Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14826 - It’s All About Grace - Galatians 6:11-18

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#14826 - It’s All About Grace - Galatians 6:11-18 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Amen. Amen.
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Take your Bibles, open them to Galatians chapter 6.
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Today we're going to pick up in verse 11, Galatians chapter 6.
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I've entitled our Bible Study. It's all about grace, All about
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grace. Today we come to the end of our
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study through Galatians. It was much faster to finish
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Galatians than it was the book of Acts.
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It took us nine months and 26 Bible studies to finish
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Galatians, whereas the book of Acts took us almost three years
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to finish. But it's a different book and it
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was a different purpose that God gave us the book of Acts as we
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go back to basics, but Galatians also gives us a basic, and
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that's the basic of grace. The Galatian believers then and
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we now need to know and be reminded of how wonderful it is
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to be set free by Jesus, to be set free from the bondage of sin
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and the life that we were living, to know that we're saved
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and brought into a right relationship with God through
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grace by faith. Rejecting legalism.
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If you're going to live in the grace of God and the freedom,
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you have to reject a few things. Besides rejecting the big things
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like sin, you also have to reject legalism, any kind of
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outward pressure that might push upon you to think that you can
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do anything to earn God's favor, that you have God's favor
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already receiving grace and enjoying life.
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If you want to hold your places quickly in Ephesians chapter 2,
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it's the next book over, we learn this important principle.
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It's as clear as clear can be in Ephesians chapter 2, beginning
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in verse 8, where it says by grace you have been saved
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through faith and that not of yourselves.
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It is the gift of God, verse 9, not of works, lest anyone should
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boast. Now let me just say the works
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there would include circumcision, which was the big
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work that was given to the Galatians in order to be saved.
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They were saved by grace. They were enjoying freedom.
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They're born again. And then this group of false
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teachers come in, we know them as the Judaizers and said, oh,
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no, no, no, no, it's not that easy.
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You can't, it's not that easy. You need to be circumcised.
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And so the Bible is very clear. It's not of works.
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Circumcision certainly would be a work.
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Now, of course, we don't talk about circumcision today.
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What do we say? Water baptism.
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That's what you hear today. You, there are churches today
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that will teach you that you cannot be saved until you're
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water baptized. That is so untrue.
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Water baptism is a work of righteousness.
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It is not a work toward righteousness.
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So that when you come on Wednesday and you go, well, I
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think I want to get saved, so I'm going to be water baptized
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and you come and you get into the waters as an unsaved person.
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When you get out of the water, the only thing that will happen
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to you, unless you repent of your sins, the only thing that
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will happen to you is you're going to get wet.
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That's it. Water doesn't save anyone,
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whether it's in the waters here in the sanctuary, whether we go
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out to the reservoir and we're baptizing, unless even at the
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reservoir or if we take you right here to the side with a
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hose and and squirt you down, all that will happen is you get
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wet. You need to repent of your sins
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and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is your Savior and choose
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to follow him. And then you're water baptized.
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But there will be those. Maybe some of you have met them.
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They would say, hey, where were you water baptized?
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And while in the reservoir, well, you know you're not saved.
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What? What do you?
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Mean I'm not saved like you have no idea what God's done in my
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life. You have no idea what he's done
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in my family. You have no idea the word.
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What do you mean I'm not saved? Well, no, you're not.
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And they, they won't even accept your testimony.
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They'll just keep going and going because their
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understanding of the scriptures is skewed.
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They don't understand that it's not of works.
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And we'll get into Ephesians 2 in a later study.
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But back in Galatians, Paul's winding his letter down.
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This is the end, This the last half of the last chapter.
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And he says in verse 11, see with what large letters I have
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written to you with my own hand. Usually Paul would dictate his
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notes to a scribe, and that scribe would write down his
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letters. But this letter was so
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essential, I believe that he penned it himself.
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With large letters, probably because of an eye disease he
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picked up along the way in his missionary journeys, he wants to
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make a final emphatic statement. Now there are some if you read
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commentaries you there are some that say no, no Scribe wrote
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most of Galatians, but just this.
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Last portion was written by his hand.
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I don't really see that as a valid understanding of that.
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I think he wrote the whole thing because this was important to
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him and he loved the Galatians. And he was stirred up because of
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them being ripped off by grace. He says in verse 12.
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As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these try
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to compel you to be circumcised only that they may not suffer
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persecution for the cross of Christ.
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For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but
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they desire to have you circumcised.
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That they might glory in your flesh.
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There's an interesting phrase here.
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I want you to mark a make a good showing in the flesh.
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You see that phrase make a good showing in the flesh.
