The Greatness of Christ: Part 4

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The Greatness of Christ: Part 5

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What a wonderful thought that that is, that the Father is always pleased in His one and only
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Beloved Son. Well, as we work our way through John chapter 5, there's much more here for us to see.
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Please bow with me in prayer as we seek the Lord in His face, as we now hear from Heaven from His Word.
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Our Father, as we speak about the greatness of Your Son, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, we truly honor You and glorify
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You as we honor the Son the Father is honored.
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Father, save us, I pray, this morning from apathy. Oh God, apathy is like a deadly spiritual cancer, it eats away at freshness.
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We pray that Your blessed Holy Spirit, Lord, would do His work upon our hearts today.
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And as the psalmist prayed, deal bountifully, Lord, with Your servant, that I may live and keep
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Your Word. Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see wondrous things from Your laws.
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The prayer of each and every child of God that we bring and offer before You now as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
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We pray, O Lord, that You will be glorified in all things through Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask this for Your honor and glory.
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Amen. In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. In today's world, with computer generated images and photo editing and applications and etc.,
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etc., etc., seeing is no longer believing, is it? But in Jesus' day, there was no photoshopping.
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When we look back into the Old Testament, the children of Israel literally saw God, by the power of His right hand, with a strong and mighty arm, take out the children,
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His own people, literally out of Egypt, as God worked through the ten plagues and brought judgment upon Egypt.
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Then, they saw it. They witnessed it. They witnessed right before their very eyes the parting of the
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Red Sea. And these events, yet, was in the midst of all these...
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What God wrought was a miracle after miracle, a judgment after judgment.
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They literally saw, and yet, there was many of the children of Israel, that generation, had a heart of unbelief.
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They had a heart of unbelief. And as we read this Gospel of John, let us keep in mind that John was an eyewitness of what we are reading here in this wonderful Gospel.
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The Jews also saw Jesus' miraculous works, and yet they didn't believe. In this particular section of the book of John chapter 5, as you turn there, we are going to continue to work our way through it.
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We are actually made aware that Jerusalem was a walled city with many gates.
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By one of those gates, called the Sheep Gate, which we looked at, there was a multitude of people that were waiting to be healed.
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Well, Jesus comes to this place. He comes in His providence, in His goodness and in His mercy.
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And by His grace, He selected one man out of the crowd.
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One man. Such grace. It's on the
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Sabbath day, as we read. This one man had been lame for up to 38 years, and he wanted to be healed.
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Jesus told him, get up, rise, pick up your mat and walk. Walk. And instantly he walked.
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In that very moment, this man was healed by the Word of the
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Son of God. He got up and carried his mat. Sadly, never to follow
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Jesus. Never to commit to Him and to love Him and give thanks to Him.
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But rather, he goes to the synagogue where these self -righteous
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Jewish people were, and he reports Jesus to these religious Jews. So instead of giving joy and praise to God, to these religious leaders, because of the miracle that happened on the
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Sabbath, but the Jewish leaders reprimanded this man who had been healed. They reprimanded him.
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And asked, who is this that told you to do this? They were more concerned about their rules and legalities being broken rather than what good that God did on the
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Sabbath. Keep in mind that the religious leaders, as we looked at on the day of the
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Sabbath, they have made 39 additions to the fourth commandment.
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They added to God's Word, their traditions, rules, regulations.
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The commandment to keep the Sabbath day sacred. Breaking the
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Sabbath on that day, and of course, throughout the Old Testament, was always punishable by death, as far as they were concerned.
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However, Jesus didn't violate the Sabbath, did He? He's the Lord of the Sabbath. Instead, He was healing on the
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Sabbath and did nothing but good works of mercy. God working in mercy and goodness.
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But, the religious leaders couldn't see because of the blindness of their hearts.
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They couldn't see past their legalistic rules. They couldn't see because of their additions they made to the fourth commandment.
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And they could not see the goodness of God in the miracle that Jesus had wrought. Beloved, the enemy of faith has always been unbelief.
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And it still is today. Unbelief. Unbelief. A hardened heart.
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That's the sin of all sins, beloved. A hard heart of unbelief.
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This sin will rob us of everything good from God. It will rob us of all the good and perfect gifts that come from God.
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Now, as I mentioned that in the introduction, we have been working our way through this section, and it's
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John chapter 5, and it's a very powerful section. John 17 through 30.
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Still going to take us several weeks, Lord willing, to get through this, but there's much more that's here.
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It's really an incredible, important section for us.
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It gives us the evidence of who Jesus is and His authority. He speaks of His own testimony.
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Keep in mind that the very purpose of the gospel of John, as you've heard me say this time and time again, is that you may believe that by believing you might have eternal life.
