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Voddie Baucham - What Is Your Hope of Heaven Based On John 14 · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: Morning. We have your Bibles with you. Please open them
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Speaker 1: to John fourteen. John chapter fourteen. This is often a
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Speaker 1: passage of scripture that is reserved for funerals unless we
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Speaker 1: happen to be preaching through the book of John but
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Speaker 1: we tend not to say much about this subject, which
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Speaker 1: is the subject of heaven. But I believe it's the
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Speaker 1: most important subject that we can address because the last
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Speaker 1: time I checked, the death rate was one per person.
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Speaker 1: I didn't look this morning, but I'm sure there has
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Speaker 1: been no change. That's not like the stock market. It
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Speaker 1: doesn't change. The death rate is one per person. Nobody
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Speaker 1: gets out of here alive. Think about that for a moment.
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Speaker 1: 150 years from now, every person in this room will
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Speaker 1: be gone. Every last one of us. The question is
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Speaker 1: gone where? Have you thought about that? Have you considered that?
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Speaker 1: So often we think about Christianity in terms of the
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Speaker 1: here and the now. It's very important that we do that.
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Speaker 1: It's very important that we recognize that our faith has
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Speaker 1: an incredible impact on our life today. But ultimately, our
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Speaker 1: faith has an impact on where and how we spend eternity.
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Speaker 1: And I'm afraid that many of us don't look at
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Speaker 1: our life from that perspective. And because of it, we
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Speaker 1: take sin very lightly. Because of it, we look around
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Speaker 1: us at other people and we think, I'm better than
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Speaker 1: most people, so I'm okay. And that's what most people believe.
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Speaker 1: I talked this weekend about my first encounter with the gospel.
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Speaker 1: Never heard the gospel until I got to university. And
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Speaker 1: in my first encounter with the gospel, I was stopped
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Speaker 1: in my tracks when Steve Morgan, the guy who shared
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Speaker 1: the gospel with me, asked me how sure I was
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Speaker 1: that I was going to heaven when I died, and
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Speaker 1: I told him. I mean, I was so cocky. I
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Speaker 1: was so confident. I was so self-assured, self-absorbed. I said 95%.
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Speaker 1: And as I told you, he responded to me, everybody,
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Speaker 1: we're okay. We're okay. I spent the last decade in Zambia.
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Speaker 1: The light's going off, does not bother me at all.
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Speaker 1: And he stopped me in my tracks when he looked
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Speaker 1: at me and said, what if I can give you
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Speaker 1: the other 5%? I didn't know what to do with that.
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Speaker 1: And for most people, we believe that God grades on
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Speaker 1: the courage And that because we're better than most, or
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Speaker 1: at least because we're not as bad as the worst,
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Speaker 1: that we can have a hope of heaven. But is
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Speaker 1: that the truth? Is that what we find in the scriptures?
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Speaker 1: And the answer is a resounding no. And so I
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Speaker 1: want to ask you this morning, what is your hope
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Speaker 1: of heaven based on? Because I'm sure that there are
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Speaker 1: very few people who came through those doors this morning
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Speaker 1: thinking to themselves, if I died today, I would go
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Speaker 1: to hell. Few people came through those doors like that.
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Speaker 1: Few if any came through those doors like that. And
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Speaker 1: even the ones who come through the doors like that
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Speaker 1: don't really believe it. They don't really believe that they're
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Speaker 1: going to hell when they die. That's usually an attention-seeking statement. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Because if you really thought that, you'd be trying to
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Speaker 1: do something about it. If you really believed that, you'd
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Speaker 1: be doing everything you could, not just going around saying
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Speaker 1: that you think you're going to hell when you die. Again,
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Speaker 1: that's attention-seeking behavior. We came through that door and we
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Speaker 1: honestly believe that if it all ended today, we would
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Speaker 1: be ushered into God's kingdom. But based on what? John
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Speaker 1: chapter 14. The most poignant verse we have, I believe,
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Speaker 1: in the New Testament on this question offers us some
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Speaker 1: insight as to the believer's hope of heaven. John 14,
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Speaker 1: beginning of verse one. Jesus speaking here says, let not
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Speaker 1: your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.
