Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #16208 - Jesus Your Advocate - 1 John 2:1-2

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#16208 - Jesus Your Advocate - 1 John 2:1-2 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles. First John chapter 2 as we start
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a new chapter today. First John chapter 2.
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I've entitled our Bible study. Jesus your advocate.
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Jesus, your advocate. We know that there are great
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benefits in having a personal relationship with Jesus.
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We know this, but it is good to be reminded salvation is so much
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more than just fire insurance. And what I mean by that?
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Salvation is so much more than you just avoiding eternity apart
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from God in a place we commonly refer to as Hell or Gehenna.
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It's far more than that. Jesus brings into our lives
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fullness and wholeness every single day.
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Do you remember how Peter referred to it in Second Peter
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chapter 1? It's said that through the
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knowledge of Jesus Christ, we have been given all things
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pertaining to life and godliness.
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We've been given all things pertaining to life and
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godliness. John the beloved here.
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John the elder, 100 years old. He's encouraging the believers
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who allowed the excitement of Jesus to wear off.
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If this hasn't happened to you yet, certainly it's up ahead
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where you're so excited about what God is doing.
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A new believer excitement, a new phase, a new season excitement.
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But over time, if we don't guard that like a fire, it'll just go
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out. We're not fanning the flames.
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It will allow the excitement of Jesus to wear off.
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Those that John is writing to were like second and third
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generation believers. The Christian life have become
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routine and ritualistic and even developing A rut.
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They were vulnerable. Now when you're comfortable,
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when you're complacent, can I add this word as well, just so
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you won't watch out for it. When you're lazy spiritually,
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you become very vulnerable. Vulnerable to the enemy's
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attacks, vulnerable to false teachers, vulnerable to wolves
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in sheep's clothing. And they were vulnerable to all
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sorts of false teaching. And that's what complacency will
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do. It can make you open to the
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weirdest of stuff. Let me give you a modern day
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example. You are tired and had a long
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day, had a long week. And your, your, your decision is
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just, I'm going to go on, I'm going to go on social media and
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I'm just going to check things out.
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And before you know it, you're done after five hours, Five
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hours ago, that didn't happen. Check your time, go ahead on the
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app, it'll keep track of you. Unless you turned it off, it'll
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keep track. You can't keep track because the
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way it's designed is to take advantage of your curiosity and
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to take advantage of what you're looking at.
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And you know you're into this. And so give you 10 more things
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into this and before you know it, you are down what they call
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the rabbit hole. And if it's not TikTok and if
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it's not Instagram, certainly YouTube has perfected this
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because if they can get you hooked on one video, 10 minutes,
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the next one's 15 minutes, the next one's 30 minutes.
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And then all this guy has a series and this, and then they
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have a friend that they recommended and you can link
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this and subscribe that. And how did it all begin?
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You just let your guard down. It didn't even start out that
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way. You weren't planning five hours
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and going to bed at 2:00 in the morning.
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But that's what happened. Laziness, spiritually, not
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having your guard up for the new believers, they were all sorts
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or these believers that John is writing to.
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There were all sorts of temptations.
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They didn't have social media, but certainly the 1st century
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equivalent. And John, what he does is he
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takes them back to the basics. And we saw in chapter one that
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this issue of sin is no joke. It's no joke.
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It will wipe you out. It will destroy and damage you
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and me. But this importance of
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fellowship, that which we have seen, remember in verse three
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that which we have seen and heard, we tell you, we declare
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to you so that what you'll have Koinonia, you'll have fellowship
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with us, and our Koinonia is with the Father and with his Son
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Jesus Christ. So I winding you these things to
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you, verse 4 so that your joy may be full.
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Verse 7 if we walk in the light, he's in the light just like he
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is. We have coined and kneel with
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one another and what happens the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
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cleanses us from all sin. First John 19 if we confess our
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sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us
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from all unrighteousness. Verse 10, if we say that we've
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not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in US.
