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Voddie Baucham - Walk in the Light · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting, and I always love it when
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Speaker 1: we have a service that sort of seems as choreographed
0:09
Speaker 1: as this one may seem, just because of all of
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Speaker 1: the themes that have come together. And it's interesting, especially
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Speaker 1: for those of us who are aware of what we
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Speaker 1: do as a church, sort of reading systematically through the Scriptures.
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Speaker 1: We're reading systematically through the Gospel of John, and we
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Speaker 1: just happen to be right there in John 3 today,
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Speaker 1: as we're looking at 1 John 1, 5 through 10,
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Speaker 1: and this light and darkness theme. It's amazing how God
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Speaker 1: uses all of those aspects, even when we just commit
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Speaker 1: to doing things in a systematic way. And even through
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Speaker 1: our commitment to reading through Exodus and systematically reading through Exodus.
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Speaker 1: And here we see this picture of the law and
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Speaker 1: there the Sabbath law and this punishment of death for
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Speaker 1: those who violate the Sabbath law. It brings the reality
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Speaker 1: of the law to bear. It crushes any semblance of legalism.
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Speaker 1: And that's why, you know, that's why it's important. Because
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Speaker 1: so many times you can go to church for 10,
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Speaker 1: 15 years and never read through Exodus. But it's important
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Speaker 1: for us to see the law. To see how black
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Speaker 1: and white the law is. To see how serious God
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Speaker 1: is about those who violate the law. Because it's only
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Speaker 1: there that we understand appropriately and more fully the grace
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Speaker 1: of God that saves. And we understand how foolish it
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Speaker 1: is for us to try to attach any legalistic tendencies
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Speaker 1: to the grace of God. It makes no sense whatsoever
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Speaker 1: for us to try to keep the law in a
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Speaker 1: way that would appease God when we understand the significance
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Speaker 1: of the law and the punishment required for those who
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Speaker 1: don't keep it. The other thing that is amazing as
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Speaker 1: we look at the law is, again, as we've talked
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Speaker 1: about it before, the active obedience of Christ. We talked
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Speaker 1: about this before, we'll talk about it again because it's
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Speaker 1: significant for the day. The active and passive obedience of
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Speaker 1: Christ in our redemption. We're so familiar with the passive
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Speaker 1: obedience of Christ. We're so familiar with the fact that
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Speaker 1: Christ died for our sins. He allowed himself to be
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Speaker 1: killed for our sins. But that active obedience of Christ,
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Speaker 1: when he died, as a man, the God-man, where he
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Speaker 1: kept the whole law. And because of that, this principle
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Speaker 1: of imputed righteousness is made possible. So we look at
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Speaker 1: Exodus chapter 31. And it says, you should be put
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Speaker 1: to death because of your violations just of the Sabbath.
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Speaker 1: And in Christ, because of his active obedience, we can say, yes,
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Speaker 1: that's true. But in Christ, his righteousness is imputed to
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Speaker 1: me and God looks at me as one who has
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Speaker 1: kept that perfectly. Amen? That's just good news, saints. It's
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Speaker 1: also horrible news. For anyone expecting to stand before God
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Speaker 1: and be justified for having kept the law. It's horrible news.
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Speaker 1: Because one of the designs of the law, as we
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Speaker 1: read in Galatians, is to remind you time and time
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Speaker 1: again that you can't do what you're required to do.
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Speaker 1: Somebody's got to do it for you. And as we
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Speaker 1: run up against the law, that's what we run against.
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Speaker 1: But here's the other question. Do we then go toward antinomianism, lawlessness,
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Speaker 1: as a result of our understanding of this imputed righteousness
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Speaker 1: of Christ? Do we sin, as Paul would say, so
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Speaker 1: that grace may abound all the more? His response, may
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Speaker 1: it never be. Where do those two things come together?
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Speaker 1: I'm so glad you asked. Look with me if you
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Speaker 1: will In 1 John chapter 1, we finally reached this
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Speaker 1: second paragraph here, verses 5 through 10. And let's look
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Speaker 1: here at 1 John chapter 1, verses 5 through 10.
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Speaker 1: Let's look at the marks of the kingdom of light.
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Speaker 1: Verse 5, this is the message we have heard from
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Speaker 1: him and proclaim to you. And again, you follow back,
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Speaker 1: and this is what we just read earlier. about hearing
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Speaker 1: this message and proclaiming this message. As a matter of fact,
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Speaker 1: let's just go back. Verse 1, that which was from
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Speaker 1: the beginning, which we have heard. which we have seen
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Speaker 1: with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have
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Speaker 1: touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The
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Speaker 1: life was made manifest and we have seen it and
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Speaker 1: testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life,
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Speaker 1: which was with the father and was made manifest to us.
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Speaker 1: That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim to
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Speaker 1: you also so that you too may have fellowship with us.
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Speaker 1: And indeed our fellowship is with the father and with
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Speaker 1: the son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things
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Speaker 1: so that our joy may be complete. Now he picks
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Speaker 1: up the same thing. This is the message we have
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Speaker 1: heard from him and proclaim to you that God is
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Speaker 1: light and in him there is no darkness at all.
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Speaker 1: If we say we have fellowship with him, while we
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Speaker 1: walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
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Speaker 1: But if we walk in the light, as he is
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Speaker 1: in the light, we have fellowship with one another and
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Speaker 1: the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.
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Speaker 1: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
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Speaker 1: and the truth is not in us. If we confess
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Speaker 1: our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
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Speaker 1: our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we
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Speaker 1: say we have not sinned, we make him a liar.
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Speaker 1: And his word is not in us. These marks of
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of light. There are a couple of things
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Speaker 1: that are important to keep in mind as we look
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Speaker 1: at 1 John 1, 5 through 10. There are a
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Speaker 1: couple of things, a couple of rails, if you will.
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Speaker 1: Some rails that will keep us from going off the
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Speaker 1: track as we look at 1 John 1. And really
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Speaker 1: as we look at all of this epistle of 1 John.
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Speaker 1: The first thing that we need to understand is that
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Speaker 1: John is speaking categorically here. that he's speaking categorically here.
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Speaker 1: He's talking about categories of individuals. It's very important to
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Speaker 1: remember that he's talking about categories of individuals. Because if
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Speaker 1: you don't remember that, then as we go through 1 John,
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Speaker 1: here's what'll happen. He'll say, if you're like this, you're
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Speaker 1: in the kingdom. If you're like that, you're not. Well,
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Speaker 1: if you catch any one of us on a bad day,
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Speaker 1: guess what? Ooh, I'm out. I'm out. If you catch
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Speaker 1: any one of us on a bad day. Matter of fact,
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Speaker 1: truth be told, you catch any one of us on
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Speaker 1: a good day. Amen, somebody. And we're going, oh, I'm out.
