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Voddie Baucham - The Wise and the Foolish Builder · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: Join me if you will hear in chapter seven the
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Speaker 1: Book of Matthew, verse twenty four Matthew, Chapter seven and
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Speaker 1: verse twenty four for the end of the Sermon on
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Speaker 1: the Mount. And we read, everyone, then, who hears these
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Speaker 1: words of mine and does them, will be like a
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Speaker 1: wise man who built his house on the rock, and
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Speaker 1: the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds
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Speaker 1: blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall,
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Speaker 1: because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone
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Speaker 1: who hears these words of mine and does not do
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Speaker 1: them will be like a foolish man who built his
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Speaker 1: house on the sand, and the rain fell, and the
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Speaker 1: floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house,
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Speaker 1: and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
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Speaker 1: Then that last line, one sentence, two verses. And when
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Speaker 1: Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
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Speaker 1: for he was teaching them as one who had authority,
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Speaker 1: and not as their scribes. I like that Jesus finishes
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Speaker 1: his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, and they're astonished, astonished.
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Speaker 1: I tell you why, because of his wonderful oratory skills,
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Speaker 1: or his incredible use of rhetoric. No one word authority, authority.
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Speaker 1: They hadn't heard teaching like this because of its authority.
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Speaker 1: It's rather common, and unfortunately very sad that when many
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Speaker 1: people in our day talk about this passage of Scripture
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Speaker 1: and Jesus amazing the crowds with his teaching, and I
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Speaker 1: say this and quote this to you from one pastor
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Speaker 1: of a very large church here in the great state
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Speaker 1: of Texas, who has said that Jesus was the ultimate
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Speaker 1: entertainer and that our sermons need to be entertaining, just
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Speaker 1: like Jesus' sermons were entertaining, because the fact of the
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Speaker 1: matter is the crowds were astonished by the teaching of
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Speaker 1: Jesus because they were so entertaining. Again, pastor right here
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Speaker 1: in the state of Texas, very large megachurch says, what
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Speaker 1: the crowd is saying here is that they had never
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Speaker 1: been so enthralled and never so entertained by a sermon
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Speaker 1: in their entire lives, and so we need to be
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Speaker 1: like Jesus and be entertaining in our presentations. A couple
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Speaker 1: of small problems with that problem. Number one, Jesus was
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Speaker 1: anything but entertaining. Usually when he finished teaching. People wanted
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Speaker 1: to kill him, not applaud him. Secondly, the text tells
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Speaker 1: us very clearly why they were astonished, not because of
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Speaker 1: the entertainment value, but because of the authority in the message.
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Speaker 1: So here's the question, what's so astonishing about the teaching
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Speaker 1: of Jesus? Not just in this day? Because I would
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Speaker 1: argue that the teaching of Jesus, properly understood is and
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Speaker 1: ought to be as astonishing in our day as it
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Speaker 1: was in his day. But the question is why why
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Speaker 1: was the teaching of Jesus so astonishing in his day?
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Speaker 1: And why should the teacher king of Jesus continue to
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Speaker 1: be as astonishing, if not more so, in the day
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Speaker 1: and the age in which we live. I'm so glad
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Speaker 1: you asked that question. There are at least four reasons why.
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Speaker 1: The first is this, the teaching of Jesus is astonishing
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Speaker 1: because it offers authority to a world of autonomy. It
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Speaker 1: offers authority to a world of autonomy. I understand something.
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Speaker 1: Jesus makes it very clear in all four of these
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Speaker 1: illustrations that he uses that there are but two ways
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Speaker 1: if we were going to put it, to put it
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Speaker 1: in the vernacular, to put it in our language and
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Speaker 1: our understanding. Jesus basically teaches, it's my way or the highway. Amen.
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Speaker 1: There's only two ways. There are only two religious There
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Speaker 1: is true religion, the true religion of Christianity as taught
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Speaker 1: by Jesus Christ and as practiced by his followers on
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Speaker 1: the narrow gait hard road with few companions that lead
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Speaker 1: to life. That's the one. The other religion is everything else.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't matter how you distinguish the other religions. There
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Speaker 1: is the one true religion of Christianity, and then there
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Speaker 1: is everything else. We can classify everything else any way
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Speaker 1: we want to. We can look at them as you know,
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Speaker 1: monotheistic or polytheistic or pantheistic, or we can divide them
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Speaker 1: up in all sorts of you know, scientific ways, if
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Speaker 1: we so desire, And that may be informative, but only
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Speaker 1: to the extent that when we do so, we are
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Speaker 1: talking about the kinds of errors inherent in each religion.
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Speaker 1: But they all fall into the same category wrong false,
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Speaker 1: not the right one. There is Christ and the religion
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Speaker 1: of Christianity, and there is everything else. Some of those
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Speaker 1: other things are close approximations to Christianity. Others of them
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Speaker 1: are as far away as the East is from the west.
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Speaker 1: But in the final analysis, it doesn't matter how much
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Speaker 1: you miss by, It just matters that you miss. So
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Speaker 1: Jesus offers authority in the midst of a culture of autonomy,
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Speaker 1: because ultimately, what man has done throughout the ages is
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Speaker 1: find various religions that suit his desires, find various religions
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Speaker 1: that make him comfortable, find various religions that cohere with
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Speaker 1: what he has determined is his worldview, his life view,
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Speaker 1: and his understanding of ultimate reality. Listen to these words.
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Speaker 1: Rustany writes this and his book Vote Against Maturity. He says,
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Speaker 1: because man was created by God, man cannot escape God's
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Speaker 1: creating purpose. Even in his rebellion and in all his
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Speaker 1: revolutionary activity, man manifests God's purposes, however much he may
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Speaker 1: deform them. Since man was created to glorify God and
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Speaker 1: enjoy him forever, man cannot escape being a religious creature.
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Speaker 1: In the state of depravity, however, man seeks a religion
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Speaker 1: apart from God and in hostility to him. In his
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Speaker 1: state of depravity, man seeks a religion apart from God,
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Speaker 1: and ultimately, as a result thereof, man seeks a religion
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Speaker 1: in hostility to God. So Jesus here erects the one
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Speaker 1: true religion, and man basically says to Christ in various forms, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: you did a really good job. And some of that's
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Speaker 1: really nice. I may even use some of it. But
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Speaker 1: what I'm going to do is erect over here something
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Speaker 1: that I find more appealing, more appeasing, and more satisfying
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Speaker 1: than what you have established. That, my friends, is rebellion,
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Speaker 1: no matter how you slice it, even if you take
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Speaker 1: the religion of Christianity and try to add to it,
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Speaker 1: like the Pharisees did by basically adding to the law
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Speaker 1: of Moses. Moses, you did a really good job, and
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Speaker 1: we're glad that you did that with the law, and
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Speaker 1: it's really good. However, we are going to add to
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Speaker 1: it some things that we believe will make us more
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Speaker 1: righteous than the lawgiver who gave us the very law himself.
