Sunday, March 3, 2024

Sunnyside Baptist Church iconSunnyside Baptist Church

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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim, Pastor

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Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you today and we ask that you would help us as we consider.
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The truth of your word. As we consider the unique glories of your son,
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Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray that you would help us.
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To rejoice in your truth, what
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I pray that you would give us. All the graces that we need to respond rightly to this word.
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We ask that you would grant us faith. You would grant us godly sorrow.
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You would grant us repentance. Hope. You would give us the grace not only to.
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Love you supremely, but to love each other rightly. That you would put all things into proper perspective as we consider the glory of our savior,
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Jesus. We pray for all of these mercies. Looking only to Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased.
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Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to revelation.
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I'm not surprised myself. Acts. Acts 13.
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Acts 13, verses 30 through 41, we'll be looking at the last couple of verses in this passage, last few verses in this passage,
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Acts 13, verses 30 through 41. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most vital, happy and serious news.
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We have been looking at this sermon that Paul preaches to those in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia, and he is drawing their attention to the person of Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, who indeed is the
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Messiah, who has been declared to be the Savior and Messiah by the resurrection from the dead, just as the prophets said.
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So all of this is coming together now for Paul to put before them how important it is that they not only know that Jesus is the risen savior, but that they should believe it, that they should bow the knee to Christ.
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This was not the message that they had requested. It was not a message that they had desired, but it was a confrontation that they must not avoid.
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I invite you to stand with me as we read God's holy word, beginning in verse 30 of Acts 13.
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But God raised him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.
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And we declare to you glad tidings and that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us, their children, in that he has raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm.
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You are my son. Today, I have forgotten you. And that he raised him from the dead no more to return to corruption.
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He has spoken thus. I will give you the sure mercies of David. Therefore, he also says in another psalm, you will not allow your holy one to see corruption.
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For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers and saw corruption.
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But he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.
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And by him, everyone who believes is justified from all things, from what you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
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Beware, therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you. Behold, you despisers, marvel and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you.
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This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. In the 1908 version of Jack London's short story,
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To Build a Fire, a newcomer to the Yukon, disregarding warnings and mocking the advice of a wise old timer, hikes out into the beautiful and bitter cold accompanied only by a local dog.
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At one point, he falls through some ice and had to build an emergency fire. And then
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London narrates the man's sentiments. He remembered the advice of the old man on Sulphur Creek and smiled.
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The man had been very serious when he said that no man should travel alone in that country after 50 below zero.
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Well, here he was. He had had the accident. He was alone and he had saved himself.
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After this point in the story, through a series of follies, the man eventually succumbed to the elements and dies of hypothermia.
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As I finished reading the sad tale, I was reminded of Proverbs 14.
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12. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
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Interesting thing about this way, it is often accompanied by knowledge.
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But not by belief. Jack London's foolish Yukon hiker knew what 50 degrees of frost were.
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He knew there were pockets of ice that he might fall through. He knew that hypothermia was a close and mortal danger, but he did not believe.
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He did not believe the warnings. He did not believe the advice of the old man on Sulphur Creek. There is a difference between what we know and what we believe.
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Knowing the glad tidings of the resurrection does not necessarily mean that we believe them.
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The frozen fool had known critical information, but he did not believe.
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It is not that he didn't believe at all. He did believe something. He just believed contrary to what had been made known to him.
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We are responsible for what we know. But we are reliant on what we believe.
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Knowing the glad tidings of the resurrection of Jesus leave us culpable. But believing the glad tidings of the resurrection make us
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Christians, those who rely upon the risen Christ and Him alone. It is a grace of God to hear and know the gospel.
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But it is a more vital grace of God to believe.
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Paul's sermon sets before us the resurrection and all of its mandate upon mankind. His main thrust is what the resurrection means to and demands from his audience.
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Because the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not some interesting tidbit of historical data. It is not merely an inspiring thought that warms the heart.
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The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important fact of all of history, the fundamental driving force of all creation and the anchor point for all that lies ahead.
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It is not a neutral observation nor some inert reality. We cannot remain ambivalent, ignorant, or casual toward the risen
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Christ. We must believe, we must believe, not just know the glad tidings.
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We've talked of the power of the resurrection, the proof of it in verse 31. We've looked at the preaching of the resurrection from the prophecies of the
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Old Testament. And now we're going to focus in on the promise of the resurrection, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God's new covenant promise.
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It is nothing less than salvation fully attained and freely bestowed on all who believe.
