Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 910. Bible Study: Job 22 (Lies, Righteous, for What are Humans Created, Discipleship of Jesus)

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910. Bible Study: Job 22 (Lies, Righteous, for What are Humans Created, Discipleship of Jesus) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 22 from the book of Job. First, let's pray.
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  Dear Lord, please be with us as we read through this chapter and
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  let us have wisdom and insight and understanding from your
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  word. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
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  Now we're going back. We job spoke last chapter and
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  now Iliphaz he I think he was the first one who spoke or no?
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  Maybe it was. Build that I can't remember.
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  Anyway, another one of his friends, his quote friends, is
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  responding. So then, Iliphaz the Teemanite
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  replied. Can a man?
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  Be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit
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  him? What pleasure would it give the
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  Almighty if you were righteous? I have comments about that
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  later, He continues. What would he gain if your ways
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  were blameless? Is it for your piety that He
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  rebukes you and bring charges against you?
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  Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?
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  You demanded security from your relatives for no reason.
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  You stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
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  You gave no water to the weary, and you withheld food from the
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  hungry, though you were a powerful man owning land, an
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  honored man living in it, and you sent widows away empty
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  handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.
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  That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril
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  terrifies you, why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood
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  of waters covers you. I'll pause right here because it
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  seems like these are all lies. Because if he did all those
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  things, why would God say have you to Satan?
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  Have you considered Job? He is righteous, upright and
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  righteous. And so these are apparently
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  lies. And I don't know where his
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  friend is getting this or why his friend is saying this to Job
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  in all of his misery. Just all these accusations in
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  verse 12. It's he says is not God in the
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  heights of heaven and see how lofty are the highest stars yet
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  you say, what does God know? Does he judge through such
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  darkness? Thick clouds veil him so he does
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  not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens will I mean
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  that's not true. We know God sees everything.
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  Will you keep to the old path that the wicked have trod?
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  They were carried off before their time, their foundations
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  washed away by a flood. They said, God, leave us alone,
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  what can the Almighty do to us? Yet it was he who filled their
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  houses with good things. So I stand aloof from the plans
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  of the wicked. The righteous see their rune and
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  rejoice. The innocent mock them, saying
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  surely our foes are destroyed and fire devours their wealth.
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  Submit to God and be at peace with Him.
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  In this way prosperity will come to you.
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  Accept instructions from His mouth and lay up words in your
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  heart. If you return to the Almighty,
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  you will be restored. If you remove wickedness far
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  from your tent and assign your Nuggets to the dust, your gold
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  of ofer to the rocks in the ravines, then the Almighty will
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  be your gold, the choice of silver for you.
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  Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will
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  lift up your face to God. You will pray to Him and He will
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  hear you and you will fulfill your vows.
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  What you decide on will be done and light will shine on your
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  ways. When people are brought low and
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  you say lift them up, then He will save the downcast.
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  He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be
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  delivered through the clean, the cleanness of your hands.
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  So I'll. Ilifas has some truths mixed in
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  with lies here, so these are not all all true statements.
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  Some of the things he said like submit to God and be at peace
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  with him. That's good advice.
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  But it says in this way prosperity will come to you.
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  Well, that's not necessarily guaranteed.
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  Says if you restore, restore, return to the Almighty, you will
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  be restored. That is true of God and it's
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  actually true. What happens to Job later in the
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  chapter? We'll find that out.
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  And then he says you will pray to him and he will hear you and
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  you will fulfill your vows. Those things are true too,
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  because it says that God hears the prayers of the righteous.
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  But if he's, you know, and that's why he's saying, you
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  know, turn to God, repent and do these things.
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  So I will read what the Study Bible says and then I'll get
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  into the things that came to mind as I was reading this
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  earlier. So why did Iliphaz accuse Job of
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  such crimes? Iliphaz was on a witch hunt.
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  He was trying to drag out of Job's closet skeletons that
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  weren't there. We know that from chapter one,
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  verse 8. He was still snooping for the
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  reason for Job's suffering. When did job?
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  Say this, and that's referring to verses 13 where it says, Yet
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  you say, what does God know? Does he judge through such
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  darkness and so forth? We don't know.
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  He may have never said these exact words.
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  Perhaps Iliphaz paraphrased or summarized what he thought was
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  the thrust of Job's previous answers.
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  And I would say the words Iliphaz attributed to Job
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  convinced him that Job was stubborn, proud, and
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  unrepentant. Well, we know that's not true,
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  that he was not stubborn, proud and unrepentant.
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  He was just couldn't understand why these bad things were
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  happening to him considering the way he his relationship was with
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  God and I I think. Job is the first.
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  I don't even know if there's any other examples in the Bible.
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  They don't come to mind right now of any righteous person that
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  all of a sudden gets tested by God other than Jesus.
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  Jesus. We see that right away, and we
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  know that really the only true righteous person is Jesus, the
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  only one who's. Good is God, we know that, but
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  there are people who are called righteous, and we'll get into
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  more of that when I go through some of the stuff that I looked
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  up about relative to this chapter.
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  So it says, leave us alone here. Iliphaz was using Job's own
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  words, probably to put a certain spin on Job's theology.
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  Job and Iliphaz seemed to agree about the prosperity of the
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  wicked. Their difference had to do with
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  the application of that theology.
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  Iliphaz believed Job was guilty of some sin and should repent.
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  Job refused to acknowledge acknowledge any wrongdoing.
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  Did I'll Ofez offer good vice? Yes.
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  His advice was solid, though misdirected.
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  It fit the general theme of obedience to God as being the
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  best way to live. But suffering, not prosperity,
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  is often the outcome of obedience.
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  As far as Job was concerned, he had followed God and prospered,
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  but now he was destitute. Eliphaz was wrong to assume that
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  Job was to blame. And you know, there's a there's
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  a mixture of prosperity because the one of the wealthiest people
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  in the Bible. Was Solomon and God did that for
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  Solomon because Solomon didn't ask for wealth, he asked for
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  wisdom and God just doubly blessed him.
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  It somehow didn't turn out well because I I don't know, Solomon
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  didn't go down the straight and narrow path, but I think
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  eventually he probably turned back to God when he wrote
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  Ecclesiastes. It seems like later in his life
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  he was reflecting on it all and and realizing that he just
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  needed to turn back to God. So the next and last question
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  about this from this chapter is can we become prosperous by
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  following God? Yes, we can become spiritually
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  prosperous, but not necessarily materially wealthy.
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  Well, I, you know, I think God can do both.
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  He may do it. It depends.
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  But I think also that sometimes. Blessing somebody with wealth
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  brings on lots of temptations they wouldn't have if they
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  weren't wealthy, so I think there's another level.
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  Of temptation that happens where maybe your money becomes your
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  God, your money becomes your priority but if you don't have
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  you know if you're not on the extreme end of wealth, there
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  won't be all of those temptations but even people who
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  don't have money can idolize money and just always be
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  searching for riches and never searching for God so it.
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  But it really it's, I guess it's on an individual basis, there's
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  not like. One one thing that is true
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  because God does prosper people. He gives people things and God
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  is good. So we can't say that.
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  You know you won't. Be blessed, but there is that
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  whole prosperity gospel that it's not guaranteed.
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  God doesn't say if you're. If you do these things, then I
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  will do these things for you. There's nothing in the Bible.
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  That says that about wealth. In regards to Ralph, there's
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  other promises that God has. So I guess, yes, it is true that
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  you can become spiritually prosperous, but not necessarily
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  materially wealthy. In the Old Testament, the
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  prevailing principle was that God materially prospered the
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  righteous. The New Testament teachings of
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  Jesus and the apostles, however, clarify that faith and obedience
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  bring spiritual prosperity along with the promises of hardships.
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  Well, I don't know if it's all hardships, but I think it does
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  seem like there's. Quite a bit of hardships that
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  are talked about in the New Testament, and I do have some
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  references to that as well. And so I think we will.
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  We've read Scripture, we've read the study Bible, and now I'll
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  get to all the things that came to mind when I was reading
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  Scripture. And sometimes I think I just
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  learn more when I go and search. A topic in scripture and you
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  find things that you have to understand.
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  Context, of course, but you also find themes, and you find.
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  Truths that get repeated over and over again.
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  So you might find some people may find one example of
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  something that's stated and use it.
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  Out of context to prove a point that is contrary to the Bible.
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  But if you look throughout the whole entire Bible and you
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  search a particular theme or topic and you look at.
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  All that it has to say about that topic, then you start
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  understanding things better and so that's.
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  Kind of what? I do when things come to mind.
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  So what triggered all of this research was the verse three
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  that said what pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were
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  righteous? And I thought, oh wow, that's,
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  you know, God is pleased with people when they are righteous.
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  He was pleased with. Job and you know it.
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  It doesn't do anything. It doesn't benefit God in any
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  way, but it pleases Him. And it says in scripture, which
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  I didn't look this verse up, but it says.
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  Like if you love me, obey my commands.
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  So obedience. All it does is show God love.
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  And what does God want most of all?
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  All the commandments can be summed up, summed up to two love
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  God and love your neighbor. So if God wants love from us and
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  he says that if you love me, you obey my commandments.
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  That's all. That's what it is.
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  Obedience is showing God love. So what pleasure would it give
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  the Almighty if you were righteous?
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  Everything. It would show him that you love
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  him. So as soon as I read that, I was
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  like, oh gosh, that's what God says, you know, he says that's
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  what I want you to do. And he says be holy because I am
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  holy. So first things I looked up was
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  about being holy. And back in Leviticus Chapter 11
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  verse 44, it says I am the Lord your God, consecrate yourselves
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  and be holy. Because I am holy, Do not make
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  yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the
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  ground. So this was obviously spoken to
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  the Israelites, but I will also show you that this comes up in
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  the New Testament as well to believers, because as believers
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  we are grafted in to Israel when Jesus gives the example of like
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  the. Or it's not Jesus, Paul, I
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  believe that talks about how we are grafted in like branches are
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  broken off the Israel, you know, some branches were broken off
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  and then new branches were grafted into the same vine.