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John chapter 20, verse 30 and 31 is really, I believe, no doubt, the key verses of this entire gospel.
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Let me read it to you. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. That's the key verses, no doubt, to this awesome gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Now, as we've been working our way through this particular section, we've seen the evidence, first of all, of His person,
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His works, His miracles, Jesus healed by a spoken word in which
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I briefly mentioned. We've already looked at that. This sparked the beginning of Jesus' persecution from the religious
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Jews to the point that the Jews were pursuing Jesus, and somewhat like a lion as a prowler that pursues its prey, they went after Him with vengeance and hate.
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They were pursuing Him to stop His message, but also sought the Moor to kill
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Him, because in verse 18, therefore the Jews sought all the Moor to kill Him, because He not only broke the
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Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
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And we see this in verse 17, which says, but Jesus answered them,
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My Father, that's the key right there, and He deliberately said this to them,
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My Father has been working unto now, and I have been working. Much is said right there, because He's speaking that He's equal with God.
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He's one with God the Father. Jesus declared a unique relationship with God by calling
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Him His Father. So the very first time Jesus made this claim, by the way, it's not the first time
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He mentions this. The very first time, we've already looked at it, but we see this in John chapter 2, that was when
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He was cleansing the temple. But the Jews knew exactly what
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He was saying. Jesus also said that the Father was working, and He was also working.
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Literally, the grammar points that this is a linear action, meaning that the
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Father was working even now, though through the Sabbath day, though it would be the
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Sabbath day, since there is a unique special relationship between Jesus the Son and God the
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Father, Jesus was also working through the
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Sabbath, for He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He's the
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Lord of the Sabbath. He was healing on the Sabbath. Now up to this point, we have seen this, that now we are working our way through, and to this point, there is an earth -shaking, shattering claim that Jesus makes.
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And we've been looking at this. Verse 17 and 18, we have seen the background that Jesus claimed equality with God the
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Father. Last Lord's Day, we looked at proof number 1 and proof number 2, which was
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His perfect obedience, His perfect obedience to His Father and His great works.
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Now in verse 19 and verse 20, we will look at, and 21, today, our attention will be on verse 20 and 21, that Jesus Christ has the power to quicken the dead.
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He has the sovereign power to raise up the dead. To verse 22,
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His deity and His judgment, let's look at it.
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Verse 21 says this, Jesus says,
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For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the
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Son gives life to whom He will. For as the
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Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the
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Son gives life to whom He will. In other words, what our
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Lord is saying, as Jesus asserts His equality with God the Father, Jesus has equal claims.
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He has equality with the Father. Equal claims that He had the parallel power with God the
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Father in unity to raise the dead. Equal parallel power.
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That's awesome. This is the third proof that Jesus was equal with the
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Father, was His power to give life. First of all, we see here that God gives life and only
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God can give life. But as the Father gives life and He's the source of all life, because life comes from Him.
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But it's also equal with God the Son, for God the Son is
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God as well. John 1 verse 3 and 4 says this,
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All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
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Therefore, if He wills to take a dead body and give life to it, that means
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He can do it, right? There's nothing impossible with God, and nothing's too hard for God.
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For God, all He has to do, being the source of life, or life and energy is all in of Himself, all
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He has to do is speak the Word. By faith, the worlds were made by, really, the
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Word of God. The sheer power and energy of the power of God. And we read in Hebrews that all things is upheld by the power of the
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Word of God. He is the life giver. In giving life and raising the dead,
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God is sovereign and He's acting fully as He alone wills to act.
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Isn't this awesome? Awesome power to create all the substance and the matter with the sheer power of His Word.
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That's the power of the Word of God. That's in God the Father and as Christ being the
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Word. It's not constrained, nor is
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He restrained. He alone has all the power and all authority to do so.
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Jesus said that in Matthew 28, didn't He? He said, all authority is given to me, He said. Not some of it.
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All authority, all power. He is
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Lord and He's the sovereign Lord. He alone exercises
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His sovereignty. He exercises His perfect love. He exercises justice, righteousness and wisdom.
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And He knows exactly what He is doing and nothing takes
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God by surprise. Isn't that a great comfort for you and me this morning?
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That we can rest in God and all that He is in His omniscience,
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His omnipotence and His omnipresence. And He does everything perfectly.
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Next thing we'll see is the Son Jesus Christ gives life to whom He wills, to whom He wills, to whom
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He chooses. That's humbling, isn't it? We cannot make that happen.
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God makes that happen. Just as God the Father does, so Christ does.
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Because Christ is one with the Father. Therefore Christ is equal with God the
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Father in giving life and raising the dead. This refers to the physical and the spiritual, by the way.
