Book of Romans - Ch. 4, Vs. 14-25 (01/02/2000)

Park Meadows Church

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Today's lesson begins in the fourth chapter of Romans, at the fourteenth verse.

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Good to see you all here this morning, in spite of the new year, or because of the new year.

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David, when I got up this morning and looked in the mirror, finally got my glasses on so I could see,

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I've decided something. I believe

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I'm at the peak of my declining years. Two questions.

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I have left these questions with you far too long. What is the difference between eternal and everlasting?

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Roger? Well, that's good.

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There comes my man. Good morning. We just waited until you got here because we need the answer to this question.

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What is the difference between eternal and everlasting? Something that...

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Alright. Great. Alright.

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So does everlasting have an end to it? It had a beginning.

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Okay. Next question. What are the most important thoughts that a person can ever have?

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What is the most important thought that a person can ever have? Jason?

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Well, that's important, but I don't believe it's the most important. David? It's the most important thought.

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Anyone. Everyone. Well, you need to think about it longer then.

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Next week, I want everybody to tell me what is the most important thought that you could ever have.

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Now we come to the 14th verse in the 4th chapter of Romans. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.

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Paul's been taking them into discussion for quite a while now, the law versus grace.

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Because the law worketh wrath. For where no law is, there is no transgression.

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In verses 8 through the 15th, we must show love for friends.

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Not only by praying for them, but by praising God for them. Do you ever think about praising

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God for your friends? As in our purpose, so in our desires.

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We must remember to say, if the Lord will, this is what I will do. Go to the book of James, to the 4th chapter with me please.

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And we have some proof for that. James 4 .15.

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Greg, read that to me. I think we should all have it underlined.

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Our journeys are made prosperous or otherwise, according to the will of God.

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We should really impart to others what God has trusted to us.

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He has given us nothing to withhold and use for ourselves only.

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16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace.

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To the end of the promise might be sure to all of the seed. Not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

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The word therefore, always pay attention to it. Because it connects something together.

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And it's referring to the inheritance that he mentioned a while back. Therefore, the inheriting of the promise is the outcome of faith.

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And depends entirely on faith. In order that it might be of grace.

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If it were of law, it could not be of grace. If it were of law, faith would be of no value.

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If it were not of faith, it could not be the same for everybody. Now, how many of you have ever been in a discussion with someone that believed that salvation was by works?

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All right. Let me give you a question to always give to them.

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Ask them, what is the controlling agent in your salvation?

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What is the controlling agent in your salvation? Greg, what is it? That's right.

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If a person will answer this question correctly, they will have to agree that it is only of God.

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And not of works. If they think that it is of works totally, then they would have to say, well,

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I am. And that goes against everything in the Bible. The people that are, at the time that Paul was writing, there was lots of them that still had been raised under the law.

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And it's very, very difficult to just abandon some doctrine by which you have been raised from your earliest beginnings.

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So, little by little, they were getting away from it. Even those that believed and were saved, they were still going through some of the rituals that was adherent to the law.

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But they need to remember that the promise of the gospel was made to Abraham long before the law.

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In Genesis 12, 1, 2, and 3, we find this. Now the

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Lord had said to Abraham, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show you.

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And I will make of thee a great nation. And I will bless thee and will make thy name great.

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And thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee.

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And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. The law works only wrath.

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If you observe every law on the books in Corsicana for your entire life, no one would ever take any notice of it.

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Especially the city. But if you break one law, the city takes notice of it.

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So the law works only the results of the law. It has within it no power whatsoever to make you do better.

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It only punishes if you do wrong. God appointed it to be by faith so that it would be by grace.

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Greg, what's the difference in faith and grace now? What? Well, that's exactly that.

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All right. In order that we might receive the grace, it comes by faith.

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It's not faith, but it comes to us by faith. 21.

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Yes, that's what I was looking at. 17.

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As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even

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God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

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David, this is kind of strange English. Give it to me in your own paraphrased words.

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Verse 17. Well, from his eternal standpoint,

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God has been... You mean he knows ahead of time what's going to happen?

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No, from his eternal position, everything that will be already is.

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That's why he calls himself... That's exactly right.

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God speaks of things future in past or present tense because whatever

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God has purposed before time will have its actual accomplishment in time.

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God declares the end from the beginning. Isaiah 46, 9. Remember the former things of old, for I am

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God. There is none else. I am

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God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,

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My counsel shall stand, and I will do all of my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far country.

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Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it.

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I will also do it. Verse 18.

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Who against hope, talking about Abraham now, who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be.

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Whose seed are we talking about here? Well, Greg, yes.

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Those that believe in the hope. He's not restricting that, or he's not talking about the physical seed, he's talking about the elect.

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And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.

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He staggered. Means he did not vacillate, he did not falter, hesitate.

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He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

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Did Abraham believe God because he had promised him a son?

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David? Alright.

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God had already made him a gift from God. God gave him faith first, and then he was able to believe.

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But was that the extent of his belief? Alright. It was not just that he was going to have a son.

