Sermon: Salvation & Killing Sin

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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We truly believe that it's important for the Christian church to have an engagement in the public square with the

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Word of God. So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world. I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this, and that is that I'm not your pastor, though I'd love to be,

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I am not your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

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That is vitally important and actually a biblical command. And so as much as again, as we love for your participation, your partnership, and we are so thankful to God that He's using these in your lives, we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. People have called

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Romans the gospel according to Saint Paul. I think that's a great name for it. And if you guys could just get their

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Romans chapter one of your Bibles. I'm going to read to you this first section here and this will be an explanation of really the discussion of the end of the age.

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What did that look like? What was Jesus being asked about when he talked about the temple itself is going to be destroyed before they all die, taken apart, stone off of stone, not one stone left upon another.

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His disciples interpret that as the end of the ion, the age, not the end of the cosmos, physical world, but the end of the age, the

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Jewish age, the old covenant age. What does all that mean? So what? That's the question, right?

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Because we can go point by point through this and say, well, Jesus says here, you will not all die.

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He says here before you all pass away, all of these things before you won't go through all the towns of Israel before the son of man comes in judgment.

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And we can demonstrate those things over and over again. But I think the bigger question for us, once we see that, that Jesus kept his word and it happened all on time.

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And as planned, the question is, so what? So what? What's that mean now for the people of God, for you and I?

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So Romans chapter one, here now the words of the living and the true God, Paul, a slave of Messiah, Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was, but who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead

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Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

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Thus far as the reading of God's holy word, let's pray together. Father, please bless Lord, as we go into this text, please bless, get me out of the way,

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Lord, please, please teach your people, please, Lord, bless and encourage, equip your church. I pray you speak by your spirit,

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Lord, through your word and the proclamation of your word in Jesus name. Amen. Powerful moments before us, the apostle

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Paul. Now, if you read in line in the scriptures, you've got the gospels, the book of Acts that shows the acts of the apostles in the early church.

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Acts ends with a clear explanation of what Paul was doing and saying before he was actually executed for his faith in Jesus Christ.

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It says, if you look back a page there, it says in verse 30 of chapter 28 of Acts, he lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him.

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Here it is. Ready? Get this proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the

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Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Where's that message today?

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That's the question. Where are we hearing that message today? The message of the kingdom of God, the rule of God, the gospel, the good news of the kingdom.

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You see, when you talk about Matthew 24, the text of scripture that is so often used to abuse people in apocalyptic cults, to create fear, to sell books, to tell people the sky is falling and you better buy some doomsday buckets.

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Right? It's that text of scripture and scripture like that one. We talk about a text like that, we need to read it in its context, immediate context, its historic context, and its biblical context.

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When Jesus is saying all the blood of the righteous is going to be upon that generation and they're going to be judged and the temple's going to be taken apart stone off of stone.

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The disciples say, when shall these things be? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the, help me, age, not world.

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The King James Version, very old English, uses the word world because there is a way to use the word world for age or space of time or something like that, but it's more accurate because we confuse those terms to say eye on age.

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The old covenant age, not the physical world itself. That wasn't the question being asked of Jesus.

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They associated the Jewish temple's destruction with the coming kingdom of the

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Messiah. Get this, ready? The old covenant dissolution going away, temple being gone, means the new covenant has arrived.

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It means the age of the Messiah, the kingdom of the Messiah. What is

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Paul preaching in the book of Acts at the very end? He's proclaiming what?

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The rule of God. Jesus' kingdom has arrived in history and as Paul explains the gospel in Romans, he's explaining the good news as God's good news.

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So this comes from God. It's good news from God. By the way, you must use words.

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Get that? You must use words when you talk about good news.

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Can you imagine watching a news report like you flip it? Does anybody watch anybody even have cable anymore?

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No. Okay. There's kids. There was this thing like satellite TV, but can you imagine watching the news and the news report?

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There's no word for the news, right? It's just like a picture of something that happened and the reporter's going like, next one comes up and like explosion.

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A person's like, you know, like you're like, you got to say something for it to be news.

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And we are being told today in our generation that things, you know, it's a silly old quote, like, you know, preach the gospel if necessary, use words.

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You kind of have to, right? It's a message that gets propagated about God and more importantly, watch this.

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It's his good news. It's message that he gives to the world. He puts it in our lips and says, now you go and send it.

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You go and tell it. But the Bible calls it God's good news. And listen to this.

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Jesus and Matthew, which is where we're at. Matthew chapter four. It says that he was going about preaching the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom, which actually watch contains the issue of justification through faith alone in Christ alone, our reconciliation and peace with God.

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But it's also bigger than just my own individual salvation before God.

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It's actually good news. Jesus was saying about his rule in the world. It meant something big time.

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Old Testament scriptures galore on this. Isaiah chapter two, go read it. Isaiah chapter nine, go read it.

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Isaiah 42, go read it. Psalm chapter two, Psalm 22, Psalm 72,

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Psalm 110 one, go read those sections of scripture. There's more Daniel seven, 13 through 14.

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We could go for days about the good news of the Messiah's kingdom. What was going to happen?

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He was going to enter into the world and bring salvation. He was going to judge the covenant breakers and his kingdom, his rule and salvation would extend to beyond the borders of Israel and the

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Jewish people to now Jew and Gentile, all nations, people, and men of every language would come and worship and serve this

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Messiah. That brothers and sisters is very good news.

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It's very, very good news. And this story that Paul is preaching here, watch as he explains the good news in Romans, his systematic explanation of the gospel.

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It starts with this very powerful statement. God promised us beforehand. It's not a novelty.