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Speaker 1: In my father's house are many rooms. If it were
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Speaker 1: not so, would I have told you that I go
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Speaker 1: to prepare a place for you? And if I go
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Speaker 1: and prepare a place for you, I will come again
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Speaker 1: and will take you to myself that where I am,
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Speaker 1: You may be also. And you know the way to
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Speaker 1: where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do
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Speaker 1: not know where you're going. How can we know the way?
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Speaker 1: Jesus said to him, I am the way and the
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Speaker 1: truth and the life. No one comes to the father
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Speaker 1: except through me. If you had known me, you would
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Speaker 1: have known my father also. From now on, you do
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Speaker 1: know him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the
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Speaker 1: father and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him,
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Speaker 1: have I been with you so long and you still
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Speaker 1: do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has
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Speaker 1: seen the father. How can you say, show us the father?
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Speaker 1: Do you not believe that I am in the father
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Speaker 1: and the father is in me? The words that I
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Speaker 1: say to you, I do not speak on my own authority,
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Speaker 1: but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
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Speaker 1: Believe me that I am in the Father and the
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Speaker 1: Father is in me, or else believe on account of
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Speaker 1: the works themselves. I want to make this as personal
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Speaker 1: as I can this morning. as we examine this all
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Speaker 1: too important issue of the believer's hope of heaven, I
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Speaker 1: want you to consider where your hope lies. I want
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Speaker 1: you to consider what it is that makes you so
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Speaker 1: confident that if you close your eyes tonight for the
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Speaker 1: last time, you'll stand before God in heaven and be received.
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Speaker 1: I want you to examine that. I want you to
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Speaker 1: ask yourself what you're basing that on. Because and whether
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Speaker 1: it's consistent with what we see in this text. The
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Speaker 1: first thing that we see in this text is that
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Speaker 1: the believer's hope of heaven is grounded in a promise
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Speaker 1: from Jesus. It's based on a promise from Jesus. Look
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Speaker 1: at what he says in verse 1. Let not your
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Speaker 1: hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
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Speaker 1: That's where he starts. He starts with the fact that
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Speaker 1: he's making a promise and that he is trustworthy. This
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Speaker 1: is consistent with what we see in scripture about Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And there are two ways that we need to look
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Speaker 1: at this. First, this hope is based on a promise
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Speaker 1: from Jesus. Jesus is trustworthy. We can trust the promises
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Speaker 1: that he makes. Amen? In Hebrews chapter 10, we already
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Speaker 1: looked at it. Verse 23, this statement, let us hold
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Speaker 1: fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Why? For
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Speaker 1: he Who promised is faithful. We hold fast to the
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Speaker 1: confession of our hope. To our hope of eternal life.
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Speaker 1: To our hope of the forgiveness of our sins. To
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Speaker 1: our hope of heaven. We hold fast to that hope.
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Speaker 1: And we hold it without wavering. Why? Because of something
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Speaker 1: in me? No. No. For he who promised is faithful.
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Speaker 1: Another passage that helps us to see this and understand
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Speaker 1: it is in Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1. I
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Speaker 1: love the book of Revelation. Absolutely. And one of the
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Speaker 1: things I love about the book of Revelation is how
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Speaker 1: much it makes of Christ. Revelation 1, beginning verse 4, John,
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Speaker 1: to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to
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Speaker 1: you and peace from him who is and who was
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Speaker 1: and who is to come. And from the seven spirits
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Speaker 1: that are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, the
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Speaker 1: faithful witness the faithful witness that's who he is he
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Speaker 1: is faithful and so the believer's hope of heaven is
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Speaker 1: based on a promise from Jesus and because Jesus is
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Speaker 1: faithful we can have hope he makes that clear here
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Speaker 1: in this text let not your heart be troubled don't
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Speaker 1: be troubled beloved don't be troubled You believe in God,
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Speaker 1: believe also in me. We have a promise from Jesus.
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Speaker 1: The believer's hope of heaven is based on a promise
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Speaker 1: from Jesus. The believer's hope of heaven is not based
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Speaker 1: on his or her own value, worth. It's not based
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Speaker 1: on his or her own deeds. The believer's hope of
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Speaker 1: heaven is not based on... I think it is these, brother.
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Speaker 1: It's not based on him or her having anything in
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Speaker 1: their hands with which they can come before God. Nothing.