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Here's the word one word to describe that sentence
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hypocrisy. This is another way of of seeing
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the word hypocrisy. A hypocrite is A2 faced person.
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The word comes to us from the Greek plays.
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It's the Greek word hupocritis. It comes to us from the Greek
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plays. And if you can think about it,
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the Greek plays, they would wear masks as they played a part.
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So if they wanted to play a happy part, they'd wear a happy
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mask. They could wear a happy mask and
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still be sad behind the mask. So they're portraying one thing,
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but there's something totally different.
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They want to take off that mask of happy and play a sad person.
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They want to play a man. They want to play a woman.
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They would put a mask on. Here is a great definition of
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hypocrisy, and that is those that are hypocrites want to make
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a great showing in the flesh. They desire you to think
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something about them that isn't actually true.
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And over the years, as I've met hypocrisy face to face, I could.
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It's so like, I just wish people that are hypocrites would spend
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that time following Jesus. If they would just spend the
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time that they spend trying to fake it out and try to lie to
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people, if he would just spend that time following Jesus, you'd
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be amazing believers. But instead there are people
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that just want to make a good showing in the flesh.
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They just want you to think something about them.
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They want to make a good showing outwardly, but outward religion
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isn't from God. Outward religion isn't from God.
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The gospel of grace is always inward.
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It's all God. You have to be.
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Jesus said born again. That's what he told Nicodemus.
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Nicodemus, this religious man. Who dedicated his life to
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leading others in the ways of God.
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When he comes to Jesus with he hears Jesus has a compelling
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message and he comes to have it explained to him.
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Jesus looks him in the eye and says you got to be born again,
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Nicodemus, that you have to be born.
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And his processing of that statement was probably similar
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to how we might process it. What do you mean born?
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What do I need to do? What?
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What do you mean born again? Do I need to climb into my
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mother's womb? What are you talking about?
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Just no, no, no. This is completely a work of my
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father. You, you can't do this yourself.
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No, of course I don't want you to crawl, to crawl up in your
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mother's. Of course I that's impossible.
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Salvation is impossible in the the work of man.
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Instead it's all inside those that came to the Galatians.
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Paul again winding down. He's given all this theology,
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He's given all the background. He's explained grace to them,
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but now he's reminding them again about these people.
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And if you just learn these principles, you too will not be
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ripped off by false teaching. Now, you may not know today, you
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might say, but Ed, I don't know the Bible and I haven't read it
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all through yet, and I don't quite understand.
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It may be the way you do, Pastor.
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You don't need to because you there are telltale signs of
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those that are coming to you with a false message.
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And the very first one you need to watch out for is they try to
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make an outward showing to influence you.
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Today in our world, our world is captured by online social media
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influencers. They use that word, they want to
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capture your attention and influence you.
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Of course, with social media, it's usually influencing you to
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buy something, which they're quite successful at both the
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people and the companies. But in the spiritual realm, the
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influence is to take you away from truth, being instruments in
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the hands of the enemy to take you away from truth.
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And the first thing they do is they make a good showing.
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They try to make it says desire to make a good showing in the
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flesh. Notice the next thing they do,
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they try to compel you to be circumcised.
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They try to compel you to do something that is unbiblical, to
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believe something that is unbiblical.
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I mean, obviously you would never get circumcised if you
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didn't believe it first. So they try to get you to
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believe something that is isn't biblical today wouldn't be
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circumcision. It would be water baptism or
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some outward work, some list of works, but it's all outward.
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It's all outward. Next, notice what they do.
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They're doing this and here's their motive.
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They don't want to suffer. It says verse 12, the
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persecution of the cross of Christ.
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They want to avoid the cross. Now I don't need to say much
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about many pulpits today that are filled with men and even
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women that don't believe in the cross and don't believe in the
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blood of Jesus and don't believe in the crucifixion, in the
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resurrection. It's it's mind blowing, but it's
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true. Trying to get away from the
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cross. Now, there's a good reason why
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people would want to stay away from the cross, and that is the
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cross says that we're sinners and who wants to hear that?
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And the cross says that we need to be saved.
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And the cross reminds us we need to repent and we need to be
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redeemed and we need to be reconciled.
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We need to be restored into a holy relationship with the
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Almighty God. The world doesn't like that
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message, and perhaps even some of you don't like that message
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as we come face to face with the reality of our own depravity,
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our own humanity. It's more than just a little
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mistake, or it's more than just the way I was raised, or it's
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more than just the culture I'm in.
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It's more there is a fundamental issue between me and God, and
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the Bible calls it sin. Every single one of us, the
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Bible says we've all sinned. But there are those within the
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spiritual realm that want to avoid the cross.