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This whole story is told before and it's happened now. It's God's good news. It's concerning Jesus born in the center of David.

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He's the king. He has a right to the throne. And I love this statement. He says, we've received grace and apostleship to do what watch to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name.

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Here it is among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

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You know how much that is good news. That's the fulfillment of all the promises of the old Testament. This Messiah's kingdom now is bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.

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Watch Paul bookends chapter one of Romans and 16 with that statement to bring about the obedience of faith or the obedience that comes from faith among all the nations.

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That's how Paul bookends his gospel proclamation, just like that bookends. This is the point to bring the nations to obedience to Jesus.

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Now watch this. That sounds a lot like what Jesus said, right? Who knows when Jesus died and rose again, after he appeared to everybody alive from the dead, physically alive in history, he goes to ascend.

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He has some very confused disciples in front of him. And he says in Palestine, as a Jew who was just crucified under Roman law, he says, now

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I own the world, y 'all. It's mine. All of heaven and all of earth is under my feet.

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All authority is mine in heaven and on earth. He says, therefore, go make disciples of all the nations, get them all guys, go get every nation, teach them to obey me.

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Of course, after you baptize them, right? So Jesus sends his people on the mission of the kingdom.

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Go get the nations, y 'all. Win them. He wasn't with a Southern draw there, by the way, but that's just for the

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Southern people in the room here. So you understand what I'm saying. Okay. Jesus is sending people out to bring about the promise of the kingdom to win the world to the

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Messiah. Okay. So I'm gonna be saying, got it. Pastor Jeff, I think I get the picture now.

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Okay. Now what? Well, I wanted to talk about what does that mean now for us? Like, so what does it mean?

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And I wanted to do this today, a couple of ways. I want to talk about the, so what in terms of peace with God. And I want to talk about the, so what in terms of Jew and Gentile together in one body.

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And I want to talk about the, so what in terms of our sanctification, how do we grow in Christ now, not through law obedience, but how do we grow now under the new covenant in the kingdom of the

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Messiah with Christ on his throne, seated at the right hand of the father, ruling and reigning and winning the world to himself.

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To do that, I wanted to start with this very, very important book. If you don't have a copy of it in your library, it's free because it's a dead guy.

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By the way, you should read a lot of dead guys. Why? Because they finished.

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There's a lot of apostasy today, right? You seeing it? A lot of apostasy. It doesn't mean you can't, you know, listen to and trust living leaders and pastors and those sorts of things, but be very, very leery, careful, cautious, watchful, on guard.

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Read dead people because they won. There's a book called

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Holiness by J .C. Ryle. If you don't have it in your library, get it in your library. It's free online, just J .C.

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Ryle, Holiness. There's PDFs out there galore. I encourage everyone to read, Christians to read

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Holiness by J .C. Ryle at least once a year, and here's why. It's good to get your teeth kicked in at least once a year.

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It is one of the best books on Christian sanctification I have ever read. It'll challenge you, it will encourage you, it will bless you in your walk with Jesus.

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There's a section of this book that I love, one of my favorite sections. I used to, at Calvary, the hospital,

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I would be sitting and I was standing in front of a bunch of drug addicts every day, people that wanted to leave at any moment, who were trying to escape, people who were there just a couple days before were in the hospital,

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OD'd, people whose lives were completely destroyed, families torn apart, and you had two choices at the hospital.

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You can go on the Christian track, and that's meet with Pastor Jeff, or you can go on the secular track and do the typical

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AA and all the rest. So you had everyone there. You had people who were addicted to alcohol, drunks, you had people who were addicted to pills and dope, and you had people who were addicted to sex, you had all kinds of people in front of me, and people would say,

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I'll give Pastor Jeff a shot today, and they would meander in to see what was up in the Christian program, and I would open up oftentimes with this, and it either completely turned people away, or God used it to actually open their eyes and bring them to Jesus.

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Here's what J .C. Ryle says about sin. It is a point of most serious importance, and I venture to think it does not receive the attention which it deserves.

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You may see this deceitfulness and the wonderful proneness of men to regard sin as less sinful and dangerous than it is in the sight of God, and in their readiness to extenuate it, make excuses for it, and minimize its guilt.

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It is but a little one. God is merciful. God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss.

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We mean well. You may see it in the long string of smooth words and phrases which men have coined in order to designate things which

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God calls downright wicked and ruinous to the soul. You may see it in a tendency even of believers to indulge their children in questionable practices, and to blind their own eyes to the inevitable result of the love of money, of tampering with temptation, and sanctioning a low standard of family religion.

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I fear, here it is, we do not sufficiently realize the extreme subtlety of our soul's disease.

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We're too apt to forget that temptations to sin will rarely present itself to us in its truest color, saying,

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I'm your deadly enemy and I want to ruin you in hell forever. Oh no, sin comes to us like Judas with a kiss, and like Joab with an outstretched hand and flattering words.

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Sin rarely seems sin at first beginnings. Let us then watch and pray lest we fall into temptation.

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We may give wickedness smooth names, but we cannot alter its nature and character in the sight of God.

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That's a powerful little section from J .C. Ryle. He's an old

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Anglican bishop, solid reformed Anglican bishop, pastor who knew Jesus, and he wrote an excellent book on the

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Christians' battle against sin, our sanctification, lifelong work of sanctification in our lives.

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So it's a powerful book, encourage you to get it. But let's talk about that in, again, two ways. One is, how do we actually get peace with God in the new covenant, in the age of the

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Messiah? How do we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, and then how do we grow? Paul explains all of it to us.