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Speaker 1: It's based on a promise from Jesus. By the way,
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Speaker 1: the believer's hope of heaven being based on a promise
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. Remember I said there's two sides to this.
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Speaker 1: Number one, Jesus is Faithful. Number two, we believe in
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Speaker 1: what Jesus has promised. Not what somebody who supposedly died
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Speaker 1: and came back, right, on the surgeon's table has promised.
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Speaker 1: But the one who died for sin was dead, buried
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Speaker 1: in the grave, and three days later rose with all
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Speaker 1: power in his hands. the one who has ascended to
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Speaker 1: the right hand of the Father and is there ever
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Speaker 1: making intercession for us. That's what it's based on. It's
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Speaker 1: based on the promises that we have in the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: It's not based on mythology. It's not based on cultural
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Speaker 1: impressions or images. It's based on the promises that we
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Speaker 1: have from Jesus. Is that the promise that you're holding to? Listen,
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Speaker 1: go earlier in John and look in John chapter 3.
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Speaker 1: Look in John chapter 3. Earlier on in this same book.
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Speaker 1: In John 3, there's a very famous encounter with Nicodemus.
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Speaker 1: John chapter 3, beginning verse 1. Now there was a
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Speaker 1: man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
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Speaker 1: This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi,
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Speaker 1: we know that you are a teacher come from God,
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Speaker 1: for no one can do these signs that you do
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Speaker 1: unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, truly, truly,
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Speaker 1: I say to you, unless one is born again, he
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Speaker 1: cannot see the kingdom of God. Remember, the believer's hope
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Speaker 1: of heaven is based on a promise from Jesus. And
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Speaker 1: Jesus says, unless one is born again, he cannot see
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of God. We're not talking about getting into
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of God. We're talking about just seeing the
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Speaker 1: kingdom of God. Unless you're born again, you can't even
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Speaker 1: see the kingdom of God. So I ask you again,
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Speaker 1: what is your hope of heaven based on? The believer's
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Speaker 1: hope of heaven is based on a promise from Jesus.
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Speaker 1: And Jesus says, unless we're born again, you can't see
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Speaker 1: the kingdom of God. So if you have not been
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Speaker 1: born again, what hope do you have of heaven? You
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Speaker 1: must be born again. Nicodemus said to him, how can
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Speaker 1: a man be born when he is old? Can he
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Speaker 1: enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Like,
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Speaker 1: what are you talking about? What does this mean? Jesus answered, truly, truly,
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Speaker 1: I say to you, unless one is born of water
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Speaker 1: and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
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Speaker 1: So we've gone from seeing the kingdom to entering the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: He has to be born of water and the spirit. Well,
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Speaker 1: what does that mean? Let's just keep reading and he'll
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Speaker 1: explain what he means. There are a lot of people
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Speaker 1: who have a whole bunch of answers on this when
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Speaker 1: all you have to do is keep reading. That which
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Speaker 1: is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
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Speaker 1: is born of the spirit is spirit. In other words,
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Speaker 1: born of water is born of the flesh. Born of spirit,
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Speaker 1: born of God. It's your physical birth and your spiritual birth.
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Speaker 1: That's all that is referring to. Verse seven, do not
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Speaker 1: marvel that I said to you, you must be born again,
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Speaker 1: The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound,
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Speaker 1: but you do not know where it comes from or
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Speaker 1: where it goes. So it is with everyone who is
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Speaker 1: born of the spirit. A spiritual birth, which is from God.
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Speaker 1: You must be born again. You must be born of God.
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Speaker 1: You must be awakened from your slumber by God. You
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Speaker 1: must have the scales removed from your eyes by God.
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Speaker 1: You must become aware of your spiritual condition because of
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Speaker 1: the work of God. You must become aware of your
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Speaker 1: sin and your need for a Savior because of a
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Speaker 1: spiritual birth that is from God. You must be born again.
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Speaker 1: And upon being born again and seeing our spiritual condition,
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Speaker 1: our only response is that of repentance and faith, agreeing
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Speaker 1: with God about our sinful condition and fleeing to God
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Speaker 1: for forgiveness and redemption. That's it. That's it. That's the
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Speaker 1: believer's hope of heaven. It's based on a promise from Jesus.