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My little children, these things I write to you that you may not
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sin. And if anyone sins, we have an
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advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
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He starts out with this tenderness, the Greek word der
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tecnia. It's like a small child and he's
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writing to full grown adults of course, but he sees them as his
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kid. This is John's tender care for
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his flock, and even though John is very old here, 100 years old,
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he didn't become an angry, impatient man with the flock of
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God as he steps into the messiness of their sin.
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I sent a copy of this little paragraph from my notes to a
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very beloved We won't use the word, but I guess we will.
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Older pastor here by the name of Bob.
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He's unable to be with us tonight because he's got some
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ministry coming up. So I sent it to him because I
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knew he wouldn't be here. And he read it and he always
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gives feedback. And I said, with the exception
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of the word old, this is you, Bob.
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This is you and Jeannie, you haven't allowed age.
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And, you know, Can you imagine He hasn't shared with us?
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But Can you imagine all that his eyes have seen over the years?
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I mean, think of all your eyes have seen and how old you are.
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And then you multiply all the minute, all the difficulties,
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all the hardships, and still sitting in our pastoral
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eldership meetings every Wednesday having to hear more
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and more. And I'm telling you, the brother
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is a great example. He hasn't become an angry man.
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He has a tenderness. He stands as an example to all
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of us. John in the 1st century, Bob now
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in our century, as a testimony of not becoming embittered
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against the very people that God has sent him to serve and to
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love and to care for. He's not impatient.
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And I'm not saying that John was perfect or Bob is perfect or
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that I'm a perfect, but that sense of, you know, my heart is
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to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
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Isn't that your heart? I just want to walk in the
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spirit. I did.
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I know difficulties are going to come.
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I know difficult people are going to come.
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I know difficult situations are going to come.
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The problem is I don't know when they're going to come.
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And in order to be prepared for that, my habit, my habit, the
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habit of my life, I have to develop a habitual commitment to
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walk in the Spirit and to protect that part of my life.
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For John, the more he worshipped Jesus, the more he became
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gentle, caring, and kind. He was a true pastor and
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spiritual leader. And what he learned he modeled
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and passed on to those around him.
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So my little children, I know we're talking about hard things,
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not just sin in the abstract. When you read the Bible, we're
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not just learning truths in the abstract.
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We're not just gaining somebody's opinion.
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These are the realities and facts of our life.
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When you and I open the Bible, James teaches us that we're
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looking into a mirror. So these are not just abstract
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sin, discussions of sin or what sin might look like on someone
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else. This Is Us.
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And so John says, my little children, let me tell you, let
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me remind you why I'm writing these things to you.
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I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
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There are 4 main points to the gossip to the letter of John
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that we learned earlier for purposes if you didn't write
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them down. The first one, John, wrote this
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letter so you might experience fullness of joy.
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We now come to the second one here in verse 1 of chapter 2, in
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that he wrote this letter so you might live a life free from sin.
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Later on in chapter 20, chapter 2, verse 26, He wants to expose
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spiritual frauds, and then in chapter 5 He wants to remind us
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of the assurance of our salvation.
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These are all areas of spiritual health among His flock.
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He cared deeply for their spiritual protection and by far
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the most important was their freedom from sin.
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First you confess, then you forsake, and this is the place
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where many fail. Not forsaking sin, not running
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away from it. Maybe even now the Holy Spirit
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is speaking to you to forsake that sin.
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The longer you carry it with you, the more friendly you, you
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know, it's becomes like a little pet and you kind of nurture.
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Think of bitterness for a second.
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How long you just nurture bitterness?
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The story. The longer you develop the
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story, the longer you develop the story.
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You're always the hero and everyone else is not.
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And that doesn't sound like the Lord.
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There's only one hero in your story, and it's actually not
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you. It's me.
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It's not me. It's not the hero in my story.
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You know who the hero in your story and mine is?
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Jesus. It's his finished work.
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We're not the heroes. Even in a difficult situation,
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God wants us to work it out. He wants us to come together and
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let Him get the victory. It's important that we forsake
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sin and not nurture it, to leave it behind.
