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Voddie Baucham - The God-Man · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: Amen. If you have your Bibles with you, open them
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Speaker 1: to Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. And while we're making apologies
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Speaker 1: for scheduling errors, I'll apologize for doing my sermons out
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Speaker 1: of order. I realize that yesterday I did the one
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Speaker 1: that I'm supposed to do tomorrow and Actually, this time
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Speaker 1: I was going to do the one I was supposed
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Speaker 1: to do yesterday, but, you know, I guess, whatever. But
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Speaker 1: tonight we're going to look at the God-man. Jesus Christ,
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Speaker 1: the God-man. Jesus, who, when we think about the doctrine
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Speaker 1: of man, has to be at the forefront of our minds.
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Speaker 1: Because he is all that man ought to be in
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Speaker 1: his humanity. And he has the authority to dictate all
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Speaker 1: that man ought to be in his deity. He is
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Speaker 1: the God-man. And so we'll take a look at the
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Speaker 1: God-man here in Colossians chapter 1. But as we do,
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Speaker 1: just be reminded of the fact that the greatest tool
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Speaker 1: or one of the greatest tools of deception that the
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Speaker 1: enemy has is the fact that it has been easy
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Speaker 1: to make people appreciate Jesus in his humanity. And you
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Speaker 1: don't need any more evidence for that than Christmas. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Nobody has a problem with Christmas. Nobody. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if it was true this year or last year as
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Speaker 1: it was in years past that the biggest and most expensive,
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Speaker 1: maybe not the biggest, but the most expensive Christmas tree
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Speaker 1: in the world and a mall in Abu Dhabi. Just
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Speaker 1: wrap your head around that for a moment. And that
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Speaker 1: ought to just tell you all that you need to know.
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Speaker 1: We don't mind at all. In fact, there are people
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Speaker 1: who use Jesus and his humanity to argue for their sins.
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Speaker 1: When you think about, for example, the abortion debate, there
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Speaker 1: are people who try to use Jesus in their arguments
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Speaker 1: for abortion. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, put billboards,
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Speaker 1: I believe some of them here in Florida, after the
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Speaker 1: Dobbs decision, basically saying, you know, y'all come to California
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Speaker 1: and you'll be able to get abortions. And he used
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Speaker 1: the Words of Jesus on the bottom of the billboard.
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Speaker 1: We just don't mind. As long as it can just
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Speaker 1: be Jesus in his humanity. Jesus as a good man.
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Speaker 1: Jesus as a wise man. Jesus as an important man
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Speaker 1: who said important things. Jesus as a man who suffered.
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Speaker 1: Jesus as a man who loved. unlike any man has
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Speaker 1: ever loved. And all of those things are absolutely true
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Speaker 1: and woefully insufficient. He is the God-man. And we see
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Speaker 1: that here in Colossians chapter 1. We're going to look
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Speaker 1: at beginning at verse 15. In verses 15 through 20,
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Speaker 1: You have two assertions with explanations. The first assertion is
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Speaker 1: that Jesus is the creator God. And we see that
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Speaker 1: there in verse 15. He is the image of the
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Speaker 1: invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Then in verse 16,
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Speaker 1: you have four. So Paul's going to explain what he
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Speaker 1: means by that. Then in verse 18, head of the
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Speaker 1: body of the church, beginning firstborn from the dead. In
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Speaker 1: verse 19, he has four. And he's going to explain
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Speaker 1: what he means by that. And then in the next paragraph,
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Speaker 1: beginning in verse 21, we have the so what. So
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Speaker 1: let's look at those three movements here in this text.
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Speaker 1: The first one is that Jesus is the creator God.
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Speaker 1: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
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Speaker 1: of all creation. The Greek theory is that he's the
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Speaker 1: icon of the invisible God. And we all understand what
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Speaker 1: an icon is, right? The picture, the image. You have
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Speaker 1: a program on your computer or a program on your phone.
