsake our assembling together. That's why we're a church Because we're having to keep each other strong as lights and this is a great light house right here so What is the problem sin what what causes us to to sin and the problem is our will

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If you see in the blue in our notes, I put death rebirth and work in pain

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Those are the three things of the curse that God brought in there But there's something redemptive in those three things in the day you eat this you will die

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Okay, and I connect that to the death of our will We must die death is a part of the curse

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But it's a part of also God's working us we have to die to ourself because anything that opposes

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God must die because there's only one God and So if our will has sinned against God Then our will has to die.

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So there's a death that has to be a part of the curse. The curse isn't just The end no, it's a beginning it's

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To be God's people God has a purpose we must die The second point there is rebirth and that's

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God's work in us We get to that later and the pain and there's pain in childbirth

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There's hard work There's toil and that's what Jesus did for us.

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I just see that as an illustration Jesus came did the work for us of dying on the cross and the pain that came from sin

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He took for us as we've already looked at this morning the problem of our will

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Paul made a his own little Commentary on this

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Story we're in right now in Genesis 1 in Genesis 2nd Corinthians 11 3 he says I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived

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Eve by his craftiness so your hearts have been moved away from your mind has been moved away from the sincerity of devotion to Christ This is what the

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Christian life is Our will should be Sincerely devoted to Christ.

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That's what the Christian life is. I'm sincerely devoted to Christ. I want to do what pleases him and Satan may twist us away from that instead of just our will sincerely devoted to Christ We are will be twisted somewhere else

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So we're gonna do a little stretch in here. It's We get moved away from monotony here, so I want to get us into a little illustration here

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Everybody raise your right hand Raise your hand look pretty good Mostly, okay.

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How about touch your nose with that one? All right. All right. You're mostly willing to do that.

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Okay, and Those you're willing to do that. Was that a hard thing to do for you? But it may have been hard because It's like okay.

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This is really dumb I don't really want to do this But you went along with me for the most part and your will did not resist but the actual doing of that action

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Wasn't that hard if you said once you willed to do it. It was easy. Okay, right?

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Your mind your body did what your will said to do and then to do this was really not that hard And why did it act?

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You always do what your will says to do and if your will says to do it It will do it if will says not to do it.

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You won't do it And so it's pretty easy pretty simple that came from Augustine In his book confessions is that our mind obeys our will okay, so Why is it so hard for us to do?

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What pleases God always? Why is it so easy that we just do exactly what we will to do, right?

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Why is it that we have a hard time with sin if we don't want to do it? We know we've already said first point is we ought to please

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God And we believe it's good to please God. We should obey God And we want to please

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God our eyes are enlightened. I want to do it. Please God I want to be sincerely devoted to Christ. I've been on the mountaintop.

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I want to walk and please God And we come down the valley. Why does our will? Not do what we tell it to do well,

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I've got page two on our notes here and and we'll see Augustine made a good point is that because our will isn't totally totally there because our

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Will our bodies do exactly our mind our bodies are exactly what our will tells them to do So it's our will it's a struggle

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And this will must die Let's look at this. I'll read some things Augustine said

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I read his book. I'm reading his book confessions I'm not quite done yet, but Most of you won't read the book confessions because the first third of it

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Is really really really hard. I mean, it's like There's so I pulled out a few diamonds in here and to get through to the diamonds you have to dig through a lot of dirt and so the first third of Augustine's confession is a lot of dirt just he's a

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Defining words and and I decided to trudge through it I have faith that if I read this book this books been around for 1400 years.

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It must be worthwhile if it's still in front so I just pushed my way through it and To find the diamonds, so I'm gonna leave you with some diamonds here from Augustine's confession

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From his own life and so we'd have to dig through all the dirt So Augustine struggles with his will

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Augustine was a True reformer back in fourth century into the fifth century

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So Augustine said I inquired what wickedness is And I did not find a substance

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But a perversity of will Twisted away from the highest substance

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You Oh God towards inferior things just rejecting its own inner life and Swelling with external matter.

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That was Pastor John's prayer this morning that we not be Led astray to this world what we see but we really are wanting to have our walk with God our faith in God So, but that's

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Augustine said is He found that wickedness was a perversity of my will that I don't go for what the highest substance is

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But I go for inferior things this world things that I can see external matter

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The new will Which was beginning to be at work in me He within me a will to serve you freely and to enjoy you

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Oh God as the only sure source of pleasure Was not yet strong enough to conquer my older will so Constantly, this is kind of us.