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If you ever meet someone that wants to avoid the cross, you
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need to avoid them, the cross. The greatest message of the
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cross is the love of God for you.
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Oh, that was also something that Jesus told Nicodemus.
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By the way, the most famous Bible verse of all time, John
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chapter 3 verse 16 was given to Nicodemus in response to his
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question. That God so loved the world that
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he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in
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him would not perish, but have everlasting life.
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That that is the message of the cross at the Gospel in summary.
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The Gospel in summary is John 316.
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The significance of what Jesus has done for you and for me.
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He says in verse 13, Now notice even those who are circumcised,
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not, excuse me for not even those who are circumcised keep
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the law. Another statement of hypocrisy.
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They come and demand something, but they themselves don't even
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keep the law. They don't keep the law.
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You don't keep the law. Why?
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Because we can't. That's not why the law was
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given. We learned earlier that the law
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was a schoolmaster or a tutor, and the lesson that the law was
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teaching us not only of the holiness of God and not only of
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the righteousness of God, we learn all about God's desires
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and God's revelation of himself in the law.
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But there's another thing the law teaches us, and that is
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this. You're not holy and you're not
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righteous, and you have a need to bridge that gap between
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holiness and unholiness, righteousness and
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unrighteousness. That's the message.
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Of the cross. And he says not even those that
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are circumcised, that have followed keep the law, but
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instead, again, here's the next desire.
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They desire to have you circumcised so that they may
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glory in your flesh. Imagine that the height of
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hypocrisy. They don't live the life that
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they command you to live. And by your following of them,
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they are able to say, look at how important I am.
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Doesn't that sound like the influencing world?
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Today, this is exactly. Hey, look at all many followers
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I have. Look how many people click.
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Look how many people like they grab, but they're not living the
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life you're living, but you're aspiring to live the life
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they're living. It's just such a RIP off instead
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of being content with who you are and what God's doing in your
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life. Well, it happened spiritually
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too. They desire to have you
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circumcised. I mean, it's a higher, higher
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price for the Galatians. They want you to do what they
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tell you so they can brag about you.
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Did what you. Oh, look how many people do what
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we tell them to do. Look how many people we have.
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Look at this notch in my belt. Look at my numbers.
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Look at my followers. It's here in the 1st century,
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but a much greater. Price to pay.
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Again, notice that word compel in verse 12.
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That literally is the word putting pressure on you.
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Hypocrisy has a pressure to it to keep up, to keep up, to keep
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up. It reminded me as I was putting
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this message together a few weeks ago of a time where I was
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approached, I actually received a phone call from another pastor
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who was pressuring me. It felt like I was in high
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school again, and I felt this peer pressure from this pastor.
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He was pressuring me to attend an event and out of his mouth he
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said this. He said the quiet part out loud.
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I knew what was happening but he literally said it like it was
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OK. He was pressure me to attend an
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event with him so people would think we're in unity and we
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aren't in unity. I'm not in unity with the
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brother, but he wanted people to think that we are.
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For whatever reason. He wanted to say like it says
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here, he wanted to say, hey, look, look, I can glory because
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look, we're together. We're not together.
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And I didn't go. I told him no, that you're being
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a hypocrite. This is exactly why I don't want
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to go. This is exactly why our
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relationship is strained, because you're going in a
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direction I can't go. And we all face this kind of
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pressure. Jesus, you can jot it down, we
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won't go there. But in Matthew chapter 23, some
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of the strongest words, the strongest rebuke from the mouth
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of Jesus were against religious hypocrites.
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He says it over and over again, You hypocrites, you hypocrites,
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you hypocrites. In Matthew chapter 23, he says
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in verse 14 now, but God forbid again, part of the letter to the
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Galatians was I know what you guys are hearing and saying, but
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I'm telling you, remember I was with you.
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Remember how God used me in your life.
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Part of their turning to false teaching was turning away from
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true teaching and turning away from the man that gave it to
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them, Paul. And so he says, but God forbid
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that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
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Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to
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the world. For in Christ Jesus neither
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circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new
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creation. Pretty strong contrasts and
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giving narrowing down for the Galatian believers. 2 options.
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You can avoid the cross or you can celebrate the cross.
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You you can leave and walk away from the cross or you can cling
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to it for all that it gives, he says.
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If I have. If I'm going to glory in
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anything, not going to glory in what I've done, I'm not going to
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glory how God you like, you could say like, don't you
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remember I was there all the sacrifice, all he says no, no,
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If I'm going to glory in anything, it's going to be in
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the cross. It's not going to be in
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circumcision or not circumcision.