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Let's ask the question of, so what? Last week, I talked about the first two chapters of Romans. One, first chapter,

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Paul says all of humanity guilty. All of humanity knows God. All of humanity suppresses the truth about God and unrighteousness.

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They know the true God, but they don't want Him. They don't want Him at all.

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And so what do they do? Stop worshiping? No. Paul teaches in Romans 1 that even though we know

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God and we're rebelling against Him, we are enemies of God, hostile towards God in our natural state.

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Paul says that it's not that we stop worshiping. We actually worship now other gods.

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We make gods that look like God. That is, by the way, the plight of humanity. I will say this, very important, because this gets lost a lot when we talk about fallen people and false worship and exchanging

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God for idols and all the rest from Romans 1. We say that's the unbeliever's plight.

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And the answer is yes, it is. People who are image bearers of God that are fallen and sinners, they know the true

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God and they worship false gods. They have desires that are unavoidable as image of God.

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They need peace. They need fellowship.

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They need freedom from guilt and shame. They need joy. They need pleasure.

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They don't want it in the real God. They're at war with Him. So what they end up doing is switching

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God for some bootleg worship. They switch God for some counterfeit savior.

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They go instead to the heroin for peace. They go instead to the alcohol to get freedom from guilt and shame.

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Now one thing people need to hear about alcohol in terms of freedom from guilt and shame, it's a very popular statement.

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Remember the old columnist Ann Landers? Remember that? When there was such a thing as newspapers?

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Somebody wrote in in terms of drinking a lot, becoming a drunk because of their guilt and shame.

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They felt so much guilt, so much shame. Ann Landers actually wrote back. It was excellent actually. She said people that drink alcohol to excess to get rid of guilt and shame need to understand that guilt and shame can swim really well.

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It's true, right? See, image bearers of God were inescapably religious. We're inescapably worshipful.

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And you will worship. And what we tend to say as Christians is that's the plight of the unbeliever.

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False worship. But here's a problem we miss a lot of times. It's also the problem of the believer and our sanctification.

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If we are being sanctified by God, if God indwells us, then we need to recognize all of these patterns of sin, of old sin and habits.

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All these ways we're convicted and challenged and want to love God and glorify God. These things that rise within our souls.

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All of these are desires of worship and obedience. And we have to recognize that even as a

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Christian, you can engage in idolatry and false worship. It's not just the plight of the unbeliever.

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It is the war, the battlefield of the Christian, of the saints. So Paul in Romans 1 says, here's all of humanity knowing

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God and rebelling against him, lost, dead in their sins and trespasses. He says later, that's the universal condition.

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And you hear, of course, as I said last week, the Jew in the background going, get him, Paul, get the, get those

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Gentiles. And Paul says, and you, you're guilty. You've got the Torah. You've got the law of God, but you don't do it.

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You say don't steal, but you steal. You say don't lie, but you lie. He says, basically, look, if you're going to have the law as a means of justification, you have to actually do the things that are in the law and you don't.

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So you're done. So now you've got Jew and Gentile, both fallen, broken before God in Paul's gospel.

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He says, this is everybody, Jew and Gentile. And that's why this is a message for the nations, not just Jews.

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God is bringing people Jew and Gentile into one body. And in Romans three, Paul says this

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Romans three, and this is key. By the way, if you were in this room right now, and you want to know the difference between biblical faith, the truth and every man -made religion, listen closely, please, because this is the substance of it right now.

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Romans chapter three, verse nine.

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What then are we, Jews, any better off? No, not at all. For we've already charged that all, both

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Jews and Greeks, are under sin. As it is written, none is righteous. No, not one. No one understands.

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No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.

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Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.

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Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery.

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In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Pause. What is that?

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Where's that from? That's from the Old Testament. And it's from a lot of places in the

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Old Testament. Basically, the apostle Paul, a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ, highly trained as a

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Pharisee and under Gamaliel, he says, knowing the law of God, this is everybody.

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That's all of us. Here's the collage of texts from the Old Testament put into one place describing all of us,

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Jew and Gentile. This gospel of the kingdom is about everybody. And here's the key thing.

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Listen closely. And this has been a challenge for me all week. It's been on my heart. Listen, we can never get far away from this.

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Please hear me on this. It's easy for us to assume, particularly as Reformed folks, when we're so focused in upon the doctrines of grace, what the

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Bible says about, you know, all these areas of doctrine that are so vital. It's easy for us to assume that we all know and understand completely the implications of this right here.

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And the answer is, it's not always true. It's not always true that everybody understands these things.

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Listen, when the Bible says, there is none righteous, no, not one, that's true.

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And it's absolute. There is none righteous, no, not one.

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We are dead. We're not spiritually sick. We're not righteous before a holy

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God. We don't even seek for God. You see, we don't want to think about ourselves in this way, that we are so hostile towards the true

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God. We are so ruined in our condition of sin, in our plight, that we don't want

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God at all. We don't want him in our knowledge, Paul says, Romans 1. We don't seek for him.

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We don't know him, want him. We want him out of our minds and hearts and our world.

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And Paul says, we're not righteous. We don't do any good. Our feet are swift to shed blood and our paths are ruined and misery.

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There is no fear of God before our eyes. That's our condition before God saves us.

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And so Paul says this about the law. Listen closely. Again, this is the substance of what is the distinction between the true faith and and all man -made religion.

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We know that whatever the law says, verse 19, the law speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

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Here's the key thing. Why is the law given in the way that it was? The law is given to show your guilt, to show you're accountable to God and to shut your mouth.

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Shut it. There is no bickering before the throne of God in terms of our condition. The law shuts you up.