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Look with me again at verses 38 and 39. Therefore, and let's treat that word very weightily, therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.
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And by him, everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
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Paul addresses his brethren. Now, he is talking to those with whom he has a cultural and ethnic affinity.
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He's not saying that these are born -again believers. He's not saying that they are part of the spiritual family.
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He's saying, my Jewish brothers, here they are in the synagogue, and he's addressing them.
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He has a heart for them. He has a burden for them. He wants to see them come to know
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Christ as he knows Christ. And so he addresses them warmly, but calls them to faith in Christ.
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He tells them that they need to know something and they need to know that forgiveness of sins is through Christ and Christ alone.
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And they need to know that righteousness, that justification cannot come to the law of Moses, but only through Christ.
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Paul wants them to know these things and to believe these things.
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The first thing that is apparent about the resurrection in these two verses is the force of Christ's resurrection, the power of it, the present impact of it.
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And as we read the text a bit more broadly and remember the first half of Paul's sermon, we recognize that Paul says the same thing to these people before him.
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He calls them men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, in verse 26.
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He says, to you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent.
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This is a word of salvation that focuses in on the risen Lord Jesus Christ. What kind of salvation?
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Forgiveness of sins, salvation, justification before God, salvation. Paul is saying to them, this word of salvation has been sent to you.
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And it's not simply about salvation abstractly, salvation in general, but about a savior personally.
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He preaches of the seed, the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David.
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In verse 23, he speaks of David. But he says, from this man's seed, from David's seed, according to the promise,
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God raised up for Israel a savior, Jesus. So Paul is saying, here's the man, the descendant of David, God raised him up from the dead.
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And so he comes as the word made flesh and he comes with the word of salvation. This is this word of salvation being brought to you.
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And then Paul begins to preach from the Psalms and Isaiah and say, look, it was there all along.
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It's all being fulfilled in Christ. And all of that rolls up together into Paul's, therefore, in verse 38.
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In other words, forgiveness of sins and justification before the face of God is all entirely dependent on Jesus being who he is and Jesus being alive.
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Having God upon the cross and being raised the third day, that is the force of this, therefore, because Paul says forgiveness of sins is preached in this man's name.
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The forgiveness of sins is something to which I am declaring to you.
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It's a present reality for justification before the face of God is by faith in this man.
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He is alive. Forgiveness of sins and the justification of the sinner are things that possibly could be wondered at, but they couldn't be preached.
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They couldn't be preached unless Jesus was again alive. You could wonder at it.
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You could think about those nice thoughts, but it could never be proclaimed unless Jesus was risen from the dead.
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Forgiveness of sins and justification before God could be dreamed of, but they could never be hoped in unless Jesus Christ was risen from the dead.
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Everything depends upon the incomparable, incorruptible Christ, that he is not dead, that he is indeed risen.
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Paul says, I want you to know this, to know it and believe it. So let's consider forgiveness of sins, forgiveness of sins.
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What is it? It has been proclaimed by many varying definitions in a multitude of directions, but Paul wants his audience to know that forgiveness of sins is in Christ.
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Forgiveness of sins is preached in the name of Christ through this man and through him alone.
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Paul wants his brethren to know that forgiveness of sins is only in one man. It is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom
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Paul considered himself to be the chief. This is something that the law copying scribes and the law keeping
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Pharisees did not believe, though they knew. They knew it, but they did not believe it.
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Remember, Jesus came preaching and his ministry began to grow. It was hard for anybody to get close to him because of the crowds.
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And four men had a friend who was paralyzed. And they brought him to Jesus because they wanted to see their friend healed.
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And they couldn't get close to him, so they had to go up onto the roof of a house, remove part of that roof and lower their friend down before Jesus to be healed.
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Jesus looked at the men, he looked at the man, he saw that the man truly believed, otherwise he would have waved his friends off long before that process got going.
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This man believed in Jesus. He knew that this was his only hope of salvation. And he looked at that man.
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He said, your sins are forgiven you. Everybody's waiting for Jesus to say, rise up, take your bed and walk.
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And Jesus looks at the paralyzed man, gets to the heart of the greater need of the man and says, your sins are forgiven you.
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And this causes those who were there, the scribes and the Pharisees to say, who does this man think he is?
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Who does this Jesus think he is that he says he can forgive sins? And Jesus responded to them in Luke 5, verse 23, which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you arise up and walk.
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On the one hand, it's perhaps easier to say your sins are forgiven. Nobody can tell. There's no glow coming over the man.