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Speaker 1: He's speaking categorically. He's talking about categories of individuals. Remember
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Speaker 1: what he's doing is in part this polemic, if you will,
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Speaker 1: and apologetic for those within and without who've been influenced
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Speaker 1: by many different doctrinal heresies, perhaps the most prominent of
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Speaker 1: which is Gnosticism. So what he's doing here is he's
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Speaker 1: drawing a line in the sand and he's basically saying
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Speaker 1: these individuals are teaching false doctrine and here's why. Here's
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Speaker 1: their category. Here's our category. So he's speaking categorically, okay?
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Speaker 1: That's very important to keep in mind, that he's speaking categorically.
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Speaker 1: And because of that, it's important to keep in mind
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Speaker 1: that he's talking about our character, our character. Remember that,
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Speaker 1: he's talking about our character. That's the issue here. One
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Speaker 1: of the verbs that's used here, you know, in John,
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Speaker 1: this Greek verb, peripateo, to walk around. The way that
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Speaker 1: we walk is what he's talking about. So he's talking
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Speaker 1: about our character. He's talking about who we are as individuals.
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Speaker 1: Not what can sometimes happen in our lives, but who
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Speaker 1: we are as individuals. And here's the way that I
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Speaker 1: like to sort of explain that for people. I mean,
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Speaker 1: imagine if you will, if we're talking about a child
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Speaker 1: and an obedient child versus a disobedient child. All children disobey. Okay?
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Speaker 1: There should have been a whole bunch of little bitty
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Speaker 1: voices in the room going, amen, Pastor Bodie. All children disobey.
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Speaker 1: But the difference between what we would call an obedient
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Speaker 1: child and what we would call a disobedient child, again,
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Speaker 1: we're— We're characterizing that child. Are they characterized generally by
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Speaker 1: obedience or are they characterized by disobedience? So here's the difference.
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Speaker 1: When a child that's characterized by obedience disobeys, because all
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Speaker 1: children disobey, it's different than when a child who's characterized
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Speaker 1: by disobedience disobeys. For example, if there's a child who's
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Speaker 1: characterized by obedience and that child disobeys, Let's just say,
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Speaker 1: you know, one of my children, you look at one
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Speaker 1: of my children and you say this particular child is
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Speaker 1: characterized by obedience. That child, that child of Pastor Votie
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Speaker 1: is characterized by obedience. And all of a sudden, one
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Speaker 1: day you see that child fangs out, veins in the neck,
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Speaker 1: pointing the finger at me, just going off. well if
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Speaker 1: that child's characterized by obedience normally if they're characterized by
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Speaker 1: disobedience your response would be there they go again but
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Speaker 1: if they're characterized by obedience your response will probably be
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Speaker 1: lord whatever demon that is that just possessed that child
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Speaker 1: Would you deliver them from it quickly? Because it would
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Speaker 1: be terrible to see them die today. It's important to
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Speaker 1: understand that that's what we're talking about here. Talking about
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Speaker 1: the way we walk. The way we walk. Who we
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Speaker 1: are as individuals. And again, this will make more sense
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Speaker 1: as we go along and you'll see why it's important
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Speaker 1: that we take time dealing with this. But as we
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Speaker 1: look at this, with those rails to kind of keep
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Speaker 1: us on the track. Look here at verse five. This
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Speaker 1: is the message we have heard from him and proclaim
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Speaker 1: to you that God is light and in him is
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Speaker 1: no darkness at all. So when we talk about this
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Speaker 1: kingdom of light, the first thing that we recognize in
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Speaker 1: this kingdom of light is that the king is light.
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Speaker 1: In the kingdom of light, there is light. Here's the
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Speaker 1: message that we proclaim to you, that God is light
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Speaker 1: and in him there is no darkness at all. First
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Speaker 1: of all, God is. There's an apologetic here for God himself,
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Speaker 1: for the existence of God and for the character of God.
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Speaker 1: God is. First of all, there is a God. Amen. Amen.
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Speaker 1: There is a God. So anyone who would come forth
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Speaker 1: with an idea of righteousness apart from God is already
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Speaker 1: running up against the argument here in 1 John chapter
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Speaker 1: 1 verse 5, God is. So that's where we start.
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Speaker 1: We start with the existence of God. When we start
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Speaker 1: talking about character and what righteousness looks like, we start
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Speaker 1: with God who is the very definition of character, the
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Speaker 1: very definition of of righteousness. God is. So we don't
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Speaker 1: measure ourselves against the standard of other people. We measure
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Speaker 1: ourselves against the standard of the word. Amen? We measure
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Speaker 1: ourselves against the standard of God. Don't we tell our
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Speaker 1: children this all the time? Let Pastor Votie do something
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Speaker 1: that your mom and daddy do all the time, kids.
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Speaker 1: Your mom and daddy tell you all the time, and
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Speaker 1: you think it's just them. But let me just tell
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Speaker 1: you so that you'll know it's not just them. They
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Speaker 1: didn't just make it up, and here it is. Because
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Speaker 1: you think you're a good kid. And oftentimes, sometimes those
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Speaker 1: of you who get a little bit older, you have
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Speaker 1: a tendency to say, yeah, but I'm not like so-and-so.
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Speaker 1: You're just mean. Because I'm not like them. Look at
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Speaker 1: what they do. Newsflash. We are neither governed nor judged
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Speaker 1: by the standard of those people. If you can't say amen,
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Speaker 1: you ought to say ouch. We're governed by the standard
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Speaker 1: of the word of God. That's where we measure ourselves.
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Speaker 1: We're governed by the standard of the word of God.
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Speaker 1: Not is my attitude and are my actions better than
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Speaker 1: most people out there. But the question is, do they
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Speaker 1: measure up to the standard that we find in the
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Speaker 1: word of God? God is. And God is light. He's light.
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Speaker 1: This idea of purity. Purity. This idea of holiness. That's
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Speaker 1: who our God is. By the way, we see this
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Speaker 1: through our scripture. You know, I've written down several verses
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Speaker 1: here that I just wanted to read. Listen to this
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Speaker 1: in Psalm 36, 9. For with you is the fountain
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Speaker 1: of life. In your light do we see light. Look
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Speaker 1: at Psalm 84, 11. For the Lord God is a
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Speaker 1: sun and shield. Daniel 2, 22. He reveals deep and
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Speaker 1: hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and
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Speaker 1: the light dwells with him. Listen to John 1, 4.