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Speaker 1: It's not based on cultural norms. It's not based on
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Speaker 1: the assumptions about who's better than whom. It's not based
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Speaker 1: on that. It's not based on works righteousness. It's not
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Speaker 1: based on you believing that you have lived the kind
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Speaker 1: of life that makes you worthy to stand before a
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Speaker 1: holy and righteous God. Listen, your righteousness before God, Isaiah says,
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Speaker 1: is as filthy rags. You have no righteousness before God.
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Speaker 1: Your words, your thoughts, and your deeds are unrighteous before
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Speaker 1: a holy God, and you know it. You know it.
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Speaker 1: You know, one of the first phrases that people learn
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Speaker 1: to say, regardless of what language they speak, one of
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Speaker 1: the first phrases we learn to say with conviction is,
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Speaker 1: that's not fair. Kids learn that early, don't they? That's
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Speaker 1: not fair. The only thing they say with more conviction is,
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Speaker 1: that's mine, right? Right? But we learn to say with conviction,
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Speaker 1: that's not fair because in the heart of every human
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Speaker 1: being is a desire for righteousness and justice. And when
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Speaker 1: we say that's not fair, that's what we're crying out for.
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Speaker 1: We look to the people around us in authority and
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Speaker 1: we say an injustice has occurred and it needs to
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Speaker 1: be made right. That's not fair. You need to fix it.
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Speaker 1: Every last one of us. We still feel that way.
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Speaker 1: When we look at some tragedy, that's not fair. It
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Speaker 1: needs to be made right. When we look at people
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Speaker 1: who live in horrible conditions, or when we look at
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Speaker 1: people who are the victims of a cyclone or an
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Speaker 1: earthquake or something, you may even shake your fist at
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Speaker 1: God and say, God, that's not fair. And there are
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Speaker 1: many people who turn away from religion because of that.
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Speaker 1: Because that's not fair. We have this sense of justice.
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Speaker 1: And we believe that if there is a God, an
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Speaker 1: all-powerful God, then these things just should not be. It's
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Speaker 1: just not fair. there's a small problem and that problem
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Speaker 1: is from the time you were a child until now
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Speaker 1: your that's not fair meter works in only one direction
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Speaker 1: outward and not inward You look at what happens out
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Speaker 1: there in the world and you shake your fist at
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Speaker 1: God because he hasn't done something about it. But you
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Speaker 1: do not look inward at your words, thoughts, and deeds
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Speaker 1: and recognize that if God were completely and utterly just
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Speaker 1: once and for all last night, you wouldn't have woken
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Speaker 1: up this morning. You deserve justice, not just the world
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Speaker 1: outside you, The fact of the matter is, if God
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Speaker 1: was completely fair, all there would be was cyclones and earthquakes.
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Speaker 1: Because that's what you deserve. That's what I deserve. You
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Speaker 1: do not deserve for the sun to shine on you.
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Speaker 1: You did not deserve to wake up this morning. When
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Speaker 1: you look at the holiness and righteousness of God, The
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Speaker 1: only fair thing would be for every one of us
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Speaker 1: to be consumed with the fire of his justice and
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Speaker 1: his righteousness. And yet God has been merciful. You receive
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Speaker 1: mercy from God and not justice. But ultimately, there will
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Speaker 1: be justice. Ultimately, everything that is wrong will be made right.
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Speaker 1: That is why the believer's hope of heaven is not
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Speaker 1: based on his or her own righteousness before God, but
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Speaker 1: on the imputed righteousness of Christ. It's based on a
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Speaker 1: promise From Jesus. I do not want God to be
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Speaker 1: fair with me. Because I know what I deserve. I
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Speaker 1: know what would be fair for me and I don't
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Speaker 1: want that. I want God to be merciful, not fair.
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Speaker 1: Gracious and kind. That's what I want. That's what I need.
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Speaker 1: Which is why my only hope of heaven has to
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Speaker 1: be based in a promise from Jesus. Secondly, look at
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Speaker 1: verse two. Not only is the believer's hope of heaven
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Speaker 1: based on a promise from Jesus, but the believer's hope
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Speaker 1: of heaven is based on a place with Jesus. In
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Speaker 1: my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so,
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Speaker 1: would I have told you that I go to prepare
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Speaker 1: a place for you? And if I go and prepare
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Speaker 1: a place for you, I will come again and will
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Speaker 1: take you to myself that where I am, you may
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Speaker 1: be also. It's interesting. You know, when I was a kid,
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Speaker 1: I grew up, I grew up poor, not poor, poor.