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Let me show you stronger words than mine.
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Turn over to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5.
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This is the teaching of Jesus that is very startling to the
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hearers then and to us today. Listen to what he says in
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Speaking of the sin of adultery. He says in verse 27, Matthew
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chapter 5, you have heard it said to those of old, You shall
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not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever
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looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery
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in her in his heart. And that goes both ways.
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Of course, male, female. He says, if your right hand or
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excuse me, your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and
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cast it from you. For it is more profitable for
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you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body
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to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes
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you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you.
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For it is more profitable for you that one of your members
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perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
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In referring to your sin, cut it out and cut it off and cast it
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away is the language that Jesus uses.
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Of course, he is not instructing us to cut off body parts.
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I mean just a logical, let alone an exegetical look at the text,
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but just a logical look at the text.
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If you were able to take both your eye, you know, oh, my right
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eye caused me to sin and now you puck it out and castaway, oh,
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now my left hand and then my left eye caused it and now you
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have no eyes. But it's in your head.
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It's not your eyes. It is you and how you and I
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respond to sin. The essence of this teaching in
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Jesus, teaching us using the tool of hyperbole, is to help us
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remember that sin is nothing to be messed around with,
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especially when you're convinced you haven't.
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Like this example. You have heard it said you
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shouldn't commit adultery to everyone who's ever not
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committed adultery. Everyone would cry out Amen,
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Amen, Amen. Be so self-righteous in a
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teaching like that. Not me, not me, not me, which is
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a wonderful way of methodology of teaching that you come along
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and you come along and then Jesus says, but I'm going to
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tell you something, adultery is more than the ACT.
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It's far more than the ACT. It's your eyes, it's your hands,
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it's your thought, but really it's your heart.
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And if you don't deal radically with radical sin, you're going
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to live in it and it's going to destroy your life.
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Sin is really a matter of the heart and upfront here, Jesus
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teaching in Matthew and John here in first John chapter 2, he
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speaks of when he says I'm writing these things to you that
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you may not sin. He is asking for and he is
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teaching and even demanding a life of holiness.
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This is a life of holiness, holiness nurtured through humble
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repentance. Turn over now to Second
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Corinthians Chapter 7. Second Corinthians Chapter 7.
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I have noticed this come up a few times in our last few weeks
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of Bible studies. So to me it's very important.
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These are this is a very important principle that I want
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to show you from the text. I noticed that I've been quoting
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it recently, but I want to show it to you from the text.
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Holiness is nurtured through humility and repentance.
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And when you get to 2nd Corinthians, notice with me in
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verse Chapter 7, verse 9. Now I rejoice not that you were
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made sorry, but that your sorrow LED.
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What does your Bible say to repentance for you were made
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sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer lost from us in
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nothing forgot. Mark this circle it underline it
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if you have a highlighter. One of the most important verses
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in all the Bible, but not necessarily one that's
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emphasized. The Bible says godly sorrow
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produces repentance to salvation not to be regretted, but the
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sorrow of the world produces death.
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It is the conviction of the Holy Spirit that brings you to godly
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sorrow, which leads you to repentance and salvation, or not
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just salvation in the forgiveness like, like the
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salvific moment you were born again, but salvation in its
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general sense, freedom. When you are saved, you're free.
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You're rescued. When you and I live in
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repentance, we have been freed from the bondage of sin.
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Repentance, I realize that I've sinned against God.
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Repentance, I realize that I've done wrong things.
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Repentance, I realize that I've hurt people.
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I realize Repentance, I've realized I've been living
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selfishly. Repentance.
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I've not been considerate of the needs of others at all.
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And as I begin to look at myself honestly in response to the Holy
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Spirit, I begin. There is developed in me more
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than merely my emotions, more than merely my physical
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emotions. I begin to sorrow over how
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violent, wicked, and evil are, the things that I've been doing,
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the damage that they really do to the people that I love and I
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care for, the lack of Koinonia now that I no longer enjoy.
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I'm not in fellowship. I'm not in fellowship with God.