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Speaker 1: In him was life and that life was the light
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Speaker 1: of men. The light shines in the darkness and the
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Speaker 1: darkness has not overcome it. Look at John 1, 6.
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Speaker 1: There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
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Speaker 1: He came as a witness to bear witness about the
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Speaker 1: light that all might believe through him. He was not
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Speaker 1: the light, but came to bear witness about what? The light.
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Speaker 1: And then down in verse 9. The true light which
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Speaker 1: enlightens everyone. It was coming into the world. John chapter
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Speaker 1: 8 and verse 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying,
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Speaker 1: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me
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Speaker 1: will not walk in darkness, but will have the light
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Speaker 1: of life. John 9 5. As long as I am
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Speaker 1: in the world, I am the light of the world.
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Speaker 1: First Timothy 6 15. He who is the blessed and
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Speaker 1: only sovereign, the King of kings, the Lord of lords,
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Speaker 1: who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom
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Speaker 1: no one has ever seen or can see. To him
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Speaker 1: be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. Every good gift and
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Speaker 1: every perfect gift, James 1.17 says, is from above, coming
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Speaker 1: down from the Father of lights, with whom there is
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Speaker 1: no variation. or shadow of change. God is light. God
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Speaker 1: is holy. God is righteous. God is the standard by
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Speaker 1: which we judge. Now, this is very important when you
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Speaker 1: look at Gnosticism, especially, for example, when you look at
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Speaker 1: modern-day Gnosticism. And for those of you who haven't been
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Speaker 1: with us, we talked about the Gnostics, and that word
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Speaker 1: comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis. These individuals
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Speaker 1: believed that there was the spiritual immaterial world and then
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Speaker 1: there was the physical world. And that spiritual immaterial world,
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Speaker 1: that's the world of the divine. And that as individuals,
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Speaker 1: we have to get in touch with that spiritual immaterial world.
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Speaker 1: They believed this so much that they believed that Jesus
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Speaker 1: was not actually a physical being. He did not have
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Speaker 1: a corporeal body. He was a spirit who sort of
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Speaker 1: walked around among men and he looked like he had
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Speaker 1: a physical being. But because the physical world is evil
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Speaker 1: and the spiritual world is good, there's no way that
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Speaker 1: God could possibly take it on this physical body. And
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Speaker 1: just a brief synopsis of their teachings. Now you think, okay,
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Speaker 1: we don't have modern day Gnosticism. Of course we have
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Speaker 1: modern day Gnosticism. Of course we have these ideas. In fact,
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Speaker 1: they take it even a step further. Because the Gnostics
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Speaker 1: had this idea of the spark of the divine that
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Speaker 1: was within us as individuals. And as a result of
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Speaker 1: that spark of the divine, we were in part deity.
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Speaker 1: I want to read you a couple of excerpts from
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Speaker 1: a couple of books. This is Eckhart Tolle. Eckhart Tolle.
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Speaker 1: Eckhart Tolle is a New York Times number one bestselling author.
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Speaker 1: Let me read to you a review from his number
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Speaker 1: one book. This is a review from Don Whitney. It says,
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Speaker 1: I first heard of Eckhart Tolle during a medical examination.
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Speaker 1: After learning that I was a professor of biblical spirituality,
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Speaker 1: the doctor asked, have you read Eckhart Tolle's The Power
17:32
Speaker 1: of Now? This is one of Oprah's big book club books.
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Speaker 1: So everybody, everybody, not everybody, everybody is reading Tolle, okay?
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Speaker 1: That's beyond everybody, all right? Everybody's reading it. I said, no,
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Speaker 1: I had not. A brilliant, multi-talented man with a Catholic background,
17:48
Speaker 1: the physician began to commend the book to me as
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Speaker 1: insightful and profound. Tolle's work is insightful and profound. Oprah
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Speaker 1: on her television program and on her radio program. She's
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Speaker 1: got millions upon millions upon multiplied millions of people reading
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Speaker 1: the works of Eckhart Tolle. He became familiar with the book.
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Speaker 1: And he leafed through it and eventually had to read
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Speaker 1: it and write a review. Here's a couple of things
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Speaker 1: that you find in Tolle's earlier book. The divine life essence.
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Speaker 1: Recognize it as one with your own essence. Listen to this.
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Speaker 1: There is only one absolute truth and all other truths
18:31
Speaker 1: emanate from it. Yes, you are the truth. If you
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Speaker 1: look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time.
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Speaker 1: The very being that you are is truth. Jesus tried
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Speaker 1: to convey that when he said, I am the way,
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Speaker 1: the truth, and the life. Jesus speaks of the innermost
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Speaker 1: I am, the essence identity of every man and woman,
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Speaker 1: every life form, in fact. He speaks of the life
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Speaker 1: that you are. Jesus was making a statement that we
19:06
Speaker 1: all need to learn how to make. I could read
19:11
Speaker 1: you more from Tully's other bestseller, but I won't. Here's
19:16
Speaker 1: the other bestseller. By the way, this is the secret
19:18
Speaker 1: as far as hardback books on the New York Times
19:20
Speaker 1: bestseller list. This is number two. This is number two
19:23
Speaker 1: in the hardback books. It's been on the New York
19:26
Speaker 1: Times bestseller list for 76 weeks. 76 weeks and it's
19:32
Speaker 1: still number two. For a while, this book was number one.
19:38
Speaker 1: Number two was the final installment of the Harry Potter series.
19:41
Speaker 1: And number three was the audio version of this book.
19:47
Speaker 1: It's huge. And again. everybody's reading it. So what are
19:53
Speaker 1: they reading, pray tell? Well, it's the secret. And it's
19:56
Speaker 1: ultimately the secret to life. Listen to Bob Proctor, the philosopher, author,
20:01
Speaker 1: personal coach. The secret gives you anything you want. Happiness, health, wealth.
20:07
Speaker 1: Listen to this one, Dr. Joe Vitale. metaphysician, marketing specialist,
20:12
Speaker 1: and author. You can have, do, or be anything you want.
20:17
Speaker 1: What kind of house do you want to live in?
20:20
Speaker 1: Do you want to be a millionaire? What kind of
20:22
Speaker 1: business do you want to have? Do you want more success?
20:25
Speaker 1: What do you really want? Here's the premise of this book.
20:29
Speaker 1: Everything out there in the world operates on frequencies and vibrations.
20:33
Speaker 1: When you think about those things, you tune yourself like
20:36
Speaker 1: a radio to their frequencies. So if you want it,
20:40
Speaker 1: think about it. That'll tune you to the frequency and
20:43
Speaker 1: you'll attract it to yourself. It's called the law of attraction. Now,
20:47
Speaker 1: why pray tell does this law of attraction work the
20:51
Speaker 1: way it does? Here's why. Listen to her. You are
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Speaker 1: God in a physical body. You are spirit in the flesh.