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  Well. Jesus is the.
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  Vine and these are Gentiles, non Jewish people, they get grafted
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  in and we'll be inheriting the Kingdom of God.
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  So there will be original Israel plus ones that were grafted in.
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  And then it also says that God can't even, you know, how much
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  more so would he graft in branches that he broke off, You
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  know, if there's like a repentance or turning towards
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  him, if he did that for us, wouldn't he do it for the
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  natural vine, for the original vine or the original tree?
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  So God did tell the Israelites that he wanted them to be holy
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  because he was holy. We have to remember that we all
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  people were created in the image of God.
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  We'll talk about that too. So Leviticus 1145 says, I am the
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  Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God, therefore
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  be holy because I am holy. Leviticus 19 to speak to the
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  entire assembly of Israel and say to them Be holy because I
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  the Lord your God am holy. Then in Leviticus 20 verse 7,
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  consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am the Lord your
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  God. So he repeats it quite a number
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  of times. This is the Lord saying this.
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  So if we believe that all Scripture is true, and you know,
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  we should believe everything that's written in Scripture, we
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  can see it there. Now we're going to get into the
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  New Testament in Ephesians chapter one, verse 4 for he
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  chose us in him. So like in Christ before the
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  creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
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  So God, when before he even made us, that he he desired a people
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  in his image, and he told the people that he chose.
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  Originally Israel, he told them, be holy because I'm holy.
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  So what person, if you think about this in human sense, which
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  I know that's kind of stretching it because we should not think
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  of God in a human term, but just so that we can relate to it.
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  Like as a human being, don't you want your children to be similar
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  but better? Maybe, but, but be similar, like
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  have some characteristics. I mean, they're a reflection of
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  you in some ways. And, and I think people do
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  delight in their children when they see that they are like them
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  in good ways. And, and so I think, you know,
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  maybe since we were made in God's image, maybe that's how he
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  feels too. I can't say that.
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  For sure, but he does say be holy because I'm holy.
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  He made us in his image, so I believe he wants us, all of us.
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  Who believe in Him to be holy. In Hebrews 12 verse 14 it says
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  make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be
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  holy. Now listen to this.
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  Without holiness, no one will see.
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  The Lord. That's pretty important.
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  I think we want to see the Lord. How can you be in the Kingdom of
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  the Lord if you don't see him? So without holiness, no one will
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  see the Lord. So we need to, I think, make
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  holiness a priority. And this is also, again, where
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  we don't want to get workspaced. We want to acknowledge that
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  we're sinners. We're going to talk about that
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  too, and that we can't do it on our own.
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  That's the whole entire reason why God sent his Son Jesus to
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  die for us. So that through Jesus.
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  We can receive the Holy Spirit because of what Jesus.
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  Did on the cross remember John baptized, he gave a water
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  baptism, it was for repentance and then Jesus, he said, would
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  baptize us with the Holy Spirit. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit
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  and. Jesus said if.
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  It was to his disciples that it would be good for them if he
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  went to the Father, because when he went to the Father, he could
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  send the advocate, the Holy Spirit to be with with them and
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  and with us. You know, like when we have that
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  new creation birth, just like Jesus told Nicodemus, I know I
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  talk about this all the time, but it's so important that we
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  become born again. We're still a human being, but
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  our. Spirit.
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  Is reborn. It's when we invite the Holy
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  Spirit, when we believe what is taught about Jesus through
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  Scripture, not from what other people say, but through the
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  Bible, that he came here to make atonement for humans.
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  He died on the cross and his blood purifies us.
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  It says in Hebrews without the shedding of blood, there is no
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  forgiveness of sins. So if Jesus didn't do that, we
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  wouldn't have forgiveness of our sins.
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  So then. Jesus, it says he.
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  Asked the Father, and he can give the Holy Spirit to whomever
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  he wants. Well, if you don't believe
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  Jesus, if you reject Jesus, you're not going to be able to
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  receive the Holy Spirit. And we need the Holy Spirit in
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  order to become holy, in order to become a child of God.
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  If we do not have the Holy Spirit, we are not a child of
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  God. If there hasn't been a change in
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  our life or if we are not, you know, have this like goal with
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  the Holy Spirit, If we have not invited the Holy Spirit into our
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  life and been seeking God, then Jesus said no one can enter the
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  Kingdom of God unless they are born again.
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  So if we do not have the Holy Spirit, we cannot be in God's
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  Kingdom. That's very simple.
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  OK in first Peter 1 chapter chapter one verse 15 it says but
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  just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.
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  So Peter is saying this too. He was one of the disciples and
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  he's saying, you know. When God calls.
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  You be holy and all that you do, and then in.
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  First Peter one verse 16, it says for it is written be holy
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  because I am holy. So he references Leviticus,
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  where God says that numerous times.
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  Be holy because I'm holy and this is Peter.
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  Talking to people and let's see in first chapter, let's see
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  where he's talking. Peter, let's see who this is,
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  who he's talking to, he's talking to.
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  God's elect exiles scattered throughout the provinces of
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  Pontius Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithnia.
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  Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the
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  Father through the sanctifying work.
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  Of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with
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  his blood, that's who he's talking to.
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  So somebody who's accepted the sanctifying work of the Holy
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  Spirit and is in agreement to be obedient to Jesus.
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  So if you consider yourself a disciple of, if you're studying,
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  if you if you want. To be in God's Kingdom.
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  God wants holy people in his Kingdom.
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  There's no question about that in Revelation, the last book of
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  the Bible. Chapter 22, verse 11, it says,
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  let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong.
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  Let the vile person continue to be vile.
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  Let the person who does right continue to write to do right
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  and let the holy person continue to be holy.
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  This is the sentence that comes right after the verse that says,
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  then he told me, do not, do not seal up the words of this
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  prophecy or the scroll because time is near.
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  And then right after he says, you know, let everybody continue
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  to do whatever they're doing. And he says, look, I am coming
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  soon. This is Jesus.
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  My reward is with me and I will give to each person according to
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  what they have done. So again, I'm going to go back
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  to Iliffez's statement. What pleasure would it give the
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  Almighty if you were righteous? Well, apparently he's going to
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  reward people who are righteous because Jesus says look.
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  I am coming soon, my reward is with me and I will give.
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  To each person, according to what they have done.
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  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the 1st and the last, the
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  beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their
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  robes. That's means become righteous.
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  That they may have the right to the tree of life and may go
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  through the gates into the city. So this is about the New
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  Jerusalem that will come down. And then this is the thing that
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  he says that really hit me the first time.
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  Outside. This is Jesus talking.
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  Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the
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  sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who
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  loves and practices falsehood. So don't you think righteousness
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  is important because. If all these things that are
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  listed here outside of the new Jerusalem and Jesus.
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  Is saying this. Don't you think that's something
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  that we need to? That's not how we get to.
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  Heaven. We only get to heaven.
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  Because of Jesus's death on the cross, or heaven or God's
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  Kingdom, that's the only way. We can't do it on our own.
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  We can't, like, ignore what Jesus did.
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  We have to be grateful to, you know, for Jesus and what he did
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  and thankful for that because that's the only way that made it
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  possible. But there is a response that
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  comes from us after we understand that do we want to
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  get rid of the sin in our life? We don't try to do it.
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  Don't wait until you clean up your ACT before you get baptized
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  or anything like that. Ask God in your current
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  condition to, to change you to, you know, express your belief to
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  God in your own words, because God doesn't care about some
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  specific set of words. He just, he wants to know what's
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  in your heart. And if you, if you want to be in
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  God's Kingdom, then make it known to God.
• 24:24
  Tell him however you want to talk to him.
• 24:26
  And I mean, that's the way that God wants to hear it.
• 24:29
  And then ask him for, ask Jesus for the Holy Spirit to start,
• 24:36
  you know, becoming more of what God wants us to be, what God
• 24:40
  created us to be, because God created us to be a certain way.
• 24:44
  And, and we don't necessarily start out that way.
• 24:50
  It's a changed life, a new creation again.
• 24:55
  That that one verse. What pleasure would it give the
• 24:58
  Almighty if you were righteous? That Ilifa says.
• 25:02
  I then I started searching about rewards because God, there are
• 25:09
  definitely some rewards that God talks about and let's see, I
• 25:18
  don't know if I saved that. I can't remember where because
• 25:23
  there's like 54 different verses about rewards.
• 25:27
  But if God didn't care about righteousness, then why would he
• 25:38
  reward? Why would there be a reward if
• 25:43
  it didn't matter to him? It says what pleasure would it
• 25:46
  give the Almighty if you were righteous?
• 25:47
  Well, we know for one, it shows God that we love him if we are
• 25:52
  obedient to him and that's righteous, and also if we have
• 25:56
  faith. So let's see, I'm trying to
• 26:00
  find. I didn't shoot.
• 26:04
  I don't know, there were like. 54 verses.
• 26:08
  But I thought I had it. But I might have to read through
• 26:14
  some of these things. All right, OK about rewards.
• 26:24
  So Genesis 15 verse one after this, the word of the Lord came
• 26:28
  to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid Abram, I am
• 26:33
  your shield, your very great reward.
• 26:37
  Now this is just something that God did out of His love, that He
• 26:41
  came to Abram in a vision and said that he was your shield and
• 26:45
  reward. And then let's see, some of
• 26:50
  these things are not relevant to God giving reward.
• 26:59
  So I. Didn't have these things.
• 27:00
  Checked OK in Psalm 19 verse 11 it says by them your servant is
• 27:08
  warned in keeping them there is great reward.
• 27:12
  So what is he talking about? The fear of the Lord is pure,
• 27:17
  enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are
• 27:20
  firm, and all of them are righteous.
• 27:22
  They are more precious than gold.
• 27:24
  The decrees of the Lord is what they're talking about.
• 27:28
  Then much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey,
• 27:32
  than honey from the humming honeycomb.