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Speaker 1: We believe we can do better. We believe we can
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Speaker 1: go beyond, we believe we can improve this. It's still sin,
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Speaker 1: and it's still rebellion. Man in a state of depravity
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Speaker 1: can do nothing else. What do I mean by Jesus
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Speaker 1: fring authority? This is what he says in verse twenty
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Speaker 1: four and in verse twenty seven, everyone who hears these
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Speaker 1: words of mine. He repeats it again in verse twenty seven,
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Speaker 1: everyone who hears these words of mind, these words of mind,
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Speaker 1: by the way, that's what separates him from the scribes.
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Speaker 1: The scribes are saying, well, Moses wrote, and here's what
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Speaker 1: Moses meant. The scribes say, Jeremiah wrote, and here's what
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Speaker 1: Jeremiah meant. The scribes may say David wrote, and here's
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Speaker 1: what David meant, and so on and so forth. Jesus, however,
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Speaker 1: was not standing up before the crowd exegeating texts. He
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Speaker 1: was not standing up before the crowd saying, let me
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Speaker 1: give you a better understanding of what Moses meant in
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Speaker 1: this passage of scripture. Let me give you a better
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Speaker 1: understanding of what Daniel was trying to say. Here. No,
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Speaker 1: Jesus stood up and basically said, I am God, and
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Speaker 1: here's what I say. That's the authority with which he taught.
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Speaker 1: That's why all other attempts at religion are ultimately rebellion,
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Speaker 1: because they are rebelling against the god Man who has
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Speaker 1: revealed himself in flesh and said this is the truth.
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Speaker 1: More importantly, he says and John fourteen, I am the Way,
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Speaker 1: the Truth, the Life. No one, no one comes to
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Speaker 1: the Father except through me. The teaching of Jesus offers
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Speaker 1: authority to a world bent on autonomy, a world that
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Speaker 1: wants to right the rules itself, a world that believes
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Speaker 1: it has figured out the way the universe works, and
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Speaker 1: as such can have a more sophisticated approach to ultimate
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Speaker 1: reality than the man who spoke the world into existence, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: the god man. That's the problem with all of man's religion.
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Speaker 1: It is ultimately rebellion against the authority of Almighty God himself.
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Speaker 1: This was the difference. This is why the God was astonished,
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Speaker 1: Not that it was entertaining for Jesus to say, everyone
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Speaker 1: who hears these words of mine, he didn't even say, notice, folks,
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Speaker 1: he didn't even say these words of my father. He says,
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Speaker 1: everyone who hears these words of mine, my words, these
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Speaker 1: words coming out of my mouth, your life, and whether
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Speaker 1: it's righteous or whether it's not. Your future, and whether
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Speaker 1: at least a life everlasting or destruction is dependent. Ultimately,
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Speaker 1: Jesus says, on what you do with my words that
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Speaker 1: come out of my mouth? Because I am God. That's
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Speaker 1: why the teaching of Jesus was astonishing in his day,
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Speaker 1: and that's why the teaching of Jesus is astonishing in
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Speaker 1: our day. It is non negotiable. It is authoritarian to
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Speaker 1: the utmost. It is man wrapped in flesh who says, Oh,
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Speaker 1: by the way, I am God. What I say goes.
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Speaker 1: Don't add to it, don't take away from it. Just obey,
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Speaker 1: obey me, Obey what I say, Obey what I just
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Speaker 1: told you, And if you don't, you will die, and
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Speaker 1: not just a physical death. But we'll get to that
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Speaker 1: in a moment. When it comes to the deity of Christ.
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Speaker 1: I want you to remember this. Just just hold onto
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Speaker 1: this for a moment, Okay, grab this for a moment.
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Speaker 1: It's going to become very important when we get to
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Speaker 1: the last part of this message. I want you to
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Speaker 1: remember the ones, Okay, the ones. Jesus is the one.
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Speaker 1: Remember the ones. Hold on to one. We have one
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Speaker 1: true God, that God has revealed himself in three persons. Okay,
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Speaker 1: So the three phrases that we find the one, the
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Speaker 1: Deity of Christ, these three places I want you to know.
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Speaker 1: I want you to memorize. We'll look at him. John
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Speaker 1: chapter one, Colossians chapter one, and First John chapter one.
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Speaker 1: These are the key Christology passages John chapter one, Colossians
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Speaker 1: chapter one, and First John chapter one. If you want
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Speaker 1: to look at the deity of Christ, turn with me,
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Speaker 1: if you will to the right. Let's look at these three. First,
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Speaker 1: let's look at John chapter one, John chapter one, beginning
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Speaker 1: of verse one in the beigin was the Word, and
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Speaker 1: the word was with God, and the word was God.
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Speaker 1: He was in the beginning with God. All things were
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Speaker 1: made through him, and without him was not anything made.
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Speaker 1: That was made in him was life, and that life
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Speaker 1: was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness,
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Speaker 1: and the darkness has not overcome it. Go down with
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Speaker 1: me if you will to verse fourteen. And the Word
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Speaker 1: became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen
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Speaker 1: his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father,
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Speaker 1: full of grace and truth. So who's the word there? Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And the beginning was the word. The word was with God.
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Speaker 1: The word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
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Speaker 1: Through him all things were made. So here he is
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Speaker 1: not only is he God, but he's the creator of
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Speaker 1: the universe. There in John chapter one. Turn with me
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Speaker 1: to the right again, and let's look at Colossians chapter one, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
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Speaker 1: Colossians chapter one, and started verse thirteen. He has delivered
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Speaker 1: us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption,
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Speaker 1: the forgiveness of sins. He is who we're talking about here,
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Speaker 1: the Sun. He is the image of the invisible God,
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Speaker 1: the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things
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Speaker 1: were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
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Speaker 1: whether the thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities, all
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Speaker 1: things were created through him and for him. And he
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Speaker 1: is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
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Speaker 1: And he is the head of the body the Church.