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Speaker 1: You are eternal life expressing itself as you. You are
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Speaker 1: a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom.
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Speaker 1: You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence.
21:11
Speaker 1: You are the creator and you are creating the creation
21:15
Speaker 1: of you on this planet. Three of the most popular
21:24
Speaker 1: books in the world today and it's modern-day narcissism directly
21:35
Speaker 1: and completely at odds with the word of god directly
21:42
Speaker 1: at odds and completely at odds with the word of
21:46
Speaker 1: god it's another category all in its own what does
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Speaker 1: john say to this kind of thinking this is the
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Speaker 1: message that we have heard a proclaim to you that
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Speaker 1: god is a light and in the m is no
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Speaker 1: shadow of darkness. There is no darkness in God at all.
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Speaker 1: God is light. There is a God. You know, there's
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Speaker 1: one of my favorite lines from a movie, from any movie,
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Speaker 1: is a line from the movie Rudy. And those of
22:19
Speaker 1: you who love movies and love football, you love the
22:23
Speaker 1: movie Rudy. And if you don't, keep praying, God will
22:25
Speaker 1: make you more spiritual and you'll get there. But in
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Speaker 1: the movie Rudy, there's this time when, you know, Rudy's
22:33
Speaker 1: trying to get into Notre Dame and Rudy's just working
22:35
Speaker 1: real hard to get into Notre Dame. He can't get
22:36
Speaker 1: into Notre Dame. He goes and he talks to the
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Speaker 1: priest there and he's trying to get some information from
22:40
Speaker 1: this priest. And this priest looks at him and says,
22:43
Speaker 1: you know, there are two things I know for sure. One,
22:46
Speaker 1: there is a God. Two, I'm not him. That's not
22:52
Speaker 1: what the modern day Gnostics say. The modern day Gnostics say,
22:55
Speaker 1: your problem is you're God and you don't know it.
23:01
Speaker 1: John says, here's where the message starts. God is light.
23:07
Speaker 1: In him, there is no darkness at all. You are
23:12
Speaker 1: not God. You are not part of God. God is
23:18
Speaker 1: God all by himself. And as we've said before, God
23:22
Speaker 1: is not running for God. Amen. Amen. He was the
23:26
Speaker 1: only one around when the votes were cast. There's never
23:28
Speaker 1: going to be a recount or a reelection. God is God.
23:32
Speaker 1: He needs no help being God. He's God. And there's
23:38
Speaker 1: no darkness in him. Why is this important? Well, here's
23:43
Speaker 1: where we get to the distinction between these two kingdoms.
23:47
Speaker 1: First of all, we see that this first kingdom, that
23:49
Speaker 1: the king is light. Secondly, his subjects are characterized by light.
23:55
Speaker 1: Look at the next part of this. There are five
23:59
Speaker 1: if-then statements that follow this first statement. Three negative, two positive.
24:05
Speaker 1: And they alternate. Negative, positive. Negative, positive. Negative. These five
24:10
Speaker 1: if-then statements. And here they are. Listen to the first pair.
24:16
Speaker 1: If we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness,
24:20
Speaker 1: we lie and do not practice the truth. That's the
24:24
Speaker 1: first if-then statement. The then is assumed. Look at this.
24:30
Speaker 1: If we say we have fellowship with him while we
24:33
Speaker 1: walk in darkness, then we lie and do not practice
24:36
Speaker 1: the truth. If my mouth says I have fellowship with God,
24:41
Speaker 1: but my life... my peripeteo, my walk, my lifestyle says
24:48
Speaker 1: that I walk in darkness, then ultimately the fact of
24:51
Speaker 1: the matter is there is no light in me. I
24:54
Speaker 1: am a liar if that's the case. I'm in darkness
24:59
Speaker 1: and I can't on the one hand with my lips
25:01
Speaker 1: confess that I belong to the kingdom of light and
25:04
Speaker 1: I belong to the king of light and on the
25:06
Speaker 1: other hand with my life live in a way that
25:10
Speaker 1: reflects darkness because what's the truth? What's the reality? The
25:14
Speaker 1: reality is the way that I live, the way that
25:16
Speaker 1: I'm characterized. Amen? Did he just say if you ever
25:20
Speaker 1: have a dark moment that you're not in the kingdom?
25:24
Speaker 1: That's not what he said, okay? But is that the
25:29
Speaker 1: way you're characterized? Is that who you are? Is that
25:32
Speaker 1: the way you live? That's the question. Is that your walk?
25:37
Speaker 1: Is that how your life is defined? If your lips
25:41
Speaker 1: say one thing and your life says another, you are
25:46
Speaker 1: a liar. It's that simple. How are you walking? How
25:53
Speaker 1: are you living? That's the question. How are you walking?
25:59
Speaker 1: Does your life look like light? Or does your life
26:03
Speaker 1: look like darkness? That's the question. Here's the other side
26:07
Speaker 1: of the coin. Here's the positive if-then statement. But if
26:11
Speaker 1: we walk in the light as he is in the light,
26:14
Speaker 1: we have fellowship with one another, first of all, and
26:18
Speaker 1: the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.
26:22
Speaker 1: If we walk in the light, as he is in
26:23
Speaker 1: the light, first of all, we have fellowship with one another.
26:25
Speaker 1: We talked about that last week. This fellowship within this
26:28
Speaker 1: body of believers. And secondly... The blood of Jesus washes us,
26:34
Speaker 1: cleanses us from all sin if we walk in the light. Now, notice,
26:39
Speaker 1: here's what's not being said. We're not talking about works-based
26:42
Speaker 1: salvation here. Remember, he's talking about, in general, these two
26:46
Speaker 1: categories of individual, and he's talking about how we're characterized.
26:50
Speaker 1: The individuals who are characterized by walking in the light,
26:54
Speaker 1: he's not saying this. Well, if you're an individual who's
26:56
Speaker 1: characterized by walking in the light, then the blood of
26:58
Speaker 1: Jesus will cleanse you because your walking in the light
27:01
Speaker 1: has earned you cleansing. No, that's not the point at all.
27:07
Speaker 1: If you walk in the light, you walk in the
27:08
Speaker 1: light because the blood of Jesus has cleansed you. By
27:12
Speaker 1: the way, look at the passage we just read earlier today.
27:16
Speaker 1: Look at the passage we just read earlier today. Look
27:19
Speaker 1: at John chapter three. And look at beginning at verse 19.