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There's nothing, no way you can tell whether his sins are forgiven or not. So it's easier, perhaps, to say that than to say, rise up your bed and walk, because in that moment, everyone's waiting to see whether or not that's going to happen.
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He says, verse 24, but that you may know that the
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Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house.
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And now a greater sign has been given. Let it be known to you that the
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Son of Man has power to forgive your sins because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
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Now, what is forgiveness of sins? It is the utter release of any guilt or debt, any attachment to the transgression, an utter release.
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But I tell you, it is not found in the miscarriage of justice. It is not that that God and the forgiveness of sins does not take transgressions and sins and unholiness and wickedness lightly.
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And he simply sweeps them under the cosmic rug and says, well, enough of that. Forgiveness is not found in the manipulation of God's will, that he was tricked into it or or compelled forcibly into it or his emotions were somehow manipulated because he saw people who were sad.
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Forgiveness is not found in the passage of time, allowing for the blurring of memory and the cooling of holy anger until it's no big deal anymore.
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Forgiveness is not found in the utter transcendence of God, that he's just too far beyond and above us to actually care how we live.
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It's no big deal to him. Forgiveness is not found in the utter imminence of God, but he gets us and thus makes all of our excuses for us.
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Forgiveness. Forgiveness is. Smoke on an altar.
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Incense in the dark, death spasms of a gasping lamb.
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Butchered innocence on stones blackened by soot. Forgiveness is fresh blood in a bowl, blood on the altar, blood on the head, blood on the thumb, blood on the toe, blood on the blood, blood on a high priest slated for mortal intercession.
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Forgiveness is the cry of blood cast upon the mercy seat, the merciful throne of God amidst a cloud choking a man with holiness and threat.
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Forgiveness is the scapegoat, the outcast bearing all the sin, wandering and staggering and dying alone, forsaken of God.
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Forgiveness is the intercession by atonement, pleading by merit, holiness by mediation.
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Forgiveness is the propitiation of God's holy offended wrath and the expiation of the sinner's guilt as far as the east is from the west.
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Forgiveness is Jesus on the cross screaming the scream of the damned that we might sing the song of the redeemed.
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Forgiveness is the remission of our sins by Jesus' blood, which he carries into the true holy of holies as our risen
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Lord. Let it be known to you that forgiveness of sins is preached through this man.
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Let it be known to you and believe not just forgiveness, but freedom.
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Let it be known to you the freedom that we have in Christ's resurrection.
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Paul speaks to his brethren, these fellow Jews, these
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God -fearers who have inherited the old covenant, daily confronted with the burden of covenant faithfulness, the hope of covenant blessings, but the grind of covenant curses.
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They are not right with God. They have His Word, they have
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His promises, they have His wisdom, they have His faithfulness, they have
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His law, but they do not have His righteousness. That's why
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Paul preaches to them. That's why he wants his brethren to know and believe in Christ.
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They have a zeal to establish their own righteousness, to make their own blaze, to keep the cold at bay, and save themselves by their knowledge and their processes.
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But that was not the purpose of the law. That was not the purpose of the law.
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The law of Moses was God's law given to those with whom He had made a covenant at Sinai. Somebody had declared the character of holy
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God and revealed God's perfections to those made in His image.
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And as man looked upon the holiness of God in the reflection, they saw their great sin, their great sin and their need for redemption, which
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God provided for not in the law itself, but in its end, in its fulfillment in Christ.
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We begin to hear that in the Old Testament. We begin to hear it early in the
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Old Testament. You hear it in the Psalms, you hear it in the prophets, you read about it in the historical records.
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When they begin to recognize, God, you're too big to fit in this temple. It doesn't matter if we offer a thousand bulls and they did it more than once.
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It doesn't matter if we offer a thousand lambs to you. Everything just simply depends upon your mercy.
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Everything just depends upon your willingness to forgive. You have set your name here in this city and in this temple, but it is too small to contain you.
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Even the heavens and the earth are too small to contain you. And the prophets and the psalmists begin to reflect on what was there in that law at Sinai.
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They realize, you know what God desires more than sacrifice? You know what
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He desires more than the blood of bulls and goats and lambs? He desires obedience.
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God is looking for perfect covenant faithfulness.
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That's what He desires. And time and again, generation after generation, king after king, there was not covenant faithfulness.