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Speaker 1: He is the beginning, the first from the dead, that
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Speaker 1: in everything he might be pre eminent. Not only is
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Speaker 1: he the creator of all things, but we see here
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Speaker 1: in Colossians he's also the sustainer of all things, and
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Speaker 1: the one for whom all things exist. Finally, First John
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Speaker 1: chapter one, let's keep turning that to the right. First
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Speaker 1: John chapter one. We looked at this when we talked
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Speaker 1: through First John but let's go here again and read
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Speaker 1: it just to refresh our understanding of Christology. First John
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Speaker 1: chapter one, Remember John one, Colossians one, First John one,
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Speaker 1: remember the ones. These are the key christological passages when
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Speaker 1: you're talking about who Jesus is. These are the only
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Speaker 1: places that you go to find out who Christ is.
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Speaker 1: But these are the cardinal past messages that give us
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Speaker 1: more doctrinal and theological understanding about the deity of Christ
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Speaker 1: than just about anywhere else. First John chapter one. That
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Speaker 1: which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which
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Speaker 1: we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
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Speaker 1: upon and have touched with our hands. Concerning the Word
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Speaker 1: of life, the life was made manifest, and we have
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Speaker 1: seen it and testified to it, and proclaimed to you
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Speaker 1: the eternal life which was with the Father and was
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Speaker 1: made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard,
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Speaker 1: we proclaim to you also, so that you too may
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Speaker 1: have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with
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Speaker 1: the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. And we
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Speaker 1: are writing these things so that your joy may be
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Speaker 1: made complete. Now we have evidence of this God Man
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Speaker 1: who has been seen and heard, and touched and handled
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Speaker 1: and manifested to his apostles, who give us the teaching
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Speaker 1: about who Christ is. So it's astonishing about the gospel message.
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Speaker 1: What's astonishing about the teaching of Jesus Christ is that
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Speaker 1: it offers the ultimate authority to a world of autonomy
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Speaker 1: and says basically, these are the words of God, and
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Speaker 1: they are therefore unalterable by you or anyone else. Which
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Speaker 1: is why Paul says in Galatians, if we, or an
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Speaker 1: angel or anyone else should come to you preaching another gospel,
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Speaker 1: let them be accursed. There is no other gospel. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: but I saw an angelic being, Joseph Smith would say,
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Speaker 1: Paul says, let that angel moroney be accursed, even if
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Speaker 1: you saw an appearance of what you thought was the
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Speaker 1: apostle Paul himself, Paul says in Galatians one, letting me
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Speaker 1: be a cursed if I bring you another gospel. There
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Speaker 1: is no other gospel. It is the religion of Christianity
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Speaker 1: has delivered to us by Christ, has passed down to
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Speaker 1: us by the apostles, or it is false, that's it. Secondly,
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Speaker 1: the teaching of Jesus offers absolutes in a world of relativism.
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Speaker 1: This isnt know what he says in verse twenty four.
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Speaker 1: Look at it again here in our passage, Matthew seven.
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Speaker 1: Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty seven, everyone who hears these words of mine
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Speaker 1: and does not do them. Not. Here's what could happen
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Speaker 1: you decided to hear my words and do them. And
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Speaker 1: here's what might happen to you if you decided to
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Speaker 1: hear these words of mine and not do them. In
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Speaker 1: other words, here's the way people try to reason this.
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Speaker 1: Jesus was a very good man, and a very good teacher,
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Speaker 1: and a very good prophet, and he taught some things
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Speaker 1: that were wonderful, and we ought to incorporate those things
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Speaker 1: that Jesus taught into our lives because they could be
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Speaker 1: very beneficial to us. That's not what Jesus teaches. Jesus says,
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Speaker 1: there's what I teach and everything else. There's obedience to
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Speaker 1: what I teach and the lack thereof, and everyone falls
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Speaker 1: into one category or the other. Everyone There is no piecemeal.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't work that way. It is either you are
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Speaker 1: hearing what I teach and obeying what I teach, and
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Speaker 1: therefore the house will stand. This is absolute, not in
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Speaker 1: most instances, the house will stand no. And again, think
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Speaker 1: about what Jesus is teaching here. It's a parable, Jesus says,
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Speaker 1: and again, here's what's dangerous about parables, because oftentimes we
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Speaker 1: try to allegorize parables. And basically, what some people will
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Speaker 1: do and teaching this very passive scripture is say, what
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Speaker 1: you need to do is take the principles of the Bible,
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Speaker 1: and if you build your life on the principles of
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Speaker 1: the Bible, or if you build your business on the
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Speaker 1: principles of the Bible, you'll be better off than if
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Speaker 1: you hadn't built your house, your life, your business on
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Speaker 1: the principles of the Bible. Folks, this is not just
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Speaker 1: about holding on to the principles of the Bible because
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Speaker 1: they happen to work that falls woefully short. There are
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Speaker 1: a lot of Christians out there who are, for example,
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Speaker 1: writing business books and basically what they're doing is stripping
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Speaker 1: the Gospel of all of its authority, stripping the Gospel
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Speaker 1: of all of its powers. And they're saying, here, I
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Speaker 1: have mined the scriptures for these principles. Take these principles
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Speaker 1: and apply these principles. Because these principles are a means
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Speaker 1: to an end. The end, of course, is better business
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Speaker 1: for you and more money for you. Jesus says, I'm
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Speaker 1: not about you making more money in your business. I'm
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Speaker 1: not about you having a happier life. What I'm about
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Speaker 1: is I am the truth. What I'm saying is the truth.
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Speaker 1: You live by the truth, and you will survive. If
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Speaker 1: you don't, you won't survive. I am not here speaking
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Speaker 1: about better business, because newsflash, there are people who believe
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Speaker 1: the Gospel who build their life on the teaching of
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and are so broke they can't pay attention,
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Speaker 1: let alone their bills. There are people who have built
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Speaker 1: their businesses on the true principles of Scripture and gone
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Speaker 1: utterly bankrupt. That's not what this parable is about. It's
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Speaker 1: not we miss it completely when we turn this parable,
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Speaker 1: rip it kicking and screaming out of context and make
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Speaker 1: this just about well, if you go to the Book
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Speaker 1: of Proverbs and yank those principles out there and apply
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Speaker 1: those principles, then your business is going for Trust me,
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Speaker 1: there are plenty of people who've applied those principles and
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Speaker 1: their businesses didn't flourish. Or you hear about the soldier,
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Speaker 1: and we were in combat and our unit memorized some
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Speaker 1: I've heard this testimony before. We were in combat and
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Speaker 1: our unit memorized Psalm seventy one. Are Psalm ninety one,
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Speaker 1: you know, thousand and eight years ten thousand at your
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Speaker 1: right hand and will not come near you. We memorize
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Speaker 1: Psalm ninety one, and we went through the whole war
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Speaker 1: and didn't lose a single man in our unit. Well,
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Speaker 1: that sounds really good. Here's the problem. Do you think
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Speaker 1: they're the only people who memorize Psalm ninety one where
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Speaker 1: they were in the war, And do you believe that
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Speaker 1: everyone who memorized Psalm ninety one didn't die? Help you
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Speaker 1: if you believe that, folks, that's That's not the way
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Speaker 1: Christianity works. It's not. There are people who believe everything
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Speaker 1: right and do everything right. Again, we're talking about as
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Speaker 1: much as humanly possible. They're in line and they miscarry
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Speaker 1: while Pagans go and have babies without a problem. There
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Speaker 1: are people who do these things, believe these things. They're
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Speaker 1: walking with Jesus Christ and their bodies are racked with pain.