27:33
Speaker 1: Verse 19 of John chapter 3. And this is the judgment.
27:41
Speaker 1: The light has come into the world and people loved
27:44
Speaker 1: darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For
27:49
Speaker 1: everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does
27:52
Speaker 1: not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed.
27:57
Speaker 1: But whoever does what is true comes to the light
28:01
Speaker 1: so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds
28:04
Speaker 1: have been carried out in God. Notice that. He comes
28:12
Speaker 1: to the light so that we can see that his
28:14
Speaker 1: deeds have been carried out in God. In other words,
28:18
Speaker 1: John is not saying in John chapter three, if you
28:21
Speaker 1: walk in the light, you have earned forgiveness from your sins. No,
28:26
Speaker 1: as he's saying in first John chapter one, if you
28:29
Speaker 1: walk in the light, you have earned salvation from your sins. No,
28:33
Speaker 1: if you walk in the light, you have evidenced salvation
28:37
Speaker 1: from your sins. That's the only way you can walk
28:40
Speaker 1: in the light. We see that in John 3. By
28:41
Speaker 1: the way, look at the last part of that chapter.
28:45
Speaker 1: Look at the beginning of verse 35. The father loves
28:48
Speaker 1: the son and has given all things into his hands.
28:51
Speaker 1: Whoever believes in the son has eternal life. Whoever does not, here, stop. Stop.
28:59
Speaker 1: Whoever believes in the son has eternal life. Now the
29:02
Speaker 1: next phrase ought to be whoever does not believe, right?
29:05
Speaker 1: Wouldn't that make sense? If there's a parallel here, if
29:08
Speaker 1: there's a contrast, whoever believes in the son has eternal life.
29:12
Speaker 1: Whoever does not believe does not. But look at what
29:14
Speaker 1: he says. Verse 36, whoever believes in the son has
29:18
Speaker 1: eternal life. Whoever does not obey the son shall not
29:21
Speaker 1: see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
29:32
Speaker 1: How do you know if somebody believes? They walk in
29:36
Speaker 1: the light. That's how you know. How do you know
29:39
Speaker 1: somebody is cleansed, is washed? They walk in the light.
29:45
Speaker 1: If any man is in Christ, Paul says in 2
29:47
Speaker 1: Corinthians 5, if any man is in Christ, he is
29:50
Speaker 1: a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, new
29:55
Speaker 1: things have come. By the way, this is from God. Amen.
29:58
Speaker 1: It's from God. So again, the legalist argument, here's the
30:05
Speaker 1: legalist argument. The legalist argument says, I must keep the
30:08
Speaker 1: law so that I can be made right with God.
30:12
Speaker 1: That's the legalist argument. And if we read this and
30:15
Speaker 1: don't understand that he's talking about categories of individuals, and
30:18
Speaker 1: he's talking about the character of these individuals, it's easy
30:22
Speaker 1: for us to sort of fall into that. But that's
30:24
Speaker 1: not what he's talking about. He's talking about what we're
30:26
Speaker 1: characterized by. And those who walk in the light are
30:29
Speaker 1: characterized by a couple of things. One, these individuals are
30:32
Speaker 1: characterized by the unity that they have with one another. Folks,
30:36
Speaker 1: when we're not walking in the light, we don't have
30:38
Speaker 1: unity with people who are. Amen? As a matter of fact,
30:43
Speaker 1: when you start inching over towards sin, have you noticed this?
30:47
Speaker 1: When you start inching over towards sin, you don't want
30:51
Speaker 1: to be around godly people. Maybe that's just me. Maybe
30:57
Speaker 1: you guys have never had that experience before in your life.
31:00
Speaker 1: Maybe you've never been in a situation where all of
31:03
Speaker 1: a sudden a dark shadow is coming over you because
31:06
Speaker 1: of some things that you've been about or you've been
31:08
Speaker 1: exposed to or whatever. And as this dark shadow comes
31:11
Speaker 1: over you, last thing you want is those light people.
31:13
Speaker 1: If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch.
31:17
Speaker 1: That's the first thing that we're characterized by. But secondly,
31:22
Speaker 1: we're characterized by the fact And we're washed in the
31:26
Speaker 1: blood of Jesus. That's why and that's how we walk
31:32
Speaker 1: in the light. The blood of Jesus cleanses us. That's
31:37
Speaker 1: how we walk in the light. That's why we walk
31:39
Speaker 1: in the light. Again, the imputed righteousness of Christ. The
31:44
Speaker 1: blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin. Christ
31:49
Speaker 1: died for sin once for all. The just for the unjust.
31:52
Speaker 1: In order that he might bring us back to God.
31:55
Speaker 1: This washing, this cleansing that is ours is what brings
31:58
Speaker 1: us to the light. Listen to this. Isaiah chapter 9
32:03
Speaker 1: verse 2. The people who walked in darkness have seen
32:06
Speaker 1: a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of
32:09
Speaker 1: deep darkness, on them has light shined. Anybody claiming that
32:14
Speaker 1: in here? That's me. Amen. Listen to John 12, 35.
32:19
Speaker 1: So Jesus said to them, the light is among you
32:21
Speaker 1: for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light,
32:24
Speaker 1: lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the
32:27
Speaker 1: darkness does not know where he is going. While you
32:30
Speaker 1: have the light, believe in the light that you may
32:33
Speaker 1: become sons of light. Believe in the light that you
32:37
Speaker 1: may become sons of light. How? By believing. Placing your
32:42
Speaker 1: faith in Jesus Christ. We talk about it all the time. Repentance. Faith.
32:47
Speaker 1: That's how you become these children of light. You don't
32:50
Speaker 1: walk in light so that you can become a child
32:52
Speaker 1: of light. You become a child of light by being
32:55
Speaker 1: adopted into the family of the Father who is light, amen?