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Some kings were better than other kings. Some kings were indeed very zealous, but none of them could achieve that which
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God desired. They kept on sacrificing and sacrificing and sacrificing, knowing all the while what
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God really wanted was obedience. He wanted perfect covenant faithfulness.
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And thus, the law, which dictated that standard and included the sacrifices that were to be made because of the failure to achieve that standard, finds its significance in its end, in its fulfillment that is in Christ.
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For the end of the law unto righteousness for all who believe, that's in Jesus Christ. But Paul says to his brothers, you're not going to find justification before God.
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In other words, you're not going to stand before God and God declare upon you, not only are you forgiven and not guilty, but you are justified, indeed righteous, positively righteous in my sight.
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Welcome, because of the righteousness which you bear. Paul says that's not going to happen through the law.
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Never was intended to happen through the law, but through the end of the law, the fulfillment of the law.
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Let's turn our attention to Romans chapter three. Let's turn to Romans chapter three and begin to look at verse 19.
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A bit of an expansion on what Paul says to those in Antioch at Pisidia. Now, we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
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Now, if we just read chapter two, we were told that the
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Jews were under the law and the others were not under the law, that at the beginning of chapter three, the
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Jews were especially privileged because they had received the law, but then others had not received the law.
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So having established that, how is it that now we come to this verse and it says that the law stops every mouth and all the world is guilty before God?
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First of all, the law was added because of transgressions, Galatians says, and makes sin exceedingly sinful,
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Romans 7 says. Secondly, the nature of Israel, the purpose of Israel was to declare
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God and His righteousness and His truth to the nations, to the nations.
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And so Israel, although a shadow, was a global shadow with a message to all the nations, and their role of declaring the name of God to all the nations was part of their advantages in having received the law.
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But they are also exposed by the law because they cannot establish their own righteousness. Romans 2 says,
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So the law is given, declared through God's mouthpiece to the world. Everybody is brought to realization that God is holy, that we are not, and that there is nothing that we can do through the law or any other means to be made right with God on our own.
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Verse 20 concludes, Therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight.
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Notice, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law doesn't create sin, the law explains sin.
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The law is not evil, the law exposes evil. Paul said, Coveting is coveting, it's a sin before I ever knew it from the law, but the law showed me how sinful coveting really is.
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Therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
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Donald Gray Barnhouse has a famous illustration about the purpose of the law in one sense, it is a mirror.
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It is a mirror where you look at your face and you see how filthy it is. One does not then take the mirror off the wall and then scrub the face with it.
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Not the purpose of the law. So by the law is the knowledge of sin.
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We're not going to be right with God by trying to keep the law. Notice verse 21, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed.
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The righteousness of God was revealed in the law, but now apart from the law, it is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
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Meaning this is not a righteousness of God that is in opposition to the law and the prophets.
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It is the righteousness of God manifested that was promised all along in the law and the prophets.
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Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, you search the Scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life.
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You search the Scriptures because by them you think you can be made right with God. But it is these that testify of me.
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Verse 22, This righteousness of God that was manifested is even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.
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The righteousness to us and on us. Who? Those who believe.
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Meaning the complete covenant faithfulness of God himself in all of his righteousness given to the account of those who believe in Jesus.
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Not those who try to keep the law, but those who trust in Christ. The very righteousness of God himself imputed to us.
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For there is no difference. Verse 22 concludes. There is no difference between who? No difference between who?
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Well, between the two groups that Paul has been talking about for a couple of chapters now. Whether Jew or Gentile.
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There's no difference. It doesn't matter if you grew up without the law or you were under the law. It makes no difference how you're made right with God.
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It's through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Verse 23. Notice. For all have sin and fall short of the glory of God.
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Consider that. He says there is no difference. It doesn't matter if you were Jew or Gentile.
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It doesn't matter if you grew up under the law or didn't grow up under the law. There is no difference because we all have the very same problem, which is what?
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Verse 23. All have sin and fall short of the glory of God. Note. It's not that we fell short of the
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Sinaitic covenant. It's not that we fell short of the law. What's the problem? We fell short of the glory of God.
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We're made in His image. We're made in His image. When did sin come into the world?
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When Adam and Eve fell short of the glory of God. When they went AWOL against the uniform code of what it means to be made in God's image.
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That's the problem of everybody everywhere, whether Jew or Gentile. Well, how do we be saved?
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Come to the word justified. The same word that Paul is preaching in our text. How is it that we're saved?
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Being justified freely. Being declared right.
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Seen as right. Accepted as right before God. All the way. No exceptions. Freely.