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I'm not in fellowship with other believers.
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This is when God's Spirit begins to work deep in your heart to
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reveal the truth to you about yourself.
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Sometimes it comes in a Bible study, but sometimes it comes in
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a night vision or it comes in a morning devotion, or it comes
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with the verse of the day, just the verse of the day and you're
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like, how did the God know this? Well, God knows all things.
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The verse of the day or the brother in your life sends you a
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verse or you get a text or an e-mail where the Spirit of God
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begins to work deeply. We have to remember the Bible
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declares in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse nine, that the heart is
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deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
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Who can know it? I'll answer that question for
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you. God knows your heart.
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I don't always know my heart, but God knows my heart.
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And oftentimes that's used in a way to defend ourselves.
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Oh, you know, you're just judging me, brothers.
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God knows my heart. I trust me.
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I know God knows your heart. I know God knows your heart.
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I hope you believe that as you defend and as you fight and as
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you resist and you stand there in pride.
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God knows my heart. I know He knows your heart, and
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you reveal a little bit of it to us.
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We know a little bit of your heart too.
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And it's important that you let the Spirit of God work in your
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life. Time is short.
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The coming of the Lord is at hand day by day and week by week
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and month by month. We see our life just going
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forward, going forward, going forward.
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And listen, only what's done for the Lord is going to last.
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Only what's done for the Lord is going to matter.
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And it begins and rooted in holiness, not a life of sinless
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perfection that is not at all what John teaches, but a life
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lived in the direction that Jesus desires, a life without
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practicing or living or clinging to sin.
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We see this with the phrase back in verse chapter 1, chapter 2,
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verse one in first John. And if anyone sins, this phrase
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reveals to us that we will not live.
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We will not live a sinless perfect, perfect life.
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I mean, that's obviously not possible for any past sin view.
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The Bible says that if you have broken the law in one area,
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you've broken it all. So even just one, which all of
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us can find at least one, like rotten, stinking sin in our
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lives. So that that eliminates us from
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ever being perfect the rest of our lives.
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But there is also that ongoing sin in our lives, the stumbling,
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the the honest mistakes. I mean, like, you know how many
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times we get caught called on the carpet and our first
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response is, well, I didn't mean it that way.
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Yeah, but you did it. Yeah, but I didn't mean it that
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way. I know, but you did it.
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Yeah, but I didn't mean to bust your nose open.
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I didn't mean. Yeah, but you wanted to hit me,
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right? Yeah.
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I kind of wanted to hit you, but I didn't want to bust your nose.
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Like we, we, we we can't judge all of our behavior just by our
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motives. We have to judge our behavior by
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the behavior. And we let the Lord sort out the
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motives. He can sort out our motives.
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But it's pretty, pretty obvious if we use a silly illustration.
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You don't go around punching people in the nose.
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Can I get an Amen on that? Except for everyone that punched
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someone in the nose this week. Don't punch people in the nose.
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Like that's just pretty obvious. If anyone sins, if anyone
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punches someone in the nose, you have an advocate.
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The Bible says you have an advocate.
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Jesus Christ the righteous. He's our advocate.
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Notice with the Father, we can't live life and sin just because
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we know we're forgiven or that the blood of Jesus Christ
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cleanses us from all sin, past, present and future.
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Nowhere to avoid sin altogether as much as is in us.
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But if we do sin, which we do, we have someone on our side.
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There's three things as we close today, just three simple truths
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that John shares that I'll share with you.
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There's three truths about Jesus that are important to grasp so
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that you can understand how much He loves you #1 He's our
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advocate #2 He's righteous. And thirdly, he's our
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propitiation. I'll explain that word in a
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moment, but it's good to remember the hard words.
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And I'll give you the simple one, but that when you remember
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these hard words, propitiation. This word propitiation, by the
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way, is the reason why I couldn't read the King James
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Bible anymore. My pastor used the King James
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Bible, so he had a King James Bible.
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I'm going to use a King James Bible, but when I came across
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propitiation, it was like the 10th word I had to look up
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because I didn't know what it meant.