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It's not going to be in some outward work.
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I mean, when you think of circumcision, circumcision for a
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second, just understand it's one human being doing something to
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another human being that that it's outward.
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It's completely outward. There's really no spiritual
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significance to the outward work.
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It's a human work. But salvation is something
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that's done in the heart by God, not another human.
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Do you know by now that a priest can't save you?
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A church can't save you, a pastor can't save you, a
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grandfather can't save you, Your last name doesn't save you.
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Only the blood of Jesus Christ saves a man and a woman.
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That's it. No, no man can do that work.
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You can't pay enough. You can't do enough.
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It is completely, 100% a work of the grace of God.
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You can't earn it, You don't deserve it, but you can receive
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it. That's salvation.
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So when we glory, we glory in the cross.
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Here's the problem, we may not be religious hypocrites
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ourselves, although there's always hypocrisy in all of us.
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So none of us are innocent of hypocrisy, but we may not be as
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bad as this. But here's here's an issue that
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we really have to deal with, and that is human pride is always
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looking for a way around the cross.
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Because the cross means something.
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It means sacrifice. It means crucifixion.
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It means pain, it means dying to yourself.
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Crucifixion, like the cross has meaning to it.
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God is God and I am not. I need to repent.
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My sin is ever before me. I when I think of the cross, I
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also know that my pride will want to get me around the cross.
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It want want to take me my own way.
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Oh yes, we love the Bible. Yes, I love the morality of
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Jesus. I think he said a lot of great
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things. But the cross, I don't know
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about the cross. Religion doesn't like the cross,
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cults don't like the cross. False teachers don't like the
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cross. They like themselves.
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They'd rather point to themselves.
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You know, the the sign of a cold is always when they point you to
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their organization or they point you to their pamphlets or they
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point you away from you. Don't have any you, you.
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I just want you to know right now you have no there.
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There's there's No Fear in ever opening your Bible and reading
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it. You don't ever have to fear
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that. You can open your Bible and read
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it and God will give you the message that He asked for you.
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You don't need somebody's pamphlet, somebody's book,
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somebody's organization. If you have the Bible, God will
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speak to you. All you have to do is read it.
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Just let him. Let him speak directly to your
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heart. But in our pride we refuse to
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humble ourselves, and in our pride we move around the cross.
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We don't like self sacrifice. We don't like personal pain.
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We don't naturally think of others more highly than
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ourselves. So the cross becomes something
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distant from us. Paul says if I'm going to glory
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in anything, I need a glory in the cross of what Jesus has done
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for my life. That's grace.
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I need to glory in what God has done, not what I have done.
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And then he says something very profound.
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Perhaps it's something that you will meditate and think about
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this week. But he when he talks about the
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world and its system, he says the world has been crucified to
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me and I to the world. There's such a great need for us
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to be in the world, but not of the world.
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What I mean by the world, the culture, the culture.
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I like to think of the world as the atmosphere.
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You know, when you're, when you're in a place, there's an
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atmosphere to it and there's an atmosphere to the world.
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You know what it is, Antichrist, that's the atmosphere of the
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world, the world system that we live in.
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As fun as it might be, and you know some of the amusements we
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get to be a part of, the system itself wants to take you away
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from Christ. Antichrist.
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The Bible says we'll see in first.
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John, many Antichrist have already entered.
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I know there's a lot of speculation.
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Who's the Antichrist capital? A Hey, set that aside for a
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second. Why don't you pay attention to
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the Antichrist that are already in your life and already in your
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home, perhaps in your heart? Paul says I have died to the
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world. I, I don't have the ambitions of
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the world anymore. And the world, he says, also
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doesn't like me. You know that you're in a place
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where you're, you're right where you need to be when you don't
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like the world and the world doesn't like you.
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Now I understand that we may not like some of the things in the
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world. We're watching the news and
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we're upset with this and we're upset with that.
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But truly, do you adopt the world system on the things you
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don't like about the world or are you like Paul and you go,
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hey, I've been crucified, the world's crucified to me.
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There has no eternal value in Jesus.
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He says at the end of verse 15, I'm a new creation.
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We looked back if you want to turn back to Galatians chapter 2
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and verse 20 back and when we were studying chapter 2, we
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stopped just on this verse. So that you would understand who
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you are as a new creation and how important it is for you to
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live that way. There's actually a chapter in my
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latest book as well where we look just at your identity in
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Christ because you need to know who you are.
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Because when you know who you are, you're going to live
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according to who you are. If you believe a lie about
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yourself, you're going to live out that lie.
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But if you believe the truth, you're going to live the truth
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and who you are in Christ. And this is who you are in
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Christ, verse 20. I have been crucified with
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Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
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Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh.