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Why? Have you ever seen my friend Ray Comfort? He does it so well, right?

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Just very, very courageous. Walks up to random people on the beach. Have you ever lied? Right? Have you ever stolen anything irrespective of its value?

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And he says, have you ever looked with lust? Right? And he shows people, he says, if you've ever lied, what are you?

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Person says, I guess I'm a liar. Right? You are. Have you ever stolen anything? Well, yes, I have a pencil once or some money once.

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What's it make you? Well, you're a thief. Have you ever had lustful thoughts? Jesus says you've committed adultery in your heart.

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So what are you? I guess I'm a lying, thieving adultery. What? Have you ever been angry with somebody in your heart?

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Well, yes. Jesus says that's the foundation of murder. So what are you? A murderer, a lying, thieving, adulterous murderer.

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So what are you before God? Guilty. What's the law do? Not save you.

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It shows your guilt. And that's what Paul says here. If you're fallen, you're broken, you're lost.

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The law does nothing to satisfy God's demands. It will not save you. So then

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Paul says, for by works of the law, verse 20, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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No one will be justified before God through the law. Pause for a second. This is critical. It is very, very important.

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And I felt with all my heart this week that this is something I need to impress upon us in terms of don't assume that we know this truth.

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When it says the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. That word there justified is legal terminology.

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To be justified is a declaration of righteousness. God is the holy judge.

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We are the fallen rebels. Paul says the law will have nobody declared righteous in God's sight.

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Why? Try it. Try to put God's law on a scale and you stand on the other side.

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You're done. I'm done. I am done by age four. I have a pile that'll take me straight down.

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The law will cause nobody to be declared righteous. This is legal terminology Paul is using.

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So what's our hope? He says this, but now there's the hope of the gospel, but now that's your hope and my hope.

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The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

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For there is no distinction, for all have sinned. Remember that end of the age stuff?

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The big deal about the end of the age and the nations in the world? This is Paul saying in his day, all have sinned,

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Jew and Gentile. All are broken. All need the Savior and the law will save nobody.

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He says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom

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God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show

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God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.

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It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

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Pause briefly, go back and listen to last week's sermon where he talked about this, a perfect judge declaring people righteous,

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God being just and the one who declares righteous in Jesus, not because we are righteous but because we're in his son, because God has actually had the penalty paid for our sins in Jesus Christ.

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But here it is, he says this, then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded by what kind of law?

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By law of works? No, but by the law of, what's the word guys? Faith.

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For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

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What will the law not do? It will not justify you. How are you declared righteous in God's eyes?

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Through faith apart from the works of the law. If you preach a gospel that blends faith and works, you preach a false gospel.

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Because Paul says his gospel, the gospel of the apostles, the gospel of the early

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Christians was this, we maintain that a man is declared righteous through faith apart from the works of the law.

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Paul clearly teaches that truth and he says this, or is

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God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

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Now quick, finger there, move with me now to Ephesians 2 to see more of this story.

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Ephesians 2, 11. After Paul teaches that we are saved by grace through faith, let's start actually, let's actually go there in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8.

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He says this, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.

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For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which

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God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. You're saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus.

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Watch, it is so you do not boast. God gets the glory. Every single system of religion of man teaches the boasting of mankind, the boasting of men and women.

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Well, how are you saved? Well, I did this, I chose Jesus, I did this, it was me, right?

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How are you gonna be right with God? Well, because I'm a good person, because I fed this guy on the street,

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I went to the soup kitchen or I don't beat my wife or I'm a loving person or I went and cut my neighbor's grass one time, you know, whatever the case may be.

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I love my neighbor sometimes, right? I haven't blocked that many people on Facebook, I have lots of friends.

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Something like that. We try to actually add up our righteousnesses and Paul says no one can boast, it's a gift of God, but here's the deal, you're

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God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus, watch, unto good works, unto good works.

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And Paul says this, verse 11, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, the

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Jews, which is made in the flesh by hand. Remember that you were at that time separated from Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants, plural, of promise, singular.

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You were strangers, watch this, this is massive, don't lose it, it is a big one for all you theology nerds in here, this is very, very, very, very, very big.

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You were strangers, aliens, to the covenants, plural, of promise, singular.

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And what he says here about those covenants, he says this, having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus you once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down on his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances.

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Then he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

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And here he says in verse, watch this, verse 17, and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both,

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Jew and Gentile, have access in one spirit to the Father, so that you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built in the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

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Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple.

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Sound like a new Jerusalem to you? To the Lord in whom you're building, you are also built together into a dwelling place for God by the

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Spirit. How you like them apples? I like that. That is awesome. But check this out. He says Gentiles, strangers to the covenants, plural, of the promise, singular, you are far off and in Jesus you have been brought near, you're no longer aliens, you're no longer strangers to these covenants of promise, now you inherit all the blessings and gifts of all these covenants.

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Together, you are now joined together with the Israel of God. So shalom, you

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Jews. What are you in Jesus? The true

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Israel. You're grafted in to the Israel of God. Paul calls the church the

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Israel of God. That's Jews and Gentiles together in one body. When you ask the question, what's the big deal about the end of the age?

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Temple gone, sinful priests gone, no more going to Jerusalem for the annual sacrifices, and you know what else is beautiful?

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He says abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances. What's that mean? The holiness code that teaches the people of God with training wheels how to be separate, how to be distinct, how to be a separate and distinct and holy people.

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That holiness code is gone now. So for example, people say, oh yeah, you still think that marriage is between a man and a woman?