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Speaker 1: And it's gigabytes of data or there's a hard drive
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Speaker 1: that's terabytes of data. And the way that you know
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Speaker 1: where that is is that there's an icon, there's an image,
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Speaker 1: and you go to the image. And that's the word
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Speaker 1: that's used here, that Jesus is the icon. Jesus is
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Speaker 1: the physical representation. Jesus is God in the flesh. He
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Speaker 1: is the image of the invisible God. God is a spirit,
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Speaker 1: and he doesn't have a body like a man. Amen? Amen?
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Speaker 1: is absolutely 100% true and that God who is a
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Speaker 1: spirit and doesn't have a body like man is incarnate
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Speaker 1: in the person of Jesus Christ the God who spoke
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Speaker 1: the world into existence wrapped himself in flesh in a
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Speaker 1: virgin's womb the creator God We read it a few
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Speaker 1: moments ago, but let's look at it again in John 1.
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Speaker 1: We read those words, in the beginning was the Word,
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Speaker 1: and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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Speaker 1: He was in the beginning with God. All things were
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Speaker 1: made through Him, and without Him, not anything was made.
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Speaker 1: That was made. Apart from Him, nothing was made. Jesus
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Speaker 1: is the Creator God. It's interesting that there are people
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Speaker 1: who come to this verse and The modern-day version of
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Speaker 1: the Arian heresy and Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, just a
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Speaker 1: few weeks ago, sat and had a multi-hour conversation with
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Speaker 1: a man who was a leading Jehovah's Witness in Zimbabwe,
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Speaker 1: our neighbors to the south. And he just, like all
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Speaker 1: Jehovah's Witnesses, wanted to hone in on this verse. And
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Speaker 1: so it says there that he's the firstborn of all creation.
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Speaker 1: He's the firstborn, which means that he's the first thing
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Speaker 1: that was created. He is a created being. That's what
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Speaker 1: that means, that he was a created being. And again,
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Speaker 1: they have to do a bunch of theological gymnastics in
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Speaker 1: John chapter 1 as well, you know. Because John chapter
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Speaker 1: 1 makes it very clear that he was in the
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Speaker 1: beginning with God. He is eternal with God the Father.
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Speaker 1: And that all things were made through him and without
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Speaker 1: him was not anything made that was made. Nothing was
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Speaker 1: made apart from him. But the point there was that
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Speaker 1: that word firstborn has to mean, and it's interesting in
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Speaker 1: our context as well, Because in our part of the world,
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Speaker 1: people use that term. You know, here when you meet
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Speaker 1: somebody and they have children and they introduce you to
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Speaker 1: their children, the phrase that we use would be, right,
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Speaker 1: this is my oldest. Or how many children do you have?
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Speaker 1: I have, you know, however many children. We have nine children, right? Really?
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Speaker 1: What are the ages? And I would go, my oldest is.
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Speaker 1: But in the African context, that's not how people speak.
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Speaker 1: They would say, my firstborn is this age. My secondborn
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Speaker 1: is that age. My thirdborn. And so in that context,
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Speaker 1: because that's the way that people are used to speaking
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Speaker 1: about their children, the Jehovah's Witnesses really have something to
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Speaker 1: latch on to in that verse. And they say, there
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Speaker 1: it is. It's firstborn. He's the firstborn. And that has
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Speaker 1: to mean that he was the first thing that was created.
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Speaker 1: It's interesting, though. In Exodus chapter 4, verses 22 and 23,
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Speaker 1: and we spent a lot of time here during that conversation.
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Speaker 1: Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord,
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Speaker 1: Israel is my firstborn son. And I say to you,
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Speaker 1: let my son go that he may serve me. If
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Speaker 1: you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill
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Speaker 1: your firstborn son. And that verse is very important because
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Speaker 1: the word firstborn is used two different ways in that
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Speaker 1: one statement. Israel is my firstborn son. That text cannot
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Speaker 1: mean that Israel was the first nation ever created. It can't.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't. There's something else there. That word can absolutely
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Speaker 1: mean the first one that was born. But the word
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Speaker 1: also means the preeminent one. The one who has first place.