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And I'm like, there's got to be a better way.
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And I got the new King James and guess what?
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The word is still there. But most of the other ones they
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did in a more modern, but now that's 30 years ago.
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And one of the versions that I really love to use in my
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devotional reading is the new Living Translation.
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But even then that I can see that's starting to become dated
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as the days go forward. But I like remembering these
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harder words because then it'll help me remember the definition
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and we'll get there in a moment. So #1 Jesus is our advocate.
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You may be surprised. You remember I, I've taught you
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over the years that there are times when the Greek word is
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very significant New Testament written in Greek.
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This is one of those times. The word advocate is the word
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paracletos. Now it's actually a different
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form, but it gets translated into English.
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Paracletos, doesn't that word sound familiar?
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It's the same word that John used in the voice when he was
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recording what Jesus was teaching us about the Holy
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Spirit. I will send you another
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comforter, John chapter 14, the Paracleteus 1 to come alongside.
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It's for your reference. It's John 14 verses 16 through
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18. But another way that word was
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used in the 1st century, that Greek word in modern vernacular,
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because this was the common language of the day.
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They would also use this word to describe someone who offered
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legal aid on behalf of another. We still use that word today in
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the legal, in the legal realm, advocates, someone that stands
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on your behalf, someone that stands alongside of you to
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defend you and to speak for you. In the 1st century, they use
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this word for someone who offered legal aid on behalf of
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another. Today we'd call that person a
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lawyer or an attorney, an advocate that would prove the
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merit of the accused. But Jesus is not like a any
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human attorney. Jesus does not prove the merit
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of us, the accused, but rather transport transfers that guilt
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upon himself and stands in the gap on our behalf.
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He pleads our case by taking the penalty himself.
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A great example of of that is in Proverbs chapter 17, verse 17.
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A friend loves at all times, but a brother is born for adversity.
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When you and I sin, we have an advocate, one that's called
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alongside of us to declare our case before the Father.
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And how does he declare our case before the Father?
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He says they're guilty. Sometimes Jesus will declare our
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guilt faster than we do guilty. But she belongs to me.
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I don't know how it all works in the spiritual realm, but He
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claims you as His own, as His friend.
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His blood is sufficient to forgive you of your sin.
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He stands as an advocate for us, and He stands as an advocate
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with us. I don't know if you've ever
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experienced this, but Paul the Apostle did.
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Paul the apostle experienced some of the most closest friends
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in his life, abandoned him in his greatest time of need, just
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like Jesus did. Jesus experienced those that
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were closest to him depart from him in his greatest time of
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need. And for those of you that have
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experienced that, I was speaking to someone recently about the
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difficulty in their life, about the challenges and how they're
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really at the bottom in their lives.
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And I said, yeah, you're going to learn a couple of things
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because he was talking to me about how during this
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difficulty, of all the people he was connected with, only a few
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people really have reached out to him and ministered to him.
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And I said, yeah, you're going to find that out.
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You're going to find out in deep, deep difficulty number
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one, who your real friends are. And you want to know that you
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want to know there are some, you know, there are different
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acquaintances and buddies and prayer partners.
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And but there are those friends like it says here, the brother,
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a friend loves it all times a brother's born for adversity.
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There are those who your real friends are not that other
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friends aren't real, but I mean the depth of relationship,
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they're just some that are going to be deeper and they're going
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to show up in your greatest need, but you're also going to
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learn something else. And you want to learn this, but
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you really don't. And you need to learn this, but
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you really don't want to. Number one, you'll learn who
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your friends are, your real friends are, and #2 you're going
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to learn who your real friends are not.
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Because unfortunately, in the human condition, there are
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always those that want to take advantage of your weakness.
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I don't know what angle it's going to come from.
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And if you've never experienced this, God bless you.
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I hope you never have to. I hope it's never a part of your
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testimony. I hope you never have to feel
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the weight of someone you thought would.
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It's almost like, you know, you fell down a well and somebody's
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out there and they've got the rope in there.