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I can see I like Constance. I say, okay, this is It's me just like Adam and Eve.

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I said this is just me Which had the strength of old habit? His old will was under the control of old habits so my two wills one old the other new one

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Carl the other spiritual were in conflict with one another and Their discord robbed my soul of all concentration

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So obviously his confession. This is what my life was like But I was responsible for the fact that it becomes so unbalanced against me my old will

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I was responsible for this For it was with my own consent that I came to the place which which

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I did not wish to be Who is the right who has the right to object if a just penalty pursues a sinner?

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So He's struggling his old will if his new will and he's saying well Actually, I'm to blame because I've put these habits in my life that make it so hard for me to obey

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God So I can't blame anybody else but myself as well. I've seen saying here. I can't object if Just penalty pursues a sinner pursues a sinner

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The thoughts which with which I meditate about were like the efforts of those who would like to get up But overcome by a deep sleep and sink back again

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Okay, so that's us. It's like I want to do what's right. I believe what's noble. I believe we should please

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God But my old habits my will is in conflict.

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I'm going back But but my madness with myself is part of the process of recovering health and the agony of death

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I was coming in the agony of death. I was coming to life Okay, so our will must die

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It's the second point of thing The problem is our will our will must die.

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It's a little bit more here The one necessary condition which meant not only going but at once arriving there to where God wants me to be

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Was to have this will go Provided only that the will was strong enough and unqualified not to turn and twist the first one way

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Then that way of the will half wounded struggling with one part rising up and the other part falling down That's what he said.

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That was his life. I Want to obey God, but my will is like I'm twisting this way to obey

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God, but then my will is pushing me down Mind commands like we did a mind commands.

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I say that it should will I would not give the command if it did not will Yet does not perform what it commands

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Paul talks about this in Romans 7, you know, I want to do this, but It's not present with me to do this.

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The willing is not wholehearted so the command is not wholehearted so I I Command myself to raise my arm, but my command isn't all the way there.

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So that's why it goes back to sleep The strength of the command lies in the strength of the will and the degree to which the command is not performed

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Lies in the degree to which the will is not engaged So the degree which I don't do what

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I should do is That my will is not engaged. My heart isn't all the way there to obeying

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God and that's the struggle the Augustine I think so nicely clarifies. He just he's searching his heart.

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He's searching God What's going on with me? We are dealing with a morbid condition of the mind which

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When it's lifted up by the truth Does not unreservedly rise to it but is weighted down by Habit, so there are two wills.

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Neither of them is complete and what is present in the one is lacking in the other Okay, so I want to do what's good, but my habits are bringing me down It is torn apart by a painful condition as long as it prefers the eternal

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Because of its truth, but does not discard the temporary because of its familiarity We want to live for heaven live for Jesus we believe in Jesus as we sang we want to discard this world and Live for eternity

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What keeps us from doing it is the familiar familiarity of this world.

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This world is here We see it and so there's a conflict of our will so here we have this will and what does the

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Bible tell us about? our will Tell us we're crucified as Christ. We must put to death this infidelity.

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We must reckon ourselves Dead to sin great Romans 6 dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus So part of overcoming this curse this this

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Oughtness to obey God, but we don't do it is we must work on our will and that's what we're all in the situation

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It's good to understand ourselves It's our will why I have a problem why am

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I not successful obedient to Christ It's a will issue.

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And so that's important to look at our heart and say it's the will Is what the problem is?

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We have a divided will Our will once it becomes one that abhors evil like a stench and It clings to what is good like a

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Roma That's in a will that we need that's what we need our will to become I Want to walk and please

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God do those things that please God? My life must be devoted to Christ That's the problem and it must be crucified so how do we get there?

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Well, it's the work of God in us. We must first recognize this we cannot do this in our own strength

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God has to do this for us We're helpless we're dead and trespasses and sin what can dead people do

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Nothing we are completely In the hands of God if he doesn't do something for us, we're not going to make it somehow here we're between heaven and hell we're in this earth in between it right here right now and It's God's grace that brings us out of where we would go on our own strength of our own will if we were left to ourselves

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We don't have a choice. We don't have a chance We're up to God to bring us all the way to the end.

