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1 Corinthians 15:50-58 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Okay, we're going to get this morning right to the teaching, so I'm going to ask you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
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1 Corinthians chapter 15.
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1 Corinthians chapter 15.
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1 Corinthians chapter 15.
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So as we've been doing now for a number of weeks, we are preaching a sermon from the Bible reading plan from this week.
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So from our reading this week, I thought that we may all be well served by a careful consideration of our blessed future hope.
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Paul has been laboring in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 to give evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in verses 1 through 11.
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1 Corinthians chapter 15.
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To explain the implications of denying the resurrection in verses 12 through 19.
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2 Corinthians chapter 15.
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To speak to the plan and the incentives of the resurrection in verses 20 through 34.
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And a description and explanation of our resurrection bodies in verses 35 through 49.
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Paul concludes this chapter with a proclamation of the wonderful victory that is ours in Christ Jesus.
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Because Jesus has been raised, we too shall be raised.
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Our hope is expressed by the epitaph engraved on the headstone of Benjamin Franklin, penned by Franklin himself.
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I found this week.
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I don't know if you've ever seen this.
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He wrote, and this is engraved on his headstone,
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the body of Franklin printer.
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Like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here food for worms.
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But the work will not be lost, for it will appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the author.
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Now, while we cannot be sure this sentiment was true of its author,
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we can be sure that it will be true for all who place persevering faith in Jesus Christ.
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If we are in Christ, we will have a resurrection transformation and a resurrection triumph.
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And in light of these two future realities, we will presently live lives of resurrection thanksgiving.
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So you may have caught it there, the alliteration, as you know, good Baptists like to do.
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So that's our outline for this morning's text.
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Number one, resurrection transformation.
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Number two, resurrection triumph.
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And number three, resurrection thanksgiving.
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So first, resurrection transformation.
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In verse 50, Paul begins this section by telling us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
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This, of course, in light of the rest of chapter 15, cannot be a denial of bodily resurrection.
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What Paul means by flesh and blood is to say our human nature as we know it, our mortal bodies,
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these bodies that we currently inhabit.
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It is this state in which we presently exist that cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
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Now, the kingdom of God here, the context helps us to understand, is not referring universally to God's present reign over the cosmos
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or to his rule brought to bear in the human heart, right, as it's used in other places in the scripture,
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but rather to his consummate reign on the glorious future day referenced in Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15,
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where loud voices declare,
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the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
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and he shall reign forever and ever.
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That's what our text looks forward to, and that's what Paul is saying that our flesh and blood cannot inherit.
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The human body in its present fallen state is perishable.
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It is marred by sin.
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It is aging, deteriorating, and will one day cease to be.
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Now, some of you are too young to feel this reality,
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but I promise that one day it will become a stark reality for you.
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You will know that your body is falling apart some quicker than others.
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Our perishable bodies cannot inherit the imperishable, Paul says.
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So if we have any hope of inheriting the kingdom of God, we must be transformed.
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Paul has been making this case in the previous verses.
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Because Christ was raised, we too will be raised.
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He said of our resurrection bodies in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning in verse 42 and following,
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So it is with the resurrection of the dead.
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What is sown is perishable.
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What is raised is imperishable.
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It is sown in dishonor.
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It is raised in glory.
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It is sown in weakness.
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It is raised in power.
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It is sown a natural body.
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It is raised a spiritual body.
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If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
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And beloved, this is glorious truth.
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We will one day have new, uncorrupted, and incorruptible bodies.
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Just as those in Christ Jesus have souls set free from the bondage of sin,
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we will one day have new bodies that are set free from the bondage of sin.
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If you have suffered this week from any ailment,
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if you have felt any discomfort whatsoever this week,
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then I think we all could find ourselves in that place.
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This text should be of great encouragement to you.
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One day you will suffer no more.
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We will be imperishable and immortal.
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Verse 53 says,
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For this perishable body must put on the imperishable,
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and this mortal body must put on immortality.
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Paul inserts a further encouragement in verses 51 and 52.
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He says,
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Behold, I tell you a mystery.
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We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
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In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
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at the last trumpet,
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for the trumpet will sound,
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and the dead will be raised imperishable,
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and we shall be changed.
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Paul tells us that when Christ returns,
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some believers will not have to die first before they will be transformed.
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On that wonderful day when Christ returns,
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the trump will sound and he will come back.
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And those who are already dead will be raised,
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those who are in Christ,
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and those who are presently alive will be transformed.
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Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16 and 17,
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For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command,
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with the voice of an archangel,
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and with the sound of the trumpet of God,
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and the dead in Christ will rise first.