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And speaking of faith, I see her this morning. I began to think

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I wasn't going to get to see her. It's good to have you all here. We're at Romans 420.

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Now, listen to me real close. We give praise to the glory of God when we believe his promise.

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We see the perfection of God's redemptive character actively engaged to fulfill his promise.

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We know that it is utterly impossible for the true and living God to fail or fall in any way.

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Do you believe that? It's impossible for God to fail.

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That's simple. But here's what I want you to listen to. It is absolutely vital that we see that it is impossible to give

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God this praise as long as we think that God promised to save all without exception, each and every one of Adam's fallen descendants.

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You cannot believe that everybody's going to be saved and at the same time give

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God glory or praise to his glory. It's utterly impossible.

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I want you to think about that this week. We know that multitudes perish.

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And if any person whom God proposed to save, God is either unfaithful or unable to provide all means or remove all obstacles if he has purposed to save every human being and helps fill him up every day with them.

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Any questions? See, there are those that say that God not only loves all of us, he loves everybody, even those in hell.

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He loves Satan. He loves everything. Well, folks, that cannot be.

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Scripture tells us different than that. He hates the workers of iniquity. Twenty -one.

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Going back to Abraham now and being fully persuaded that what he,

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God, had promised, he, God, was able also to perform. That's the crux of the whole thing.

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Do you really believe, Roger, that God has guided every step of your way up to today and you sitting there?

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All right, then explain to me why it's so difficult for me at times to trust in the future as though he would not continue.

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Why is this? Get hot and we forget so quickly.

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We can say, yes, but that was yesterday. What about right now? Well, is right now any different than yesterday,

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David, with God? It's already been done.

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Question. And think before you answer.

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Is faith a condition for salvation? You've thought long enough.

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Is faith a condition for salvation? I get a violent shaking of the head from one.

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Yes. Yes. So you'd say no.

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How many would say no? How many would say

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I don't know? If we would remove, let me read 22 first.

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And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness because of what Abraham exercised the faith that was given to him.

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We cannot say that Abraham was justified by simply believing that God was going to give him a son by a miraculous birth.

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That's not what justified him. Abraham believed God's promise of salvation conditioned on Christ alone.

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It is only Christ. That's the only condition to salvation. Remember it was through Isaac, the son of promise, through whom

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Christ came according to the flesh, according to that which was spoken, spoken by God.

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This shows us that Abraham's expectation rested solely upon God's promise.

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He did not believe there was anything he could do. Row 22.

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And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now if we would remove all of this universal belief and notions, we will see that the very truth we are to believe will exclude faith from being a condition of salvation.

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I think you'll agree that even the faith is a gift of God.

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Therefore it could not be a condition. What we are commanded to believe we are to believe on him,

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God the Father, who appointed his son to be the substitute and representative of all the election of grace.

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Sinners who he proposed to save, we are to believe on God the

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Father who conditioned all for the salvation of the elect on Christ alone.

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We are to believe that Christ has satisfied all of those conditions by his obedience, by his suffering, by his death, which gives us our surety.

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His satisfaction was the actual establishment of that righteousness based upon which

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God the Father raised up Christ from the dead. The power of God.

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This is the same righteousness which will enable God to be just and justify all of those who believe that Christ has satisfied all of the conditions of salvation according to the promise of God.

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23. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him.

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Does anyone remember the meaning of the word impute? Tell them,

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Greg. All right.

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David, can you enlarge on that, any? Go ahead.

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And what's going to happen then at judgment time? We'll be judged for it, won't we?

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For what we have done with that which has been entrusted to us. It's not ours.

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We're to treat it like it is ours. Talking about the salvation and everything with it.

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He has given it to us. He wants us to work it out. That doesn't mean to acquire it.

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That means to show a profit. And the profit is your growth spiritually.

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Yes, that's right.

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All right. It was not written for Abraham alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also.

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Who is us? All right. To whom it shall be imputed.

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Imperative. If we believe on him. If we are strong, those that have the

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Lord revealed to them. If we are among those that have the Lord revealed to them.

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If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. You will believe that if you belong to him because that belief has been given to you.

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Jesus our Lord from the dead. If Christ, according to God's purpose to save, actually established a perfect, infinite righteousness for all without exception, yet multitudes perish away, then

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Christ's righteousness has no saving value in it of itself and cannot be the only grounds of salvation.

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If Christ, according to God's purpose to save, actually established a perfect, infinite righteousness for all without exception, yet multitudes perish anyway, then

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Christ's righteousness has no saving value in it of itself and cannot be the only grounds of salvation.

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This would mean that his righteousness alone cannot remove

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God's wrath, nor secure his favor and fellowship, nor can it entitle any to eternal blessedness since God's wrath abides on all those in hell for whom it was established.

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Now what I have just said is not true, but if it were on works, then

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God must be very disappointed and Christ very frustrated.

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425, who was delivered, talking about Jesus Christ, and he was delivered by Judas to the

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Jews, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.