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Speaker 1: I'm looking around here right now, right now, people in
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Speaker 1: this very room who are struggling with sickness, with financial
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Speaker 1: upheaval problems, and homes with families and marriages and children.
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Speaker 1: Love Jesus Christ with every fiber of their being, but
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Speaker 1: are going through difficult times right now. Do you think
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Speaker 1: the only people in this world who go through chemotherapy
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Speaker 1: are people who don't trust Christ? Do you think that
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Speaker 1: the only people in this world who die of cancer
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Speaker 1: at a young age are people who don't trust Christ.
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Speaker 1: Don't buy that simplistic, man centered view of this passage. Please.
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Speaker 1: When Jesus is talking you out the house that stands
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Speaker 1: in the house that falls, he is not talking about
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Speaker 1: your best life now. But again, let's not get ahead
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Speaker 1: of ourselves. Thirdly, the teaching of Jesus offers hardship to
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Speaker 1: a world of ease. I want you to notice something.
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Speaker 1: There's a phrase that's repeated that there are these two.
26:32
Speaker 1: There's the man who here's my words and doesn't do them.
26:38
Speaker 1: They're the man who hears my words and doesn't There's
26:42
Speaker 1: the house that stands and there's the house that falls.
26:44
Speaker 1: But in the midst of it, there's a phrase that's
26:48
Speaker 1: the same in both instances. He says, and the rain
26:54
Speaker 1: fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and
26:57
Speaker 1: beat on that house. That's repeated both times. The rain comes,
27:04
Speaker 1: whether you believe Jesus or not. The floods rise, whether
27:09
Speaker 1: you believe Jesus or not. The wind beats on your house,
27:13
Speaker 1: whether you believe Jesus or not. This is far from
27:19
Speaker 1: a guarantee of ease for those who follow Christ. That
27:24
Speaker 1: is not the point of this passage. That is not
27:27
Speaker 1: the point of this text. So the authority of Jesus
27:31
Speaker 1: is not here in Jesus saying you follow me, man,
27:35
Speaker 1: and I'll give you the good life that so worries
27:42
Speaker 1: me with the way that we present Christianity to people.
27:47
Speaker 1: And again we'll get there. But listen to this and
27:51
Speaker 1: a couple of passages of scripture. I want you to
27:53
Speaker 1: see something how this is so far from what Jesus
27:56
Speaker 1: is teaching. Go to Mark Mark, chapter eight, Mark eighth,
28:14
Speaker 1: beginning of thirty four. This is right after Peter's famous
28:17
Speaker 1: confession you are the Christ, the son of the Living God.
28:22
Speaker 1: Jesus tells him about his own suffering. Peter rebukesen listen
28:28
Speaker 1: to this in verse thirty four and calling the crowd
28:32
Speaker 1: to him with his disciples He said to them, if
28:35
Speaker 1: anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take
28:39
Speaker 1: up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save
28:43
Speaker 1: his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life
28:46
Speaker 1: for my sake and the gospels, will save it. For
28:50
Speaker 1: what does it profit a man to gain the whole
28:52
Speaker 1: world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man
28:55
Speaker 1: give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed
28:58
Speaker 1: of me and of my words in this adulterous and
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Speaker 1: sinful generation of him, will the son of man also
29:07
Speaker 1: be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his
29:11
Speaker 1: Father with the Holy angels. Jesus says, you want to
29:17
Speaker 1: follow me, pick up your cross. And again he does
29:25
Speaker 1: not mean a nice gold necklace that you wear around
29:28
Speaker 1: your neck. It's an emblem of death, of execution. When
29:39
Speaker 1: Jesus calls a man, it has been said he bids
29:42
Speaker 1: him come and die. Any picture of Christianity that says
29:50
Speaker 1: that it's all about and again, this is what is communicating.
29:56
Speaker 1: God did not make you to be average. God made
30:04
Speaker 1: you to be extraordinary. Newsflash, that's exactly opposite of what
30:13
Speaker 1: the Bible teaches. Listen to first, grint in one verses
30:18
Speaker 1: twenty sixty thirty one. For consider your calling, brothers. Not
30:22
Speaker 1: many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not
30:26
Speaker 1: many were powerful, not many of noble birth. But God
30:29
Speaker 1: chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
30:33
Speaker 1: God shows what is weak in the world, to shame
30:36
Speaker 1: the strong. God shows what is low and despised in
30:39
Speaker 1: the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing,
30:42
Speaker 1: things that are that no human being might boast in
30:45
Speaker 1: the presence of God. And because of Him, you are
30:48
Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God,
30:52
Speaker 1: righteousness and sanctification and regemption. So that, as it is written,
30:56
Speaker 1: let the one who boast boast in the Lord. Paul
30:59
Speaker 1: said the exact opposite of what those teams says. Paul says,
31:06
Speaker 1: look at yourselves. You're not much, and that makes God glorious.
31:14
Speaker 1: Look at yourselves. He says too, you're not average. But
31:19
Speaker 1: his argument is you're below average, and God be praised.
31:27
Speaker 1: You know what we say. Here's what we say. Oh
31:30
Speaker 1: if God would just say tiger woods, Oh if God
31:33
Speaker 1: would just say whatever you know, big named athlete, big
31:37
Speaker 1: named actor, big name Did you know that so and
31:41
Speaker 1: so was a Christian who cares? Who cares? Here's why
31:50
Speaker 1: we care, because we don't get this principle. God is
31:56
Speaker 1: glorified in that he saves men in spite of their unworthiness.
32:03
Speaker 1: But here's what we want to be able to communicate
32:05
Speaker 1: to the world. Look at all these worthy people who
32:09
Speaker 1: think like we do. We're all we got it together.