33:00
Speaker 1: And the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing you, thereby allowing
33:04
Speaker 1: you and propelling you into walking in light. Don't we
33:11
Speaker 1: see this as well in Ephesians? Look with me if
33:13
Speaker 1: you will. Turn to Ephesians chapter two. For by grace
33:31
Speaker 1: you have been saved through faith, and this is not
33:34
Speaker 1: of your own doing. It is the gift of God,
33:36
Speaker 1: not as a result of works, so that no one
33:38
Speaker 1: may boast. And then verse 10. For we are his workmanship,
33:42
Speaker 1: created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
33:46
Speaker 1: beforehand that we should walk in them. Whatever good work
33:50
Speaker 1: I'm walking in, God prepared beforehand that I should walk
33:53
Speaker 1: in it. Amen? It is he who works in me
33:55
Speaker 1: both to will and to do his good pleasure. I
34:01
Speaker 1: walk in the light because of the cleansing power of
34:03
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. I'm characterized by walking in the light. And
34:09
Speaker 1: because I'm characterized by that, when darkness comes, that darkness
34:13
Speaker 1: is not who I am. When that darkness comes, that's
34:15
Speaker 1: when I know I got a problem. Amen? But when
34:21
Speaker 1: I sin, the reason that that sin doesn't sit well
34:27
Speaker 1: with me is because that's not who I am. And
34:34
Speaker 1: as we walk and as we are sanctified, we have
34:38
Speaker 1: less and less of an appetite for those things that
34:42
Speaker 1: we used to feast on. And that's good news. That's
34:48
Speaker 1: good news. Because of the blood of Jesus that washes
34:53
Speaker 1: us and cleanses us, that propels us to walking in
34:57
Speaker 1: the light. Look at this, Revelation 21, 23. And the
35:00
Speaker 1: city has no need of sun or moon to shine
35:05
Speaker 1: on it. For the glory of God gives it light
35:10
Speaker 1: and its lamp is the lamb. And again, Revelation 22
35:14
Speaker 1: and five, night will be no more. They will need
35:18
Speaker 1: no light of a lamp or sun for the Lord
35:20
Speaker 1: God will be their light and they will reign forever
35:24
Speaker 1: and ever. Amen. Amen. Here's another thing we're characterized by.
35:31
Speaker 1: We confess and we forsake darkness. Look at the next
35:34
Speaker 1: part of our passage here in 1 John. Look at
35:37
Speaker 1: verse 8. Verses 8 through 10 kind of make a sandwich.
35:41
Speaker 1: 8 and 10 are almost direct repeats of one another.
35:46
Speaker 1: He just says it more forcefully in verse 10. But
35:49
Speaker 1: look at verse 8. If we say we have no sin,
35:52
Speaker 1: we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now,
35:57
Speaker 1: you may be asking yourself, okay, who would say that? Well,
36:00
Speaker 1: first of all, those modern day Gnostics would say that.
36:04
Speaker 1: These books here, these books that I just read for
36:07
Speaker 1: you from earlier, these books would say that. These books
36:13
Speaker 1: would not acknowledge any sin in you. Your only problem
36:16
Speaker 1: is you don't recognize your divinity. Your only problem is
36:20
Speaker 1: you're not thinking on the right wavelength and therefore you're
36:24
Speaker 1: not attracting to yourself the right things. That's your problem.
36:27
Speaker 1: Your problem is not sin. But you know, the Gnostics
36:29
Speaker 1: also taught this. Listen to this. Since salvation is not
36:33
Speaker 1: dependent upon faith or works, but upon the knowledge of
36:37
Speaker 1: one's true nature. Sound like it came just out of here.
36:43
Speaker 1: These are the Gnostics. Some Gnostics indulged deliberately in licentious behavior. Carpocrates,
36:52
Speaker 1: for example, urged his followers to sin. And his son, Epiphanes,
36:57
Speaker 1: taught that promiscuity was God's law. Look at what John says.
37:06
Speaker 1: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
37:10
Speaker 1: and the truth is not in us. There are also
37:14
Speaker 1: those who teach perfectionism. Now, perfectionism is the idea that
37:19
Speaker 1: believers come to a place of sinlessness. That sanctification is
37:25
Speaker 1: completed here on earth and that believers come to a
37:28
Speaker 1: place of sinlessness. To which John says as well, if
37:33
Speaker 1: we say we have no sin, we've deceived ourselves and
37:37
Speaker 1: the truth is not in us. We do have sin.
37:42
Speaker 1: Here's the other side of it. If we confess our sins,
37:45
Speaker 1: he is faithful and just to forgive us of our
37:48
Speaker 1: sins and cleanse us for all unrighteousness. Two categories of people.
37:52
Speaker 1: Sin deniers and sin confessors. One category of people is
37:56
Speaker 1: a category of people who say that they're not sinful enough.
38:00
Speaker 1: or not sinful enough to matter. The other category of
38:02
Speaker 1: people is a group of people who confess that that
38:05
Speaker 1: word literally in the Greek means to say the same
38:08
Speaker 1: thing as. They say about their sin what God says
38:12
Speaker 1: about their sin. They acknowledge, they announce, and they forsake
38:15
Speaker 1: their sin because it's displeasing to God. And in verse 10,
38:18
Speaker 1: he comes back and closes the door on it. If
38:20
Speaker 1: we say we have not sinned, we make him a
38:22
Speaker 1: liar and his word is not in us. I want
38:25
Speaker 1: to spend a couple of minutes on this from a
38:26
Speaker 1: theological perspective. Because here's how we have a tendency to
38:30
Speaker 1: look at this. Listen to this from Charles Ryrie in
38:33
Speaker 1: Ryrie's study Bible. His point about 1 John 1, 9,
38:37
Speaker 1: forgiveness and fellowship within the family of God is restored
38:40
Speaker 1: when we confess. Conversely, if it's restored when we confess,
38:46
Speaker 1: it's taken away when we sin. Our forgiveness is taken
38:50
Speaker 1: away when we sin. Our fellowship is taken away when
38:52
Speaker 1: we sin. I don't believe Ryrie means this in the
38:56
Speaker 1: way he says it. Because the way he says it
39:02
Speaker 1: makes it sound almost like the Catholic concept of forgiveness.
39:08
Speaker 1: For example, why do people have such a problem with
39:09
Speaker 1: the idea of suicide? Again, I have such a problem
39:16
Speaker 1: with it. It's probably not the best way to phrase it.
39:18
Speaker 1: But why do people struggle so much with the idea
39:21
Speaker 1: of what happens to a believer? Who is a believer
39:24
Speaker 1: for real who committed suicide? Here's why they have a problem.
39:31
Speaker 1: Your last act was a sin for which you could
39:35
Speaker 1: not confess. And if you couldn't confess, you couldn't receive forgiveness.
39:47
Speaker 1: Just like that. It's over. It's over. Because you got
39:51
Speaker 1: to confess it in order to be forgiven of it, right?
39:53
Speaker 1: I mean, it would seem like that's what we're reading here.
39:57
Speaker 1: If it hadn't been confessed, you haven't been forgiven of it.
40:00
Speaker 1: And forgiveness is removed and fellowship is removed because you
40:05
Speaker 1: didn't confess. There's a couple of problems with that idea.