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You still think that homosexuality is sin? Oh yeah, do you keep all the commandments of God? How's that bacon working out for you,

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Christian? You got mixed fibers in your clothing? I love how unbelievers think that they've found like the gotcha moment, right?

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What's Paul say here about those holiness commandments, the holiness code? What's he say about it?

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It's gone. That wall of division between Jew and Gentile teaching the

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Jews to be a holy and separate people, that holiness code stuff is all gone now.

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Why? Because the old covenant age is over. Now God is bringing his kingdom throughout the world,

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Jew and Gentile into one body, into one body. All that is gone now, end of the age.

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So what? That's one of the so what's of the end of the age, what was anticipated. Go back to Romans 4 now.

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This is key, follow me on this. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh?

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For if Abraham was justified, now let's do this, make sure, look up here guys real fast, let's make sure

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I'm going to do my job as a pastor well. I have to answer to God for how

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I shepherd the people of God. It's a really actually terrifying verse in the book of Hebrews about the people of God.

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It says, submit to those who are an authority over you. Why? It says they have to keep, they keep watch over your souls.

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And it says they have to give an account for how they do it. So there's some kind of special moment pastors have with Jesus that you don't have in terms of teaching the people of God and equipping them.

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And I want to do my duty when it says here about being justified and Abraham not being justified by works.

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The word justified means declared righteous. What does it mean to be justified?

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Let's try it again. What does it mean to be justified? Declared righteous. Remember that this is

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God's declaration of righteousness over a person. It's what you and I need before God.

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We talk about last night. I just heard about it. Someone dying right in front of our people, just falling flat and dead.

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You guys were at the abortion mill yesterday morning and some of you guys saw a person fly off his motorcycle and nearly die.

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You guys saw, you know, moments of carnage and wreckage right in front of you. In a moment, our lives are over.

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In a moment, our lives are over. A couple of weeks ago, some of you guys don't even know this maybe, but I was laying in bed at 1230 at my house and all the lights were out.

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Everyone in my house is asleep and I'm just kind of getting ready for bed, watching TV, and I see a gun muzzle flare outside of my window and a gunshot go off right in front of my porch.

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It wakes the entire house up. I jump out of bed. I grab my gun, which is by my nightstand always within reach.

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I go and I flip open the blinds and there's a man with a gun standing there on my patio who just fired off a gun on my patio.

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Your life, you don't know what to anticipate in a moment. All of us could be gone in an instance.

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Death is coming for all of us and all of us need this declaration of righteousness.

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This is the most important thing. Do you have peace with God? And this is what

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Paul says. Look, if you're going to be an heir according to the promise, if you're truly a child of Abraham, that's where the promise came to and through, then you got to ask the question about Abraham.

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How was he declared righteous? Was it through law? Was it through works? He says this, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

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For if Abraham was justified, what's justified mean? Declared righteous by works.

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He has something to boast about. I love Paul's little sidebar here, but not before God.

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He says, for what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, credited to him, charged to his account as righteousness.

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That's what it means in terms of counted. Abraham was charged up with righteousness.

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Now to the one who works his wages, what he earns for working are not counted as a gift, but as his due.

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Just consider what Paul is saying here. This is the essence of the gospel. You want to know what makes Christianity distinct?

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What brings Jews and Gentiles into one body? What is the death and resurrection of Jesus and his perfect life mean to the world?

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How is one brought into Jesus? Paul says this, Abraham's the forefather. Is your faith like him?

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He wasn't justified by works. If he was, he'd have something to boast about, but not before God.

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What's the scripture say? Abraham believed God. It was credited to him as righteousness. Quick question.

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Let's test your Bible timeline. Bible trivia. Abraham believed God. Genesis 15, 6.

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Was that before or after circumcision? Before.

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Was it before or after he offered Isaac on the altar? Before. Was it before or after the law was given?

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Before. So watch. Before circumcision, before Isaac, before the law was given, 400 years before the law was given,

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Abraham believed God. It was credited to him as righteousness. For what? What did he do?

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What did he do? What did he offer to God? What steps?

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What did he pay? What did he do? Nothing. He had empty hands to God.

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All he did was receive. He believed and it was charged to his account as righteousness.

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If your religion teaches something different than that, it's not the promise.

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You're not a child of Abraham. I don't care how much Christian language and Christian costume you have.

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I don't care if you say Jesus and gospel. I don't say, I don't care if you love the

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Bible. Say that you love the Bible. If you have a message that mingles together human boasting with the gospel, you don't know

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God. And Paul says this. I love it. Listen closely. He says, now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.

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If you have a job and you're working in this heat for two weeks, right?

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You're outside in this heat for two weeks and you're laboring eight hours a day, 40 hours you're putting in.

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You're doing all your time and all your work in this. You're sweating. I felt so bad a couple of weeks ago.

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Typical Arizona day. It is bright and sunny and it's hot. You know, you're in Arizona. You learn to drive without touching anything, right?

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It's an amazing skill like to actually drive a vehicle 65 miles per hour and not touch anything.

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It's incredible. And it's not a Tesla, right? It's amazing because it's so hot. I was going to a little drive through car wash thing.

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And there was this, there was this real handsome black man drenched in sweat.

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I mean, he looked like he was standing under a shower. It was pouring. I was like, oh, I felt horrible.

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Are you, are you going to die? Like, are you going to die? And he's like, no, I'm fine, bro.

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And he literally, as he said, I'm fine, bro. He hit me in the eyes with sweat. It was like, like it was falling down his lips and he was hitting my eyes.

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I was like, thanks man. Yeah. And then it, it was amazing too, because like three hours later, a monsoon came and then destroyed my car after I washed it.