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Speaker 1: We couldn't afford the other O and R, right? Absolutely.
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Speaker 1: And I had a single teenage mother. And I remember
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Speaker 1: as a kid when we'd be riding around somewhere and
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Speaker 1: we would play a game that a lot of not
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Speaker 1: well-to-do kids play. And the game was, that's my house. Right?
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Speaker 1: Especially if we're riding around somewhere nice. Riding around somewhere
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Speaker 1: nice and we're looking and we go, oh, that's my house. Oh,
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Speaker 1: that's a good one. And then you wait until you
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Speaker 1: see another one, right? Because then you get to go next. Ah, okay,
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Speaker 1: that's my house. Ah, that's a good one right there.
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Speaker 1: So now you get to pick another one. And everybody
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Speaker 1: tries to outdo each other in the game of that's
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Speaker 1: my house. But here's what you wouldn't do. You wouldn't
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Speaker 1: play that game and say, that's my house. And then fine,
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Speaker 1: you get out and you walk up to the house
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Speaker 1: and you knock on the door of this mansion and say,
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Speaker 1: excuse me, we were just playing a game called that's
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Speaker 1: my house. And I claim this one. So I'm home.
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Speaker 1: You wouldn't do that. You recognize that it would be
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Speaker 1: completely and utterly illegitimate, right? But that's what most people
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Speaker 1: do with heaven. They're playing a game of that's my house.
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Speaker 1: They like the idea of this picturesque place, this serene,
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Speaker 1: peaceful place. And they say, yes, yes, that's what I want.
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Speaker 1: but you don't get heaven without Jesus. Amen, somebody. He
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Speaker 1: says he's going to prepare a place so that where
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Speaker 1: he is, we can be. If he goes, he's coming
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Speaker 1: back to claim us. By the way, this is marriage language.
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Speaker 1: This is the language of betrothal. We are betrothed and
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Speaker 1: now I'm going to prepare heaven our place that we're
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Speaker 1: going to live in when we're married, and then I'm
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Speaker 1: going to come back and I'm going to get you,
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Speaker 1: my bride, and then I'm going to take you with
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Speaker 1: me to the place that I've prepared as our marital
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Speaker 1: home so that we can live our life together there.
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Speaker 1: That's the language that Jesus is using here. The believer's
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Speaker 1: hope of heaven is not based on some arbitrary place
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Speaker 1: that We just get to go because it sounds good
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Speaker 1: and looks good to us. It's based on a place
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Speaker 1: with Jesus. In fact, let's go back to Revelation again
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Speaker 1: and look at Revelation 21. Look at Revelation 21. Revelation 21.
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Speaker 1: We'll read a lot of stuff here in this chapter
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Speaker 1: and part of the next, but we just have to.
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Speaker 1: It's just too good. Revelation 21, beginning verse 1. Then
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Speaker 1: I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for
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Speaker 1: the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
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Speaker 1: and the sea was no more. And this is at
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Speaker 1: the end of the age. God's justice has been poured out.
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Speaker 1: His judgment has come on the wicked. And everything is
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Speaker 1: redeemed and made new. That's why we see a new
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Speaker 1: heaven and a new earth. Because the first heaven and
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Speaker 1: first earth had passed away. The sea was no more.