32:16
Speaker 1: Did you know that this famous person was a Christian?
32:19
Speaker 1: And that famous person was a Christian? We must not
32:22
Speaker 1: be all bad. Instead, it's look at these lowly people,
32:35
Speaker 1: not all the high and mighty. Can God save the
32:38
Speaker 1: high and mighty? Yes he can, Yes he does, he does.
32:46
Speaker 1: But Christianity is not marked by somehow these exceptional, overwhelmingly
32:53
Speaker 1: attractive and wealthy and whatever else. A bunch of people who,
32:58
Speaker 1: because they've got it together there have been smiled on
33:02
Speaker 1: by God. Now the Kingdom of God is filled with
33:07
Speaker 1: the least of these. The Kingdom of God is filled
33:14
Speaker 1: with very ordinary people whose lives the angels look at
33:23
Speaker 1: and revere. Why. Because we've been bought with a price,
33:29
Speaker 1: the precious blood of Christ. That's why. Not because we're
33:37
Speaker 1: excellent and magnificent and wealthy and beautiful and powerful and
33:42
Speaker 1: non but because for the most part we're We're absolutely not,
33:50
Speaker 1: and God be praised. Most people live very ordinary, very
33:57
Speaker 1: mundane lives. Can you tell you a couple of things
34:01
Speaker 1: that bothered me? Here's one. You go to an event,
34:05
Speaker 1: you know, you go to big conference, and I mean
34:07
Speaker 1: the big stuff. You know, you go to the big stuff.
34:10
Speaker 1: You go to a pastor's conference. And at the pastor's conferences,
34:15
Speaker 1: who are the pastors who are usually up there upfront
34:18
Speaker 1: talking to people. Well, they're the guy who took their
34:21
Speaker 1: church from fifty people to fifty thousand in six months.
34:25
Speaker 1: You know, some ridiculous stuff now, And that's how they're introduced.
34:30
Speaker 1: When he went to so and so, they had mirror
34:32
Speaker 1: a mirror, one hundred and twenty five people. Now they're
34:36
Speaker 1: meeting in nine locations. They built buildings in excess of
34:39
Speaker 1: thirty million dollars twenty nine million in which they still owe.
34:43
Speaker 1: And he put you know, ninety thousand people meeting on
34:48
Speaker 1: eighty two different campuses. I give you what is that
34:56
Speaker 1: that bothers me? Me? He's worthy to be listened to
35:04
Speaker 1: because he's successful, and Christianity is all about success. The
35:10
Speaker 1: most the greatest listen and perhaps you too can get there.
35:15
Speaker 1: And then you have a big event, these big stadium events,
35:18
Speaker 1: and if we're going to do the big revival or
35:19
Speaker 1: the big crusade or whatever, what do we do. We
35:22
Speaker 1: go get a guy from the NFL or the NBA
35:24
Speaker 1: or Major League Baseball for him to stand up and
35:27
Speaker 1: give his testimony, so that basically he can say this, Listen,
35:32
Speaker 1: I trust Jesus, and I can throw a baseball one
35:34
Speaker 1: hundred miles an hour and get paid five million dollars
35:38
Speaker 1: a year to do it. God is awesome. Don't you
35:45
Speaker 1: want to trust Jesus too? Five million year? Yeah. As
35:58
Speaker 1: a result of that, here's what I've heard from the
36:00
Speaker 1: mouths of some Christians. You know, I really don't have
36:04
Speaker 1: much of a testimony. Have you heard this. I've heard this.
36:12
Speaker 1: I've heard this from many a Christian. I really don't
36:14
Speaker 1: have much of a testimony. You know what that means,
36:18
Speaker 1: You believe a testimony is about making much of you
36:20
Speaker 1: and not about making much of Christ, the king of
36:25
Speaker 1: the universe who spoke the world into existence, reached into
36:30
Speaker 1: your raggedy, wretched life and saved you, and you don't
36:34
Speaker 1: have much of a testimony. The teaching of Jesus is
36:44
Speaker 1: astonishing because it is about the hard road and not
36:53
Speaker 1: the easy one. Those people who, those people who who
36:59
Speaker 1: don't live a drab, mundane, very difficult existence. They're the exception,
37:04
Speaker 1: not the rule. The Christian life is hard. It always
37:11
Speaker 1: has been. It's hard. Finally, the teaching of Jesus offers
37:20
Speaker 1: a warning to a world of optimism. That's why it's astonishing.
37:27
Speaker 1: We live in a world of optimism, and the teaching
37:30
Speaker 1: of Jesus offers a warning. Remember I said earlier, this
37:34
Speaker 1: is not about you take these principles and it'll make
37:37
Speaker 1: your business more successful. That's not what this is about.
37:39
Speaker 1: Listen to it. Let me read it one more time.
37:43
Speaker 1: Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them
37:48
Speaker 1: will be like the wise man who built his house
37:51
Speaker 1: on the rock. The rain fell, floods, king, the winds
37:53
Speaker 1: blew and beat on the house, but it did not
37:56
Speaker 1: fall because it had been founded on the rock. Everyone
37:59
Speaker 1: every you want, okay. So that means everyone who builds
38:03
Speaker 1: a house on what Jesus says you build a house
38:07
Speaker 1: on will never experience the fall of their house. Will.
38:12
Speaker 1: Do Christians experience hardship? Yes? Do Christians die? Yes? Do
38:17
Speaker 1: Christians go broke? Yes? So he can't mean that everyone
38:23
Speaker 1: who builds on these words won't have hardship, won't die,
38:27
Speaker 1: and won't go broke. That can't be what he's talking about.
38:29
Speaker 1: That's not what the parable is about. Look at the
38:33
Speaker 1: other one. Everyone who hears these words of mine and
38:36
Speaker 1: does not do them will be like a foolish man
38:39
Speaker 1: who builds his house on sand, and the rain fell,
38:42
Speaker 1: and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat
38:45
Speaker 1: against the house, and it fell, and great was the
38:48
Speaker 1: fall of it is everyone who doesn't build on Christ
38:53
Speaker 1: going to be broke. No, some of them are going
38:55
Speaker 1: to be filthy rich. In fact, most of the richest
38:59
Speaker 1: people in the world aren't Christians. What about health, Yeah,
39:07
Speaker 1: they're gonna get sick too. What about death, Yeah, they're
39:10
Speaker 1: gonna die too. So what Jesus is saying here is
39:13
Speaker 1: not you believe and obey what I've taught, and you'll
39:18
Speaker 1: have a good, easy, wealthy, healthy lot. That's not what
39:22
Speaker 1: he's teaching. What's this a warning about, folks? This is
39:26
Speaker 1: a warning about hell. Everyone who hears my words and
39:36
Speaker 1: obeys them will experience life everlasting. By the way, the
39:42
Speaker 1: two gates, the two roads, the two crowds, or two destinations.