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So welcome to Arizona. But Paul says here something we all understand.

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If you're working for something, your wage isn't counted as a gift, but as what is due.

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If you work out in that heat for two weeks, for 40 hours each week, and you walk into your boss's office and he's like, have

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I got a surprise for you? You're like, what? He's like, you have been doing so great.

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It is hot out there. It is really hot. I know how much you've been sweating out there. It is deadly heat.

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You've been working your tail off. I have a special gift for you. And he puts a gift on the table and it's got a beautiful bow on it.

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And it's wrapped up all nice. It smells like Christmas right there on the desk. And you're like, this is awesome.

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Finally, some recognition. And you open it up into the bottom of that box is your paycheck.

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You would be offended. He was like, what? It's a gift.

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You're like, this isn't a gift. That's a wage. I know the difference.

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I know the difference. I worked for this. You owe me, you pay me. And Paul uses that analogy here.

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He says, if you're working for something, it's not a gift. It's what's due to you. But watch.

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Look, here's a section of scripture that Joseph Smith, the false prophet of Mormonism, literally changed in the

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Joseph Smith translation. This so did not work with Mormon theology about salvation that he literally changed the text in the

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Joseph Smith translation because he could not make sense of it. It says this, verse four, not to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as is due and 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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Do you hear that? From a human perspective, that makes no sense.

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God declares righteous, the wicked, the wicked, he declares righteous, the ungodly, the wicked, apart from works as a gift.

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So the one who works is not getting a gift. That's not how salvation works.

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But to the one who does not work, but believes, trusts in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is charged up, credited as righteousness.

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And he says this, just as David, King David, also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom

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God counts righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

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Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Here is what

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Paul says. God, through faith, apart from works, through trusting in the one who justifies the ungodly, he credits to you positively righteousness.

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He charges your account up with righteousness and he does not count against you your sin.

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Pause and think about that for a moment in terms of your walk with Jesus, your failures as husbands, wives, children, fathers, mothers.

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Think about this. If you're in Jesus right now, God counts you righteous.

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Not kind of, not until 6 30 and things change, but he counts you righteous and he will not count your sins against you, ever.

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He has declared you righteous as a gift by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

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The righteousness of Jesus Christ from above has been credit credited to you as a gift.

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And God does not count your sins against you. He called that double imputation. He credits to you righteousness and he does not count your sins against you.

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And this is what's true of you right now in Jesus. Listen, it says in Jesus, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

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Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Are you in Jesus today right now?

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Have you trusted in Jesus? That's true of you right now. You get that? Watch.

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Did you feel like that today? Did you wake up rejoicing today because God credits you righteousness and he doesn't count your sins against you?

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Did you wake up rejoicing today, even amidst all of your conflict in your marriage or at work or your difficulties, all your trials and suffering?

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Did you wake up today or go to bed last night with the thought about God that your lawless deeds are forgiven, done, gone, never to be brought up again, that you are the blessed man, the blessed woman that God will not count your sins against?

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Can you imagine the people right now who are dying right now around the world?

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Those are real deaths right now like that. It's happening right now.

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It's all real. That's a dead person. That's a dead person.

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That's a dead person. These are all people who are facing their God. And can you imagine right now the terrifying moment of a person who dies, who is meeting their maker right now, and they are not justified.

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They don't have the righteousness of Jesus. Their sins are not forgiven in Jesus. Can you imagine that terrifying moment, waking up, eyes open before the

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God of all creation, and having no righteousness before him?

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You see, this story will truly be good news and be understood, comprehended as good news, the moment you and I open our eyes to see him.

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Then you'll know. Then you'll understand. And so here's what Paul does.

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I'm finishing up here. Paul does this. He explains about this righteousness.

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Verse nine. Hear it. Please hear it. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised?

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Watch. Here it is. End of the age. So what? End of the age? So what?

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Age of the Messiah? New Covenant? So what, Pastor Jeff? Here it is. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised?

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Is it just for Jews? Is it just a Jerusalem thing? Is it just a temple thing?

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Is it just this isolated place in the world thing? He says this.

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We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised?

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It was not after but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

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The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that the righteousness would be counted to them as well and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father

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Abraham had before he was circumcised for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the, here it is, worlds.

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Did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

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The righteousness of faith. That is why, let's go to verse 14.

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For if it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

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For the law brings wrath but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring not only to the adherence of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it is written

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I have made you the father of many nations. End of the age?

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So what? Well there is the so what. God's bringing Jews and Gentiles together now into one body, one family.

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Can I just say by way of application something? Racism is so evil.

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It is such an unbelievably wicked demonic thing that is happening in our nation today with the issue of racism.

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Intersectionality and all these things, code words, socialism, marxism, all this neo -marxism and atheistic humanist agenda now being propagated all across the west and in particular now infiltrating evangelical churches.

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The idea that we are identified by our color of community, the idea that we should actually boast in the color of our skin, the idea that we should actually view other image bearers of God through the color of our skin is deplorable, disgusting, and demonic.

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Now you might be wondering well where's all this coming from Pastor Jeff? Listen, when we talk about the gospel of the kingdom and what

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Jesus has accomplished in this salvation bringing a Jew and Gentile together, we above all people as Christians should be the ones who are most forcefully fighting against the idea that we are identified by the color of our skin.

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We are identified in one of two categories according to Paul in the next chapter.

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You're either an Adam or you're in Jesus. That's it. There's the categories of humanity right there.

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Adam or Jesus and you are black, white, red, yellow, and every other color in Adam or in Jesus.

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You are in one of two camps, one of two people. You're in Adam where there is death, there is condemnation, and wrath.