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Speaker 1: And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down
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Speaker 1: out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned
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Speaker 1: for her husband. Told you it was marriage language. And
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Speaker 1: I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold,
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Speaker 1: the dwelling place of God is with man. He will
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Speaker 1: dwell with them and they will be his people and
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Speaker 1: God himself will be with them as their God. He
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Speaker 1: will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall
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Speaker 1: be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying
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Speaker 1: nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. Listen,
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Speaker 1: we want verse four without verses one through three. We
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Speaker 1: want no more tears. We want no more pain, no
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Speaker 1: more death. Yes, I want heaven. But look at what
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Speaker 1: comes before this. The loud voice saying, behold, the dwelling
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Speaker 1: place of God is with man. He will dwell with
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Speaker 1: them and they will be his people and God himself
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Speaker 1: will be their God. Look down at verse 22. I
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Speaker 1: saw no temple in the city. for its temple is
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Speaker 1: the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. There's Jesus,
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Speaker 1: the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun
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Speaker 1: or moon to shine on it, for the glory of
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Speaker 1: God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
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Speaker 1: By its light will the nations walk, and the kings
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Speaker 1: of the earth will bring their glory into it, and
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Speaker 1: its gates will never be shut by day, and there
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Speaker 1: will be no night there. They will bring into it
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Speaker 1: the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing
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Speaker 1: unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what
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Speaker 1: is detestable or false, but only those who are written
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Speaker 1: in the Lamb's book of life. The believer's hope of
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Speaker 1: heaven is based on a promise from Jesus, And it's
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Speaker 1: based on a place with Jesus. The believer's hope of
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Speaker 1: heaven is not just about escaping the world. The believers
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Speaker 1: hope of heaven is not just being in a place
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Speaker 1: where there is peace and no death and no dying.
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Speaker 1: The believers hope of heaven is about being where Christ is. Exactly.
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Speaker 1: Which leads us to the third point here, which is
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Speaker 1: that the believer's hope of heaven is about the continuation
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Speaker 1: of a relationship. Verse four. You know the way where
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Speaker 1: I'm going. Thomas says, wait. Did you hand out maps?
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Speaker 1: Because these guys didn't give me one of the maps, right?
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Speaker 1: I said, Lord, we do not know where you're going.
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Speaker 1: How can we know the way? Jesus said to him,
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Speaker 1: I am the way and the truth and the life.
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Speaker 1: No one comes to the father except through me. How
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Speaker 1: do you know the way? Jesus says, because you know me.
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Speaker 1: You know the way because you know me. And I
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Speaker 1: am the way. And I am the truth. And I
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Speaker 1: am the living. The believer's hope of heaven is based
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Speaker 1: on the continuation of a relationship with Christ. Answer this.
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Speaker 1: Why do you think that you can live your life
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Speaker 1: in the here and the now with no relationship with
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Speaker 1: Christ and then go spend eternity with an intimate relationship
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Speaker 1: with him? Huh? Help me with that. How does that work?
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Speaker 1: The answer is it doesn't. It doesn't. Or, better yet,
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Speaker 1: let's put the cookies on the bottom shelf. How can
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Speaker 1: so many say that they have a relationship with Christ,
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Speaker 1: they don't go to heaven when they die, spend eternity
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Speaker 1: with Jesus, but they don't love the church? I love Jesus,
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Speaker 1: but not the church. Really? It's like somebody coming to
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Speaker 1: me and saying, hey, Bodie, listen, brother, I love you, man.
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Speaker 1: I really do. Like, you're one of my favorite people
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Speaker 1: in the world. You and me, we're just, you know,
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Speaker 1: we're right here. And I just, I really, you're like,
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Speaker 1: I think you're my best friend. And I think I
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Speaker 1: should be your best friend. Okay, cool. Small problem. I
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Speaker 1: can't stand Bridget. That's my wife's name. I can't stand
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Speaker 1: your wife. Really? What's my response supposed to be? Oh,
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Speaker 1: that's okay, right? We can still be besties. I'll just
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Speaker 1: keep her over there. No. Jesus, I love you. I
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Speaker 1: hate your bride. I do not love what you love.
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Speaker 1: Better yet, I do not love what you love so
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Speaker 1: much that you gave your life for her. But I
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Speaker 1: really do love you. Go to John 17, just momentarily here.
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Speaker 1: Let's look at John 17. John 17 is Jesus' high
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Speaker 1: priestly prayer. And he prays here for his followers, for
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Speaker 1: his disciples. Listen to what Jesus prays at the end
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Speaker 1: of his life, before he lays down his life for
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Speaker 1: his bride. Listen to what he prays to his father.
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Speaker 1: Beginning of verse 20. I do not ask for these only,
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Speaker 1: but also for those So he's not just praying for
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Speaker 1: the disciples who are in front of him, but everybody
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Speaker 1: who's going to believe through the word of the apostles,
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Speaker 1: which means everybody who comes into the church. Because we
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Speaker 1: believe because of their word. So Jesus right here, right now,
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Speaker 1: he's praying this for you. And for me, if we're
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Speaker 1: part of his community now. What is he praying? Verse 21.