• 27:35
  By them your servant is warned. These are the decrees of the
• 27:39
  Lord. And it says the decrees of the
• 27:41
  Lord are firm, all of them are righteous.
• 27:45
  And also the verse prior says the precepts of the Lord are
• 27:48
  right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are
• 27:51
  radiant, giving light to the eyes.
• 27:57
  So it it does seem like there are rewards.
• 28:06
  See, he will. He will make your righteous
• 28:09
  reward shine like dawn. Your vindication will be like.
• 28:13
  Noonday sun and it says in Psalm 62 verse 12 and with you Lord is
• 28:22
  unfailing love and you reward everyone according to what they
• 28:30
  have done. This is something nice that
• 28:34
  maybe isn't exactly relevant, but it's a nice word about
• 28:39
  rewards. Psalm 127 verse three.
• 28:42
  Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from
• 28:48
  Him. So when you have children, you
• 28:51
  are blessed by the Lord. That is a reward to have
• 28:55
  children. See but Proverbs 11, verse 18.
• 29:05
  A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows
• 29:10
  righteousness reaps a sure reward.
• 29:18
  Proverbs 12/14 From the fruit of their lips.
• 29:21
  People are filled with good things and the work of their
• 29:24
  hand brings them reward. Proverbs 1917 says Whoever is
• 29:32
  kind to the poor lends to the Lord and he will reward them for
• 29:39
  what they have done. In Proverbs 25 verse 22 it says
• 29:46
  in doing this you will heap burning coals on his head and
• 29:50
  the Lord will reward you. So what is that one talking
• 29:54
  about? It says if your enemy is hungry,
• 29:59
  give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water
• 30:04
  to drink. In doing this, you will heap
• 30:07
  burning coals on his head and the Lord will reward you.
• 30:13
  The enemy being hungry and thirsty, that could be a literal
• 30:17
  sense, but it could also be a spiritual sense where they're
• 30:21
  hungry for the Lord, perhaps to give him food.
• 30:25
  Jesus is the bread of life. If he's thirsty, give him water
• 30:29
  to drink, which is, you know, the the fountain or the spring
• 30:35
  is the the living water that Jesus gives.
• 30:39
  So I think there could be a com combination of advice here, like
• 30:47
  in doing this you will heap burning coals on his head and
• 30:51
  the Lord will reward you. Well, the burning coals I
• 30:55
  remember like I, I think it was Isaiah who said he was concerned
• 31:00
  when he saw an Angel that he said, I'm a man of unclean lips.
• 31:05
  And so the Angel took a coal and put it to his lips to purify
• 31:10
  him. It's like through fire.
• 31:12
  It's like refining like silver. It, it goes under fire to get
• 31:16
  out all of the, the impurities out of it.
• 31:20
  And so this may be what they're saying here is you will heap
• 31:25
  burning coals on his head. You know they will there will be
• 31:28
  a change in this person if you give him spiritual food, Jesus
• 31:35
  and spiritual drink, which is really the Holy Spirit.
• 31:38
  I believe the the water of life. Let's see.
• 31:46
  Then it says, oh, I think these were the ones that Oh no, I'm on
• 31:50
  the wrong one. Sorry.
• 31:54
  OK, for the living with that for the for the living know that
• 32:03
  they will die, but the dead know nothing.
• 32:05
  They have no further reward and even their name is forgotten.
• 32:09
  It's just that's an Ecclesiastes from Solomon.
• 32:12
  There's no further reward. That's not really what I was
• 32:14
  looking for. But like I said, I didn't
• 32:17
  shortlist these verses when I searched reward.
• 32:21
  Isaiah 40, verse 10, it says, see the sovereign Lord comes
• 32:24
  with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.
• 32:27
  See, His reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
• 32:34
  So God has rewards here. Let's see what else He has here.
• 32:43
  Isaiah 61, verse 8. For I the Lord love justice.
• 32:49
  I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward
• 32:55
  my people and make an everlasting covenant with them.
• 33:03
  In Isaiah 62 verse 11, the Lord has made this proclamation to
• 33:07
  the ends of the earth. Say to daughter Zion, see, your
• 33:13
  Savior comes. See his reward is with him and
• 33:17
  his recompense accompanies him. In Jeremiah 17 verse 10 it says
• 33:23
  I the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind to reward each
• 33:31
  person according to their conduct, according to what their
• 33:35
  deeds deserve. In Jeremiah 32 verse 19 says
• 33:42
  great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds.
• 33:45
  Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind.
• 33:49
  You reward each person according to their conduct and as their
• 33:54
  deeds deserve. And here this was one about
• 34:00
  someone that God used to bring judgement on Israel.
• 34:05
  Ezekiel 29 verse 20, he said I have given him Egypt as a reward
• 34:10
  for his efforts because he and his because he and his army did
• 34:14
  it for me declares the sovereign Lord.
• 34:17
  So this was even like somebody that was not righteous, but God
• 34:21
  used them, and then he gives them Egypt because Egypt was not
• 34:25
  a righteous place either. There was lots of idolatry
• 34:28
  there. So probably wasn't something
• 34:29
  that really that was a loss for God because they were already so
• 34:33
  turned away. But then he gave, I don't know
• 34:35
  if that was Nebuchadnezzar that he was talking about, but I'll
• 34:39
  go back to that. Who did.
• 34:41
  Yeah, it was Nebuchadnezzar that he gave him Egypt.
• 34:45
  So then Jesus says there's some documentation about Jesus about
• 34:50
  rewards. So I'm going to read those now
• 34:53
  in the New Testament. So says rejoice and be glad
• 34:57
  because great is your reward in heaven.
• 35:00
  For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
• 35:03
  before you. In Matthew 546, it says if you
• 35:08
  love those who love you, what reward will you get?
• 35:13
  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
• 35:15
  So love has to be to people that we wouldn't necessarily want to
• 35:19
  love, but to love in a way that Jesus loves like to be a servant
• 35:23
  to all people and look for their good.
• 35:26
  It's like a selfless attitude towards other people.
• 35:29
  Like how can you serve them? Matthew 6 verse one.
• 35:34
  Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others
• 35:37
  to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no
• 35:40
  reward from your Father in heaven.
• 35:42
  So Jesus is. Looking for sincere
• 35:46
  righteousness. He is not looking for somebody
• 35:50
  who wants attention. Like look at me, look at all the
• 35:53
  good stuff that I do. He's like, you don't get a
• 35:56
  reward for that. But if you're doing things out
• 35:58
  of your pure intent, out of your heart, the Father will reward
• 36:02
  that. So again, there are rewards.
• 36:06
  Matthew 6, verse 2. So when you give to the needy,
• 36:09
  do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the
• 36:14
  synagogues and on the streets to be honored by others.
• 36:17
  So see, they're selfish and their goals.
• 36:19
  They're wanting others to say, wow, look at them, they're so
• 36:22
  good. But he says, truly I tell you,
• 36:25
  they have received their reward in full.
• 36:28
  Matthew 6 verse 4, so that your giving may be in secret, then
• 36:34
  your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
• 36:39
  So it's better to give in secret.
• 36:42
  There's a greater reward and you shouldn't be doing it for the
• 36:46
  reward either. But it's just that God does.
• 36:50
  It's it's very apparent here that God does have rewards for
• 36:54
  people who are doing good things for the right reasons.
• 36:59
  Matthew 6 verse 5. And when you pray, do not be
• 37:02
  like the hypocrites. For they love to.
• 37:05
  Sit to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the street
• 37:08
  corners to be seen by others again.
• 37:11
  They have some outward goal. Like I want everybody to see me
• 37:14
  truly. I tell you, they have received
• 37:16
  their reward in full. Matthew 66 But when you pray, go
• 37:21
  into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is
• 37:26
  unseen. Then your Father who sees what
• 37:30
  is done in secret will reward you.
• 37:33
  So even praying, God's looking for somebody who humbles
• 37:37
  themselves and is talking to him in a remote private.
• 37:42
  Place. Then he talks about fasting too.
• 37:45
  When you when you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites
• 37:49
  do, for they disfigure their faces to show they are fasting.
• 37:53
  Truly I tell you they have received their reward in full.
• 37:57
  When he says something about receiving the reward in full, it
• 38:00
  reminds me of the the parable that Jesus told about Lazarus,
• 38:06
  who was the rich man and he was very wealthy and he ended up in
• 38:13
  Hades where it was really hot and he was thirsty and he just
• 38:19
  wanted a drop of water on his tongue.
• 38:20
  He was very uncomfortable and he could see Abram on the other
• 38:24
  side, but he couldn't get to him because there's a great chasm
• 38:27
  that separated between them. And he saw, he could see them,
• 38:33
  but they couldn't interact with him.
• 38:35
  They couldn't do anything for him after his death.
• 38:37
  And then he tells people, we'll go back to my family and warn
• 38:41
  them. And, and I think it was Jesus
• 38:45
  that, you know, he was like they, even if he was relating it
• 38:52
  to him being visible to people and people didn't accept him.
• 38:57
  So he made some comparison in that parable about what he did
• 39:03
  that people still didn't believe.
• 39:05
  So everyone has the opportunity to believe this what is in the
• 39:09
  Bible is true or dis, you know, not believe what's in the Bible
• 39:14
  and but the but it is real and it is true.
• 39:17
  And people, when they finally transition to the next phase,
• 39:22
  they will find out it all was true.
• 39:25
  And so Jesus is showing these people or telling these people
• 39:29
  parables about this, telling them, you know, don't look at it
• 39:34
  like this man Lazarus did. He was wealthy.
• 39:36
  He got all of his rewards here on earth.
• 39:39
  But then in eternity he has none because he didn't live.
• 39:44
  So he didn't. I probably acknowledge God and
• 39:48
  he lived for himself. It was probably a selfish thing.
• 39:51
  I don't want to read too much into it.