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Now, I briefly mentioned creation. That God, through the
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Son, created all things. By the sheer power of His word in creation. But it's the physical realm, but also the spiritual realm.
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That He gives life to the dead. To the physical realm and the spiritual realm.
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Jesus Christ is able to raise the physically dead. Moreover, He has the power to give spiritual life to the spiritually dead.
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As God is the source of life, as I've already mentioned, so Jesus Christ is the source of life.
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And He said that to His disciples, I am the truth, I am the way, the truth and the life.
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As we shared the gospel yesterday to these poor souls out there, I couldn't help but think these are walking dead people.
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You know what I'm talking about. To whom you witnessed the gospel, they were literally walking zombies.
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And I told these, I had the opportunity as well as Ben and Brother Keith did, that I thank
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God for the opportunity. And these three I was speaking to as the rain was pouring down and how good
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God was. The rain on their parade. And God gave us the opportunity and the door opened.
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And the folks I was talking to was very receptive. They were not hostile toward me. And we prayed that.
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And actually in the course of the conversation, I went to 1 John chapter 2 and I started asking them questions.
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And I said, how would you perceive love? What is love to you? And I started there as a foundation.
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Then I went to the love of the Father and the love of the world. And if you love the world, the love of the
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Father does not abide in you. And then basically worked my way. And I said, you know, you think of it, God desires you to have life and have it more abundantly through Jesus Christ.
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And they're just looking, wow. And I said, think of it, you know, all people are spiritually dead until Christ comes to make alive.
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Because He is that life. I said, spiritually walking dead.
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And that kind of got their attention. I said, and you heard the walking dead? Oh yeah, yeah, a very familiar thing of series on TV.
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Walking zombies and dead. They can really talk all about that. And I said, you know, in real life, you and all people are walking dead people until Christ comes to make you alive.
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Praise God. God is the one that chooses when He is to give life. So does the
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Son that chooses in perfect agreement with the Father. Because Jesus is one with the Father. In perfect agreement, in perfect unison.
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The truth that's illustrated the salvation of sinners is found in Ephesians chapter 2. Go with me to Ephesians chapter 2 and you know where I'm going.
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Because Ephesians chapter 2 speaks about how spiritual life is given to the dead.
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Let me read just a few verses here. The original says, and you who were dead in trespasses and sins.
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Actually some translations will say, and you He made alive.
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But the He made alive is added. But it could go either way.
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And you He made alive. Or, and you who were dead in trespasses and sins.
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In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air.
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The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh.
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Means the desires of our flesh. The desires of our flesh. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
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And were by nature, we're born that way. Nature children of wrath. Just as the others.
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Notice how He mentions we. We were all there. He was once there.
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That's the way we were. Children of wrath. By nature.
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And don't you love the transition in verse 4. But God, there's an intervention.
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The sovereign God intervenes by His power and His grace. Who is rich in mercy.
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Rich in compassion. Because of His great love with which He loved us.
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Even when we were dead in trespasses. Made us alive together with Christ.
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By grace you have been saved. By God's sheer favor. God has given us favor through Jesus Christ.
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In verse 6. And raised us up together. And made us to sit together in heavenly places.
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In Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come. He might show the exceeding riches of His grace.
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And His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith.
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That not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of works lest anyone should boast.
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For we are His workmanship created. In Christ Jesus for good works.
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Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That's the practical application.
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That we should walk in them. So anytime we are justified. And we are regenerated.
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And we are raised up from the dead. And God gives us new spiritual life. Through the new birth and regeneration.
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It always leads to sanctification. That we walk in them. But it is
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God that raises up the dead. That He does the miracle that no one can do.
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And we cannot do ourselves. Not even going to an altar and saying a prayer.
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Can bring spiritual life. It is through the sheer power of God. Through regeneration.
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Through the Spirit of God. That makes us alive in Him. Who were dead in trespasses and sins.
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Wow. Isn't that a great miracle? How God brings spiritual life to the dead.
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That we were dead. Completely dead. A dead man can't make a decision for Christ.
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A dead man can't choose to come to Christ. He is dead. He is dead.
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God has to bring the life. God has to take the initiative. God has to bring the life to the dead soul.
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And as He will to the dead soul spiritually. He will also bring life to those that are in the grave one day.
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When He comes back in power and glory. And all He has to do is speak the word. And Jesus said that at the sound of the voice of the
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Son of God. They will all rise. Thus is the promise of the resurrection.
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John 17 .2. Jesus prays to the Father. He says as thou hast given
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Him power. That means authority over all flesh. That He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
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Him. Romans 8 .11. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you.
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If He dwells in you. The Spirit of God dwells in you. He that raised up Christ from the dead.