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Then we who are alive, who are left,
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will be caught up together with him in the clouds
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to meet the Lord in the air.
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And so we will always be with the Lord.
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Whether we suffer the decay and death of our mortal bodies,
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or if the Lord returns before deterioration takes us,
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we have great hope in resurrection transformation.
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Jesus said in John chapter 14 and verse 3,
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And if I go and prepare a place for you,
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I will come again and will take you to myself,
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that where I am you may be also.
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This is the great and high hope of the Christian,
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that one day we'll be united,
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apart from our spoiled flesh,
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in Christ forever.
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If we are in Christ,
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we will have a resurrection transformation.
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Also, if we are in Christ,
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we will have a resurrection triumph.
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While death will be experienced by most who are in Christ,
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we must recognize that Christ's resurrection
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broke the power of death for those who believe in him.
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Paul makes two important points concerning this matter
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in Romans chapter 5.
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First, Romans 5, 12,
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sin brought death into the world.
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There he says,
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Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man,
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Adam,
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and death through sin,
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so death spread to all men,
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because all sinned.
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This is Paul's very point in verse 56 of our text this morning.
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The sting of death is sin,
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and the power of sin is the law.
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Death and the harm of it came into the world through sin,
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and it, the knowledge of sin brought by the law,
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written on the human heart,
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revealed man's sinfulness.
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This is our great problem.
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Sin brought death.
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Also from Romans chapter 5,
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in verse 17,
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secondly, Paul there says that Christ brought life.
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In Romans 5, 17, he says,
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For if, because of one man's trespass,
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death reigned through that one man,
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much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
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and the free gift of righteousness
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reign in life through the one man.
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Jesus Christ.
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And he is making this very same point
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to the Corinthian believers
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in citing from Isaiah chapter 25, verse 8,
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and Hosea chapter 13, verse 14,
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in verses 54 and 55,
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1 Corinthians chapter 15,
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which just for repetition,
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he says,
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death is swallowed up in victory.
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O death, where is your victory?
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O death, where is your sting?
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This is precious at the middle of this text, right?
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These rhetorical questions being asked.
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At the end of verse 54,
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death is swallowed up in victory.
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And then these rhetorical questions,
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O death, where is your victory?
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It's non-existent.
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It does not exist.
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O death, where is your sting?
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There is no longer a sting of death
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for those who are in Christ.
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R.C.H. Linsky,
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who was a late 19th century,
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early 20th century American pastor
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and theologian,
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wrote this of this text.
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Death is not merely destroyed
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so that it cannot do further harm,
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while all of the harm
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which it has wrought on God's children remains.
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The tornado is not merely checked
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so that no additional homes are wrecked,
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while those that were wrecked still lie in ruin.
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Death and all of its apparent victories
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are undone for God's children.
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What looked like a victory for death
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and like a defeat for us
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when our bodies die and decay
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shall be utterly reversed
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so that death dies in absolute defeat
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and our bodies live again
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in absolute victory.
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That is good.
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That is wonderful truth.
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O death, where is your victory?
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O death, where is your sting?
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So if we are in Christ,
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we will have a resurrection transformation
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and a resurrection triumph
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that gives to us,
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that births in us,
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that becomes the foundation
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for present-day resurrection thanksgiving.
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So that's your third point.
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Resurrection thanksgiving.
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In light of the two aforementioned future realities,
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we ought to presently live lives
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of resurrection thanksgiving.
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Paul states it this way in our text,
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verse 57,
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But thanks be to God
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who gives us the victory
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through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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We should be thankful for a victory
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that is sure,
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and it is sure because it is through
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our Lord Jesus Christ.
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It is sure because He accomplished it.
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Aren't you thankful this morning
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that it is not left up to us
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to accomplish our victory over sin
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because we have proven time and time again
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that we would utterly fail at this, right?
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But Jesus has accomplished it.
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Our victory is a divine reality.
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Here I would like to briefly describe to you
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the doctrine of double imputation.
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You don't have to know it by those terms,
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but I would like for you to.
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So, the doctrine of double imputation
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simply says this,
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By faith in Christ,
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He takes our punishment in Himself
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on the cross, right?
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We are most familiar with this,
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this accomplishment of Jesus.
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It's often called Christ's passive obedience, right?
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He died.
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He gave Himself to the will of the Father,
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and He died on the cross,
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paid the penalty for our sin.
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Galatians 3.13 says,
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Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
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by becoming a curse for us,
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for it is written,
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cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
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So, in Jesus' death on the cross,
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because God is completely just,
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He must punish sin.