• 39:52
  But whatever he did was was not anything that would get him into
• 39:58
  the Kingdom of God. He obviously did not have the
• 40:00
  Holy Spirit, so. In Matthew 6 verse 18, it says
• 40:05
  so that it will not be obvious, obvious to others that you are
• 40:08
  fasting, but only to your Father who is unseen and your Father
• 40:11
  who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
• 40:15
  In Matthew chapter 10 verse 41, whoever welcomes a prophet as a
• 40:20
  prophet will receive a prophet's reward.
• 40:22
  Whatever that is, I don't know. And whoever welcomes A righteous
• 40:25
  person as a righteous person will receive a righteous
• 40:28
  person's reward. I think these rewards are like
• 40:31
  God knows what they are, but he we don't know what they are.
• 40:34
  I think Paul was also talking about that when he was like
• 40:37
  competing the race and there was this reward at the end, Matthew
• 40:44
  10, verse 42. And if anyone gives even a cold
• 40:48
  cup of water to one of these little ones who is my disciple,
• 40:51
  truly, I tell you that person will certainly not lose their
• 40:56
  reward. So that's another thing that we
• 40:59
  read in the Bible too, is that like crowns of certain kinds of
• 41:04
  rewards. And it says be careful not to
• 41:06
  lose your crown because you may have gained it, but you don't
• 41:10
  want to lose it also. And here he's saying, you know,
• 41:13
  if any and if anyone eat and and if anyone gives even a cup of
• 41:18
  cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple,
• 41:23
  probably like a baby Christian. Truly I tell you, that person
• 41:26
  will certainly not lose their reward.
• 41:31
  Matthew 16 verse 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in His
• 41:36
  Father's glory with His angels, and then He will reward each
• 41:43
  person according to what they have done.
• 41:46
  So this is when Jesus returns for the Son of man is going to
• 41:50
  come in the Father's glory. Now that's interesting because
• 41:54
  God created us, us mankind also to be for his glory.
• 41:59
  So just like this, the Son is going to come in his Father's
• 42:02
  glory. Jesus is a reflection of the
• 42:05
  Father. He said, if you've seen me,
• 42:08
  you've seen the Father. So he and the Father are one.
• 42:12
  And so that's what he also prayed that all of us would
• 42:16
  become that someday. And I think when Jesus returns
• 42:21
  for us is when that will actually happen.
• 42:24
  But to read this verse again. For the Son of Man is going to
• 42:27
  come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will
• 42:32
  reward each person according to what they have done.
• 42:35
  So how we live life is, has impact, has an eternal impact.
• 42:41
  There's going to be something, I don't know what that is, but
• 42:43
  there's something. Mark verse or Chapter 9, verse
• 42:49
  41 says the same thing. True.
• 42:50
  Truly I tell you, anyone who gives a cup of water in my name
• 42:54
  because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose
• 42:58
  their reward. And Luke chapter 6 verse 23,
• 43:02
  rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your
• 43:06
  reward in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the
• 43:11
  prophets in Luke chapter 6 verse 35.
• 43:16
  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them
• 43:21
  without expecting to get anything back.
• 43:24
  Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the
• 43:30
  Most High because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
• 43:40
  In First Corinthians 3, verse 14, if what has been built
• 43:44
  survives, the builder will receive a reward.
• 43:48
  It's talking about what we do here on earth and about I'll,
• 43:54
  I'll read a little bit more about that.
• 43:57
  If anyone builds on this foundation, talking about the
• 44:00
  foundation of Jesus Christ using silver, gold, costly stones,
• 44:04
  wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is
• 44:08
  because the day will bring it to light.
• 44:11
  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the
• 44:16
  quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives,
• 44:21
  the builder will receive a reward.
• 44:24
  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet be
• 44:28
  saved, even though only as one escaping through the flames.
• 44:34
  So and the the foundation again. For no one can lay any
• 44:38
  foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus
• 44:42
  Christ. And then it says if anyone
• 44:45
  builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones,
• 44:48
  wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is
• 44:51
  because the day will bring it to light.
• 44:53
  It will be revealed with fire. The fire will test the quality
• 44:56
  of each person's work. If what has been built survives,
• 45:00
  the builder will see will receive a reward.
• 45:10
  In First Corinthians 9 verse 18, what then is my reward?
• 45:14
  Just this, that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of
• 45:19
  charge and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of
• 45:24
  the gospel. So this is Paul and he's just
• 45:27
  saying that he's preaching for free and he's not using his
• 45:32
  rights as a preacher of the gospel to collect money.
• 45:35
  Jesus actually sent out the original disciples and just told
• 45:38
  him to take nothing with them and just go out and, and share
• 45:44
  the word, share the good news of the Kingdom and and take nothing
• 45:49
  with them. So very different from what we
• 45:52
  see today in the world. I'm so when the whenever there
• 45:56
  are people that are sharing the word of God and doing it for
• 45:59
  free, I believe God's going to reward that because there's a
• 46:03
  lot of people out there who share the word of God, but it's
• 46:05
  a business for them. And so I think there will be
• 46:08
  some, you know, they'll still be saved, but it's kind of like
• 46:11
  their work, you know, when it comes under fire, how is God
• 46:15
  going to test that? What is he going to think about
• 46:17
  that work? Where was their heart and all of
• 46:20
  it? Because that's what God's after.
• 46:21
  He's after our hearts. What's our intention behind it?
• 46:27
  And then in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 8, because you know that
• 46:30
  the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do,
• 46:34
  whether they are slave or free. So it doesn't matter.
• 46:37
  You're human standing in life. God is going to reward based on
• 46:43
  what we do. It's not how we get into the
• 46:46
  Kingdom, but it's what we do out of gratitude, basically out of
• 46:51
  obedience to God. Like if we are reflection of
• 46:54
  God, that's what God would do, right?
• 46:56
  And God was selfless on Jesus, you know, gave his life.
• 47:03
  You know, there's no greater love than to lay one's life down
• 47:06
  for another. And that's what Jesus did for
• 47:08
  us. So we can't necessarily top that
• 47:12
  because he saved all mankind. But we can certainly show our
• 47:17
  gratitude by being obedient to what God said we should do.
• 47:22
  And He wants us to be children of his, to be a reflection of
• 47:25
  Him, to to represent Him well in this world.
• 47:31
  Let's see Colossians 3 verse 24. Since you know that you will
• 47:36
  receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
• 47:41
  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
• 47:43
  So we are serving God, we are serving Jesus.
• 47:47
  We are serving Jesus Christ. And our reward ultimately is the
• 47:54
  inheritance that we get to live in God's Kingdom.
• 47:58
  So that's, I mean, the question is how much do you value
• 48:03
  eternity, the Kingdom of God? We don't really fully know what
• 48:09
  to expect. The Book of Revelation gives us
• 48:11
  a little bit of an example of it.
• 48:13
  I think it's the last couple chapters of the Book of
• 48:16
  Revelation, and that's only a glimpse.
• 48:18
  It talks about the new city of Jerusalem, but it talks about
• 48:21
  like all these costly materials, these beautiful, like henomenal
• 48:26
  materials that we don't have anything made of that's similar
• 48:29
  to that today and the enormity of it all.
• 48:33
  And it's something that God creates.
• 48:34
  And even like the gates, he said are made out of a Pearl.
• 48:38
  Can you imagine a Pearl being that big that you could have a
• 48:42
  gate that enters the city that's made out of that material?
• 48:45
  Just the materials that are described in the Book of
• 48:49
  Revelation for what the new city of Jerusalem will be.
• 48:53
  And it does say like streets of gold and it just the thick walls
• 48:59
  that separate the righteous from the unrighteous in eternity.
• 49:04
  I mean, there's just that's the only glimpse that God gave us.
• 49:10
  And it's not that you, it's just, you know, this
• 49:13
  indescribable beauty, I guess, is really what the what it's
• 49:17
  going to be like. And the light that just comes
• 49:20
  from the Father, Like eventually the Father and son will be
• 49:23
  living with all people. Like we will interact with God
• 49:27
  in eternity, and that's the reward.
• 49:31
  That's the ultimate reward in Hebrews.
• 49:34
  Let's see, in Hebrews 11/26, it says he regarded disgrace for
• 49:40
  the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of
• 49:44
  Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward.
• 49:48
  I want to see if that's Moses that he's talking about.
• 49:51
  Yeah, it is Moses. So earlier in the Hebrews it
• 49:56
  says by faith Moses when he had grown up refused to be known as
• 50:00
  the son of Pharaohs daughter. So as you know, Moses was his
• 50:05
  family. Well, they had an edict out to
• 50:08
  kill young boys. And so his family in faith put
• 50:12
  him in a basket and put him in the river and he was found by
• 50:15
  Pharaoh's daughter and then raised like royalty.
• 50:19
  But somehow I guess he knew that he wasn't, that he was an
• 50:24
  Israelite and he wasn't an Egyptian.
• 50:27
  And he wasn't, he refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's
• 50:31
  daughter. It's like all of the prestige
• 50:33
  that he would have had being like the top, you know, person's
• 50:37
  daughter, you know, being of royalty.
• 50:40
  And he says he chose to be mistreated along with the people
• 50:44
  of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
• 50:50
  Egypt was very sinful, very idolatrous.
• 50:54
  And and that says he regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ
• 50:59
  or the Messiah as of greater value than the treasures of
• 51:03
  Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward.
• 51:07
  Then it says by faith he left Egypt not fearing the King's
• 51:10
  anger. He persevered because he saw him
• 51:14
  who is invisible, He saw God. And so he knew that his, the
• 51:20
  promises that God had for him were greater than what anything
• 51:25
  that we find on this earth. And hopefully we all can see
• 51:30
  that like Moses saw it in Revelation 22 verse 12, Jesus
• 51:36
  says, look, I am coming soon. My reward is with me and I will
• 51:40
  give to each person according to what they have done.
• 51:44
  So there is some incentive, I guess.
• 51:49
  Let's see righteousness. This is another one that OK,
• 51:55
  there's a lot about. Righteous being righteous
• 51:58
  because again, this is that statement that Oliph has made.