40:09
Speaker 1: And again, I'm not saying that this is what Ryrie
40:12
Speaker 1: is trying to communicate. But here's the first problem with
40:16
Speaker 1: that idea. Look at the scripture again contextually. Look at
40:19
Speaker 1: verse nine and what verse nine says. If we confess
40:23
Speaker 1: our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
40:25
Speaker 1: our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All unrighteousness.
40:37
Speaker 1: This is a reference to what Christ does in salvation.
40:41
Speaker 1: This is a reference to that category of people who
40:45
Speaker 1: are confessors of sins, who are born again because they
40:48
Speaker 1: acknowledge their sin before God, and they are cleansed and
40:51
Speaker 1: they are forgiven for their sins in total. Here's the
40:57
Speaker 1: second problem. If we hold to this idea, if we
41:04
Speaker 1: confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
41:05
Speaker 1: us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness, the
41:07
Speaker 1: other side of that, of course, is if we commit
41:09
Speaker 1: a sin and that particular sin is not confessed, then
41:12
Speaker 1: we don't have forgiveness for that particular sin, and we
41:15
Speaker 1: don't have any cleansing from that particular sin, what does
41:18
Speaker 1: that do to the context of the rest of this paragraph?
41:22
Speaker 1: Look at what he says. If we say we have
41:26
Speaker 1: fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie
41:29
Speaker 1: and do not practice the truth. If I do an
41:33
Speaker 1: act of darkness, does that mean that I'm no longer
41:36
Speaker 1: part of the kingdom of light? Are we losing and
41:40
Speaker 1: regaining our salvation over and over and over again? Is
41:43
Speaker 1: that the case? No, that's not the case. That's not
41:47
Speaker 1: the case here. That's not what's being spoken of here.
41:50
Speaker 1: Let me give you three comments on this passage of
41:52
Speaker 1: Scripture to help us. And I think it's very important. Normally,
41:55
Speaker 1: I don't like to sort of draw out a lot
41:57
Speaker 1: of different comments from different commentators on these sort of subjects.
42:00
Speaker 1: But I think it's very important that we understand the
42:02
Speaker 1: nuances here versus Scripture so that we can be freed
42:07
Speaker 1: up in this area. Listen to this one first from
42:12
Speaker 1: Daniel Aikens. The claim to be without sin probably arose
42:16
Speaker 1: from John's opponents understanding that fellowship with a holy God
42:19
Speaker 1: required one to be sinless. Verses 8 and 10 are
42:23
Speaker 1: essentially parallel. The heretics argued that the condition for fellowship
42:27
Speaker 1: with the Father is sinlessness. Therefore, they claimed to be sinless. Yet,
42:34
Speaker 1: in this very claim, they rejected God's word, deceived themselves,
42:38
Speaker 1: and made God out to be a liar. Sinlessness is
42:41
Speaker 1: theirs by virtue of life in Christ alone. It cannot
42:45
Speaker 1: be located merely within themselves. Fellowship with God requires sinlessness. Therefore,
42:53
Speaker 1: we're sinless. No, fellowship with God requires sinlessness, and the
42:57
Speaker 1: only way you get that is through the imputed righteousness
43:01
Speaker 1: of Christ. Otherwise, you know, I die and I face
43:07
Speaker 1: God and he goes, I'm going, what's that? Is that
43:11
Speaker 1: the list of my sins that are under the blood? No,
43:14
Speaker 1: these are the ones that you forgot to confess. This
43:16
Speaker 1: is why you can't come into my kingdom. Because you
43:21
Speaker 1: forgot to confess these right here. And every last one
43:25
Speaker 1: of us has millions upon millions upon multiplied millions of
43:29
Speaker 1: sins that we forgot to confess. Yes. If that's the
43:38
Speaker 1: meaning of this verse, we're in trouble. Well, here's how
43:41
Speaker 1: some people deal with it. Lord, forgive me for my
43:44
Speaker 1: sins and all those that I've forgotten. Listen to this
43:52
Speaker 1: one from Calvin. He again promises to the faithful that
43:58
Speaker 1: God will be propitious to them, provided they acknowledge themselves
44:02
Speaker 1: to be sinners. I love that. Calvin says, provided they
44:05
Speaker 1: acknowledge themselves to be sinners. It is of great moment
44:10
Speaker 1: to be fully persuaded that when we have sinned, there
44:14
Speaker 1: is reconciliation with God ready and prepared for us. We
44:17
Speaker 1: shall otherwise carry always a hell within us. Few indeed
44:21
Speaker 1: consider how miserable and wretched is a doubting conscience. But
44:25
Speaker 1: the truth is that hell reigns where there is no
44:28
Speaker 1: peace with God. There more than it becomes us to
44:32
Speaker 1: receive with the whole heart this promise, which offers free
44:36
Speaker 1: pardon to all who confess their sins. Again, Calvin is
44:41
Speaker 1: talking about this in the broader sense. You confess your sinfulness.
44:45
Speaker 1: In other words, this is what salvation is. We come
44:49
Speaker 1: to a place of repentance and faith. We become sin confessors.
44:55
Speaker 1: We acknowledge who we are. Yes, all have sinned and
44:58
Speaker 1: fall short of the glory of God. And I'm part
45:00
Speaker 1: of all. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. I agree with
45:04
Speaker 1: God that I am a sinner and that the only
45:07
Speaker 1: answer for my sin problem is Jesus Christ, the righteous one.
45:11
Speaker 1: He must wash me and I must have his righteousness.
45:16
Speaker 1: He must take on him my sinfulness. And one final
45:19
Speaker 1: one from John Gill. And this, I believe, puts perhaps
45:24
Speaker 1: the finest point on it and helps us grapple with this.
45:29
Speaker 1: Forgiveness of sin here intends not the act of forgiveness
45:34
Speaker 1: as in God proceeding upon the bloodshed and sacrifice of Christ,
45:38
Speaker 1: which is done at once and includes all sin, past, present,
45:43
Speaker 1: and to come. That's very important. At salvation, we're forgiven
45:48
Speaker 1: at once for all sin, past, present, and future. That's
45:53
Speaker 1: what salvation is. We have eternal life as a present possession.
46:00
Speaker 1: And it's not contingent upon anything that I do or
46:04
Speaker 1: have done. So we got to read 1 John chapter
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Speaker 1: 1 and verse 9 in light of that overall theological reality, okay?