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Oh, it's you so and so it's so glad that you came to rescue.
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And they start putting the rope down and then they drop the
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whole thing and walk away. You're like whoa and say some
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words as they walk away. I never expected that.
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But it was your trial, that depth of trial that revealed to
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you not only who was around you, but also what is in you and what
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is in me. You see, Jesus is our advocate.
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He's promised not to leave or forsake us.
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He stands both with us and for US #2 notice He stands as a
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righteous advocate. He's not just any advocate.
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And we don't not just need any advocate before the Father.
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And many stop short of this advocacy because they've been
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taught to take their concerns to a priest and a priest will
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absolve them. And so it just ends there.
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The priest becomes the advocate. But you know that a priest is
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not a righteous advocate. He does not stand in the place
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of God, although he is presented as such.
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And that's carried over into the Protestant Church of which you
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and I are a part of. And many people stop short at
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the pastor or at the elder as an advocate.
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But we are not righteous advocates.
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A pastor will serve you well. A pastor will serve you well.
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You know, a pastor serving you well as he attempts to get your
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eyes back on the Lord. That's where you belong.
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Get your eyes back on the Lord. Whatever it is, get your eyes
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back on the Lord, because He, he's your righteous advocate.
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He alone is holy, righteous, and perfect.
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And the matter of sin requires perfect holiness to erase it.
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Some advocates are in the business for themselves, taking
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advantage of that role in position.
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They're in it for the money, for the prestige.
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But Jesus is in it for you. He died for you.
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He is righteous without fault or failure.
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The Bible says that He who knew no sin became sin for us, that
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we might become the righteousness of God.
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He alone is our righteous advocate, which brings us to #3
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and verse 2, just to emphasize, He says not only is he our, He's
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our advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the
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propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the
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whole world. Salvation is available to
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whosoever will let him come. The blood of Jesus Christ is
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sufficient to forgive the sins of anyone who will come to Him.
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This is not a universalism. There is a false teaching that
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it the blood of Jesus Christ. Everybody's going to get saved
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in the end. Because notice it says right
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here his sins for the whole world.
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This is the the ability for being born again to have your
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sins forgiven is available to the whole world, but only
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effectual to those who turn to him.
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Not everybody gets saved. The blood of Jesus Christ is
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enough to save anyone, but it's only effective and those who
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repent and turn to him. Now that word propitiation
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literally means satisfaction or another way of thinking about it
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is atoning sacrifice, atoning sacrifice.
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We've learned the word atonement by letting it sound sound out
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itself at one meant the blood of Jesus Christ has made you and I
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at 1. The blood of Jesus Christ brings
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us into relationship with Him at one minute.
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This is the atoning sacrifice, the satisfaction of a debt, the
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payment in full. First, John 22 in the New Living
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Translation in the NLT puts it this way.
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He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins, and not
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only our sins, but the sins for all the world.
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So He's our righteous advocate whose death on the cross atones
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for our sins, because the problem of sin is serious.
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How many times so far in our Bible study have you heard me
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share that with you? It's serious.
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Nothing to be messed around with.
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Man is definitely guilty, both by nature and by action.
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Both by nature and action, the problem is so serious that man
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cannot fix it. The Bible says in Ezekiel
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chapter 18, verse 4, Behold, All Souls are mine.
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The soul of the Father as well as the soul of the Son is mine.
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The soul who sins shall die. But through Jesus Christ, God's
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holy anger against sin has been swallowed up and removed by the
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blood of the Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of
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the world. He's become our satisfaction
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before the Father. Think about this for a moment.
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He's our advocate, always standing and praying and
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interceding on our behalf. Romans chapter 8 that we have a
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few minutes. Turn over to Romans chapter 8 so
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you can put these scriptures together.
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Sometimes it's just good to see it.
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Whether you're on your phone or you have a paper Bible, flip
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over or turn to Romans chapter 8 and let's just see a couple of
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times. This beautiful truth of his
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advocacy is mentioned in different ways.