• 52:02
  What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
• 52:06
  Well. There's quite a bit here, and
• 52:08
  I'm just going to try to read through these as quickly as I
• 52:11
  can. I don't know if I want to give
• 52:13
  the reference because there's so many of these, but this is all
• 52:16
  Scripture. But I just think it really gives
• 52:18
  us an idea of what righteousness means to God.
• 52:26
  And so I will read through these.
• 52:29
  This is the account of Noah and his family.
• 52:32
  Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of
• 52:35
  his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
• 52:38
  The Lord then said to Noah, go into the ark you and your
• 52:42
  family, because because I have found you righteous in this
• 52:46
  generation. So that is the reason why Noah
• 52:52
  was saved from the flood that killed everything on earth at
• 52:58
  that time, because God considered him righteous, just
• 53:01
  like God said about Job. And then here's one where I
• 53:07
  think it was Abraham or Abraham was negotiating with God about
• 53:11
  Sodom and Gomorrah. And this is Abraham talking
• 53:19
  because his his nephew Lot was living there and he was very
• 53:22
  concerned. Again, here's the prayers of a
• 53:24
  righteous person being effective, but here's Moses
• 53:27
  talking to God. What not Moses, Abraham, what if
• 53:31
  the number of the righteous is 5, less than 50?
• 53:34
  Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?
• 53:39
  If I find 45 there, he said I will not destroy it.
• 53:43
  That was God's response. So righteousness does make a
• 53:49
  difference. We can see that that actually it
• 53:53
  was just Lot and his family who were actually saved.
• 53:59
  So there's a small number of people who are considered
• 54:02
  righteous by God at different devastating points.
• 54:06
  Like the flood was one and then Sodom and Gomorrah, only a few
• 54:10
  people. It was Lot and his two
• 54:12
  daughters. There were more that were
• 54:14
  supposed to be saved. His daughters were engaged.
• 54:17
  They had fiancees, but the fiancees just blew him off and
• 54:19
  didn't think he was being for real.
• 54:21
  The angels that came to save and then Lot's wife, she disobeyed
• 54:27
  and she looked back into the city and the Angel said, don't
• 54:31
  look back. Just keep, you know, we got to
• 54:32
  go. This is this is it.
• 54:34
  She was disobedient. And that said, she was turned to
• 54:39
  a pillar of salt, so she did not make it out.
• 54:43
  It was just Lot and his two daughters who were obedient.
• 54:46
  So three people that time, you know, Noah had eight.
• 54:50
  Now there's three people in the Sodom and Gomorrah.
• 54:52
  And then there's a, there's another time when the whole
• 54:57
  earth, the whole entire earth is going to come under the fire,
• 55:00
  under the judgement of God, the judgement of people by God, the
• 55:05
  wrath of God. And there will be some
• 55:08
  survivors, but there will be a lot of people that perish.
• 55:12
  And if we think about righteousness, like how many
• 55:15
  people in this world are righteous right now or even
• 55:18
  focused on being righteous, not on their own, but through the
• 55:21
  power of the Holy Spirit, you know, it's it's going to be
• 55:24
  pretty devastating. It says, now here's things about
• 55:28
  the Lord and what he thinks about righteousness for the Lord
• 55:30
  watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the
• 55:34
  wicked leads to destruction. Surely, Lord, you bless the
• 55:39
  righteous, you surround them with your favor as a shield.
• 55:42
  The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love
• 55:46
  violence, he hates with a passion for the Lord is
• 55:51
  righteous. He loves justice.
• 55:53
  The upright will see his face. That's the Kingdom of God when
• 55:57
  you see his face. But there they are overwhelmed
• 56:01
  with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.
• 56:07
  That's where God is. He's with the righteous.
• 56:08
  Why wouldn't He want us to be righteous?
• 56:11
  The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are
• 56:13
  attentive to their cry. The righteous cry out, and the
• 56:18
  Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their
• 56:21
  troubles. The righteous person may have
• 56:23
  troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.
• 56:28
  He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your
• 56:32
  vindication like the noonday sun.
• 56:35
  For the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds
• 56:40
  the righteous. The righteous will inherit the
• 56:43
  land and dwell in it forever. The salvation of the righteous
• 56:48
  comes from the Lord. He is their stronghold in times
• 56:52
  of trouble. Cast your cares on the Lord and
• 56:55
  He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous
• 56:58
  be shaken. Then people will say, surely the
• 57:03
  righteous are still rewarded. Surely there is a God who judges
• 57:07
  the earth. The righteous will rejoice in
• 57:10
  the Lord and take refuge in Him. All the upright in heart will
• 57:15
  glory in Him. Then it says, May they be
• 57:19
  blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the
• 57:23
  righteous. So the righteous are listed in
• 57:27
  the Book of Life. And then who says I will cut off
• 57:32
  the horns of all the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will
• 57:36
  be lifted up. Horns are often symbolic of
• 57:38
  power. So I will cut off the power of
• 57:41
  all the wicked, but the power of the righteous will be lifted up.
• 57:45
  The righteous will flourish like a palm tree.
• 57:48
  They will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
• 57:52
  Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.
• 57:56
  Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise His holy
• 57:59
  name. Even in darkness.
• 58:02
  Light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and
• 58:07
  compassionate and righteous. Surely the righteous will never
• 58:11
  be shakened. They will be remembered forever.
• 58:15
  The Lord is gracious and righteous.
• 58:19
  Our God is full of compassion. So if He wants us to be in the
• 58:23
  image of Him and He is righteous, don't you think He
• 58:26
  wants us to be righteous? This is the gate of the Lord
• 58:31
  through which the righteous may enter.
• 58:36
  All your words are true. All your righteous laws are
• 58:40
  eternal. That's interesting.
• 58:42
  Righteous laws are eternal, so don't let anybody tell you that
• 58:46
  the law was done away with. Righteous laws are eternal, but
• 58:52
  the Lord is righteous. He has cut me free from the
• 58:55
  cords of the wicked. The Lord gives sight to the
• 58:59
  blind. The Lord lifts up those who are
• 59:02
  bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous.
• 59:07
  OK, how about that? The Lord loves the righteous.
• 59:11
  The Lord's curse is on the House of the wicked, but He blesses
• 59:16
  the home of the righteous. Still think that being righteous
• 59:19
  doesn't matter to God? The Lord does not let the
• 59:23
  righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the
• 59:27
  wicked. Blessings crown the head of the
• 59:30
  righteous, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the
• 59:34
  wicked. The name of the righteous is
• 59:38
  used in blessings, but the name of the wicked will rot.
• 59:43
  The wages of righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked
• 59:50
  are sin and death. So here's tying righteousness to
• 59:56
  life and wickedness to sin and death.
• 1:00:01
  The righteous person is rescued from trouble, and it falls on
• 1:00:05
  the wicked instead. Truly, the righteous attain
• 1:00:09
  life, but whoever pursues evil finds death.
• 1:00:14
  Be sure of this. The wicked will not go
• 1:00:16
  unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free.
• 1:00:21
  The desire of the righteous ends only in good, but the hope of
• 1:00:25
  the wicked only in wrath. Those who trust in their riches
• 1:00:30
  will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
• 1:00:37
  The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is
• 1:00:42
  wise saves lives. I think this is pretty
• 1:00:46
  interesting. The tree of life, that's kind of
• 1:00:48
  like having eternal life. The fruit of the righteous is a
• 1:00:53
  tree of life, and the one who is wise save lives.
• 1:00:59
  I think that's a good clue about what God wants us to do, save
• 1:01:03
  lives. Saving lives is, you know,
• 1:01:05
  telling people about the gospel, about the message of Jesus and
• 1:01:09
  eternity and God's Kingdom. The wicked are overthrown and
• 1:01:15
  are no more, but the House of the righteous stands firm.
• 1:01:18
  The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the
• 1:01:21
  kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.
• 1:01:24
  That's I don't know. That was just something that I
• 1:01:26
  noticed in here about animals. And the righteous care for the
• 1:01:29
  needs of their animals. No harm overtakes the righteous,
• 1:01:34
  but the wicked have their fill of trouble.
• 1:01:39
  The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of
• 1:01:41
  the wicked is snuffed out. Trouble pursues the Sinner, but
• 1:01:45
  the righteous are rewarded with good things.
• 1:01:48
  A good person leaves an inheritance for their children's
• 1:01:51
  children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.
• 1:01:55
  Think about that. A sinner's wealth is stored up
• 1:01:58
  for the righteous. Interesting.
• 1:02:01
  The righteous eat to their hearts content, but the stomach
• 1:02:04
  of the wicked grows hungry. When calamity comes, the wicked
• 1:02:07
  are brought down, but even in death the righteous seek refuge
• 1:02:11
  in God. So it doesn't say like when
• 1:02:14
  calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death
• 1:02:20
  the righteous seek refuge in God.
• 1:02:24
  If you know that God is real, you're not going to worry about
• 1:02:30
  death because when you are to be absent from the body, to die is
• 1:02:35
  to be present with Christ. That's what Paul tells us, and
• 1:02:39
  it's all throughout the Bible too, that if you're, if you're
• 1:02:42
  prepared and you go, you're, you are truly in a better place.
• 1:02:48
  The House of the righteous contains great treasure, but the
• 1:02:51
  income of the wicked brings rune.
• 1:02:54
  The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the
• 1:02:59
  righteous. That's another thing.
• 1:03:01
  If you want your prayers answered, of course, they have
• 1:03:03
  to be according to God's will. That's not selfish things that
• 1:03:06
  we asked for, but it says he hears the prayers of the
• 1:03:10
  righteous. And boy, I can tell you, I've
• 1:03:13
  experienced that many times when I've been really focused on God
• 1:03:18
  and focused on doing his will. In fact, this past weekend, I
• 1:03:23
  had a great example. It was a tornado warning and the
• 1:03:28
  water was coming down like crazy.
• 1:03:30
  And I was driving and I just said, Lord, please help us home
• 1:03:36
  and please help us, you know, be safe through the night.
• 1:03:40
  And after I said those exact words, the rain paused and I was
• 1:03:48
  with my son and he just looked at me and said, wow.