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That's how we receive it. Freely. By His grace.
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That's how it's given. Freely. Through the redemption. Through the atoning sacrifice that is in Christ Jesus.
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Whom God set forth as a propitiation. As a satisfying payment.
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Satisfying the holiness of God. Satisfying the wrath of God. Satisfying the righteousness of God.
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Whom God set forth. He didn't hide Him. These things were not done in a corner, Paul would say.
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As a propitiation by His blood. The Lamb of God.
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Not just any lamb. Through faith. This is how it comes to us. By the gift of faith.
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To demonstrate what? How important we are.
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How God just can't get on without us. No. To demonstrate
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His righteousness. The manner in which God saves us is to showcase
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His glory and His righteousness. For my own sake. For my own sake. I will act. How can
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I give my glory to another? I will not allow my name to be profaned, God says. So He saves us in a way to demonstrate
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His righteousness. Well, who's going to complain? Job was a big complainer, but he finally covered his mouth.
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What complaint could possibly be given to God that He was not doing the right thing in the right way at the right time?
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What kind of accusation could be brought against God that He was not being righteous? Why was it that He saves us in this way so as to demonstrate
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His righteousness? Why? Because in His forbearance. Because in His patience. In His long -suffering.
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God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. Abel, Seth, Enosh.
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Ethusiah, Lamech, Noah, Shem. The sins previously committed.
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Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Judah, Joseph. The sins previously committed.
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Moses, Aaron, Caleb, Joshua. The sins previously committed.
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Gideon, Jephthah, Samson. The sins previously committed.
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David? Murderous, adulterous David? The sins previously committed.
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How God was not showcasing His righteousness in those instances when
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He was passing over their sins. He was showcasing His forbearance. His long -suffering. His merciful kindness.
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The question always lingering, ever growing. Will God showcase
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His righteousness? How can God be right in passing over these horrible sins?
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He showcases His righteousness by Christ's death upon the cross. As the perfect Lamb of God satisfying
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His wrath concerning even the sins that were committed in generations past by those who believed in Christ clinging to the shadow in whatever generation they were in.
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And that shadow led inevitably to the person of Christ Himself. But not only the sins previously committed.
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Good news to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness. That He might be just and the justifier of the one who has it all together.
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The one whose heart is satisfied and stable and calm. The one who has their doctrine in order.
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The one who does lots of good things for lots of people. That He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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How can God be right in declaring right and accepting unto
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Himself as perfectly right sinners? How can that be right?
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That God would forgive people I have a hard time forgiving. That God would welcome before Him with a smile people
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I have a hard time envisioning in my home. How can that be right? How can that be just?
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Such is the glory of Jesus Christ and His death upon the cross.
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And His resurrection from the dead. Let this be known to you.
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Do you believe it? When it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ there is knowing and then there is knowing and believing.
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And the difference between simply knowing and knowing and believing is the humbling, heartbreaking, soul -enlivening, repenting grace of God.
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The transformation of the risen Christ mediated to the sinner by the Holy Spirit. And then there is knowing and unbelief.
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Perhaps you have in your mind the category of sin and the category of unrighteousness.
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The category of God's righteous standard. The category of His holy jealousy.
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And you can map the connections between these biblical truths.
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But do you believe that these truths apply to you? The Yukon traveler near the end, freezing, saw his hands and his feet as unfeeling objects that he had to concentrate hard on to try to clumsily arrange a fire for himself in order to save himself.
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I'm fine. I don't need help. I've made my arrangements. Merely knowing without believing affords you all of the numbing comforts that you need to drift off into the dark of hypothermic, idolatrous, calm, cold to Christ to the end.
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Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
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Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
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There's a difference between knowing and believing. Those who know approve of such things as doctors and saviors.
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But those who believe are the sick and the sinner, receive the great position and the only mediator.
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Jesus answered and said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician for those who are sick.
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Do you think yourself well? I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
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Do you call yourself just fine, not my fault? Jesus comes for the sick and the sinner.
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The believer knows by grace I'm an exile brought back home. I'm a prodigal welcomed by my father.
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I'm a leper touched and cleansed by Christ. I'm a transgressor atoned for by my Redeemer. I'm a traitor freed from guilt.
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I'm a death row inmate set free in Christ. I'm a dead man raised to life in the risen
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Christ. Verses 40 -41 leaves us with the peril of the resurrection.
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Beware therefore, beware therefore lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you.
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Behold, you despisers marvel and perish for I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you.