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I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave
23:42
himself for me. Now in chapter 6, Paul saying
23:46
the same thing a different way. He just says it very simply,
23:49
Hey, look, the world's being. I'm crucified to the world and
23:52
the world is crucified to me. Like though, I don't like the
23:57
world. And the world doesn't like me
24:02
with this attitude. It's so easy to sow to the
24:05
Spirit when you just understand that the world is not your home,
24:12
you're just passing through as my pastor.
24:15
Will we say only one life will soon be passed and only what's
24:19
done for Christ will last. Can I just tell you right now,
24:24
you're either going to believe that today, are you going to
24:28
believe that next week, or are you going to be 90 years old?
24:32
But I'm telling you, you'll believe that truth soon enough.
24:35
It's much better to believe it now, but it is a truth that you
24:39
will assent to at some point in your life.
24:42
Only what's done for Christ. It's better to look ahead to see
24:46
how it's sowing to the Spirit to invest our lives under those
24:49
things that are spiritual, really into those things that
24:52
are eternal. There's only two things that are
24:54
eternal going from here to heaven.
24:57
The Word of God and the souls of men, That's it.
25:01
Nothing else is going with you. You're taking nothing with you.
25:06
It'll be left here. Our money is not going with us.
25:10
Our possessions, our time, they all belong to Him.
25:13
They all come from Him. They all belong to Him.
25:17
But unless you live the crucified life, unless I choose
25:22
to live that, I'm not going to live as a new creation.
25:24
I'm going to live. As the old head, that all he
25:27
lived for was the world, all he lived for were those things that
25:33
would RIP off his time from anything that was good toward
25:37
God. Notice verse 16.
25:39
He says. And as many as walk according to
25:42
this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel
25:48
of God. From now on, let no one trouble
25:51
me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
25:55
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your
25:58
spirit. Amen.
26:02
There's a little. Play on words here, I think you
26:05
noticed it, he says. And as many as walk according to
26:09
this rule. Now what has this whole letter
26:12
been written about? Rules, rituals and regulations
26:17
that were put in between a person and God.
26:20
And So what does Paul do now? Hey, you want to live by rules?
26:23
Let me give you the rule. And what is the rule?
26:27
Well, we always have to define a word by its context.
26:32
Don't forget that you start with when you're wanting to define a
26:36
word in the Bible, you start by looking up the original word in
26:39
the New Testament would be Greek.
26:41
So you look up the Greek word, you get the definition of the
26:44
Greek word. But that's not the end because
26:46
you also need to learn how it was used.
26:49
And the way that you learn how it's used is 3 words.
26:52
You ready Context. Context.
26:55
You want to guess the third word, context.
26:59
And what is the context of this rule?
27:01
He's saying you want to live by a rule.
27:03
And here's the rule, the cross. You want to, you want to live
27:07
your life, live by the cross. The place of crucifixion, the
27:13
place of self, the greatest sacrifice, the greatest picture
27:17
of love to ever be shown to, can never be duplicated.
27:21
No one came before Christ. No one's come after Christ.
27:24
You want to live by this rule as many people as live by this rule
27:29
as many people. Then you're going to enjoy peace
27:33
and mercy be upon you and upon the Israel of God.
27:38
This phrase, Israel of God, the word Israel, you'll remember the
27:42
name Israel was given to Jacob by God himself.
27:46
Jacob was this conniver and heel catcher was what Jacob means.
27:50
But when he's wrestling with God and he finally surrenders, God
27:54
changes his name to Israel. You know what Israel means,
27:57
governed by God, ruled by God. So here the Israel of God is is
28:05
not a different category of people like some some extra like
28:08
the church now has been replaced or has replaced now Israel.
28:12
No, what he's saying is is that anyone that's governed by God,
28:16
anyone that's living by this rule, anyone that is at the
28:19
cross and that's their life. Peace and mercy be upon you.
28:24
He says don't let anyone trouble me.
28:26
Don't let anyone trouble me anymore.
28:29
Now that's a strong phrase to to use.
28:32
He's not saying don't talk to him anymore, don't share
28:34
anything with anymore. He's like, would you guys?
28:36
Just get back to grace and minimize my troubles.
28:41
Would you just get back to what's important?
28:44
I felt this way as a pastor many times where there's just so many
28:48
problems that don't need to be, that you don't need to be.
28:51
Don't live that way. Would you just stop living?
28:54
Stop making bad decisions. Stop, stop going back to that.
29:00
And Paul's saying, not that he doesn't want to be troubled, but
29:04
he's like, go back to grace because I bear, He says in verse
29:09
17, in my body, the marks of the Lord Jesus.