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Speaker 1: And that's what it means here. The image of the
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Speaker 1: invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. How do we
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Speaker 1: know that? Am I just asserting that? No, verse 16.
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Speaker 1: There's an explanation. For. Why is he the firstborn of
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Speaker 1: all creation? For. By him all things were created. And
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Speaker 1: then there's a point of emphasis. Some couplets here. In heaven.
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Speaker 1: In heaven. On earth, visible and invisible, where the thrones
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Speaker 1: or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created
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Speaker 1: through him and for him. He is preeminent over all
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Speaker 1: creation because he is the creator. That's what he means.
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Speaker 1: Not that Jesus was the first thing that was created before.
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Speaker 1: so that he could create everything else. It doesn't fit
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Speaker 1: the context. And it's absolutely unnecessary. Why does God need
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Speaker 1: to create a creator? Amen? If you can create a creator,
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Speaker 1: you can just create. By him all things were created.
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Speaker 1: This is incredibly important for us to comprehend. Incredibly important
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Speaker 1: for us to take in. If we are to fully
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Speaker 1: appreciate Jesus Christ, our Savior, we must first fully appreciate
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Speaker 1: that he is Jesus Christ, our creator. He is creator God.
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Speaker 1: Everything that we're going to read about who he is
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Speaker 1: and what he's done has to be understood in this context,
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Speaker 1: that he is our creator God. He made the world
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Speaker 1: and everything in it, things that are visible and things
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Speaker 1: that are invisible, he made them. Thrones and dominions and
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Speaker 1: rulers and authorities, he made them. He is not just
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Speaker 1: preeminent over them because he became preeminent. He is not
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Speaker 1: preeminent over them because he defeated them. He is preeminent
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Speaker 1: over them because he is their creator. But not only
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Speaker 1: did he make them, not only did he make them,
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Speaker 1: look at this. All things were created through him and
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Speaker 1: for him. They exist now. because of him and they
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Speaker 1: exist for him. You exist because of him and you
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Speaker 1: exist for him. In other words, your life is not
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Speaker 1: your own. Your life exists for Christ. Your life exists
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Speaker 1: to bring glory to Christ. Your life exists as glory
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Speaker 1: for Christ because of the glory of Christ. And everything
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Speaker 1: that exists, exists for Christ. He is God, the creator.
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Speaker 1: And not only that, verse 17, He is before all
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Speaker 1: things and in him all things hold together. He's not
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Speaker 1: just the creator, he's the sustainer of all things. Amen?
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Speaker 1: He is my creator and he is my sustainer. He
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Speaker 1: doesn't just, or he didn't just create the world and
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Speaker 1: then leave the world to its own devices. He created
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Speaker 1: the world and he sustains the world. He upholds the
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Speaker 1: world by the power of his hand. It's his. By him,
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Speaker 1: through him, for him. And he sustains it. He is God,
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Speaker 1: our creator. He is preeminent over all creation because he
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Speaker 1: is the creator. He is preeminent over all creation because
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Speaker 1: everything was made by him. Everything was made through him
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Speaker 1: and everything was made for him. He is preeminent over
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Speaker 1: all creation because he is before all things. And in
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Speaker 1: him all things hold together. And if he didn't, the
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Speaker 1: universe would collapse in on itself. That's who he is.
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Speaker 1: And you can't appreciate what comes next unless and until
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Speaker 1: you appreciate that. Now verse 18. And he is the
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Speaker 1: head of the body, the church. He is the beginning,
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Speaker 1: the firstborn from the dead. There's that word again, firstborn.
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Speaker 1: And this is another point that helps us to interpret
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Speaker 1: the way that it was used before. Firstborn from the dead.