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And that's where If we're here today trusting in Jesus if you trust in Jesus as your

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Lord and Savior and pray to him That's the work of God in you. God has begun something in you and his promises are that he will

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Completed so that's an important thing to know because if my will is struggling

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Then I have a lot of insecurity. Am I gonna make it or not? Make it if it depends on me.

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I Don't know. I I'm feeble and I don't think I'm gonna make it. I've talked to people who said

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You know, I just I think God probably Created me to be condemned because I don't think I've got what it takes

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I've talked to youth who said that, you know, even if I make it to heaven, I'm gonna fall because of my sin

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And so there's confusing thoughts, you know, people are like I can't do it. Well, that's where we got to start with It doesn't depend on me.

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It's God's work. God has a work. He's doing he has a purpose God didn't create this world for destruction

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He created this world the purpose that purpose was to Make for himself a people of his own possession his own people.

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It was something he was gonna do He created the world. He doesn't need the world to do something for him to to Pull themselves up by their bootstraps or whatever.

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I guess that's something Cowboys do To make their world for God and I'm gonna make it to God and God says, oh good.

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I prove it no, this is God's world God created it and He's not subject to this world as if he's watching like us he's not all together like us

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From the beginning to the end. He is making for himself a people the world is doing exactly

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According to his plan his purpose his intention it's happening just exactly as he planned and you're a part of his plan

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To be his people and if you're his people it's because he's doing that and that's security

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I don't have to depend on myself my own ability. I'm looking to Jesus. I'm trusting him.

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I Fail, but he's holding me up so God's work in us is rebirth

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He saved us from disobedience to being right with God he gave us a right stance with God this includes sanctification

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God has to create in us a love for him. The first thing he does is he creates in us a love for him

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One thing I read over over again in Constantine is he says this

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He says command what you will Command what you will grant what you command

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God makes the commandment It's up to me to provide it right God commands what you will

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No, that's not Augustine says God you make the commandment But you provide you grant what you command

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Okay, so it's not like God's commanding and I'm doing No, God, you make the commandment you grant what you command.

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So you command me that I'm your child You do something in me. I'm it. I'm in need of you.

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I'm at your disposal So command what you will grant what you command and I love that he says that several times

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I don't think there's anything Constantine Augustine Augustine repeated more and more than that one statement.

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So it must have been something that he really took to heart. I Think we should take it to heart too that we're depending on God Second Peter 1 3 a pastor prayed second

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Peter. I memorized that chapter to such an amazing chapter second Peter 1 3

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He's granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness You know, why what do we need for life?

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What do we need for godliness? It's not something we're supplying. He's granted to us everything we need for life and godliness through his own divine power and his exceeding of precious promises first Thessalonians 5 23 and 24

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May God sanctify you completely body soul and spirit may God Sanctify you completely body soul and spirit next verse

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He who called you is faithful. He will surely do it Okay, so I'm saying we're trusting his resources made he sanctify you

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He's not saying sanctify yourselves. He's praying may God sanctify you completely body soul and spirit He who called you is faithful.

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He will surely do it. That's Pauline. That's the way Paul thinks Flippians 1 6

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Being confidence very thing that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it to the day of Christ Jesus Isn't that security?

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That's where the security believe or bleed resides not in me, but in him

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My theology professor said this was pretty but it's not the perseverance of the Saints It's the perseverance of God for the

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Saints that's that's really maybe putting it more uniquely in this context is

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It's not oh he endures then will be saved. Oh I got to endure No, he endures didn't be saved.

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He who God endures the end will be saved is putting it is really what it's all about He's going to give us what we need

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Without him we cannot do anything John 15 5 through the vine and the branches

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And he says in that Apart for me you can do nothing and that's that's where we get to and that's that's kind of An important part of the

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Christian life is okay. It takes away the stress I'm a failure

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I'm afraid I I don't have what it takes. I'm weak But he is strong Jesus keep me from all wrong.

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We always are looking to him. We need him. We depend on him That's the important point here.

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God has created us a love for him His love is perfected in us

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John 4 16 and 17, it's not perfected in Adam. It's not perfected in Israel It's perfected in us.