• 1:03:52
  And and it's just like God, just people can say, well, that was a
• 1:03:58
  coincidence. And you may want to believe
• 1:04:00
  that, but there's been times where I've I've seen that, you
• 1:04:04
  know, there have been times when I've been far from God and my
• 1:04:08
  prayers definitely were not answered.
• 1:04:10
  And but then times where I'm really focused on on being a
• 1:04:16
  servant and it does matter. And that's that's another reason
• 1:04:20
  why I mean, I want prayers that are according to God's will to
• 1:04:26
  be answered. It's out of love, the things
• 1:04:29
  that I want out of love. And so therefore, that's another
• 1:04:33
  motivating factor for me to do the right thing when I have
• 1:04:37
  choices because I want God to hear those prayers.
• 1:04:41
  And it tells us in Scripture, the Lord is far from the wicked,
• 1:04:45
  but he hears the prayers of the righteous.
• 1:04:48
  And again, it's not by our own power, it's through the Holy
• 1:04:52
  Spirit. But yet we still have that free
• 1:04:54
  will. We can decide, well, I could do
• 1:04:57
  this thing or I could do that thing.
• 1:04:59
  And when we do the thing that we know is according to God's will,
• 1:05:03
  that's being righteous. The name of the Lord is a
• 1:05:08
  fortified tower. The righteous run to it and are
• 1:05:11
  safe. He follows my decrees and
• 1:05:14
  faithfully keeps my laws. The man is righteous.
• 1:05:17
  He will surely live, declares the sovereign Lord.
• 1:05:20
  The one who sins is the one who will die.
• 1:05:23
  The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will
• 1:05:27
  the parent share the guilt of the child.
• 1:05:30
  The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to
• 1:05:33
  them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against
• 1:05:37
  them. None of the offenses they have
• 1:05:39
  committed will be remembered against them.
• 1:05:41
  Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live.
• 1:05:45
  But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and
• 1:05:50
  commits sin and does the same detestable things that the
• 1:05:54
  wicked person does, will they live?
• 1:05:57
  None of the righteous things that the person has done will be
• 1:06:00
  remembered because of the unfaithfulness, the
• 1:06:06
  unfaithfulness. Remember that, because when you
• 1:06:09
  know when you're unrighteous after you were righteous, that's
• 1:06:13
  unfaithfulness. You're not following the Lord.
• 1:06:16
  Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of, and because
• 1:06:20
  of the sins they have committed, they will die.
• 1:06:24
  If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits
• 1:06:28
  sins, they will die for it. Because of the sin they have
• 1:06:32
  committed, they will die. This is all in Ezekiel.
• 1:06:36
  That was chapter 18. Now in Ezekiel 33 it comes up
• 1:06:41
  again. Therefore, Son of Man, say to
• 1:06:43
  your people, if this is God talking to Ezekiel, say to your
• 1:06:47
  people, if someone who is righteous disobeys, that
• 1:06:50
  person's former righteousness will count for nothing.
• 1:06:53
  And if someone who is wicked repents, that person's former
• 1:06:58
  wickedness will not bring condemnation.
• 1:07:02
  The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live,
• 1:07:07
  even though they were formerly righteous.
• 1:07:10
  If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but
• 1:07:15
  then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none
• 1:07:20
  of the righteous things that person has done will be
• 1:07:22
  remembered. Remembered.
• 1:07:24
  They will die for the evil they have done.
• 1:07:28
  If a righteous. Person turns from their
• 1:07:30
  righteousness and does evil, they will die from it for it.
• 1:07:35
  That's something that I think you know this whole once.
• 1:07:38
  Saved. Always saved.
• 1:07:39
  Is very concerning to me. I don't believe that because I
• 1:07:43
  don't think the Bible supports it anywhere through from the
• 1:07:46
  beginning to the end. I do not.
• 1:07:49
  Believe that God you know. I think it's us that turn away
• 1:07:56
  from God and God warns us like in Ezekiel and also in Hebrews,
• 1:08:00
  it tells us like if we keep on sinning, all we can expect is
• 1:08:03
  judgement from God. I think that's in Hebrews 10/26
• 1:08:07
  or something like that. But search throughout the Bible
• 1:08:10
  about that because I, I think there's a lot of people who.
• 1:08:15
  You know the whole grace of God has been distorted so.
• 1:08:20
  Badly by churches and of course everybody loves it, you know,
• 1:08:25
  like people don't want to be held accountable for their
• 1:08:28
  sinful ways, but that's not the way that the Bible tells us it
• 1:08:33
  will be. And so if you are listening to a
• 1:08:35
  church that talks about this hyper grace that you don't have
• 1:08:41
  to worry about sinning and you're, you're good, you're in
• 1:08:46
  God's Kingdom. Read the Bible and and make sure
• 1:08:50
  that you believe that, that you truly believe.
• 1:08:53
  Not that you just want to hear that because we all would want
• 1:08:56
  that to be the case, but read the Bible to find out.
• 1:08:59
  Is that true? I did that because I was
• 1:09:02
  curious. And what I found was that's not
• 1:09:05
  true. We can turn away from God.
• 1:09:08
  God doesn't want that and he always accepts us back.
• 1:09:12
  But if we die before we turn back to him, that's going to be
• 1:09:16
  up to God. God may have mercy on our
• 1:09:19
  deathbed, but do we want to test God with that?
• 1:09:22
  I think our eternal placement is more important than waiting
• 1:09:28
  until the last minute to say, well, I hope God just accepts me
• 1:09:31
  or he just has mercy on me. That's kind of a not a not a
• 1:09:36
  very secure way to live. Anyway, more verses about this.
• 1:09:42
  See the enemy is puffed up, his desires are not upright, but the
• 1:09:46
  righteous person will live by his faithfulness.
• 1:09:49
  So see it seems like. Faith and righteousness kind of
• 1:09:51
  tie together, and Malachi says, And you will again see the
• 1:09:58
  distinction between the righteous and the wicked,
• 1:10:02
  between those who serve. God and those who do not.
• 1:10:06
  If we are sinning, are we serving God?
• 1:10:08
  We have to think about that. So this is talking about
• 1:10:11
  righteous and wicked. Now we get into the New
• 1:10:13
  Testament, but go and learn what this means.
• 1:10:17
  I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the
• 1:10:24
  righteous but sinners. So this is Jesus, you know, He
• 1:10:28
  desires mercy, not sacrifice. He doesn't want like sacrifice
• 1:10:33
  over sacrifice to cover up sins. He, he's giving mercy and he
• 1:10:40
  came to call the righteous. So if somebody's been called by
• 1:10:42
  God or he's not calling the righteous, he's calling the
• 1:10:45
  sinners. If somebody's been called by
• 1:10:47
  God, that means they're a Sinner.
• 1:10:50
  We're all sinners. So, but he wants us to be
• 1:10:53
  righteous. He's not, you know, the
• 1:10:54
  righteous. He doesn't have to tell them
• 1:10:56
  what to do. They're already doing it.
• 1:10:58
  But that's the sinners. If somebody's been called or
• 1:11:00
  feels like they're being called, it's because they're a Sinner.
• 1:11:03
  That was me, and I did feel like God was calling me at a point,
• 1:11:08
  and so obviously I was a Sinner because that's what Jesus came
• 1:11:10
  to do, to call the sinners. Whoever welcomes a prophet or as
• 1:11:16
  a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever
• 1:11:18
  welcomes A righteous person as a righteous person will receive a
• 1:11:21
  righteous person's reward. Then the righteous will shine
• 1:11:25
  like sun in the Kingdom of their Father.
• 1:11:28
  Whoever has ears, let them hear. This is how it will be at the
• 1:11:32
  end of the age. The angels will come and
• 1:11:35
  separate the wicked from the righteous.
• 1:11:39
  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as
• 1:11:42
  righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and
• 1:11:47
  wickedness. We have to make sure we're not a
• 1:11:49
  hypocrite. You know, we all love for people
• 1:11:52
  to think of us one way, but who are we truly?
• 1:11:56
  What is inside? What is our motivation?
• 1:11:58
  Because God looks at our motivation.
• 1:12:00
  And are we a hypocrite? Do we live out what the Bible
• 1:12:04
  says or do we do what we want and are we serving God when we
• 1:12:11
  do that? Then in Matthew 25, then they
• 1:12:16
  will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to
• 1:12:21
  eternal life. So again, don't let people say
• 1:12:24
  that what you do doesn't matter because how is it The righteous
• 1:12:28
  go to eternal life but the others go to eternal punishment.
• 1:12:33
  Matthew 25 verse 46. That's what that was.
• 1:12:37
  On hearing this, Jesus said to them, it is not the healthy who
• 1:12:40
  need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the
• 1:12:43
  righteous but sinners. Both of them were righteous in
• 1:12:49
  the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees
• 1:12:54
  blamelessly. So this is talking about John
• 1:12:57
  the Baptist parents, Elizabeth and Zachariah.
• 1:13:00
  Both of them were righteous in the sight of God's eyes and in
• 1:13:04
  the sight of God. And it says observing all the
• 1:13:08
  Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly.
• 1:13:11
  So they were following, they were obedient.
• 1:13:13
  That's righteous. And this is in the New
• 1:13:15
  Testament. Now there was a man in Jerusalem
• 1:13:19
  called Simeon who was righteous and devout.
• 1:13:22
  He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the
• 1:13:26
  Holy Spirit was on him. This is the man at the temple
• 1:13:31
  who was there when Jesus came to be for the dedication.
• 1:13:36
  I think it was to present him. And he says the Holy Spirit was
• 1:13:41
  on him. Let's see.
• 1:13:46
  And then it says I have not come to call the righteous, but
• 1:13:49
  sinners to repentance. OK, that's people don't like
• 1:13:53
  that word either. But repentance, that's what if
• 1:13:57
  you're being called and you're a Sinner, Jesus is calling you to
• 1:14:01
  repent. And we're all sinners at some
• 1:14:05
  point. So actually what we'll never be
• 1:14:09
  well, we not never, but we will not be perfect on this earth,
• 1:14:13
  but we will be better and better through the sanctification that
• 1:14:18
  is done by the Holy Spirit. When we let the holy, when we do
• 1:14:23
  the will of God, that's what happens.