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Speaker 1: Is he the first one who ever died and got
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Speaker 1: back up? No. Actually, there was another one who died
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Speaker 1: and got back up because he told him to get up. Amen? Lazarus,
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Speaker 1: come forth. And he did. So would that not make
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Speaker 1: Jesus the secondborn from the dead? No, he's still the
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Speaker 1: firstborn from the dead because firstborn here means preeminent. And
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Speaker 1: he's preeminent in a number of ways, not least of
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Speaker 1: which is that his coming forth from the dead was
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Speaker 1: not like that of Lazarus. Why? Because Lazarus had to
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Speaker 1: do it again. Amen, somebody. What a day. Can you imagine?
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Speaker 1: You know, everybody's around Lazarus and they're like, oh, Lazarus,
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Speaker 1: we love you. It's amazing. You're back. We just, it just, wow.
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Speaker 1: I'm not one to be adding to scripture, but I've
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Speaker 1: got what they call a sanctified imagination, just like everybody else.
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Speaker 1: And I can just imagine that. I can imagine that picnic.
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Speaker 1: You just don't look as happy as we would expect
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Speaker 1: someone to look if they had just come back from
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Speaker 1: the dead. First of all, this picnic ain't nothing like
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Speaker 1: the one I left. Amen. Secondly, I got to do
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Speaker 1: that again. We all want to be in heaven. Amen. Amen.
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Speaker 1: Nobody wants to take the ride. And we definitely don't
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Speaker 1: want to have to do it twice. Lazarus is no
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Speaker 1: longer with us because he died again. But Christ rose
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Speaker 1: from the dead and is alive right now today, seated
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Speaker 1: at the right hand of the Father, forever making intercession
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Speaker 1: for us. and he's never again going to taste death.
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Speaker 1: So he's preeminent in that regard. But he's also the
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Speaker 1: firstborn in that there are others who now have the
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Speaker 1: hope of resurrection from the dead because he rose from
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Speaker 1: the dead. He defeated death, hell, and the grave. So
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Speaker 1: he's preeminent over death. God, our creator, tasted death How?
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Speaker 1: Because God, our creator, became man, our redeemer. So that
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Speaker 1: he could be the head of the body, the church.
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Speaker 1: Not just the head over all creation, but the head
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Speaker 1: of the body, the church, and the beginnings the firstborn
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Speaker 1: from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
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Speaker 1: By the way, the word used there for preeminence also
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Speaker 1: makes it very clear that the term firstborn here is
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Speaker 1: all about preeminence. And then in verse 19 there is
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Speaker 1: a Four. Just like in verse 16, we had a
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Speaker 1: four that explained what Paul meant. Here we have a
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Speaker 1: four that explains what Paul means. He's the head of
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Speaker 1: the body of the church. He's the beginning and firstborn
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Speaker 1: from the dead, so that in everything he might have preeminence. Four.
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Speaker 1: In him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
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Speaker 1: In who? In the man, Jesus Christ. He wasn't just
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Speaker 1: good man. He was God man. In him, all the
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Speaker 1: fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Look with me
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Speaker 1: if you will at John, John 14. John 14. John
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Speaker 1: 14 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It
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Speaker 1: just is for a number of reasons, not least of
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Speaker 1: which is that the disciples let me know that I'm
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Speaker 1: all right. They just do. You know, Jesus is, you know,
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Speaker 1: let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe
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Speaker 1: also in me. my father's house, so many mansions. I'm
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Speaker 1: going to prepare a place for you so that where
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Speaker 1: I am, you may be also. And then Thomas comes
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Speaker 1: in and Thomas says, Votie, you're all right. Don't feel
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Speaker 1: bad when you don't understand things. Because I'm the guy
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Speaker 1: who said, Jesus, that sounds really good. And we absolutely,
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Speaker 1: absolutely want to be wherever you are. But can you
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Speaker 1: give us directions? And then after that, when he makes
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Speaker 1: this declaration, I'm the way, the truth, the life, no
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Speaker 1: one comes to the Father except through me. If you
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Speaker 1: had known me, you would have known my father also.