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Shall also quicken you. Make alive your mortal bodies.
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By His Spirit that dwells in you. The Spirit of God quickens and makes alive.
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All whom the Father chose before the foundation of the world. To give to the
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Son will come to Him. And He will not reject not a one of them.
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That's a sheer promise from the Word of God. John 6 .37. All that the
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Father gives me. Jesus speaking. All that the Father gives me will come to me.
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And the ones who come to me. I will by no means cast them out.
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He promises to take them in. That's the third proof.
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Much more can be said of that. How God is the source of life.
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Jesus Christ the Son of God is the source of life. He's one with the Father. And He basically has the power.
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For even as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them. Even so the
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Son gives life to whom He will. The fourth proof is that Jesus was equal with God.
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That His claim is equality with God the Father. Was that His control over the whole judicial process.
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In other words He has not only the authority to give life. But He also has the authority to judge the entire world.
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The entire world. Verse 22. For the Father judges no one.
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Listen carefully. But has committed all judgment to the
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Son. So really the judgment is going to be the
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Son. The Son of God will be the judge of the entire earth.
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Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? As Abraham prayed and asked. As he was pleading over Sodom and Gomorrah.
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But Jesus Christ is God. And the authority has been given to Him by the
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Father. To be the judge of all the earth. Because it says it right here.
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Jesus says Himself. The Father judges no one. But has committed all judgment to the
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Son. Let's look at this. This is incredible. Jesus' authority to grant spiritual life to whomever
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He chooses. Is by the way very consistent with His authority to judge all men on the last day.
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He will be the judge of all the earth. Jesus Christ. Look with me to John chapter 3.
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Just a couple of chapters back. We looked at this earlier. Several months ago.
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Verse 18 and 19 of John chapter 3. As Jesus speaks to Nicodemus. And back up.
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Let me go to verse 17. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world.
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But that the world through Him might be saved. So He came as a Savior. He came to seek and save the lost.
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This is at His first coming. He who believes in Him is not condemned.
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But he who does not believe is condemned already. They're already condemned.
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Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten
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Son of God. And in verse 19 says this. And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world.
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And men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
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That pretty much says it. Condemnation is already abiding on those non -believers.
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And we know there's a lot of non -believers out there. By the way, the majority of the entire world are non -believers.
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It's the broad road to destruction. And those that are on the narrow road are the believers.
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John 12, verse 48. Another verse. Jesus says, He who rejects
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Me and does not receive My words has that which judges him.
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The word that I've spoken will judge him in the last day. Did you hear that?
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The word, Jesus says, will judge him on that last day.
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The word of God. God the
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Father has given all judgment to the Son. This is what this is saying. All the judgment is given to the
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Son because Jesus Christ will be the judge of all the earth. God the
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Father has given all judgment to the Son. This truth attests to the Christus deity.
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MacArthur, Pastor MacArthur notes right here, quote, Because their wills are in perfect harmony, all judgment can be given to Christ in the assurance that His judgment will be, in fact, the very same as the
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Father's judgment. Although judgment was not the primary purpose of Christ's first coming to earth, it remains the inescapable, final result of rejecting the salvation that He offers.
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End quote. So in other words, what the word of God is saying,
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If Christ is not your Savior in this life, and Lord, and He is
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Lord, but He must be your Savior by faith, faith alone, He will surely be your judge if He's not your
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Savior. He will surely be your judge. Now, there's a lot of confusion about the judgment because the believers will be judged according to the works.
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We will be judged according to our works. But what He's speaking of here is the judge of all the earth, and we'll go to it in just a few minutes.
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We'll look at several verses from the word of God, but what He's referring to those is the judgment of condemnation.
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This is very, very important because the believers will be judged according to their works in Jesus Christ.
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But there's also a judgment of condemnation that will take place at the day, the final day, at the great white throne judgment.
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No believer will be at the great white throne judgment. That's where it says in Scripture that the sea gives up the dead.
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Basically, kind of like a jail cell, they're going to be sentenced to prison, so to speak.
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Go with me very quickly to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Let's look at this. This will be the first place, and by the way, a footnote to speak about 2
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Thessalonians. A lot of people go to the book of Revelation to study end -time prophecy, but you know 2
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Thessalonians? 1 and 2 Thessalonians has a great deal to say about end -time prophecies.
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Notice what it says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, God's final judgment and glory.
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Let me start with verse 3. He speaks to the believers at Thessalonica.
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We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting.
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Because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other.
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So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.
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Which is manifest. Which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer.
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Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the
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Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels. Now listen to this. He brings this out.
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That there is going to be a severe judgment come to this world, folks. In verse 8, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know
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God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, these shall be punished with everlasting destruction.
