WWUTT 882 You are of Your Father the Devil?

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There are a lot of people who will say that they love God, but they hate

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His Word. They don't study His Word. They don't follow His Word. Why? Well, because they're of their father, the devil, when we understand the text.

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You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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And don't forget our website, www .txt .com. Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 8, and I'll begin reading in Verse 39 through Verse 47.

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The Apostle John wrote, The people answered Jesus, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them,

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If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.

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This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.

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They said to him, We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even

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God. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God, and I am here.

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I came not of my own accord, but He sent me. Why do you not understand what

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I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

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He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

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When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

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But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin?

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If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God.

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The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. Boy, that is harsh.

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The words of Jesus to these who have said that they are from God, and we can test and discern whether or not a person is truly from the

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Lord. As a matter of fact, John wrote about this again, summarizing a lot of the points that we see here in Christ's teaching in the

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Gospel of John, when John wrote his first epistle, 1 John 5 chapters, all of the same doctrines that we see laid out in the

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Gospel of John, but summarized and concise in 1 John. And it's in 1

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John 2 -4 that says, whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

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But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected.

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By this, we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

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And that's what Jesus is talking about here with the Jews. Going back to what we read yesterday in verse 31,

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Jesus said, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

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In verse 34, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

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Verse 36, so if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

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You do not believe the word of Christ, and so therefore you sin. And the reason why you sin is because the word of Christ does not abide in you.

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Now, anytime we talk about this, anytime we talk about walking in righteousness, doing away with sin, pursuing holiness, or following the instruction

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Jesus said in Matthew 5, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect, anytime we talk about these things, there's always someone who's going to say, yeah, but we're still going to sin, right?

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I mean, we're not perfect. Nobody's perfect. So we're still going to sin, and God's going to forgive us of our sin.

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Look, don't try to excuse your sin. Don't do that. Don't try to justify this sinful behavior as though it's no big deal, because that's the attitude that a person has whenever they start saying, yeah, but we're still going to sin.

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They're looking for permission to be able to stumble every once in a while instead of making a pursuit of perfection, which is exactly what we should be pursuing.

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Paul said to the Philippians, not that I am already perfect, nor have I attained this, but I seek to make it my own because Christ has made me his own.

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So Paul recognizing, yeah, I'm not perfect, but I'm pursuing the perfection, and understand

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I am not advocating for entire sanctification, that Wesleyan doctrine, that belief that we can attain some sort of perfect sanctification on this side of heaven.

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We will not. Paul makes that clear in Philippians 1. I am confident that he who began this work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

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The completion of your sanctification does not happen until the day of Christ.

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OK, so I'm not advocating for some sort of perfect sanctification here, like the

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Wesleyans, the Methodists or the Nazarenes would teach. It's a false doctrine.

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And let me just state that absolutely, bluntly, plainly. It is a false doctrine to say that we will acquire entire or perfect sanctification this side of heaven.

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Nevertheless, we should pursue the perfection because we are told to be holy as God is holy.

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God said it to the Israelites. Peter repeated it to the church in 1 Peter. Jesus again saying, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect, and that we should walk in righteousness, hating the very garment that is stained by sin.

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Understanding the instruction in Colossians 3 .5, put to death what is earthly in you.

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Put it to death, or the way John Owen put it, mortify the sin. Put it to death.

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Do not let sin live in your members. Be slaves to righteousness.

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As I quoted to you yesterday out of Romans chapter 6, submit your members as slaves to righteousness, not to unrighteousness.

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Do the things that Jesus did. Obey his commandments. Follow his example.

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If you love God, you will do this. For once again, 1

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John 2 .4, whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar.

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And the truth is not in him. Jesus is pointing out to the Jews here that he's talking to that they're liars.

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They say that they believe him, but he presses on them. Verse 31, Jesus said to the

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Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

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And then they answered him in verse 39, Abraham is our father. And Jesus said to them, if you were

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Abraham's children, you would be doing the works that Abraham did. Consider Romans 4 .5,

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to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

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And this is in the context of using Abraham as an example. If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

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For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

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So if these Jews here truly believe God and they believe the word of God as it was coming from the mouth of Christ for whatever

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Jesus said is the word of God, if they believed in God, they would believe the words

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Jesus said because they do not believe the words Jesus said. Then they did not walk as Abraham walked.