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We're the people of God His love is perfected in us if we abide in him

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God has to create faith in us Ephesians 2 8 & 9 You're saved by faith and that is not of yourselves.

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It is a gift of God Even our faith comes from God, so I put on there

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John Stott. I like John Stott I don't agree with him theological everything, but he's got some really on the 99 % of things that we agree on Because we're evangelical

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Christians. I think he's got a good heart. He tells a lot of things and One thing he says is faith is not

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Trading one works. We're saved by faith not works. Does it mean that it's trading one work? Good works for another good work the good work of faith

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So I'm justified because I have faith and God sees that and says you're a good person Because you're good work is faith

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John Stott's pointing out that it's not that The reason it's not that is he doesn't point this out.

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But is because even your faith is a gift of God So it's not my good works.

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He gives me the faith That's his doing this in me. So faith is a good thing as you look in this right here

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I put here 2nd Thessalonians 8 1 8 through 10 and John 3 36

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Those who are under the wrath of God is Because they don't obey Jesus But those who believe are saved

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John 3 36 those who Believe the

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Son or See it says the rapper. Oh I've gotta look it up.

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It's in my mind. I can't do it. I hate it. I'll look it up real quick John 3 36

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You know John 3 16 just add 20 to it John 3 36 Says this

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Hugh book believes in the Son has eternal life Hugh does not obey the

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Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides by him. So we see

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Adam and Eve What did they have to do To obey

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God Really nothing but just to believe to trust

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God To disobey God they had to do an action. They had to do a work They had to eat the fruit and that was disobedience.

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So those who do not obey the Son Under the wrath of God, so we do what

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God so is an action That required disobedience What was the action of obedience?

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It was simple faith Just trusting in God trusting that he is good. So Satan says

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God is not good He doesn't want you to eat this because he's trying to keep something from you.

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He doesn't want to be like him but The truth is if they just would have believed

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God That would have been no doubt been their justification Just to believe

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God. No faith is believing that God is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him if Adam would have an

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Eve would have just said I'm gonna keep with God's commands because I'm trusting in God. He is good and He's gonna reward me for keeping his commands.

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All they do is trust it do anything Just not eat that fruit Just believe just trusting

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God. So there's a goodness in faith But that's a gift of God So God puts that faith in us and he does that But failure is a part of grace a righteous man falls seven times but it gets back up That's in Proverbs 24 16 because we have a

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Savior forgive 70 times 7 a Righteous man falls seven times, but he gets back up That's the endurance of faith

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That my faith is not that I'm perfect. Not that I'm gonna not fail.

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There is sin but What defines me is not my sin not my past not my habits not my failures not the world not the trials

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We're in a hostile environment But the righteous man gets up seven times

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He says oh, I'm gonna believe in God. I'm gonna believe in his goodness. He's gonna keep me I'm gonna keep going and that endurance that getting it back up Is evidence of God's working in you the evidence of God's working to you is not that you don't ever fail the evidence of God's working you is that you get back up that you are

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Looking to him again. You're confessing You don't quit going to church just because I'm not worthy

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No, I have a new defined being and my definition is I'm a new creation in Christ.

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So I want to move on to the last point. This is the work of God for us What defines me?

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What defines me? Is it my habits? This is what Constantine's problem was was he defined by his habits?

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Was he defined by his failures his struggle? His inability

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That's what he was saying. I don't have what it takes. That's what Augustine's problem was he's Looking at himself.

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I don't have what it takes to endure to the end. And that's why Augustine wouldn't become a

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Christian and He was defined by that. But the good thing about this we have the

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Lord's Supper this morning is We're defined by the blood of Jesus We run to God's wrath, yes, we deserve

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God's wrath. We're opposed to God everything that's opposed to God must die because this is world and He alone is

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God anything opposed to God sets up up as God So God cannot coexist with another

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God We have no place no help no hope in ourselves

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God works in us And the blood of Jesus was the gift of God for us the curse the wrath the punishment.

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He had to die in my place It's sufficient because it was

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God's decision God did not deal with our sin Slightly it wasn't a trifling issue.

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It was very costly. It cost him his own son It cost him the suffering of his son.

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He gave something worthy of himself And what's worthy of God? Himself there's nothing worthy enough for God, but himself.