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Speaker 1: But he says, it's not that, but an application of
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Speaker 1: pardoning grace to a poor, sensible sinner, humbled under a
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Speaker 1: sense of sin and confessing it before the Lord. And
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Speaker 1: confession of sin is not the cause or condition of pardon,
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Speaker 1: nor of the manifestation of it, but is descriptive of
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Speaker 1: the person and points him out to whom God will
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Speaker 1: and does make known his forgiveness and love. Please don't
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Speaker 1: miss that. Gil says, this act of confession is not
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Speaker 1: what brings about the pardon. This act of confession is
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Speaker 1: evidence of the pardon. He confesses his sin because of
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Speaker 1: who he is. He confesses his sin because he knows
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Speaker 1: God and it grieves him. For to whomever he grants repentance,
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Speaker 1: he gives the remission of sin. In doing of which,
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Speaker 1: He is faithful to his word of promise. Amen. So
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Speaker 1: here's what 1 John 1.9 doesn't say. 1 John 1.9
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Speaker 1: does not teach that first of all, a believer in
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, one who was born again, one
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Speaker 1: who is truly regenerate, one who is truly saved, who
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Speaker 1: has come to repentance and faith. First John 1.9 does
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Speaker 1: not teach that there's another step that you have to
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Speaker 1: go through in order to make sure you get to heaven.
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Speaker 1: And that other step is you have to make sure
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Speaker 1: that you do the work of confession. Because if you
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Speaker 1: don't do the work of confession, then the work of
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Speaker 1: Christ on the cross, it's null and void because it
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Speaker 1: was not powerful enough to do that part for you.
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Speaker 1: That's not what 1 John 1-9 teaches. Nor does 1
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Speaker 1: John 1-9 teach the Catholic view that somehow this removal
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Speaker 1: is there until we perform this act and then it's
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Speaker 1: sort of restored. That's not what 1 John 1-9 teaches.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't. But it also doesn't teach that we never
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Speaker 1: again confess. Don't miss that part of Gil's statement either.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't teach that we never again confess. Listen again.
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Speaker 1: Let me read again what Gil says. But an application
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Speaker 1: of pardoning grace to a poor sensible sinner humbled under
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Speaker 1: a sense of sin and confessing it before the Lord
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Speaker 1: and confession of sin is not the cause or condition
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Speaker 1: of pardon nor of the manifestation of it but is
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Speaker 1: descriptive of the person and points him out. If you
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Speaker 1: are truly converted and you are truly born again and
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ has cleansed you and made you whole and
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Speaker 1: he's washed away your sins, past, present, and future, you
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Speaker 1: know one of the things that will characterize you? When
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Speaker 1: you sin and become aware of it, you'll confess it. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Sin grieves. you you're washed in the blood of christ
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Speaker 1: and sin grieves you and one of the marks of
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Speaker 1: those individuals is the confession of sin god that was
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Speaker 1: sin i agree with you that that was sin i
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Speaker 1: know that grieves you it's one of the things for
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Speaker 1: which christ died I plead his blood and forgiveness right now.
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Speaker 1: And thank you that he has provided for that. We
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Speaker 1: are perpetual confessors of sin. It is a part of
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Speaker 1: what marks us. But we've got to make sure that
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Speaker 1: we're careful and that we don't run off the reservation
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Speaker 1: and to this place that has us shackled to what
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Speaker 1: is in essence a work added to salvation. The confession
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Speaker 1: of sin is not a work added to salvation. Being
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Speaker 1: a sin confessor is part of what characterizes us as
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Speaker 1: us and not them. And being a sin confessor It's
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Speaker 1: part and parcel of who we are and the way
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Speaker 1: we live, just like walking in the light. So we
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Speaker 1: don't claim sinlessness on the one hand. So we don't
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Speaker 1: look at our actions and say our actions weren't sinful.
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Speaker 1: And secondly, we aren't characterized by callousness. We sin and
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Speaker 1: all of a sudden we say, oh yeah, it's under
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Speaker 1: the blood. No. No. Absolutely not. Jesus Christ purchased my
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Speaker 1: pardon with his blood. When I sin, that must grieve me.
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Speaker 1: It must. So as we look here at this first test,
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Speaker 1: ask yourself the pertinent questions. Which of these characterizes you?
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Speaker 1: Are you one who walks in light? Or are you
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Speaker 1: one who walks in darkness? Which one is your way
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Speaker 1: of life? Are you a light liver or a darkness dweller?
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Speaker 1: Which is you? Where are you at home? In the
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Speaker 1: light or in the dark? And secondly, what's your attitude
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Speaker 1: towards sin? Are you a sin denier or a sin confessor?
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Speaker 1: Which is you? Does sin delight you, or does it
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Speaker 1: grieve you? Which is you? Because the way we answer
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Speaker 1: these questions is indicative of whose we are. But notice,
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Speaker 1: in both instances, I want you to see this in
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Speaker 1: both instances. First of all, look at verse seven. You
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Speaker 1: walk in the light as he is in the light,
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Speaker 1: We have fellowship with one another and the blood of
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Speaker 1: Jesus' son cleanses us from all sin. How are we cleansed?
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Speaker 1: The blood of Jesus. And then look at verse nine.
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Speaker 1: We confess our sins. He is faithful and just to
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Speaker 1: forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
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Speaker 1: The only way to not be a darkness dweller is
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Speaker 1: through the cleansing work of the Son of God. The
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Speaker 1: only way to be a sin confessor instead of a
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Speaker 1: sin denier is through the cleansing work of Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: the Son of the living God. That's our only answer.
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Speaker 1: So here's what 1 John 1, 5 through 10 is
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Speaker 1: not teaching. You better work harder and try to walk
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Speaker 1: like those light people and not those darkness people. You
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Speaker 1: better count your sins more carefully It's not what it's teaching.
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Speaker 1: It's just asking a real simple question. And a real
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Speaker 1: simple question is this, which one of these camps do
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Speaker 1: you belong to? And as you answer, answer from your
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Speaker 1: life and not your lips. To which camp do you belong?
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Speaker 1: How is your life characterized? Who are you? Are you
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Speaker 1: his as is evidenced by the fruit born in your
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Speaker 1: life as a result of the cleansing blood of Jesus
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Speaker 1: Christ being applied to you through repentance and faith? Or
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Speaker 1: are you not? Which is evidenced by darkness being the
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Speaker 1: place where you're at ease and sin being something that
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Speaker 1: you don't very much like to confess. There's always an excuse.
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Speaker 1: There's always an answer. There's always a reason. It's never
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Speaker 1: just flat out, bald face, I sin. I agree with God.
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Speaker 1: It's not the product of the way I was raised.
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Speaker 1: It's not just a preference. It's not just something that
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Speaker 1: I'm inclined to. It's not a disease. It is sin.
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Speaker 1: pure and simple and it is ugly and I hate
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Speaker 1: it because God hates it and I'm bringing it to
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Speaker 1: the throne. That's how we act towards sin and the
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Speaker 1: kingdom of light.