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Let me stop right there. That does not sound like annihilation, does it? Straight from the word of God, these will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
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Lord and from the glory of His power. This is serious, isn't it?
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This is what's going to happen when Christ comes back in power and glory. He says it here in verse 10, when
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He comes, speaking of His second coming, in that day, in that day, to be glorified in all in His saints, to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.
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How important it is to truly believe. Therefore, we also pray always for you that our
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God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our
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Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, in you. That's sanctification.
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And you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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So that's by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ that it all ends to that one great end.
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Chief end is to glorify God. That God would be glorified in all of it. And He's going to be glorified when
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He comes back in power and glory. On that day, in that day, to be glorified in His saints, to be admired among all those who believe.
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That's what it's all about, isn't it? Well, that's one text that really speaks much about how the judgment will come and the gauntlet will fall.
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Look also with me to Acts chapter 17. So familiar is this as Paul goes to Mars Hill.
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By the way, the first part of chapter 17, Paul's preaching
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Christ Jesus at Thessalonica. Isn't that interesting? We just read from 2 Thessalonians.
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But then he goes to minister at Berea. Then he goes to the philosophers at Athens.
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And he addresses them as he sees a very religious town and his burden.
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And he goes and he preaches the gospel there. Paul stood in the midst of the
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Arpageus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious.
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He's speaking to religious people. In verse 22 and verse 23, As I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship,
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I even found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God. Notice how
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Paul in the wisdom of the Spirit of God, he takes this and he brings the gospel. Listen to this.
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Therefore the one whom you worship without knowing him, I proclaim to you God who made the world and everything in it.
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Notice where he starts. He begins at creation. He begins with the general revelation.
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Now he's going to go to the special revelation. God who made the world and everything in it.
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He's the source of life. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth. He's sovereign. He's Lord. He does not dwell in temples made with hands.
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Nor is he worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything. Since he gives to all life and breath and all things.
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And he has made from one blood in every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.
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And has determined their pre -appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.
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He's sovereign. He's providentially over all. So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him.
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Though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being as also some of your own poets have said.
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For we are also his offspring. Therefore since we are the offspring of God.
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We ought not to think of that divine nature like gold or silver or stone. Something shaped by art, a man's devising.
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Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked. But now commands all men everywhere to repent.
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That's the message. All men everywhere to repent. To turn from our evil ways.
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Listen to verse 31. Because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness.
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By the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead.
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The resurrection. See the resurrection guarantees the judgment.
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The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that there's going to be a judgment. And that Jesus Christ will judge the entire world.
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Brother Ben mentioned it this morning. On God's calendar really. On our calendar we should look at it like this.
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Today, Luther said it. Today and judgment day. Today is the day of salvation.
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And be ready for judgment day. You know what was the response?
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He had some that didn't believe. Listen to this. And when they heard. This was the apostle Paul folks. And when they heard the resurrection of the dead.
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Some mocked. Some mocked. While others said we will hear you again on this matter.
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So that's the reception that he got. Some mocked him. And some said we will hear you again. The judgment of nations.
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Go with me to Matthew 25. And let's listen to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. On this great day of judgment.
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And I'm telling you folks. If you don't know Jesus Christ. It will be absolutely terrifying. But if we know
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Jesus Christ. It will be glorious. And those who know Jesus Christ.
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Long to hear Jesus say. Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord. But to those that do not know
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Him. It will be. I never knew you. Depart from me you lawlessness.
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You that work lawlessness. Look at chapter 25. Verse 31 to verse 46.
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This is the Son of Man will judge the nations. He will judge the nations. When the Son of Man Jesus says comes in His glory.
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And all of His holy angels with Him. He will sit on the throne of His glory.
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Listen to this. All the nations will be gathered before Him. And He will separate them one from another.
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As a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand.
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But the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand.
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Come you blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you.
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From the foundation of the world. Notice what He says here. For I was hungry and you gave me food.
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And I was thirsty. You gave me drink. And I was a stranger. You took me in. It looks like there is obedience here.
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I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison. You came to me.
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Then the righteous will answer Him and say. Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you.
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Or thirsty and give you a drink. When did we see you a stranger and take you in.
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Or naked and clothed you. And Jesus says. Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you.
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And the King will answer. And say to them. Assuredly I say to you. Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren.
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My brethren. Get that. You did it to me.
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To the household of faith. Then He also will say to those on His left hand.
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Depart from me. You cursed into everlasting fire. Prepared for the devil and his angels. I was hungry and you gave me no food.
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I was thirsty. You gave me no drink. I was a stranger. You did not take me in. I'm naked and you did not clothe me.