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So what kind of sacrifice is good enough to bring us to God? Well, nothing we can bring

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Simply to the cross I cling isn't a song Just trusting in Jesus his blood for me

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And that's the beginning of the Christian life. I'm Believing in Jesus is worthy.

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He is worthy in him and faith in his blood I'm trusting in his worthiness. Yes, God is worthy of this

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God is worthy of my oughtness to please him, but I don't So what ought to be done is

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I should die But by his mercy he saved us Not by works of righteousness, which

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I've done according to flesh Titus 2 but according to his mercy By the washing of a generation or knowing the

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Holy Spirit. That's the work of God in us, but that's not salvation The work of God in us salvation is the work of the gospel is the work of God for us

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Jesus died for me. I'm trusting in that alone. I'm gonna hold on to that no matter what his blood what that's what defines me so I Struggle if I look at me

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I'm a sinner. I'm bad. I have bad thoughts I have a bad will all these things

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But that's not what God sees God sees his son took the punishment for me and I'm looking to Jesus that's defining me

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Yes, this is true. And look at this. Let's look at Augustine's conversion. I Could say it but Augustine says it better This is

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Augustine's conversion. He's talking about his conversion about how he got saved and he's talking about himself

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Like walking down a road His sinful past is against him his will all of his sins

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All his habits are are fighting against him telling him you can never do it. You can never be saved you don't have what it takes and Then God is speaking to him.

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And so here's this conversion. It's on the last page of the notes What filth what disgraceful things they were suggesting?

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That is the The past speaking to him. I was listening to them with much less than half my attention they were not frankly confronting me face to face on the road, but as it were whispering behind my back as If they were furtively tugging at me as I was going away

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Trying to persuade me to look back. Nevertheless, they held me back I hesitated to detach myself to be rid of them to make the leap where I was being called

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He's being called to follow Jesus But these things were tugging at him telling him you can't do it.

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You're you're you're evil. You know what you've done Meanwhile, the overwhelming force of habit was saying to me.

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Do you think you can live without these sins? Then continents smiled at me the smile of encouragement as if to say are you incapable of doing the other men and women have done

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Do you think them capable of achieving this by their own resources and not by the Lord their

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God? Do you think these other Christians who made it do you think they did it by their own strength?

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The Lord gave me to them. This is continents speaking The Lord gave me to them.

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Why are you relying on yourself? Augustine only to find yourself unreliable

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Cast yourself upon him Jesus. Do not be afraid I was still listening to the muttering of the other voices, but once more

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Continent said stop your ears to the impure members of earth Your impure members on earth and mortify them

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Colossians 3 5 the Word of God is speaking to him We have to keep our mind on the Word of God God's Word is what's going to keep us

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That was enough Actually is his fine Second Peter chapter 1 his divine power has given to everything

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Pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him would call us by his glory glory and excellence For by these he's granted us his precious and magnificent promises that through these in particular the divine nature

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Having escaped the corruption is in the world by lust that's second Peter chapter 1 What is it that hits his divine?

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It's his promises his we trusting his promises looking his commands look at his words and By that he gives us a divine nature

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The new nature comes through his word working in us his word his spirit work together to give us his nature

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So contents was speaking God's Word to him saying Mortify your impure members on the earth

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They declared lights to you, but not in accordance the law of your God some 1885.

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I set myself under a certain fig tree and Let my tears flow freely

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Rivers streamed from my eyes. I repeatedly said how long the Lord will you be angry at me to the uttermost?

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Do not be mindful of our old iniquities for I have felt my past to have a grip on me so constant

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Augustine struggled with himself I Uttered wretched cries as I was saying this and weeping and bitter agony of my heart suddenly

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I heard a voice from the nearby house Chanting as it might be by a young boy or a young girl

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I do not know which sang repeatedly over and over again pick up and read pick up and read

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So I began to think intently Whether there was a children's game in which this chant is used

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But I could not remember a game like this So I interpreted it solely as a divine command to me to open up the book and read the first chapter

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I came to I seized the book of the Apostles and I read the first passage passage which my eyes lit upon and it said

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Not in riots and drunken parties not in eroticism and indecencies not in strife and rivalry but put on the