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You and I are sons and daughters of the same parents. Here's the glorious thing.

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If you're white, red, yellow, brown, purple, I don't care what color you are.

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You are a son and daughter of the same parents. The lie and mythology propagated today in the west about evolution that we are descendants of fish is just that.

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It's a lie. We all come from the same mom and the same dad no matter the color of your skin.

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And brothers and sisters, the glory of the gospel is that Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection abolishes and breaks down all those silly and foolish divisions in humanity.

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He brings together in one body Jew and Gentile. He brings together in one body white, black, yellow, red, every color.

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We are all sons and daughters of the same parents in humanity and in Jesus we're all children of the same

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God. And the gospel itself destroys all of those unnecessary distinctions, all of the ways that we are prideful in our color or our community.

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The glory of God in the gospel is that we all serve the same God with the same image and we have the same source of salvation that is in one place.

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Jesus, one righteousness will avail before God for the white person, the black person, the yellow person, no matter your color, go down the line.

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There is only one righteousness that will avail before God and that righteousness is not a color. It is the obedience that only

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Jesus accomplished and is only available through faith in Jesus. Listen, the glory of this gospel is that Jesus takes us, listen, listen, and he through faith brings us into himself, union with him so that we are actually joined together with him in his death and resurrection so that Paul says in terms of our being sanctified and our growing in Jesus in Romans 6 after he explains all of this united with Jesus in his body receiving the gift of eternal life, he says this, do we continue in sin so that grace may abound.

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Isn't that what people do today? Have you ever met professing Christians that act like that? You ever met somebody that acts like that?

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They're like, well, look, I mean, I'm saved by grace through faith. You know, all my sins are taken care of.

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Like I actually was with somebody one time that was arguing that they wanted to sin as much as they could on this side of heaven because they were saved and they wouldn't get to do it anymore in heaven.

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That person didn't know Jesus. That's a lie. That's not the gospel. No understanding of the gospel.

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And Paul says this, do we continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be.

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He says, essentially, God forbid that idea. He says, here it is. Watch. How shall we who died to sin continue to live in it?

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There's the summary of why we live to glorify God as Christians. Did you hear it?

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It's not about commandments impressed upon you, obey these rules so that you're righteous before God.

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Do you know that every man -made religion does that? It says this, Paul says in Colossians two and three, man -made religion says, don't taste, don't touch, don't smell, right?

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Like beat your body into submission, somehow make yourself externally righteous through not touching and dabbling and doing.

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He says, Paul says in Colossians two, he says, this has the appearance, right, to do what it, saying it's an accomplished, he says, but it has no ability to curb self -indulgence.

01:00:08

I was reading an article with my wife yesterday about how the

01:00:14

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints has been, has actually officially put out some new rules in terms of the word of wisdom.

01:00:24

You know the word of wisdom? Tea, coffee, tobacco products, those sorts of things, right?

01:00:31

Well, the problem is we live in the 21st century and there's some difficulties added now with the word of wisdom in terms of becoming holy and acting holy and being obedient to the

01:00:39

Church. And the problem is, well, there's no tobacco products, but Joseph didn't know about vape, y 'all.

01:00:49

Or there's no tea and coffee, but what about that Frappuccino?

01:00:54

There's Starbucks everywhere. And so the new rules are coming out saying, well, the word of wisdom today is no vaping, right, don't use that thing, and no drinking drinks that end in Chino.

01:01:11

Because it probably, you know, it's coffee, it's caffeinated beverage, coffee beverage. So none of that.

01:01:17

Candy said, what about the vanilla bean Frappuccino? That's delicious and there's no coffee in that. She's right, by the way.

01:01:25

See, but religion does that. It says, like, look, beat your body into submission, obey these rules, obey this law, become righteous in God's eyes.

01:01:32

Here's how you fix yourself. Like, don't go, don't taste, don't touch, don't smell, don't do that. Just, you know, external stuff.

01:01:39

Paul says, this is a summary of Christian sanctification. If you're already at peace with God, you've been declared righteous.

01:01:45

So do you continue in sin? He says, may it never be. He says, how shall we who died to sin continue to live in it?

01:01:52

If you've turned from sin to trust in Jesus Christ, if you have peace with God today, there is something that occurred with you in Jesus where you have actually been joined to him and his death and resurrection raised up with him.

01:02:06

And I confess to not fully comprehending this seated with Jesus in the heavenly places.

01:02:12

So Paul says in Colossians three, because of that, keep seeking what is above, not what is below.

01:02:19

And he says, therefore, put to death Colossians three, what is earthly within you?

01:02:25

And what's he saying? He says, all these things, evil desire, covetousness, sexual morality, which is, he says, final word here, idolatry.

01:02:37

You see, here is the foundation. You want to grow in Jesus. I'm going to grow in your intimacy with God, your obedience to God.

01:02:46

Paul says, it's down to this. Have you died? Have you died and been raised with Jesus?

01:02:54

By the way, that's how Jesus weeded people out, right? Don't you love it? Jesus has the opportunity of a mega church forming in front of him.

01:03:00

I love it. Thousands of followers, mega church forming right in front of him. His disciples are like, yes, finally.

01:03:05

And he turns around and says, let me clear them out. He says, if anyone comes to me, does not hate mother, father, sister, brother, wife, even his own wife, you're not worthy to be my disciple.

01:03:16

Come die or don't come. And then he clears them out. See, Jesus called people to come to trust in him and die.

01:03:25

Have you died? Have you died and been raised with Jesus? That's the essence of Paul, his talk on sanctification.