39:48
Speaker 1: One is life, the other death In what sense? The
39:53
Speaker 1: ultimate sense? That's about heaven and hell. The true prophet,
39:57
Speaker 1: the false prophet bears good fruit, the other bears bad fruit.
40:01
Speaker 1: What happens to the tree that bears good fruit? It's
40:04
Speaker 1: cut down and thrown into the fire. What's that about?
40:07
Speaker 1: That's about hell. Not everyone who says to me, Lord
40:11
Speaker 1: Lord will enter what the kingdom of heaven. But if
40:14
Speaker 1: you did not do the will of my father, what's
40:16
Speaker 1: gonna be said to you? Depart from me? I never
40:19
Speaker 1: knew you, you worker of iniquity. Where you're going to hell? So, finally,
40:25
Speaker 1: the two builders, what is he talking about? Heaven and hell?
40:30
Speaker 1: Jesus says, there's the one true religion. Those who hear
40:33
Speaker 1: my words and do what I teach practice the one
40:37
Speaker 1: true religion. Come to faith in Jesus Christ. They live
40:40
Speaker 1: and have eternal life and go to heaven. Everyone else,
40:44
Speaker 1: no matter how close they get, they die and they
40:46
Speaker 1: go to hell. This is not about business principles, folks.
40:55
Speaker 1: This is about heaven or hell. This is about ultimate
41:02
Speaker 1: reality and an ultimate destination. Unless you think that somehow
41:09
Speaker 1: this is maybe a reach. Number one, we've seen the
41:13
Speaker 1: immediate context here of what we've taught, but also look
41:16
Speaker 1: at chapter five, verses twenty nine and thirty. What's gonna
41:20
Speaker 1: look here in Mark, I'm Matthew. Read Matthew Chapter five,
41:23
Speaker 1: verses twenty nine and thirty. If your right eye causes
41:30
Speaker 1: you to sin, tear it out and throw it away,
41:32
Speaker 1: for it is better for you to lose one of
41:34
Speaker 1: your members than your whole body to be thrown into hell.
41:38
Speaker 1: If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it
41:40
Speaker 1: off and throw it away, for it is better for
41:41
Speaker 1: you to lose one of your members than that your
41:45
Speaker 1: whole body go into where hell. Chapter ten, verse twenty eight.
42:00
Speaker 1: Remember the next time is right here. Several times he
42:02
Speaker 1: talks about heaven and hell. Now we go over to
42:04
Speaker 1: chapter ten, verse twenty eight. Do not fear those who
42:08
Speaker 1: kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear
42:12
Speaker 1: him who can destroy both body and soul in altogether.
42:16
Speaker 1: Now Hell, go with me if you will to chapter
42:22
Speaker 1: ten by chapter eighteen, rather beginning at verse seven. Woe
42:38
Speaker 1: to the world for temptations to sin, For it is
42:41
Speaker 1: necessary that temptations come, But woe to the one by
42:44
Speaker 1: whom the temptation comes. And if your hand or your
42:46
Speaker 1: foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw
42:48
Speaker 1: it away. It is better for you to interer life
42:50
Speaker 1: crippled in lame, than with two hands and two feet,
42:53
Speaker 1: to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your
42:55
Speaker 1: eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw
42:57
Speaker 1: it away, it is better for you to enter life
42:59
Speaker 1: with one then with two eyes to be thrown into
43:02
Speaker 1: the hell of fire. And finally chapter twenty three, and
43:09
Speaker 1: again this is just in Matthew. And if you do
43:18
Speaker 1: a quantitative analysis, just for those of you who are
43:22
Speaker 1: interested in these types of things, Jesus taught more about
43:25
Speaker 1: hell than he did about heaven. If you do quantitative
43:29
Speaker 1: analysis of the teaching of Jesus and the Gospels, he
43:32
Speaker 1: taught more about hell than he did about heaven. Chapter
43:37
Speaker 1: twenty three, beginning of verse twenty nine, woe to use
43:44
Speaker 1: scribes and pharisees hypocrites, for you build the tombs of
43:48
Speaker 1: the prophets and decorate the mountains of the righteous, saying,
43:52
Speaker 1: if we had lived in the days of our fathers,
43:56
Speaker 1: we would not have taken part with them in shedding
43:59
Speaker 1: of the blood of the prophets. Thus you witness against
44:02
Speaker 1: yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
44:06
Speaker 1: Fill up then the measure of your fathers, You serpents,
44:10
Speaker 1: you brute of vipers? How are you to escape being
44:15
Speaker 1: sentenced to hell? The reason that the teaching of Jesus
44:24
Speaker 1: is astonishing is because we are an optimistic lot, and
44:30
Speaker 1: we believe that most people are good, and that most
44:35
Speaker 1: people go to heaven when they die. And I think, frankly,
44:39
Speaker 1: if you talk to most people who are church going
44:42
Speaker 1: Americans who say they believe in God, and you ask
44:44
Speaker 1: them who goes to Hell? Hell for them? Maybe half
44:49
Speaker 1: a dozen people. You know, people like Hitler and Poulpot,
44:54
Speaker 1: and you know people like that Tello the hun Maybe
45:00
Speaker 1: people like that. But the lady down the street who's
45:05
Speaker 1: really nice, whoever once in a while, brings you bread
45:09
Speaker 1: or cakes or pies, who smiles at your kids when
45:14
Speaker 1: they walk by, waves at them. You know, that really
45:18
Speaker 1: nice lady, not her or that relative of yours, who's
45:25
Speaker 1: just as kind as they can be, always there for you,
45:29
Speaker 1: will give you the shirt off their back if you
45:32
Speaker 1: needed it. No, Hell's not for them. Hell's just for really,
45:37
Speaker 1: really really bad people, folks. That's not what Jesus teaches
45:41
Speaker 1: here's what's astonishing about the teaching of Jesus. Jesus says,
45:44
Speaker 1: that old lady down the street who's nice to you,
45:47
Speaker 1: who brings you cakes and pies and bits you fresh bread,
45:51
Speaker 1: you know she's not a Christian, and whether you like
45:54
Speaker 1: it or not, unless she comes to repentance and faith,
45:56
Speaker 1: when she dies, she will go to hell. That member
46:01
Speaker 1: of your family who's so kind that he give you
46:04
Speaker 1: the shirt off his back, you know he's not a Christian.