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Sick and in prison you did not visit me. And then also I will. Also will answer
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Him saying. Lord when did we see you hungry and thirsty. And a stranger or naked or sick or in prison did not minister to you.
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Then He will answer them saying. Assuredly I say to you. Inasmuch as you did not do it to the one of the least of these.
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You did not do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment.
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But the righteous into eternal life. That's powerful folks. That's so powerful.
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I remember a story. And you might have seen this before. But it was quite a good size.
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It was a mega church. And they had a new pastor come. And they didn't know.
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They didn't meet the new pastor yet. I forgot where he was and who he was. I believe he made himself anonymously made known.
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They didn't know who the pastor was. And everybody was anticipating this pastor to come preach.
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Well he comes in stealth. He comes in. He disguises himself as this guy.
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As a riffraff. A bum. Off the streets. He comes in this church with everybody else is all fancy dressed.
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And they up class. And of course you know it's church. And this guy comes in.
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He's the pastor now. Okay. They don't know he's the pastor. He comes in. He comes in with rags.
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He's kind of smelly. You know he probably didn't bathe the night before or something.
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And they didn't recognize. They had no idea. And by the way he wasn't shaved and clean cut.
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He had a shaggy beard. And he messed his hair up. He looked like this riffraff bum. And he comes in the church and he tries to speak to the people.
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And you know talk to them. And he says am I welcome here. And hardly anyone in that entire church.
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He went to a lot of people by the way. They shunned him and put him aside and they didn't even speak to him.
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This man makes his way to the podium. They were shocked. They were thinking why is this bum up there.
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And he introduces himself. I am your new pastor. Wow. What an introduction on the first day.
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And guess what he does. He reads what I just read to you. You can hear a pen drop.
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As Brother Key says you can hear crickets. And after he read it.
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He says I am your pastor. And he sat down. How did they must have felt.
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After shunning him. And not speaking to him. Because of his looks and his raggedness.
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And his riffraff ways. He looked horrible. But he read this and the word of God did its work.
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I am sure there was a lot of repenting that day. Thought that was appropriate.
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Scripture says much about Jesus Christ being the judge. Romans 2 .16 Paul says,
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And that day when God would judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
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The secrets of men. The secrets of men. Isn't that convicting? The secrets.
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You know what that means? The motives. The hidden motives. Of our actions. Every action.
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As Brother Ben mentioned this morning. Every idle word. Every careless word that we speak.
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Will give an account on the day of judgment. Folks does that make you tremble this morning? It should.
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Jeremiah 17 .10 The prophet says, I the Lord search the heart.
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I test the mind. In other words I test the secret parts. God tests the secret parts.
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Even to give every man according to the fruit of his doing.
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See all of us are fruit bearers. Somehow or another. We bear good fruit or bad fruit. What kind of fruit are you bearing today?
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Is it the fruit of the spirit? Or is it bad fruit? Or is it the works of the flesh?
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I recently read that from Galatians. About the works of the flesh. And the fruit of the spirit.
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To a lost family member of mine. And there was crickets the whole time. Right after this particular person was just gossiping.
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And gossiping. And speaking bad about this person here. And this person here. And I said, almost gave it away.
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I said, can I speak to you about this? So let me tell you what the word of God says.
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What kind of fruit are you bearing today? Is it love, joy, peace, goodness, patience, kindness, self -control?
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Or is it the works of the flesh? Which is slander, gossip, and malice, and wrath.
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Again crickets. Romans 14.
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Go with me to Romans 14. The Apostle Paul speaks about this in Romans 14. There's so many verses of Scripture about the judgment, folks.
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This actually can be a series. But let me just give you this.
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There's so many other places we can go. We can go to 1 Corinthians. There's more there. But let me give you this one here from Romans 14.
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Let me begin. Verse 7. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself.
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If we live, we live to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the
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Lord's. Aren't you glad? You've been bought with a price. And to this end,
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Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
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But why do you judge your brother? Why or why do you show contempt for your brother?
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For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. All of us.
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Then he quotes Isaiah. For as it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, every tongue shall confess to God.
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So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.
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Therefore, let us not judge one another any more, but rather resolve this, nor put a stumbling block or a cause to fall, a cause to fall in our brother's way.
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See what he's saying? It's so important that we do not cause our brethren weak or strong to fall, to stumble.
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Jesus said that, didn't He? Because if you do, He said it would be worse than a millstone hung around your neck and be cast in the depths of the sea and drown, that you cause one of these little ones to stumble.
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And I'm sure Paul had that in mind because there's a seriousness to that. As I live, says the
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Lord, every knee shall bow to me, every tongue shall confess to God. That is at the judgment. So the purpose for all judgment really has been given to Christ is one fold.