29:16
I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
29:20
No doubt he has scars, physical scars from all the beatings, the
29:26
stonings, the mistreatments. He says, look, I have evidence
29:35
in my life of my faith in Jesus Christ.
29:40
And don't you have a few scars along the way as a believer?
29:43
Or they might not be physical. But don't you have a few points
29:46
to your testimony of the price that's been paid?
29:50
Maybe a job loss or friction or difficulty?
29:55
I mean, maybe some great, great, great persecution and difficulty
30:00
in your life because of the cross.
30:03
But Paul says I'm living for eternity myself.
30:07
And if you doubt me, look at my back.
30:10
If you doubt me, look at my arms.
30:12
If you doubt me, look at my face.
30:15
Look what I have received in my life because of my choice to
30:21
follow Jesus. Jesus said the same thing.
30:24
It's a very similar statement. Turn back to John with me in
30:29
John chapter 20 and this is where we'll end as we wind down,
30:33
we'll sort of end. I got a few more things to
30:36
share, but we'll sort of end on this.
30:39
You got to see this. Paul is has so much of the Lord
30:44
in him that it comes out in his writings.
30:46
It makes sense because the Holy Spirit's inspiring, but but
30:49
don't think about the Holy Spirit like like telling Paul
30:52
exactly what to write. What Paul is doing is the Holy
30:56
Spirit's guiding him through his personality.
30:59
So he's sharing things, but his personality is being influenced
31:02
by receiving from Jesus and Jesus says a very similar thing.
31:07
Notice with me John chapter 20 in verse 24 it says but Thomas
31:13
called Didymus. One of the 12 was not with them
31:17
when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore
31:21
said to him, We have seen the Lord.
31:25
But he, Speaking of Thomas, said to them, Unless I see his hands
31:31
in his hands, the print of the nails and put my finger into the
31:35
print of the nails and put my hand into a side, notice what he
31:40
says, I will not believe. And this is the place where poor
31:47
Thomas gets a bad nickname. Yeah, I bet you guys have used
31:50
it before, some of you. And when you're in line in
31:53
heaven and you're looking for this guy and you're using his
31:56
nickname, it's not going to be a pretty.
31:58
Picture up there. He's not known in heaven as
32:01
Doubting Thomas. It's too bad doubting Thomas.
32:06
I don't think he's doubting at all.
32:07
Actually here. I think he's the kind of guy
32:10
like some of you that just wants evidence.
32:14
You just want facts. You're the kind of person that
32:16
moves on facts. That's how God made you.
32:18
And I want you to know that whatever you need from God, he's
32:21
ready to give it to you. Whatever you need.
32:24
Like you, you come to church and you you may not want to be here.
32:27
You're with family. They said they'll take you to
32:29
lunch. You go, I'll take free lunch,
32:30
but you got to go to. Church.
32:31
Oh man. And so you just do.
32:34
In your time you go. How long does this guy have?
32:36
I got 20 more minutes bro, don't worry about it.
32:40
But you just want more. Facts.
32:41
That's it. And usually it comes out with
32:44
your questions. I mean, you, you're at such a
32:47
place right now where your questions are always framed in
32:50
such a way where you think nobody can answer them.
32:53
And that keeps God at a distance, doesn't it?
32:56
Well, you know, if God would just, if I could just touch his,
32:59
the print of his nail, you know, I'll be like Thomas.
33:01
OK, Pastor boy, I'll be like Thomas.
33:03
I want to touch the whole, I want to touch the nail prints
33:05
and I want to put my hand in his side.
33:07
Well, that ain't going to happen.
33:09
That's unreasonable. I just want you to understand
33:13
your thinking is unreasonable and God doesn't bow to on being
33:17
unreasonable people. The Bible actually describes God
33:20
as a reasonable God in a couple of occasions.
33:24
He says in Isaiah, come and let us reason together and God will
33:28
reason with you. Or in Romans chapter 12, he
33:31
tells us as believers to lay our lives down as a living
33:34
sacrifice, which is our reasonable service because God
33:37
is very reasonable. So.
33:39
So you have your questions. I want you to know your
33:41
questions will be answered by God.
33:45
They will, they can be. Well, no pastor, I've crafted my
33:49
question that no one has ever been able to answer it.
33:55
Well, that's a pretty hard heart, isn't it?
33:58
You have so arranged a question that your whole goal.
34:01
Is just to stump people. What does that leave you?
34:07
Have you ever thought about that?
34:08
You just going around stumping people?
34:09
What have you proven? You've proven that you really
34:14
don't want to believe It's on you, not the answer.