46:07
Speaker 1: He practices a religion of his own invention. And when
46:10
Speaker 1: he dies, kind though you may think he is, he
46:13
Speaker 1: will die and go to Hell. And kind as you
46:19
Speaker 1: think you are, sir, kind as you think you are, ma'am,
46:24
Speaker 1: kind as you think you are, young man, young woman.
46:28
Speaker 1: Unless you hear the words of Jesus and obey the
46:32
Speaker 1: words of Jesus and come to repentance and faith, your
46:36
Speaker 1: house will fall. Its fall will be great, and you
46:40
Speaker 1: will find yourself in the fire of Hell apart from
46:44
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ forever, because of your sin and the egregiousness
46:52
Speaker 1: of your affront to the holiness and righteousness of the
46:57
Speaker 1: One True and Living God. There is but one way,
47:02
Speaker 1: and his name is Jesus. This, my friends, is why
47:07
Speaker 1: the teaching of Jesus is astonishing. Not because of the
47:13
Speaker 1: incredible success that he offers to those who will apply
47:17
Speaker 1: his principles mind from the text, no, but regardless of
47:24
Speaker 1: that those who obey him. How do we apply this?
47:29
Speaker 1: What would we do? Let me just give you this
47:34
Speaker 1: a couple of things. One to the unbeliever. If you're
47:40
Speaker 1: here today and you have not come to faith in Christ.
47:43
Speaker 1: If you're here today and you have not come to
47:46
Speaker 1: repentance and faith, turned from your sin, forsaken your sin,
47:51
Speaker 1: recognize the wretchedness of your life and your soul, and
47:56
Speaker 1: turned pleading toward Christ, believing in the Christ of the scriptures,
48:02
Speaker 1: and trusting in Him and Him alone for your salvation.
48:06
Speaker 1: If you're here today and that's you, then here's how
48:09
Speaker 1: you apply this truth and the whole truth of the
48:11
Speaker 1: Sermon on the Mount. Repent believe, place your faith in
48:18
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and Him alone. If you've been trusting in
48:21
Speaker 1: your own righteousness, if you've been trusting and somehow doing good,
48:26
Speaker 1: if you've been trusting in somehow being better than most people,
48:29
Speaker 1: forsake that and forsake it forever. Trust in Christ and
48:33
Speaker 1: Christ alone. Do not lean on your own understanding, but
48:38
Speaker 1: in all your ways acknowledge Him. Repent, Believe. I beseech
48:44
Speaker 1: you in the name of Christ. That's how you apply
48:48
Speaker 1: the Sermon on the Mountain. That's how you apply this
48:50
Speaker 1: message today. You come to Jesus and you trust in him,
48:56
Speaker 1: not your goodness relative to other men, but in Christ alone.
49:02
Speaker 1: What about the believer? Two things. First, please preach the
49:10
Speaker 1: gospel accurately. Please please preach the gospel accurately. The gospel
49:22
Speaker 1: is not about manipulating men into praying the sinner's prayer
49:27
Speaker 1: that you will never find in scripture. This is not
49:31
Speaker 1: what the gospel is about. The gospel is astonishing. The
49:35
Speaker 1: gospel is not about somehow manipulating men or appeasing men.
49:40
Speaker 1: And please hear me, Mom and dad. This is not
49:44
Speaker 1: about you twisting your five or six year old into notts.
49:48
Speaker 1: Do you agree with this? Do you agree with this?
49:51
Speaker 1: Don't you want to go to heaven when you die?
49:52
Speaker 1: Don't you want to ask Jesus into your heart? That
49:55
Speaker 1: is not the gospel. Need to know who Jesus is.
50:02
Speaker 1: They need to know what sin is. They need to
50:04
Speaker 1: be broken over their sin, not just parroting the words
50:07
Speaker 1: of Mom and Dad. I've seen the most egregious things
50:13
Speaker 1: in my day, and in some instances taking part in
50:17
Speaker 1: these egregious things. Watching the little kids, babies walk into
50:24
Speaker 1: the waters of a baptistery that would overcome and overwhelm them.
50:29
Speaker 1: Where they left in those waters alone, having to hold
50:33
Speaker 1: their head up, and at four or five years old,
50:39
Speaker 1: being asked what their profession of faith is Jesus is Lord?
50:47
Speaker 1: Do they know that? Do they believe that? Do they
50:50
Speaker 1: understand that? Could be in those instances, I doubt it.
51:00
Speaker 1: But what has happened. They've been pressed for a decision,
51:04
Speaker 1: and what's being baptized in that pool is nothing more
51:07
Speaker 1: than parental anxiety. I want to see my kid get
51:17
Speaker 1: dumped so that I can sleep well at night. Preach
51:24
Speaker 1: the gospel accurately. It's astonishing because of the authority of Christ.
51:33
Speaker 1: It's astonishing because of its absolute nature. It's astonishing because
51:39
Speaker 1: it is a message of suffering and even shitting. It's
51:44
Speaker 1: astonishing because it's a warning. It's a warning. Preach the
51:52
Speaker 1: gospel accurately. And secondly, please live the gospel faithfully. Live
52:10
Speaker 1: the Gospel faithfully in the way that you obey Christ
52:19
Speaker 1: and also in the way that you honor Christ. Let
52:24
Speaker 1: me share this with you, and this may be delicate,
52:28
Speaker 1: but I really think it's something that we need to understand.
52:34
Speaker 1: Your family goes through a difficult time, and your family
52:39
Speaker 1: goes through that difficult time or whatever it is, and
52:45
Speaker 1: you have a baby who's born, and they say your
52:53
Speaker 1: baby's going to be born with this difficulty or that difficulty,
52:56
Speaker 1: and your baby's not born with this difficulty or that difficulty.
53:04
Speaker 1: And your response to that is, of course, to give
53:07
Speaker 1: praise to God. But we got to be careful even
53:09
Speaker 1: how we do that. We heard about it, we sent
53:14
Speaker 1: out to notice, we had people praying for us, and
53:17
Speaker 1: because all those people were praying for us, that baby
53:19
Speaker 1: was born and that baby didn't have one thing wrong
53:21
Speaker 1: with them. Here's what you just said, without even meaning it.
53:28
Speaker 1: All those of you Christians out there who had babies
53:30
Speaker 1: born with defects, you didn't have enough people praying for you.