• 1:14:28
  OK, And then another verse that says and you will be blessed,
• 1:14:32
  although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the
• 1:14:36
  resurrection of the righteous. Think about that, the
• 1:14:40
  resurrection of the righteous. There's two different
• 1:14:45
  resurrections if you study the Bible, the resurrection when
• 1:14:49
  Jesus returns on the clouds, and that's the righteous.
• 1:14:53
  But the dead don't resurrect until after 1000 years.
• 1:14:57
  And then when they resurrect, there's the the final judgement
• 1:15:00
  that happens. So listen to this one again.
• 1:15:04
  This is Luke chapter 14, verse 14.
• 1:15:06
  And you will be blessed, although they cannot repay you,
• 1:15:10
  you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
• 1:15:17
  In Luke 15 it says, I tell you that in the same way there will
• 1:15:20
  be more rejoicing in heaven over 1 Sinner who repents than over
• 1:15:25
  the 99 righteous person who do not need to repent.
• 1:15:30
  So this is how much God loves us and how much in heaven there's
• 1:15:33
  rejoicing over 1 Sinner who repents, 1 Sinner who turns to
• 1:15:39
  God. That's, there's, there's a win
• 1:15:42
  there and then. And it's even more rejoicing
• 1:15:45
  than the 99 righteous persons who don't need to do anything.
• 1:15:49
  They're, they're good. But just like that, that one win
• 1:15:53
  that they have, that, you know, a Sinner who repents, That's
• 1:15:57
  what there's, that's what causes rejoicing in heaven.
• 1:16:02
  For in the gospel the righteousness of God is
• 1:16:05
  revealed, A righteousness that is by faith from first to last,
• 1:16:10
  just as it was, is written. The righteous will live by
• 1:16:15
  faith. Although they know God's
• 1:16:18
  righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,
• 1:16:22
  they not only continue to do these various things, but also
• 1:16:25
  approve of those who practice them.
• 1:16:28
  That's a good verse to read. That's Romans chapter one, verse
• 1:16:33
  32. Read Romans one and read that in
• 1:16:38
  context. Although they know God's
• 1:16:42
  righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,
• 1:16:46
  they not only continue to do these very things, but also
• 1:16:49
  approve of those who practice them.
• 1:16:51
  That's why you have to make sure that you're in a church who just
• 1:16:54
  isn't like this one. Welcoming church that you know.
• 1:16:57
  I mean, welcoming is one thing, but applauding people in their
• 1:17:01
  sin or saying you're good, you've got grace and still
• 1:17:05
  living a sinful life. I, I wouldn't believe it.
• 1:17:09
  I would get far from that church and make sure there's somebody
• 1:17:13
  who's teaching the Bible as it truly is because we don't stay
• 1:17:18
  in sin the way the the Bible. I mean, I'm challenging anybody
• 1:17:23
  to find anything not, not one thing Find throughout the whole
• 1:17:28
  entire Bible where it says that you can keep on sinning and and
• 1:17:34
  make it into the Kingdom of heaven.
• 1:17:37
  You won't find it. I tried to find it, I couldn't
• 1:17:39
  find it. So I'm just saying look for it
• 1:17:43
  yourself. But because of your
• 1:17:45
  stubbornness, stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are
• 1:17:49
  storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's
• 1:17:52
  wrath when his righteous judgement will be revealed.
• 1:17:57
  For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's
• 1:18:01
  sight, but is those who obey the law who will be declared
• 1:18:05
  righteous. And that's in Romans chapter 2,
• 1:18:09
  verse 5, and 13, Romans chapter 3.
• 1:18:15
  So Paul writes these things. The one who talks about grace
• 1:18:18
  talks about these things. As it is written, there is no
• 1:18:21
  one righteous, not even one. Therefore, no one will be
• 1:18:24
  declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law.
• 1:18:28
  Rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
• 1:18:33
  So the law has a purpose, that it shows us what our sin is.
• 1:18:40
  Verse Romans 5. Verse 18.
• 1:18:42
  Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in
• 1:18:47
  condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted
• 1:18:52
  in justification and life for all people.
• 1:18:54
  For just as through the disobedience of one man the many
• 1:18:59
  were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one
• 1:19:02
  man the many will be will be made righteous.
• 1:19:06
  So Jesus is death on the cross is what defeated death and
• 1:19:12
  allows us to enter the Kingdom of God, but we need the Holy
• 1:19:16
  Spirit. Jesus himself said that he
• 1:19:18
  didn't say, hey, I, I died on the cross for all of you.
• 1:19:22
  So you don't have to do anything else.
• 1:19:24
  No, Jesus said you must be born again.
• 1:19:26
  You must receive the Holy Spirit, Romans chapter 8 verse
• 1:19:32
  4, in order that the righteous requirement of the law be met
• 1:19:36
  fully in US who do not live according to the flesh, but
• 1:19:40
  according to the Spirit. So Paul tells us about the
• 1:19:44
  righteous requirement of the law, how it's met, and it says
• 1:19:49
  those of us who do not live according to the flesh, but
• 1:19:53
  according to the Spirit. You can read Galatians chapter 5
• 1:19:56
  to figure out the flesh versus the Spirit and examples of that.
• 1:20:01
  But there is a change again. It's again living by the Spirit,
• 1:20:06
  surrendering to the Spirit of God, letting the Spirit of God.
• 1:20:10
  Change your life. Change our life because that's
• 1:20:13
  the only way that we begin to change.
• 1:20:16
  People can try to go to counseling and do all these
• 1:20:18
  things, but if you haven't surrendered to God, turn to Him
• 1:20:23
  and repent and say, yeah, I don't want sin in my life.
• 1:20:26
  I want to turn to you and then let God interact with you on a
• 1:20:31
  daily basis. That's the only way that change
• 1:20:33
  can happen. Galatians 3 verse 11.
• 1:20:37
  Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God
• 1:20:41
  because the righteous will live by faith.
• 1:20:45
  So again, it is tied to faith. Righteousness and faith are
• 1:20:49
  intertwined. And people could use this to
• 1:20:51
  say, you know, and, and again, we just have to say like no one
• 1:20:55
  can justify themselves by the law because nobody can keep the
• 1:20:58
  law. That's why Jesus died on the
• 1:21:00
  cross. But those who believe in Jesus
• 1:21:04
  on the death and resurrection at the cross, then can receive the
• 1:21:10
  Holy Spirit from Jesus. And that's how we become
• 1:21:14
  righteous. We also know this is in First
• 1:21:18
  Timothy one verse 9. We also know that the law is
• 1:21:22
  made not for the righteous, but for the law Breakers and the
• 1:21:26
  rebels, the ungodly and the sinful, the unholy and
• 1:21:30
  irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for
• 1:21:34
  murderers. And then it goes on about the
• 1:21:37
  law is there not for the righteous but for the law
• 1:21:40
  Breakers. It's to make people aware of
• 1:21:42
  what is right and what is wrong. In Second Timothy 2 verse.
• 1:21:48
  Second Timothy 2, chapter 4, verse 8, Now there is in store
• 1:21:55
  for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
• 1:21:58
  the righteous judge will award me on that day, and not only to
• 1:22:03
  me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.
• 1:22:07
  So there's some sort of crown that of righteousness, whatever
• 1:22:10
  that is. He saved us not because of the
• 1:22:15
  righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
• 1:22:19
  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the
• 1:22:24
  Holy Spirit. Very important verse, Timothy,
• 1:22:28
  chapter 3, verse five, He saved us.
• 1:22:30
  Jesus saved us not because of the righteous things we had
• 1:22:34
  done, but because of his mercy. Because of God's mercy, Jesus
• 1:22:40
  saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy
• 1:22:47
  Spirit. A renewal by the Holy Spirit.
• 1:22:49
  Remember John had the baptism of repentance, but Jesus had would
• 1:22:54
  baptize with the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit.
• 1:22:59
  Hebrews 10301038 And but my righteousness, my righteous one
• 1:23:06
  will live by faith, and I make I take no pleasure in the one who
• 1:23:11
  shrinks back. So backsliders, you're not
• 1:23:16
  getting a free pass says, But my righteous one will live by
• 1:23:20
  faith, and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.
• 1:23:27
  Hebrews 12/23 to the Church of the first born whose names are
• 1:23:31
  written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge
• 1:23:34
  of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.
• 1:23:39
  So the Holy Spirit makes the righteous perfect.
• 1:23:42
  At some point when Jesus returns, that'll happen.
• 1:23:46
  James 2 verse 24 through 25. You see that a person is
• 1:23:50
  considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
• 1:23:56
  In the same way, was not even Rahab, the prostitute considered
• 1:24:00
  righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies
• 1:24:05
  and sent them off in a different direction?
• 1:24:07
  So Rahab was a prostitute, but she was, she helped the
• 1:24:13
  Israelites and it was considered as righteous because they were
• 1:24:18
  God's people. And our righteousness is, you
• 1:24:25
  know, it is by faith. But as James says, it's about
• 1:24:28
  faith and action. Like what we do.
• 1:24:31
  Again, the only way that we are able to make it into the Kingdom
• 1:24:36
  of God is by what Jesus did on the cross.
• 1:24:38
  It's not our works that get us there.
• 1:24:40
  The the way we have show our faith and our love to God is by
• 1:24:46
  our works. So works are important, they do
• 1:24:52
  matter, they do have consequences.
• 1:24:56
  In James 516 it says therefore confess your sins to each other
• 1:25:01
  and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
• 1:25:05
  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
• 1:25:10
  So even in James, this is another reason why if you have
• 1:25:13
  prayers that you want answered that are according to God's
• 1:25:16
  will, it says the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and
• 1:25:20
  effective. So why not be righteous and then
• 1:25:24
  help others? First Peter 3 For the eyes of
• 1:25:29
  the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to
• 1:25:32
  their prayer. But the face of God, the face of
• 1:25:35
  the Lord, is against those who do evil.