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They sought to kill Jesus instead of listening to and loving his word.

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So Jesus goes on in verse 40 to say, now you seek to kill me. A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.

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This is not what Abraham did. Remember, Jesus said, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

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John 8 .32. But they are not receiving the truth. They're deciding to walk in the lies and they're hating

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Jesus for speaking the truth. So they are showing themselves to be in league with Satan.

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And it is out of love that Jesus speaks the truth to them. He knows the condition of their hearts and he knows the hardness of heart that they would not believe in him or accept him.

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He knew that, which is why he presses on them in verse 31. It says that they believe in him in verse 30, but he, he tests them in that by continuing to speak these difficult truths that they don't want to believe because they do not walk in the truth.

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They walk in lies. In Galatians 4 .16, the apostle Paul said, have

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I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? Like if the Galatians are going to get mad at Paul for speaking the truth to them, is it is that on their part?

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Is that their sin or is it Paul's sin? Has Paul sinned somehow for speaking the truth to them? No, it's because the

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Galatians have sinned. They've walked away from the true gospel. It's the whole reason that Paul wrote that letter was to rebuke them and bring them back to the truth.

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And he says, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? Paul wrote that letter and said these things to the

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Galatians, rebuking them out of love. And Jesus indeed shows love for these individuals here.

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He also shows love for his disciples who are with him so that they might know and discern the difference between a true believer and a false one.

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Be able to discern from the heart, examining the fruit, knowing for sure whether or not a person is a follower of Christ or a follower of the devil.

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So Jesus again says, you seek to kill me. This is not what

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Abraham did. I spoke the truth to you and you hate me for it. You are doing the works your father did.

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So there Jesus repeats that again. This was where we concluded yesterday in verse 38 with Jesus saying,

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I speak what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father.

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So Jesus is saying their father is Satan. He clarifies that and puts that point blank coming up here in a couple of verses.

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But when he makes a reference, a reference to them doing what they have seen their father do, it's not

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Abraham. And it most especially is not God. But they are doing the works of the devil.

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You are doing the works your father did. And here is how they respond to him. This is astonishing.

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It's an astonishing response. And I don't know that I ever caught this before until a few years ago.

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I was reading a book by John Piper, and he pointed this out in that particular book. So again,

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Jesus says in verse 41, you are doing the works your father did. That's a reference to Satan.

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And he's going to clarify that here in just a moment. You're doing what you have seen your father, the devil do. And they respond to him like this.

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We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even

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God. Do you understand what they're saying to Jesus? We know that Joseph was not your father, and you don't actually know who your father is.

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Mary got pregnant by someone else, and it wasn't by Joseph. So we know who our father is.

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We know our fathers. We were not born of sexual immorality. They're calling

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Jesus. Now, I'm going to use a certain word here typically used as a swear word, but that's not the way

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I'm using it. Okay, I'm giving the proper application. They're calling

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Jesus a bastard. That's what they're saying, because Mary got pregnant before she was married to Joseph.

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And at one point, Joseph was going to divorce her. He was going to annul the marriage agreement that they had.

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But the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her is of the

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Holy Spirit. But the people already knew she was pregnant and that Joseph wasn't the father.

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And so since that was known, remember, Jesus is in Jerusalem. He's in Judea, Jerusalem, just four miles from Bethlehem.

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So they know this about Jesus and the house that he comes from, that when he was conceived,

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Joseph and Mary were not married. So Joseph is not the father. They're even suggesting of Jesus that he has more than one father.

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This is part of their insult here, saying we were not born of sexual immorality. You were.

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We were not. We have one father. Are you sure you even know who your father is?

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Are you sure that you're even descended from Abraham? Because who was this guy? You know, that's all being implied in this statement that they said here.

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We have one father, even God. And so because that comment is so astonishing, especially to say this to Jesus, exposing their hearts all the more that they are not from God and they're from the devil.