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God has willed that all men honor the Son just as they honor Him. Back to John 5.
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What we've been looking at? Jesus says this in verse 23, that all should honor the
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Son just as they honor the Father, and he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent
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Him. Think about that. Even at the judgment, it is for the honor of the
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Son. It's all for the glory of God. The idea here is that God has determined that men will keep on designed, or decreed,
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I should say, ordained, honoring the Son with the very same honor and worship they give
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Him. Next is a truth that shatters men to pieces and humbles us all to the dirt, is this truth.
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For if man does not honor Christ, he does not honor God. And if he does not honor and worship
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Christ, he does not worship God. Jesus Christ is the only way to honor the
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Father and only to worship Him. And that's why we worship Christ. For Christ is
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God in flesh. 1 John 2, 22, 23. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the
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Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the
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Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the
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Son has the Father also. So anyone that denies the true nature of Christ presented in the
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Scriptures is an antichrist. Therefore the denial of Christ is the denial of God Himself.
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Let me close with this and bring an application to this. Denying Jesus Christ is serious, isn't it?
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Very serious. Eternally serious. And there's serious eternal consequences.
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Even though people think that I can continue to do what I want to do and at the end of the road
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I can get it right with God. Folks, you don't know if you're going to make it to the end of the road. You can leave this world tonight.
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You can leave this world on the way home today. No one's guaranteed that.
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But there's two things that we are guaranteed that's inescapable. And what is that?
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Death and judgment. Guaranteed. That is guaranteed, folks.
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And it's wise for each and every one of us to prepare for that day. Hebrews 9 .27,
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there's chapter and verse. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.
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Verse 28. So Christ was offered once. In other words, He died once.
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To bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him. He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation.
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So appointed, yes, to die once. The judgment, once.
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It's going to happen. Christ died once. To bear the sins of many.
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Again, Christ is the key to heaven.
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And may we beware of kissing the sun and splitting hell wide open, folks.
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We better make sure when we kiss the sun, it is in genuine worship to God. We need and we must know by faith that Jesus has life in Himself and He has all authority over the resurrection.
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All who are in the grave will come forth in that last day. And those who did good deeds to a resurrection of life and those who did good deeds and evil deeds of a resurrection of eternal judgment.
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The good deeds are evidence of our faith. The evil deeds are evidence of our unbelief.
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And like I said, there's a different judgment for those that are believers. We'll be judged according to our works.
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That goes to 1 Corinthians. Everything will be tried by fire. The fire will lay waste anything that is prideful, arrogant, motives as selfish.
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The only that is which is done for the glory of God will shine forth and be gold, silver and those precious stones which are hidden below the ground.
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When the fire is laid to it, it's still precious. Wood, hay and stubble, everything above the ground will be burned and laid waste.
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The great truth and the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God has been made evident in the
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Holy Scriptures, folks. Especially here in the Gospel of John. And let me say this, it has been laid out for you and me.
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His miracles, His works, His person, His claims in which we're looking at. His awesome power,
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His awesome sovereign authority. What more do you need to believe in Him?
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When I bring this to a closure here, think about the 40 years that God loathed that generation of Israel because of their unbelief in the wilderness.
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Their unbelief was seen evident by their hardness of heart.
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Think of this. Because of the hardness of their heart, what did they do? How did they act?
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Can you tell me? They murmured. They complained. They were discontent.
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They were never satisfied with God. They always wanted more. And what happened? Brother Keith, I like what you said here.
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It's the first NASCAR track for 40 years. They went in circles. 40 years. 40 years in circles.
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Going around and around and around. Never making tracks to where God exactly wanted to take them to the promised land.
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They murmured. They complained. They were unthankful. May this be searching in our hearts.
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An unthankful heart is an unholy heart. A thankful heart is a holy heart. If we're holy in Christ, we will be thankful.
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We'll be thankful for the bread. We'll be thankful for our food. We'll be thankful for our jobs. We'll be thankful for everything that God gives us.
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And the gifts that He gives us in this life. An unthankful heart is a sign of a hardened heart.
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Psalm 95. You know this psalm very well.
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Listen to it. Listen to the warnings. Verse 6.
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Oh come let us worship and bow down and let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our
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God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today. Today. Not tomorrow.
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Today. If you will hear His voice. You're hearing His voice now because it's the word of God that's going forth.
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Do not harden your hearts. Do not harden your hearts. As in the rebellion. As in the rebellion.
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The strife. At Meribah. Contention. As in the day of trial in the wilderness.
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When your fathers tested me they tried me. Though they saw my work. For 40 years
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I was grieved with that generation. And said it is a people who go astray in their hearts.
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And they do not know my ways. So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest.