53:35
Speaker 1: We did. Therefore we got what we were after You didn't.
53:41
Speaker 1: Did you mean that? No, But essentially that's what you said.
53:47
Speaker 1: Why was that baby whole? Because the providence of God
53:52
Speaker 1: smiled on you, and that child God be praised. We
54:02
Speaker 1: went into the doctor and they said I had this.
54:04
Speaker 1: They said I had that. We went in and everything
54:06
Speaker 1: was clear. Praise God. We prayed and it was clear
54:11
Speaker 1: because we believed. We claim this verse. We claim that verse.
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Speaker 1: Here's what you just said. All of those of you
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Speaker 1: out there who went to the doctor and they said
54:18
Speaker 1: something looked suspicious and then you went back and it
54:21
Speaker 1: was more than suspicious, and now you have cancer. You
54:29
Speaker 1: didn't pray as hard as I did. No God smiled
54:36
Speaker 1: on you in his providence. God be praised. When we
54:42
Speaker 1: stand up and we share our testimony, we say things like,
54:47
Speaker 1: you know, I was an alcoholic and all of a
54:51
Speaker 1: sudden I prayed to receive Jesus Christ, and that very
54:54
Speaker 1: moment I lost the taste for alcohol. Never desired it again,
55:00
Speaker 1: because that's what God will do when he saves you
55:03
Speaker 1: for real. You didn't mean it, but here's what you
55:06
Speaker 1: just said. All you people out there who know Jesus
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Speaker 1: and struggle every time you get a whiff of alcohol,
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Speaker 1: you didn't get what I got. You're not as saved
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Speaker 1: as I am. You're not as much of a Christian
55:22
Speaker 1: as I am, because you still have a struggle in
55:26
Speaker 1: your life. You still have a fight in your life.
55:29
Speaker 1: You still have a battle in your life. If you
55:31
Speaker 1: were a real Christian, that just wouldn't be the case. Yeah,
55:39
Speaker 1: we started this business, and we prayed over this business,
55:42
Speaker 1: and we did this and that and the other, and
55:43
Speaker 1: we applied this principle and that principle. Because we did that,
55:47
Speaker 1: we made this many millions of dollars. You didn't mean it,
55:50
Speaker 1: but what you just said is all you people out
55:51
Speaker 1: there struggling in your businesses, failing in your businesses. You
55:58
Speaker 1: didn't put your coin in the right slot. He didn't
56:01
Speaker 1: pushed the right button. Because ultimately, I am who I am.
56:06
Speaker 1: I have what I have, I've received what I received.
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Speaker 1: Notice in every sense, in every one of those instances,
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Speaker 1: because I had enough people pray, because I claimed the
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Speaker 1: right verse, because I cried the right amount of tears,
56:29
Speaker 1: because I applied the right principles, because I listen. Our
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Speaker 1: testimony ought to be about God and his glory, not
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Speaker 1: about us and ours. The difference between me and the
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Speaker 1: man who goes in and hears you know what, it's
56:52
Speaker 1: worse than we thought, has nothing to do with me,
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Speaker 1: and it has everything to do with the providence of God.
57:06
Speaker 1: The difference between my hardships and another man's hardships have
57:11
Speaker 1: nothing to do with my worth. There's not a man
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Speaker 1: alive who deserves worse than I do. Of course, the
57:21
Speaker 1: flip side of that is there's not a man alive
57:23
Speaker 1: who deserves better than I do either. We all deserve
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Speaker 1: death and hell. The severity of your hardships is all
57:33
Speaker 1: about what God determined and decreed for your life to
57:38
Speaker 1: maximize the glory that he gets. That's it. This baby
57:45
Speaker 1: lived why because, in the providence of God, the life
57:50
Speaker 1: of that child maximizes the glory that God gains from
57:54
Speaker 1: this particular life because of what He's going to do
57:57
Speaker 1: with the life of that child. This child we did
58:00
Speaker 1: not live. Why because in the providence of God, the
58:06
Speaker 1: suffering that this family is now enduring is maximizing the
58:10
Speaker 1: glory that God will receive from this particular family and
58:14
Speaker 1: this set of circumstances. Not because one was more worthy
58:23
Speaker 1: than the other, but in spite of the fact that
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Speaker 1: neither of them was worthy. As we live our lives
58:34
Speaker 1: before one another, and as we live our lives before
58:38
Speaker 1: a lost and hurting and dying world, please please, my
58:42
Speaker 1: brothers and my sisters, do not communicate a picture of
58:46
Speaker 1: Christianity that says, come over to our side because we
58:51
Speaker 1: get better gifts. Because the fact is, the rainfalls, the
59:04
Speaker 1: floods rise, and the winds beat against our house just
59:10
Speaker 1: like they do the other. And what I got coming,
59:18
Speaker 1: Neither you nor I will get to see this side
59:20
Speaker 1: of glory. Another day of health and strength. That's not
59:30
Speaker 1: my reward. Another dollar to spend, that's not my reward.
59:35
Speaker 1: Those things pale in comparison to the reward one receives
59:40
Speaker 1: for following Christ. My reward is eternal in the heavenly is.
59:51
Speaker 1: I'm just a pilgrim passing through this barren land. Preach
1:00:01
Speaker 1: the gospel accurately, live the gospel faithfully, and when you
1:00:12
Speaker 1: go through your difficult days, use it to bring much
1:00:18
Speaker 1: glory and honor to God. When you go through your
1:00:23
Speaker 1: mountaintop experiences, use them to bring much glory and much
1:00:28
Speaker 1: honor to God. And don't fall into the trap that
1:00:37
Speaker 1: makes God some sort of cosmic bellhop. And the Christian
1:00:43
Speaker 1: life a matter of just trying to figure out the
1:00:45
Speaker 1: right formula of prayers and scriptures to claim and promises
1:00:52
Speaker 1: to claim, and these other sorts of things that ultimately
1:00:55
Speaker 1: end up in maximum profit potential. That's not the gospel.
1:01:05
Speaker 1: It's not the Gospel says in wealth, I bring praise
1:01:13
Speaker 1: and glory to God. In want, I bring praise and
1:01:16
Speaker 1: glory to God. In sickness I bring praise and glory
1:01:20
Speaker 1: to God. In health, I bring praise and glory to God.
1:01:28
Speaker 1: Because this is not the be all to end all.
1:01:32
Speaker 1: I'm living for a city. Who's built or maker is God.
1:01:40
Speaker 1: That's why the gospel is astonishing. That's why the teaching
1:01:44
Speaker 1: of Jesus is astonishing then and now