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Speaker 1: that they may all be one, just as you, Father,
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Speaker 1: are in me and I in you, that they also
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Speaker 1: may be in us, so that the world may believe
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Speaker 1: that you have sent me. Verse 22, the glory that
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Speaker 1: you have given me, I have given to them, that
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Speaker 1: they may be one, even as we are one, I
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Speaker 1: in them and you in me, that they may become
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Speaker 1: perfectly one, so that the world may know that you
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Speaker 1: have sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
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Speaker 1: Not just that they might be one, but that they
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Speaker 1: might be perfectly one. Being in Christ means being part
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Speaker 1: of the bride of Christ, means being part of the
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Speaker 1: body of Christ. By this shall all men know that
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Speaker 1: you're my disciples, that you have love for one another.
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Speaker 1: Go to, same author, go to 1 John. 1 John
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Speaker 1: chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. Everyone who believes that
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Speaker 1: Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. There's
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Speaker 1: that born again thing again. You must be born again.
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Speaker 1: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been
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Speaker 1: born of God. Everyone who loves the Father loves whoever
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Speaker 1: has been born of him. By this we know that
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Speaker 1: we love the children of God when we love God
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Speaker 1: and obey his commandments. For this is the love of
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Speaker 1: God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are
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Speaker 1: not burdensome. Everyone who's been born of God overcomes the world.
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Speaker 1: And this is the victory that has overcome the world,
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Speaker 1: our faith. Who is it that has overcome the world
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Speaker 1: except the one who believes that Jesus is the son
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Speaker 1: of God? We believe the gospel. We walk in obedience.
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Speaker 1: We love the brothers. And that shows up over and
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Speaker 1: over and over again in 1 John. How can you
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Speaker 1: say you love God whom you've never seen but hate
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Speaker 1: your brother who you see every day? By the way,
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Speaker 1: that puts the lie to this whole thing. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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Speaker 1: I love the church. I love the universal church. It's
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Speaker 1: just the local one I have a problem with. And
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Speaker 1: there's nothing in the scripture that says I have to
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Speaker 1: be part of the local church How can you say
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Speaker 1: you love God whom you've never seen, but hate your
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Speaker 1: brother who you see every day? That's not universal church.
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Speaker 1: That's local church. That's local church in community. That's local
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Speaker 1: church with accountability. Matthew 18, church discipline. That's local church.
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Speaker 1: You can't be excommunicated from the universal church. Excommunication happens
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Speaker 1: in a local church. It's easy to love the universal church.
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Speaker 1: When you think of the universal church, you just think
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Speaker 1: of people out there, nebulous people out there who never
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Speaker 1: disagree with you, who never confront you, who never disappoint you.
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Speaker 1: That's easy. It's easy to love theoretical people. That's not
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Speaker 1: what we're talking about here. The believer's hope of heaven
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Speaker 1: is based on the continuation of a relationship. Do you
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Speaker 1: love his bride? If you don't, why would you want
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Speaker 1: to go to heaven? Finally, The believer's hope of heaven
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Speaker 1: is based on the authority of Jesus. Verse 7. If
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Speaker 1: you had known me, you would have known my father also.
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Speaker 1: From now on, You know him and have seen him.
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Speaker 1: Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and
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Speaker 1: it's enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I
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Speaker 1: been with you so long and you do not know me, Philip?
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Speaker 1: Whoever has seen me has seen the father. How can
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Speaker 1: you say, show us the father? Do you not believe
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Speaker 1: that I am in the father and the father is
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Speaker 1: in me? The words that I say to you, I
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Speaker 1: do not speak on my own authority, but the father
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Speaker 1: who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that
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Speaker 1: I am in the father. The father is in me.
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Speaker 1: or us believe on account of the works themselves. Jesus
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Speaker 1: has the authority to make these promises because he's God.
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Speaker 1: Because he is the second person of the Trinity. John
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Speaker 1: begins his gospel with these words. In the beginning was
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Speaker 1: the word, and the word was with God, and the
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Speaker 1: word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
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Speaker 1: And through him, all things were made. Without him, Nothing
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Speaker 1: was made that has been made. And in him is life.