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He punishes our sin in Christ.
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So, Christ takes that punishment from us.
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But this is not enough
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for us to be found pleasing before God.
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This just brings us up to neutral.
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The debt has been canceled,
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but God still requires of us
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perfect law-keeping.
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So, having the debt canceled,
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we now can't live perfectly either.
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We have no ability in and of ourselves
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to now keep the law perfectly.
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So, something else had to be accomplished, right?
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So, in Christ's passive obedience,
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we get our debt canceled.
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That's the first imputation.
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The second is this.
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He gives to us His righteousness.
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Jesus' perfect law-keeping,
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often called Christ's active obedience, right?
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The one who was without sin,
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kept the law perfectly,
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and grants that to us,
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so that we can stand before God
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as perfect law-keepers.
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Romans chapter 5, again, verse 19,
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For as by the one man's disobedience
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the many were made sinners, Adam,
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so by the one man's obedience,
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Christ,
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the many will be made righteous.
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And that's this doctrine
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of double imputation, right?
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Our sin given to Christ,
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imputed to Christ,
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His righteousness imputed to us.
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Martin Luther called this
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the great exchange.
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The resurrection of Christ
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is the sign that these promises
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are sure through faith in Him.
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If He was not raised,
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He did not fulfill all of
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the Old Testament prophecies
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about the Christ, right?
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He lived a life supposedly perfect,
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died a death supposedly for us,
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but if He was not raised,
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how could we know?
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So the resurrection of Christ
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is the sign that He is,
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in fact, the Christ, right?
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That He did live this life
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that we needed Him to live.
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He did die the death
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that we needed Him to die.
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So His promises are sure
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through faith in Him.
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We have victory
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through our Lord Jesus Christ,
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through His life,
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through His death,
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and through His resurrection.
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And we should thank God for this.
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I hope that you don't find in yourself
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a coldness towards these truths,
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that you don't have a,
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yeah, yeah, the gospel kind of mentality.
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But the reality of what Jesus accomplished
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for you is fresh and new to you
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each day and in each moment of each day.
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We ought to always be,
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as God's people,
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giving praise for what He has done for us
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in Christ.
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And we should thank Him
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not only in word,
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but also in deed.
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The last verse here,
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verse 58.
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Therefore,
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all that He said so far,
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therefore,
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my beloved brothers,
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be steadfast,
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immovable,
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always abounding
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in the work of the Lord,
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knowing that in the Lord
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your labor
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is not in vain.
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our lives should be lives
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of praise,
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enduring,
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unshakable,
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abounding
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praise.
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This is what He's saying to us.
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Because of who we are in Jesus,
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we ought to live lives
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that are oriented
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in this thankful direction.
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Right?
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Not to gain our salvation,
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but because it's been accomplished,
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because we have victory
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through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Right?
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It's a standing,
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it's a status
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that is ours.
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And as such,
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then,
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we turn ourselves outward
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toward loving kindness,
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abounding work
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in the Lord,
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that we're steadfast,
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that we're immovable,
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right?
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That we press our lives
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in that direction
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without fail.
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Gordon Clark,
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a 20th century American philosopher
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and theologian,
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wrote a helpful paraphrase
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of verse 58
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in his commentary
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on this text.
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He says this,
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therefore,
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we should mortify emotion,
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be steadfast,
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unchangeable,
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not erratic
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and scatterbrained,
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easily discouraged,
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and should multiply
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our good works
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in the knowledge
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that the Lord
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will make them
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profitable.
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God having saved us,
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that doesn't snap
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his fingers
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and take us out
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of this world
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because he has chosen
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to use us
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as instruments
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in this world,
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that we would be
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the means
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to his end
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of saving
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a people
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for himself.
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What a wonderful
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blessing this is
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as we live
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in these mortal bodies,
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right?
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As we suffer
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in this world
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to know that God
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has left us here
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for the great purpose
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of glorifying him
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amongst all peoples.
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We ought to joyfully
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rejoice
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and celebrate
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and join in
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on this work,
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right?
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Knowing that
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in the Lord
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our labor
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is not in vain.
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Now,
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I'm going to
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leave off
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this point here
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in the hope
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of leaving
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a bunch of room
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for fruitful,
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continued thought
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and discussion
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this morning
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around this text.
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So,
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if we are in Christ,
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we will have
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a resurrection
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transformation.
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We will have
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a resurrection
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triumph
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and in light
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of these two
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future realities,
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we will presently
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live lives
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of resurrection
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thanksgiving.
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So, let's pray.
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Amen.