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This is from Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 5. Habakkuk is clinging to the prophetic precipice.
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He's crowded there by oracles of judgment. How has it come to this?
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He wonders. He didn't see any hope for his nation inside the nation or beyond it.
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It's judgment day. And God speaks through his prophet in verse 5, Habakkuk 1.
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Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded for I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you.
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What was it? In Habakkuk's day, the work was one of judgment. God raised up his chosen instrument of judgment to deal with all the nations.
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And that chosen servant was the Babylonians. This is a shortened version of Jeremiah chapter 25.
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God said, this is my chosen servant to bring judgment upon all the nations and you either get in line or you're going to be crushed.
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Paul takes up the passage in Habakkuk 1 .5 because all the nations have been given to a new chosen servant whose job is to judge all the nations.
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Psalm 2, which he just quoted a few verses earlier. The risen
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Lord Jesus Christ is the judge of all the nations by merits of his resurrection from the dead.
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Having been raised from the dead, he comes to his disciples and says, behold, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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That is the peril of the resurrection. That Jesus Christ is risen from the dead is fact.
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It is the most well testified to fact in all of history. It is the most vital fact in all of history.
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That means that he is Lord of lords and that's a fact. He has all authority even now to judge the nations.
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That's a fact. So, accepting or rejecting the resurrection are the only two choices.
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Behold the peril of the resurrection. Not a neutral fact, not a fact that can be ignored.
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It is the fact. And so now you're in one of two camps.
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You're in the kingdom with Christ, bowing the knee, rejoicing in his authority or you're amongst the rebels raging and plotting a vain thing.
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The people of Israel doubted God's promise. They doubted God's hand of judgment in Habakkuk's day and Jeremiah's day.
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They also doubted it in Paul's day. Paul has addressed those in Antioch at Pisidia saying, this message of salvation has been brought to you because those in Jerusalem denied it and crucified the
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Lord of glory. And now Paul is saying, don't fall into the same danger as they.
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He's saying, beware lest you too fail to believe. Jesus, Peter, and Paul all preached to a wicked and perverse generation, one that demanded signs and scorned the gospel, emphasizing how much they needed the mercy and grace of God.
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Proverbs 30 verse 12 says, there's a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet it is not washed from its filthiness.
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There is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. And out of that generation,
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Jesus gave us an example. In Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14.
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Also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.
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Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.
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God, I thank you that I am not like the other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
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I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. What's he saying?
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He wasn't denying the grace of God. He was just adding to it, which is denying.
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He knew he was in by grace. He couldn't control being born out of the descendants of Abraham.
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He even thanked God for all these good things in his life. But ultimately, as Jesus said, he trusted in himself that he was righteous and he despised others.
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In contrast, verse 13, the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but he beat his breast saying,
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God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And he uses the word here for merciful. That must have meant a lot to him as a tax collector, keeping the books, the black ink and the red ink.
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He says, be propitious to me, a sinner. He knew he was so far in debt to God.
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There was nothing he could ever do to make things right, settle accounts with him. It all depended on God making propitiation for this sinner that he would be right with him.
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He says, verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. Rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
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Beware, therefore, of unbelief. Unbelief is about arrogance and pride and self -trust and making excuses and making yourself so special that things don't apply to you the way they do to other people.
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Beware unbelief. Do not despise the promise of forgiveness and justification in Christ. Do not marvel.
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Do not marvel at the hellish costs of rejecting the risen Christ and think to yourself, oh, that's just,
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I can't even possibly believe that God would ever send anybody made in his image to hell. You don't know the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.
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You don't believe. Do not be stiff -necked and stubborn. Do not dig in your heels.
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Be quick, confess your needs, your sins, your only savior. Do not be deaf.
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Do not be deaf. Jesus said, we enter into the kingdom like a child.
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In fact, he said, of such are the kingdom of heaven. Let us be quick as a child to hear, to hear a familiar sound and rejoice in the familiar sound.
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Why do kids always like the same thing over and over and over again? Let us be like children, rejoicing in the same thing over and over and over again, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the glad tidings of the resurrection.
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Tell me that old story again. The risen
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Christ is the sun around whom we orbit. His truth is the light in which we live.
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His beauty is the warmth upon our faces. His authority is the gravitational pull which directs the course of our lives.
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His promises hold the morrow toward which we spin. These are the glad tidings of the resurrection of Jesus.
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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the time you've given us in your word. Thank you for the warnings, for the admonitions, for the promises, for the encouragements.