01:03:36

Jew and Gentile together in Jesus now, apart from the works of the law. So how do we grow now?

01:03:43

You've died with Christ. You're raised up with him. Keep seeking what is above and put to death what is earthly within you.

01:03:50

Put it to death, kill it. And Jesus talks about sin that way, doesn't he? He says, if your eye caused you to sin, do what with it?

01:03:58

Pluck it and do what with it? Put it in your pocket. Because that's how we do our sin, right?

01:04:04

Like we go, oh, it's so awful. It's terrible. Oh, I mean, just right there. Good. Okay. Right. And Jesus says, if your hand caused you to sin, you cut it off and throw it from you.

01:04:14

And we hear Jesus saying that or hear Paul saying, kill your enemy. And we say,

01:04:19

I can't do that. Why? That sounds like it would hurt a lot. And brothers and sisters, when

01:04:28

Jesus says, pluck your eye and throw it from you, he uses that picture because cutting off our sin and the source of our sin is supposed to hurt.

01:04:37

It feels like you lost something to kill your sin, to pluck it and to throw it.

01:04:43

But Jesus says, it's better for you to enter into life maimed than for you to have your whole body cast into hell forever.

01:04:51

And so the question is, as a believer who's died with Christ and been raised with him, who has peace with God, who's been declared righteous, who's counted righteous, who has no sins counted against them, who has now seated with Christ at the right hand of the father?

01:05:06

Here's the question. Ready? What do you need to pluck and throw? What do you need to cut and throw?

01:05:14

What do you need to kill? I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, someone breaking into my yard at 1230 at night, shooting off a gun within feet of my door, me seeing the muzzle flash.

01:05:32

When this enemy was in my yard, I didn't jump out of bed to slap box him.

01:05:41

How do you defeat an enemy who's coming to destroy your family, your life?

01:05:47

You don't attack their ankles and start biting, right? You don't throw soft jabs.

01:05:55

I knew that it's my duty as a man to protect my family and preserve their lives.

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So my first instinct within two seconds was to grab my weapon.

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And the first thing I did was open the blinds and I pointed my weapon out at the man standing about five feet from my door.

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Now, that man had grace given to him and mercy that night. I wanted to make sure my family was safe.

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So the first thing I did to my family, I said, everyone get on the floor now and crawl. I closed the blinds.

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He obviously heard the blinds shut super hard. And so he escaped my yard. But my role that night, if that enemy had tried to continue, would have been to actually kill the enemy, the person who's trying to destroy my family.

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That's what you do with things and people that are trying to kill you, to destroy you. And Paul talks about our sin like that.

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He says, you put it to death. How do you respond to something that's trying to destroy you?

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Something that comes to you like Judas with a kiss or like Joab with outstretched hand and flattering words.

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The forbidden fruit seemed good and desirable to Eve, but it led her to ruin and misery.

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And so the question is your struggles today as a follower of Jesus, what is it?

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What is the thing that is your enemy, the enemy of your soul, the thing that you hate from the depth of your being you want free from?

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You hate it. God causes you to hate it. You want free. What is the thing you need to put to death and how does it look to put it to death?

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Are you the father, the husband who is always speaking to your wife and to your family harshly, rudely with anger?

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Are you always having outbursts of wrath? Do you need to put that to death?

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Are you the wife that refuses always to submit to your husband? You refuse to submit to him.

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You don't want to. You bite him. You argue with him in front of the children constantly.

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That's just a pattern in your home. Are you that wife? Are you the wife that is not submissive and loving to your husband?

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Are you not an encourager to your husband? Do you not bless your husband? Has it been a pattern for you throughout your whole marriage?

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Do you need to put it to death? Are you the child who is always disobedient to mom and dad?

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The moment mom and dad say to do something, your first response is to bite and to disagree and to argue.

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Or do you obey? Are you the single man or woman who's living in a life of sexual morality?

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You are seeking pleasure and joy in an idolatrous way. You're worshiping at the throne and the altar of a false god.

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Is that your life? Are you the man that has a hidden porn habit you have for years now, even as a

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Christian, even in ministry? You've hit it. You've gone back to it every once in a while. You go back to this altar to worship, to seek pleasure, to seek joy there.

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Are you the person in here today that has a problem with drunkenness? Every night you have to drink and you drink every night to find peace, to find pleasure in this thing rather than God, right?

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What do we say at times? Well, it's okay, you know, it's just a little bit. It's just to calm my nerves, just to take the edge off, right?

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Every night, every night, taking the edge off every single night.

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Is that where your peace is found? Are you the person who's struggling with these things, but you still have not put them to death?

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Listen, the answer is this. Not from a worldly perspective. Try to fix yourself up.

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Try to become righteous in God's eyes. Just try to resist. The answer is Jesus and Him alone.

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You need peace with God. You need to come and trust Him, but come to die or don't come.

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And if you have come to die, then Paul says you've been raised up with Jesus, so put these things to death.

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How do you kill it? What's it look like to kill your sin? I can't answer for that for you right now.

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You know between you and the Lord what these things are and what you can put to death even now.

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What do you need to kill in repentance now?

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It might look like on your knees in a moment before God, repenting and rejoicing over Jesus. It might look like leaning over to your husband or to your wife and asking for forgiveness.

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It might look like walking over to somebody here that you've sinned against that you need to ask for forgiveness with.

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What's it look like for you now to put something to death and to give it to Jesus and to rejoice in so great a salvation?

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I'll leave that to you. Let's pray. Father, please bless the message that went out today. I do pray,

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Lord, that you would allow this question of so what to cause us to rejoice.