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Speaker 1: And that life is the light of men. John's entire
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Speaker 1: argument is rooted and grounded in the fact that Jesus
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Speaker 1: is God. He gives these seven signs and he builds
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Speaker 1: his gospel around these seven signs. All these signs point
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Speaker 1: to the fact that Jesus is God. He is the
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Speaker 1: promised Messiah. He is the second person of the Trinity.
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Speaker 1: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father
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Speaker 1: is God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God.
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Speaker 1: We have one God and three persons. Paul reminds us
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Speaker 1: in Colossians that in Jesus, the fullness of the Godhead
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Speaker 1: dwelled In bodily form. We know who God is because
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Speaker 1: of Christ. The final, the ultimate revelation of God. Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: That's why. So at the end of the day, My
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Speaker 1: hope of heaven, again, where did we begin? It's not
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Speaker 1: based on me. It's not based on me believing that
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Speaker 1: anything that I have is worth coming before God. It's
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Speaker 1: not based on me believing that anything that I've done
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Speaker 1: earns me the right to come before God. It doesn't.
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Speaker 1: It can't. I know better. So my hope of heaven...
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Speaker 1: It's based on a promise from Jesus. I don't believe
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Speaker 1: I'm going to heaven when I die because of anything
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Speaker 1: other than the promise from Jesus. I am a sinner
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Speaker 1: saved by grace. I have been born again by the
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Speaker 1: power and the grace of God. I have been redeemed
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Speaker 1: and forgiven through repentance and faith. By grace alone, through
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Speaker 1: faith alone, and Christ alone. I have a hope of
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Speaker 1: heaven because of the promise that I have from Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Nothing else. What are you hoping in? What are you
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Speaker 1: trusting in? My hope of heaven is based on a
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Speaker 1: place with Jesus. To spend eternity in the place where
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Speaker 1: he is. Not just in a place that's not here.
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Speaker 1: Not just in a place that sounds good. But a
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Speaker 1: place with Jesus. My hope of heaven is based on
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Speaker 1: the continuation of a relationship with Jesus. Christ is my
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Speaker 1: all in all here and now. I abide in him
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Speaker 1: and he abides with me here and now. And heaven
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Speaker 1: will be a continuation of that relationship where I will
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Speaker 1: abide in him and he will abide in me throughout eternity.
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Speaker 1: I'm not living my life one way now and expecting
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Speaker 1: to live my life another way then. I'm not living
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Speaker 1: my life ignoring Jesus now and expecting to live my
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Speaker 1: life in eternity with Jesus then. The continuation of a relationship.
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Speaker 1: The perfection of a relationship. with Christ and with his bride.
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Speaker 1: Because I'm not going to spend eternity with Jesus alone.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to spend eternity with Jesus and his bride,
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Speaker 1: whom he redeemed with his blood. And at the end
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Speaker 1: of the day, my hope of heaven is based on
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Speaker 1: the authority of Jesus. He is God. He is God.
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Speaker 1: And I have his word on it. Beloved, what is
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Speaker 1: your hope based on? Is it something other than this?
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Speaker 1: Please say it's not. And if it is, please flee
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Speaker 1: from that, whatever it is. Flee from it and flee
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Speaker 1: to Christ. whatever it is, plead with God to remove
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Speaker 1: the scales from your eyes. Plead with God to give
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Speaker 1: you that new birth, that supernatural birth from above. Plead
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Speaker 1: with God to grant you grace to see yourself from
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Speaker 1: outside yourself so that you're not self-deceived, to see that
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Speaker 1: you're a sinner in need of a savior. to see
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Speaker 1: that you are absolutely hopeless, and to see that you
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Speaker 1: deserve the justice of God, and yet you've received mercy.
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Speaker 1: And run to the one who's been merciful. Plead for
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Speaker 1: the forgiveness of your sins. Trust in the finished work
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Speaker 1: of Christ alone for your salvation. So that you too
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Speaker 1: might have the hope of heaven. So that you too
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Speaker 1: might say, as we sang earlier, on Christ, the solid
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Speaker 1: rock I stand, all of the ground is sinking sand.
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Speaker 1: There is hope in no other, especially not yourself. Our
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Speaker 1: hope of heaven is found in Christ and in Christ alone.
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Speaker 1: Flee to him.