34:21
I believe that every good question has a good answer to
34:25
it. I really do believe that.
34:27
It may not be satisfying to you, but there are good questions and
34:31
there are good answers. There's even good answers to bad
34:34
questions. Now I know that you can't put
34:39
your hand in the print and you can't put your hand in the sight
34:42
of Jesus, but I think of, you know, the question of why, why
34:48
God, Why does God That's a bit and you can anything after that.
34:53
Why does God allow pain? Why does Allah allow suffering?
34:55
Why is a good God and all the why questions.
34:58
I actually can answer those questions for you.
35:00
I think the Bible answers them. The problem with that is that
35:04
you won't be satisfied with the answer because it's a hard one
35:08
to receive. It's hard to think about the
35:11
cane of sin. A sister right after service
35:15
yesterday, last night came up with a why question and she was
35:19
in tears about the why question in her life.
35:21
And I gave her an answer and the Holy Spirit calmed her spirit.
35:25
But I know it didn't satisfy her.
35:28
I could see it didn't. It didn't solve the problem.
35:32
The problem won't be solved until you know God personally.
35:36
When you know God personally, then you can trust Him with your
35:39
life, but as long as you're trusting yourself with your
35:42
life. You're always going to be
35:44
uneasy, so I don't want you to get down on Thomas here.
35:48
Thomas is just like, I just want to just I wasn't there.
35:51
I don't know what you guys are talking about, but I'll tell you
35:53
this. If I could see him and I could
35:55
see and I can't even put my hand on his side, then I'll believe.
35:58
OK, Verse 26, after 8 days, you got to love the sense of humor
36:03
of God here. Thomas has got to wait 8 days.
36:08
But eight's pretty significant in the Bible. 8 is the number of
36:12
new beginnings. So if the news going on in
36:15
Thomas's life, it's going to take that factual.
36:18
I got to know the facts and that's God says I'm going to do
36:20
something new. So notice what happened 8 days.
36:22
His disciples were again inside Thomas.
36:25
This sign was with them. Jesus came, the doors being
36:28
shut, stood in the midst and said peace to you.
36:34
And then the very first person he talks to, it wasn't John,
36:40
wasn't James, it wasn't Peter, it was a Thomas.
36:45
I heard about you. I heard that you wouldn't
36:49
believe in me. Well, I'm going to send you.
36:52
To hell? Is that what your Bible says?
36:56
But a lot of people believe that.
36:58
A lot of people believe that Jesus is going to act harshly to
37:02
your questions. He's not.
37:04
He's going to show up in eight days.
37:05
He's going to seek you out. He's going to say, hey, Thomas,
37:08
reach your hand, your finger right here.
37:12
Here's my hands and reach your hand and put it in my side.
37:20
Can you imagine that with your holy imagination, what it would
37:23
be like to put your hand? In the side of the crucified
37:28
Christ, that's a pretty big deal and all that that means in his
37:33
glorified body and what that's like his scars, like whatever
37:37
that is. Thomas was invited to do that.
37:41
And I love this. And this is to anyone today that
37:44
I might have spoken to. This is the word of the Lord
37:47
Jesus Christ to you. Do not be unbelieving, but
37:52
believing whatever you need. Jesus is ready to show him He is
37:57
giving you enough evidence, and if you need more, he'll give you
38:01
more. But don't be unbelieving, but be
38:05
believing. Everybody believes in something.
38:09
Everyone has a philosophy of life, but not everybody believes
38:13
in Jesus. Notice what Jesus says now in
38:16
verse 29. Thomas, because you have seen
38:19
me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not
38:23
seen, which would be all of us, and yet have believed.
38:31
Paul, what does he tell the Galatians?
38:32
I have wounds too. Oh, they're not Jesus wounds, of
38:37
course, but they follow in his footsteps.
38:40
I have wounds too, and they bear witness to the testimony of the
38:44
truth that Jesus lived, died, and rose again.
38:49
Do you doubt today? Do you wonder, are you concerned
38:54
about this or that going on? Are you troubled?
38:57
Jesus says, look at my scars, they're for you.
39:01
I died for you, I gave for you. I'm here for you and for Jesus.
39:06
The scars are not temporary, they're eternal, a reminder, a
39:11
perpetual pointer to his supreme love for us.
39:15
And our friend Paul ends here in Galatians on the same high note,
39:19
as high as he could get. He begins his letter and ends
39:24
his letter very much the same way.
39:26
Look at Galatians chapter 1 because it's been a few months
39:30
since we were there, but you'll see in verse 3.
39:35
In Galatians 1 he says grace to you and peace from God the
39:39
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our
39:42
sins, that He might deliver us from this evil age.