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Jesus gets more pointed with his response. In verse 42, he says to them, if God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and I am here.

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So Jesus doesn't exactly say directly, hey, I was conceived of the Holy Spirit. But that's what's in his answer.

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If God were your father, you would love me. You would understand that what you're accusing me, my mother of is not true.

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And you would know that I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.

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Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

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Why? Why can they not bear to hear the word of Jesus Christ? Verse 44, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

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Whenever I am sharing the gospel with somebody or I am even giving somebody a biblical truth that is clearly and plainly stated and they argue with it and they hate it and they get mad and they get upset.

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Boy, my heart just tightens for them. I feel nervous for them because they are rejecting something that came from God.

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And is this exposing that they don't truly love God? They don't love his word.

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They don't abide in his word. So is that what they're exposing? Whenever they reject some essential fundamental truth or even something that we might consider secondary, but it's still plainly stated in the scriptures,

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I get nervous for that person because are they showing by rejecting that word that they are of the devil rather than of God that they're they're revealing that they cannot bear to hear the word of Christ?

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Now, I have to recognize, though, that I'm a human being. I don't know the heart of these people that I'm talking to the way that Jesus does.

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Maybe it's just a temporary rejection and the Holy Spirit is going to work on their hearts and eventually they're going to get convicted about it.

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And they're going to they're going to come to realize, OK, what you were saying to me was the truth. And I realize that I was wrong in this matter.

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I've gone back to the scriptures I've studied. So hopefully over time, because they have the spirit in their hearts and they're being convicted by the spirit that they're going to come to understand that the truth that has been presented to them is from God and therefore must be believed because they love

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Jesus. So in these kinds of matters, I just have to give it to the Lord. I'm going to be faithful with the scriptures and I want to use the scriptures in a right way.

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But when it comes to transforming the heart and knowing the heart, that's not my job.

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There are going to be times when it's plain, OK, it's clear. I do this every single day. Almost every day

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I'm sharing the gospel with an unbeliever somewhere in some capacity, one on one.

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And and most of the time it's rejected. And they don't understand when I say to them, the reason why you hate this word and you won't believe it is because you're not of God, because generally

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I'm talking to somebody who says they love God. I love God. I'm I'm a Christian. I I go to church or I said the prayer when

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I was younger or I've been baptized or something like that. All you have to do is say you believe in Jesus and you're a

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Christian, right? Might say something to that effect. And then I show to them these basic essential truths that I'm saying to you, repenting of sin like you won't even do that.

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You're continuing to walk in this sin and you will not let it go. The reason why you hate what it is that I'm saying to you is because you cannot bear to hear the word of Christ.

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I'm showing plainly this is the word of God from the scriptures and you hate it and you won't listen to it.

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But I have to be gracious in this Romans 14 one. As for the one who is weak in the faith, welcome him, but do not quarrel over opinions, especially when it comes to non -essential matters, because that's really what the context is that Paul is talking about there in Romans 14.

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And when it comes to growing immature Christians, Romans 15, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

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Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

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For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.

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May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the

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God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

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It's a frightening thing whenever a person will not love the word of God. I pray that even though they might reject it right now, hopefully that spirit is working on their hearts and he is going to bring them back around to understanding the truth.

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For as Jesus said in Luke 9, 26, for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words of him, will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels.

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Love the word of Christ and do what he says. Our heavenly father, we thank you for bringing us to an awareness of who you are through your son,

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Jesus Christ, because the gospel of Christ was proclaimed to us. And because we have the Holy Spirit living within our hearts, we love

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Christ and his word and desire to do it and love you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

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And this is the work of God upon us. So may we give you glory and help us to show patience and also endurance, persistence with those who do not love this word, that we might continue to share it with them with a gentle spirit, as Paul instructed

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Timothy, the Lord's servant, what must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently enduring evil.

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God may perhaps grant repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from a snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will.

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So help us to do that, correcting opponents with gentleness and God grant them repentance, that they may come to salvation through the hearing of the word of Christ.

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In his name we pray. Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .utt