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Now look at what it does not say. Who was delivered for the offenses of the whole world.

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He was delivered for our offenses. The truth of the matter is

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God justifies the ungodly based solely upon the imputed righteousness of Christ.

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This means that his righteousness alone is sufficient enough and actually results in the removal of God's wrath.

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The gaining of God's favor and the entitlement of all eternal blessedness for all for whom it was established.

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The ungodly, one whom God freely justifies, is one who by nature is totally void of righteousness.

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Romans 3 .10. One who previous to justification had never sought after the only true and living

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God. Romans 3 .11. Prior to justification in Christ, he was spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.

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Do you really understand that? It's difficult because we're not dead.

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We're up walking around. But an unsaved person is dead spiritually.

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Richard, can you explain that to me? Spiritually dead.

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That's right. Roger, add something else to that.

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That's right. Absolutely right. All right. Someone else add something to the fact that we're spiritually dead before salvation.

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The body is separated from God.

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All right. We're separated from him. We're alien. We don't speak the same language as aliens.

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Now let me ask this. Who is it that knows that among the people on the earth?

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Who knows that they are spiritually separated from God? Until what?

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So we cannot expect an unsaved person to even know what we're talking about. That's right.

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Usually the unsaved know more about what we should be doing physically than we do.

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And we think we know it all. But just remember, you cannot see that you're dead until you're alive.

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If you have been justified in Christ, God has justified you. And it is impossible for you to perish if you have been justified in Christ.

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Your sins cannot bring you back under God's wrath. Why? Why cannot you...

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Why can you not return to be under the wrath of God? That's right.

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And his seed remains in you. So your sins cannot bring you back under God's wrath because you have already suffered the full punishment due unto each and every sin, not in your own person, but in Christ.

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It is impossible for God's law to curse you because you have already rendered perfect obedience to its precepts.

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God's law must pronounce you righteous and holy forever, not in your own person, but in Christ.

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What a wonderful, wonderful position we hold. We cannot imagine.

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I can't. I can say the words, Roger. I can read it. I believe it.

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And I hope I act like it. But to understand how that all took place, that's all

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I can do. By his dying on the cross and his resurrection, we, the chosen, have been assured of eternity with God, and no one can undo it, not even you.

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Well, this brings us to the end of the fourth chapter, powerful chapter, the most powerful up to this point.

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Next week we'll open another one that's even more powerful. And then when we get to the sixth chapter, we'll probably just have to run a little ways and sit down.

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Is there anything from anybody? Questions, thoughts, theology, doctrine, wishful thinking?

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All right. We're not a habitual sinner.

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We never were. He hates the habitual worker of iniquity.

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Now, we were a servant of Satan. We were never the seed of Satan. Therefore, he has always loved us, even though we were still lost as far as we knew, but because in spite of his ignorance.

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That's right? That's right.

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Do you ever think about why they rejoice so much? Could it be anything like the prodigal son returning home, so the angels rejoice at our homecoming?

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Perhaps they knew us before. That's right.

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We're beginning a new year. I'm so glad I'm in. And it is, as Roger says, we make no big deal out of it, because we can't see it all.

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We can remember before, we can remember after, but still,

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I do not rejoice as I feel like I should. I'm not able to, capable.

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It is something that we should all be on our face all of the time in the presence of God.

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We're so limited while in this.

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But, Pat, there's coming a day, and it, I think, will be soon.

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I can say that, because it will be soon for me. Perhaps sooner than the rest of you, since I'm at the peak of my declining years.

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Well, anything else? It's physically impossible.

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That's right. Without one thing that they can do to have a son. To completely ask

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God. And yet today, at least since the 1920s, and that time until today, even the

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Baptists, which may be the last of what they call the denominations, that have been pulled out to the fruits of the

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Bible, even the Baptists, have drifted over more and more to the position that man does have something to do with his own salvation.

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And that, in fact, God looks forward in time to what man is doing and determines that it's a faith on that, which is really a

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Roman Catholic doctrine. The Baptists did not receive a full teaching on salvation from the point of view of Abraham.

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There was nothing he could do to have that son who would then create the nations from which the

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Messiah would come. And there was no way he could himself believe that he could have that, that his wife could have that son.

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It was humanly impossible for him to believe that she would have a son. Only by God giving him faith did he begin to believe that.

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So not only could he not have done the act to make it happen, he didn't even believe it.

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And that is a biblical picture of salvation that you certainly don't need

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John Calvin or anyone else to explain. It's just what it is.

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That's right. The Baptists have always believed that. And I was preaching that a couple of Sundays ago about how badly it is that the

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Baptists are moving away from that position so quickly that we now are perceiving a huge difference.

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Yes, we're pronounced heretic. Well, it is said in our eyes, but we must remember that we're not controlling it, but we're still held responsible because he's made it in a way that every one of us do that that we want to do.

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That's why we'll have to answer. Richard, would you dismiss us today, please, sir?

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Lord, we just thank you for the prayer that we've given. Amen.