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May that not be true of us. Let me.
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Let me wrap this up. Go to Psalm 2. This is that action.
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This is the reaction that we all should have towards the Son of the Living God. It should be a place of worship.
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It should be a place of submission. It should be. Listen to what
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He says. Verse 10. Now therefore be wise O kings. Be instructed you judges of the earth.
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Serve the Lord with fear. And rejoice with trembling.
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This is worship folks. Kiss the Son lest He be angry. Kiss the
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Son lest He be angry. And you perish in the way. When His wrath is kindled by a little.
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Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. So we are to put our trust in the
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Son of the Living God. That word. Kiss the Son. What does that mean? It's symbolic.
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It's a symbolic act of humility. That indicates allegiance. And submission to the
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Lordship of Christ. As we sung today. All hail the power of Jesus name. We will glorify
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Him. We give allegiance to Him. We live it out day by day in the mundane. We say
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He is Lord. And we give all the way we have. Like Paul says.
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Whether we live or die. We belong to the Lord. Let me close with this.
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James 4, 7 -10. This is a strong closing now. But hear the word of God.
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Therefore. Submit to God. What are we to do? Submit to God.
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Submit to God. Resist the devil.
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And he will flee from you. Is that all? No. Draw near to God.
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And He will draw near to you. That's a condition. We are to draw near to God.
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And we do this by the means of grace. Just not here. But every day we draw near to God.
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As we open up the word of God. Lord speak to me. Show me your instructions. Show me your wisdom and your word.
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And then kneel in prayer. And say oh God help me. I pray oh God come. And may
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I draw closer to you. Because by the way. If we feel that we are moved away from God.
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It's not God that is moved. It's you. It's me.
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God doesn't move. God is here. He said He would never leave us nor forsake us. So let's stop going by feelings and go by faith.
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And say by faith I know that God is here. Draw near to God.
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And He will draw near to you. Is that all? No. Cleanse your hands.
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That's our relationship with our brothers and sisters. We are to cleanse our hands. And then
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He says. He calls them you sinners. You sinners. Purify.
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Now there is a purification. Purify your hearts. First the hands.
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Now the hearts. You double minded. That's strong language folks.
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That convicts me as I am telling you that. Double minded. A double minded man is what? He is unstable in all of his ways.
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Why? Because he is not walking by faith. He is walking. He is not believing
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God. And God will resist him. But God says come unto me.
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Lament and mourn. Hear that language? That's the language of repentance.
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Lament, mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
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You know what He is saying? He said really if you want the joy of the Lord. This is the way. He is not saying it is wrong to be joyful.
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But what He was saying is. Stop your laughing. Stop your joking. Get serious with God. Weep, mourn, lament, repent.
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Then let your joy be turned to gloom. Then the joy of the Lord will come. Key verse.
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Humble yourselves. Verse 10. Humble yourselves. We must recognize that we are prideful.
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We are arrogant. God hates all boasting. Humble yourselves in the sight of the
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Lord. And what? He will lift you up. That's God's order.
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We are to come. Jesus said that. He that actually humbles himself will be exalted.
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And he that exalts himself shall be humbled. The proper place for us is to humble ourselves before God.
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Let me close. And I close with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because this is where the
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Apostle James heard this. He just put it in his words by the Spirit of God. It's commentary on what
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Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, 3 and 4.
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Jesus said it. Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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That's a promise. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
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That means you got to be bankrupt. You got to come humbling. And recognizing that we are dirt and nothing else.
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And come before God stripped. Say, oh God have mercy upon me.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of God. Verse 4. Blessed are those who mourn.
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For they shall be comforted. You want comfort? You got to mourn. You want the kingdom of God?
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You got to come poor in spirit. May it be so. To recognize that we are arrogant and prideful.
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That God will receive the humble. God resists the proud folks. But gives more grace to the humble.
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Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven.
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What a powerful message and a strong message for all of us. And Father we just thank you for your word this morning.
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It goes forth. It does not return void. And it accomplishes all that you have sent it to do. And Father I pray that anyone that's here needs to be broken.
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Oh God. You said it would be best for them to be broken now. By the rock.
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Be crushed. By the rock. The Jesus Christ. Rather than in the future that the rock will crush them.
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Oh God may we humble ourselves before your mighty hand now. And kiss the sun.
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Least you be angry. Least you be angry. And least we embrace discipline.
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Like the Puritan said it's better to go to heaven bruised. Than to go to hell bragging.
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Oh God. Help us to receive the instruction. As you have said in your word.
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Help us oh God. To bless you. And remember that blessed are all those.
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That beautiful beatitude. Of all those who put their trust in you. May it be so.
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By the grace. That you give us through the Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray this in your name.