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Notice Romans chapter 8. When you get there, go to verse
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34. It says who is he who condemns?
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Well, I'll tell you who he condemns.
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The devil. He condemns day and night.
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He accuses you day and night, and he's not always wrong.
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Did you know that His accusations are not always
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wrong. There are times when we
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cooperate with the accusations of the enemy through our own
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behavior. But he's condemning and
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accusing. But Lotus, it says it's Christ
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that died. So get your eyes off the devil
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and get your eyes on the Lord. Get your ears away from the
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accusations of the enemy and get them back to the Lord.
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This is not what He says in Revelation.
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He who has ears to hear what, let him hear what the Spirit
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says to the churches. Notice what he says here in
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Romans 8. Furthermore, He's also risen.
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Who is even at the right hand of God, doing what?
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Making intercession for us, advocating on our behalf,
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praying for us day and night before the Father.
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Let me show you another one. Hebrews Chapter 7, Hebrews
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Chapter 7, go all the way back in the scriptures.
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Hebrews Chapter 7, wasn't too long ago that we were studying
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Chapter 7. Notice verse 25 in Hebrews.
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It's one of the advantages of going through the Bible verse by
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verse. We cover it all and we went in
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depth on on this section in Chapter 7 where he says
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therefore Speaking of Jesus, He is also able to save to the
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uttermost or as one author once said to the gutter most
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depending on where you are. Those who come to God through
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him since what he ever lives to make intercession for them.
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You are not forgotten. You are not overlooked, you are
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not disregarded or set aside. Jesus, your friend, has you on
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his mind and on his heart, interceding for you, pulling for
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you, coming to the Father as your advocate.
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His ministry continues even as we study together, allowing us
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to know the riches of His grace. In Ephesians chapter 1, the
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Ephesian the richness of His grace which He made to a bound
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toward us in all wisdom and prudence and when we get there
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eventually in Ephesians in chapter 1, verse 8, that's the
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verse that was used to inspire the name of our radio Bible
35:19
teaching program abounding grace that is grace abounds to you.
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Why? Because of the riches, the
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redemption of his blood. Coming back to first John, he's
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writing to a group of believers that need to be reminded, that
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need to be stirred up, the need to know that they're not alone
35:38
in their sin and that you can come out of it right now.
35:43
You can allow the depth and the work of the Holy Spirit to work
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in you right now that you realize that your sin first of
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all is against a holy and righteous God.
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Then it's with someone else, Then it's against society, then
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it's against the church, then it's against a friend where
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that's secondary to the sin against God.
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And Psalm 51 is a great those of you wrestling with this, those
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of you justifying it, those of you that are thinking it's not
36:10
that big a deal, or go to just meditate on Psalm 51.
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God put Psalm 51 in the Bible for us to see a true heart of
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repentance, a brokenness in David's life.
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When you're reading through the true story of David as it's
36:24
recorded for us in the Bible, it doesn't take much Sin, sin, sin.
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The guy, he, he truly, it was surprisingly the type of sin
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that came through David's life. It was, it's easy for you and
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it's easy for me to see it in David's life.
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It took time for him to see it, but God sent Nathan, gave him a
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little story and all I can't believe it.
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Kill the man, kill the man. That wasn't even the
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consequence, the proper biblical consequence for the story that
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David share or that Nathan share with David.
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But you know what it was? It was the consequence for
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Davidson that he carried around every day pretending it's not
37:08
there self righteously fighting building walls.
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It wasn't it. David didn't.
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David needed to be broken, and I wonder who's listening to me
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today that you need to be broken.
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But you know, you can cast yourself upon the rock today.
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You don't have to have the rock crush you.
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You can cast yourself upon the rock.
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You can come to him today and come clean for the sake of,
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well, coming back to first John 1 to walk in the light.
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Let it come to the light as He is in the light.
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If we choose to walk in the light, we have fellowship with
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one another. Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
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us from all sin. We start to confess and repent
37:58
and live in life of humility. I love back in verse 2 that
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salvation is available for the whole world.