39:45
And what does he say in chapter 6?
39:47
I've been crucified to the world, the world's been
39:49
crucified to me. And has anybody walk according
39:52
to this rule? The cross, peace and mercy be
39:54
upon Him. Don't let anyone trouble me
39:57
anymore. I've got marks just like my
39:59
Savior has marks. Verse 18.
40:01
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your
40:05
Spirit. And I love that last word.
40:08
We say that every time we finish reading the Psalm together.
40:12
Amen. We agree with what the Bible
40:14
says. That's what the word Amen.
40:16
The Amen just means. So be it.
40:18
We agree and we do agree. It's true that grace flowing in
40:23
and through your life. Will change you.
40:27
The grace of God changes you. A list of rules and regulation
40:32
only can take you so far because you can change your behavior.
40:35
You can't. You can adopt this thing over
40:38
here and you can stop doing this over there and you can become a
40:40
very moral person. And the Lord knows we need more
40:44
morality in our culture today. But morality isn't going to get
40:49
you to heaven, only the blood of Jesus Christ.
40:53
Morality today is kind of another vehicle that gets around
40:56
the cross. I do a lot of good deeds, a lot
40:59
of philanthropy. I'm going to give all these
41:01
billionaires. I'm going to give all my money
41:02
away. Yeah, but not for the Lord and
41:05
not for the things of the Lord. Only believers get to give all
41:09
their stuff away in the name of the Lord, for the glory of God.
41:14
And as Paul says, if I'm going to glory in anything, I'm going
41:17
to glory in the cross of Jesus Christ.
41:20
And so, Father, thank you for this letter and the truth that
41:23
it is contained. We pray for ourselves today and
41:29
where we are. And it's just a simple ending,
41:32
you know, just but, but it is a powerful truth to be reminded of
41:38
your great love for us. Keep the cross ever before us,
41:43
God. We might some have it on our
41:45
walls, or we have it on a necklace, or then there's a a
41:49
little medallion in our car. And let it always remind us of
41:53
the price that was paid for our salvation.
42:00
Generational change began in the heart of you, Father, sending
42:06
your only begotten Son to die for our sins according to the
42:12
Scriptures, and to rise again from the dead according to the
42:16
Scriptures, so that all of us that would believe in Him would
42:20
not perish, but enjoy and have and possess eternal life.
42:29
And I pray over those listening to me both in the room and
42:32
outside of the room, that today your word to them is don't be
42:36
unbelieving, but believing. And I want to invite anyone here
42:40
that would say that I want to follow Jesus with my life.
42:44
I want to believe, confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus, believe
42:48
in my heart that God raised him from the dead.
42:50
If that's you today, would you just stand to your feet?
42:52
We want to pray with you and give you an opportunity to
42:56
follow Christ. That is the number one thing.
43:00
God bless you here up front. Who else would say that's me?
43:03
Today is the day that is the number one issue in your life.
43:08
It's more important than where you're going to live, who you're
43:11
going to marry, what house you're going to rent or buy,
43:15
where will you spend eternity? That is the question of the day.
43:20
And you can almost hear Jesus say, can't you today, don't be
43:22
unbelieving, but believe you can trust God.
43:28
And the invitation is not to follow a man or a church, but to
43:31
follow God directly. Is there anyone else that would
43:34
say, that's me? I can already hear Jesus say,
43:39
you want more evidence? I have evidence.
43:41
God bless you in the back. I've got evidence for you.
43:46
It's OK that you need more. It's OK.
43:48
You're not a bad. Person because you want to see
43:50
something else, you want to hear something else.
43:52
It's OK. Ask the questions but also
43:56
receive the answer. It must have been a challenging
43:59
thing for for Thomas to stick his hand in the side of someone,
44:04
but he did it and God is calling you to himself today.
44:12
So let me help you with what the Bible says.
44:13
You guys downstairs or watching online or on on the radio right
44:18
now, God sees you as well and he wants you to believe on him as
44:22
well. But you can confess with your
44:24
mouth your sinfulness. You could say God forgive me of
44:27
my sin. I believe you sent Jesus to die
44:31
for me and that by his blood I'm forgiven.
44:39
The evidence of his resurrection is all around me.
44:43
And I choose. To follow you today, help me
44:46
God, to turn away from my sin, to repent and to follow you with
44:53
all the days of my life. And God, I know you hear the
44:57
words of and, and whether they're spoken out loud or
45:00
they're like in their heart, God in their mind talking to you
45:04
that you hear them and that you answer them, pour out your
45:11
spirit in a wonderful way. Jesus name Amen.