• 1:25:39
  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous, for the
• 1:25:45
  unrighteous to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body,
• 1:25:50
  but made alive in spirit. And then in first Peter 4 it
• 1:25:55
  says, and if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will
• 1:25:58
  become of the ungodly and the Sinner?
• 1:26:01
  Because he was saying how hard it is for the righteous in first
• 1:26:06
  John. Two, my dear children, I write
• 1:26:08
  this to you so that you will not sin.
• 1:26:10
  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
• 1:26:14
  Jesus Christ, the righteous one. If you know that he is
• 1:26:18
  righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right
• 1:26:22
  has been born of him, like born of the Spirit, born through
• 1:26:27
  Jesus Christ residing dear children, do not let anyone lead
• 1:26:32
  you astray. The one who does what is right
• 1:26:36
  is righteous just as he is righteous.
• 1:26:39
  And then in the Book of Revelation chapter 19, verse 8,
• 1:26:42
  it says fine linen, bright and clean was given her to wear.
• 1:26:47
  Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy
• 1:26:51
  people. Again, righteous acts.
• 1:26:53
  I mean, don't don't ever let like people say what you do
• 1:26:57
  doesn't matter. There's a few more verses that I
• 1:27:02
  also wanted to talk about. Oh gosh, there's so much that
• 1:27:05
  I've kind of looked for. Let's see.
• 1:27:15
  I don't know how much I'm going to cover because there is there
• 1:27:18
  is so much here, but you can probably go through.
• 1:27:24
  I do want to talk about created because again, what pleasure
• 1:27:28
  would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
• 1:27:30
  God created us for a purpose. So I did search created and
• 1:27:35
  there's not a ton of things. There's a couple pages.
• 1:27:37
  I'll just read through these quickly.
• 1:27:39
  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God.
• 1:27:42
  He created them male and female. He created them.
• 1:27:45
  So again, this is His own image, and don't you think He wants His
• 1:27:49
  image to reflect Him and not reflect ungodliness?
• 1:27:55
  And then it says in Psalm 104, when you send your Spirit, they
• 1:27:59
  are created and you renew the face of the ground.
• 1:28:03
  So the Spirit is what gives us life.
• 1:28:07
  In Isaiah 43 verse 7, it says everyone who is called by my
• 1:28:11
  name, whom I created for my glory.
• 1:28:16
  Kabode is the the Hebrew word whom I formed and made so for my
• 1:28:23
  glory. It the way it's used in
• 1:28:25
  Scripture, glory, honor, glorious abundance, abundance,
• 1:28:30
  riches, honor, splendor, glory, dignity, reputation, reverence,
• 1:28:36
  glory, those are all the different ways.
• 1:28:38
  So that's what God did, what He intended for us when He created
• 1:28:44
  us, it was for His glory. We were created for His glory to
• 1:28:49
  be a reflection of Him. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10
• 1:28:55
  it says for we are God's handiwork created in Christ.
• 1:28:59
  Jesus. So this is.
• 1:29:01
  When we get the Holy Spirit right, when we have the dwelling
• 1:29:04
  within us created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God
• 1:29:08
  prepared in advance for us to do so we all have a purpose.
• 1:29:11
  There are good works that we do, but that is a result of our
• 1:29:15
  salvation. It's not how we are saved.
• 1:29:19
  Ephesians 424 and to put on the new self created to be like God
• 1:29:26
  in true righteousness and holiness.
• 1:29:29
  That's Ephesians 4 verse 24, Colossians one, verse 16.
• 1:29:34
  For in Him all things were created things in heaven and on
• 1:29:37
  earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or powers or
• 1:29:41
  rulers or authorities, all things have been created through
• 1:29:46
  Him and for Him. And then this one verse that is
• 1:29:53
  really talking about what's going to happen in the end, the
• 1:29:55
  words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken,
• 1:29:59
  that is created things so that what cannot be shaken may
• 1:30:04
  remain. So we probably need to read this
• 1:30:07
  in context. This was written to to the
• 1:30:11
  Church of the first born whose names are written in heaven.
• 1:30:15
  So these are this is to believers you have come to God
• 1:30:19
  the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
• 1:30:25
  to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled
• 1:30:29
  blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
• 1:30:34
  See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks.
• 1:30:40
  If they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on
• 1:30:45
  earth, how much less will we if we turn away from Him who warns
• 1:30:51
  us from heaven? At that time His voice shook the
• 1:30:56
  earth. But now He has promised once
• 1:31:00
  more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.
• 1:31:07
  The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken,
• 1:31:12
  that is, created things, so that what cannot be shaken will
• 1:31:16
  remain. Therefore, since we are
• 1:31:19
  receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful
• 1:31:23
  and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our
• 1:31:29
  God is a consuming fire. And I think there's one last
• 1:31:35
  thing that I want to I know this is a really long podcast, but
• 1:31:38
  there's just so much in here. The meaning of discipleship,
• 1:31:44
  this tied into it. And I think it's important to
• 1:31:47
  read. This is from the book of
• 1:31:49
  Matthew, chapter 10, verse 25. And I'll just read through the
• 1:31:52
  end of the chapter. The meaning of discipleship.
• 1:31:55
  A disciple is not above his teacher, nor is a bond servant
• 1:32:00
  above his master. It is enough for the disciple to
• 1:32:03
  be like his teacher and the bondservant like his master.
• 1:32:09
  If they have called the head of the house feasible or Satan, how
• 1:32:16
  much more will they speak evil of the members of his household?
• 1:32:22
  This is the amplified version that I'm using, so it's kind of
• 1:32:26
  easier to understand the thought behind it.
• 1:32:30
  There's some words that are added for explanation.
• 1:32:33
  The next verse 26, it says so do not be afraid of them.
• 1:32:36
  For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed at the judgement
• 1:32:41
  or kept secret that will not be made known at the judgement.
• 1:32:46
  What I say to you in the dark or privately tell in the light
• 1:32:52
  publicly and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim
• 1:32:57
  from the rooftops to many people.
• 1:33:00
  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill
• 1:33:04
  the soul, but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul
• 1:33:10
  and body. In hell are not too little
• 1:33:14
  sparrows sold for a copper coin, and yet not one of them falls to
• 1:33:19
  the ground apart from your Father's will.
• 1:33:22
  So God's in control of everything.
• 1:33:24
  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered, for the
• 1:33:29
  Father is sovereign and has complete knowledge.
• 1:33:33
  So do not fear. You are more valuable than many
• 1:33:37
  sparrows. Therefore, the one who confesses
• 1:33:42
  and acknowledges me before men as Lord and Savior, affirming a
• 1:33:46
  state of oneness with me, that one I will also confess and
• 1:33:52
  acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.
• 1:33:55
  So this is what Jesus is saying. But the one who denies and
• 1:33:59
  rejects me before men, that one I will also deny and reject
• 1:34:05
  before my Father who is in heaven.
• 1:34:09
  Do not think I have come to bring peace on the earth.
• 1:34:12
  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword of division between
• 1:34:18
  belief and unbelief. For I have come to set a man
• 1:34:22
  against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and
• 1:34:24
  a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
• 1:34:28
  And a man's enemies will be the members of his own household
• 1:34:32
  when 1 believes and another does not.
• 1:34:35
  He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of
• 1:34:39
  me. And he who loves son or daughter
• 1:34:42
  more than me is not worthy of me.
• 1:34:45
  And he who does not take His cross expressing A willingness
• 1:34:49
  to endure whatever may come and follow me, believing in me,
• 1:34:54
  conforming to my example in living, and if need be suffering
• 1:35:00
  or perhaps dying because of faith in me is not worthy of me.
• 1:35:05
  So that cross could be a lot of different things.
• 1:35:08
  They could be, you know, just taking on whatever comes,
• 1:35:11
  believing in Jesus, conforming to Jesus example in living,
• 1:35:16
  maybe suffering, maybe dying because of faith in Jesus.
• 1:35:21
  Like if you are not willing to do that, he Jesus saying that
• 1:35:24
  you're not worthy of me. Whoever finds life in this world
• 1:35:30
  will eventually lose it through death, and whoever loses his
• 1:35:35
  life in this world for my sake, Jesus sake will find it.
• 1:35:41
  That is life with me for all eternity.
• 1:35:45
  Now here it talks about the reward of service.
• 1:35:48
  He who receives and welcomes you receives me, and he who receives
• 1:35:54
  me receives him who sent me. So a, a person who receives and
• 1:36:00
  welcomes A disciple receives Jesus, and he and the person who
• 1:36:08
  receives Jesus receives God the Father who sent Jesus.
• 1:36:15
  That's paraphrasing that, OK, He who receives and welcomes a
• 1:36:20
  prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward.
• 1:36:23
  And he who receives A righteous or honorable man because he is a
• 1:36:27
  righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.
• 1:36:30
  And whoever gives to one of these little ones, those who are
• 1:36:34
  humbled in rank are influenced even a cup of cold water to
• 1:36:37
  drink, because he is my disciple.
• 1:36:39
  Truly, I say to you, he will not lose his reward.
• 1:36:43
  So that is just talking about discipleship and just, you know,
• 1:36:48
  are we a follower of Jesus and how are we living that out?
• 1:36:52
  It's a question for all of us, especially during these times of
• 1:36:56
  this, you know, volatile world that we're living in, but
• 1:37:00
  something that is very serious for us to consider.
• 1:37:03
  So if you found this beneficial, please share it with other
• 1:37:06
  people. And if you're not subscribed,
• 1:37:08
  please do so. I tried to stay in the Bible, a
• 1:37:11
  chapter a day and, and do something that's meaningful.
• 1:37:14
  Hopefully this was meaningful for you.
• 1:37:16
  Thank you.