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Lord Jesus Christ and Make no provision for the flesh To fill it with its lusts

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Romans 13 13 and 14. I neither wish to read any further I didn't need to at once within the last word of the sentence

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It was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart All shadows of doubt were dispelled

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In the place where I've been angry with myself with my chamber where I felt the pain of penance where I had made a sacrifice

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Offering up my old life and places my hope as if in you as I first began to meditate on my renewal

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There you began to be to my delight and the gladness of my heart so God's work word worked in Augustine and God spoke to him and said

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Stop looking to yourself and look to Jesus put on Jesus trusting Jesus he triumphed

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Jesus over the enemy who counts up our sins and searches for grounds of accusation

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See that's us if we listen to our will if we look to ourself for our salvation we look to our will look at our inability we look to our accusations

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That's our life He triumphed God triumphed over the enemy who counts up our sins

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Satan and searches for grounds of accusation But it found no fault in him in whom we are conquerors

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So you're looking in Jesus there's no fault in him look into ourselves To be just before God Well, we deserve accusation.

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That's right, but for trusting in Jesus There's no fault in him At death we will not reply that we do not have any debts to pay

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Thus would be refuted and captured by cleverly clever Accuser our answer will be that our debts been forgiven by him in whom no one can repay

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The price which he owed nothing that he paid on our behalf. We're looking to Jesus.

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We're trusting only in Jesus. So Augustine's saying that we no longer he got saved he trusted in Jesus.

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He began to look not in himself, but in Jesus and That is salvation

57:54

Not looking to ourself, but looking to Jesus. That's what Augustine's conversion was. He says

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They no longer place confidence in themselves, but rather to become weak That's what this whole message is about.

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We become weak. I Can't do it. I need Jesus if I look to myself.

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I'm a failure. I don't have what it takes. I can't endure I Can't save myself. I'm not righteous enough, but I'm looking to Jesus.

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God's gonna keep me God started this work. He's gonna begin it They see at their feet divinity becoming weak by his sharing in our code of sin

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God became sin for us in their weariness. They fall prostrate before the divine weakness, which rises up and lifts them up Jesus became weak for us.

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So we become strong. This was God's plan. God never had a plan

58:49

For us to save ourselves To be good enough To get ourselves back to him.

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That's not his plan. That's not Christianity. That's a lie of Christianity of Maybe a perception people have

59:01

Christianity. I'm not good enough to be one of them No It's not trusting ourselves as trusting him.

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It's God's plan to save us It's his work for us his work in us and that's something we have to keep bringing to ourselves

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We're not looking to ourselves. We're looking to him. We're looking in his his power to save us

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So what is salvation? Those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved

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That's what we're looking at. Have you call on the name of Jesus and it's not just a one -time calling

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It's a keep on calling I'm calling on the name of the Lord he keeps on Keeping me saved because I keep on calling on him because I know my need is in him

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We're in a hostile world. He put us in a hostile world He's not ignorant of the fact that we're in a hostile world

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But he's there for us. He's holding us. He's picking us up. So that footprints poem. It's pretty good

01:00:00

Where were you in the hard times? I was one carrying you And so it's not us for God and such as to something.

01:00:09

This is the message That I need that we all need We don't have what it takes

01:00:16

God has a purpose for saving us and that is to make for himself of people his own possession And what he began?

01:00:22

He's not going to fail if God intended from the beginning to punish the world to make for himself this people

01:00:29

It's going to happen Satan can't hold us back. What shall separate us from the love of God?

01:00:36

We are more than conquerors through him and that's the Pauline voice. That's the Pauline message

01:00:42

Trust in Jesus. He's got what it takes to bring us through So maybe a little long -winded but I'm trying to get through it hopefully it speaks to our hearts

01:00:52

So let's let's pray and trust God. We thank you father for your grace God, thank you for the blood of Jesus.

01:00:59

Thank you God for your word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. We thank you God For your plan.

01:01:06

Thank you God that It's not up to us, but it's up to you Thank you

01:01:12

God that wherever we go we see you working Producing for yourself a people of your own possession

01:01:18

God Command what you will grant what you command begin

01:01:25

What you've begun in us, please complete it to the end of that turn. We need you Jesus to keep us

01:01:30

To that end till we meet you in the grave or after the grave first in Jesus name.