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It reminded me of John 316 who I'm going to read it from the
38:12
old King James, how I memorized it.
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Whosoever believes in him, whosoever John Chapter 7, Jesus
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said if anyone thirsts, I'm beginning to think about if the
38:24
Lord allows us at the end of the year to go to Israel.
38:26
I'm beginning to think about the stops again.
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And one of my favorite stops is actually not much of A place.
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It's just a bunch of steps with a wall behind us.
38:35
But as we sit on the steps and we look down the hill, we think
38:39
of how the priest would go down in that time of the feast and go
38:44
down with water in the pool of Siloam and then come back and
38:47
then pour it out. They do that for seven days
38:49
until the final day. And that's when Jesus showed up.
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That's when Jesus showed up in John Chapter 7 and says, and all
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this water and all this beautiful picture and typology.
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And then Jesus stops it all and says, does anybody thirst?
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Is anybody thirsty here? Because I have rivers of living
39:07
water, I have something that will quench your thirst forever.
39:13
So much more than having to go down with the pots of water and
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pouring out that last one. Romans chapter 5 verse 8.
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It says God demonstrates His own love toward us and that while we
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were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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You come to Him as you are, and God begins the work on the
39:37
inside. You can just come to Him today.
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Amen. Father, thank you for the
39:42
reminder. You're our advocate.
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You are righteous. You are the satisfaction of the
39:51
debt, our propitiation, our atoning sacrifice.
39:55
And forgive us, Lord, when we, as we often do, resist the Holy
40:02
Spirit in our lives, and we fight.
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We don't come clean before you, and we settle to live a life
40:19
under the accusations of the devil and the condemnation of
40:24
the enemy, even as we condemn ourselves.
40:26
And we replay our story over and over again so that we're the
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only one that's the hero, displacing the true hero on all
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of our lives. Can we just declare you our hero
40:39
tonight, our righteous advocate, our our healer, our Savior, our
40:47
friend, our support, our prayer partner, intercessory
40:54
intercessor on our behalf, the giver of life, the sustainer of
40:59
life, The one that gives us hope and purpose and direction.
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The one that reveals day by day and step by step.
41:09
The one that comforts. The one that sent the Holy
41:13
Spirit, the Comforter to us, The one who keeps his promises.
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The one who promised never to leave or forsake us.
41:21
The one who's ministering to our prodigal kids, to our family
41:25
members. The one who's comforting in the
41:27
hotel rooms right now, comforting in the hospital bed,
41:31
comforting in the the semi truck that's driving across the
41:35
country. The one who's reminding us and
41:39
bringing to our remembrance the things that we have learned.
41:42
The one that is healing broken hearts and comforting and
41:48
helping the single dad, the single mom helping those poor
41:52
kids that are caught up in the mess of their parents and they
41:56
don't know what to do and they don't know how to respond.
42:00
I pray for those that are taking steps back.
42:03
You're the one that's leading. You're the one that's guiding.
42:06
I thank you, God, for how much sin was not committed today
42:09
because you helped us, because you prevented us, because you
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convicted us, because you prompted us, because you
42:21
activated our conscience. You're the hero and we're the
42:27
dependent, and we declare that to you tonight.
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You're the one that builds the house.
42:34
Unless you're build the house, we labor in vain who build it.
42:39
So pour out your spirit on us, Scott, as we just gather midweek
42:43
to seek your face. Get a midweek, you know,
42:46
strengthening in our souls. May we run to you, not to a
42:51
priest, not to a pastor, but may we run to you as our own, as our
42:55
only righteous advocate. Come clean before you and then
42:59
come clean with others so that we can be in unity of the
43:03
Spirit. True Koinonia, true honesty and
43:07
fidelity, like a cleanliness in our lives, cleanse us from all
43:12
unrighteousness. Thank you God for meeting us
43:15
here in Jesus name, Amen. We pray that you've been
43:21
encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
43:23
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
43:26
Call us at 87730 grace that's 877-304-7223.
43:35
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43:38
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43:44
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43:47
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.