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Speaker 1: From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
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Speaker 1: And right after that declarative statement, when Thomas has been corrected,
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Speaker 1: and you would think that everybody else would say, you
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Speaker 1: know what? Thomas put his foot in his mouth. Jesus
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Speaker 1: just made it very clear what he was talking about.
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Speaker 1: Even if I don't understand, I'm just going to chew
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Speaker 1: on it for a while. But in verse eight, Philip
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Speaker 1: said to him, Lord, show us the father and it's
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Speaker 1: enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been
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Speaker 1: with you so long and you still 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 work. Believe me that
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Speaker 1: I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
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Speaker 1: Or else believe on the account of the works themselves.
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Speaker 1: For in him all the fullness of God was pleased
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Speaker 1: to dwell completely unimaginable virtually unfathomable that God would become
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Speaker 1: a man but that's exactly what happened God our creator
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Speaker 1: became man, our redeemer. Not only that, verse 20, and
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Speaker 1: through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on
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Speaker 1: earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of
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Speaker 1: his cross. There's the why. The God who created the
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Speaker 1: world and everything in it, the one who is preeminent
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Speaker 1: over all creation, takes on a human nature so that
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Speaker 1: he can redeem sinners from a theological perspective what happens
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Speaker 1: here is that the first Adam falls into sin and
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Speaker 1: all we in him fall because he is our federal
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Speaker 1: head and the last Adam Jesus Christ keeps the law
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Speaker 1: and is completely and utterly righteous, whereas the first Adam
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Speaker 1: was not. And because of that, he presents himself as
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Speaker 1: the federal head to all of those who place their
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Speaker 1: faith in him so that we might find life in him.
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Speaker 1: And as our federal head, Christ keeps the law on
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Speaker 1: our behalf so that his righteousness could be imputed to
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Speaker 1: us and dies the death that we owe so that
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Speaker 1: our sinfulness can be imputed to him. And Paul takes
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Speaker 1: all of that and puts it into this phrase, making
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Speaker 1: peace by the blood of his cross. And then he
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Speaker 1: goes on to explain in verse 21, why does this matter?
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Speaker 1: Why is it important that we believe that Jesus is
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Speaker 1: not just a good man and a good teacher? Why
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Speaker 1: is it important that we don't just join the rest
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Speaker 1: of the world and say, we'll take the parts of
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Speaker 1: Jesus that we like, but the rest of it, the
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Speaker 1: parts that confound us, the parts that are hard for
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Speaker 1: us to embrace, those parts we'll leave. Because if he
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Speaker 1: is not God, our creator, then he cannot be man,
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Speaker 1: our redeemer. Verse 21. And you who once were alienated
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Speaker 1: and hostile in mind and doing evil deeds. By the way,
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Speaker 1: notice this trifecta. Why did you need this? Why do
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Speaker 1: we need the God-man? Because we're alienated from God. Because
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Speaker 1: we're hostile in mind toward God. And because in that
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Speaker 1: alienation and that hostility, we are engaged in evil deeds.
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Speaker 1: And we serve a holy and righteous God who cannot
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Speaker 1: let that go. And you who once were alienated and
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Speaker 1: hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled
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Speaker 1: in his body of flesh by his death in order
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Speaker 1: to present you holy and blameless and above reproach. before
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Speaker 1: him that's why because if he were a mere man
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Speaker 1: like us born of ordinary generation then he would have
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Speaker 1: been under the federal headship of Adam just like you
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Speaker 1: and just like me He would have inherited Adam's sin
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Speaker 1: just like you and just like me. And as such,
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Speaker 1: as a mere man, it would not have mattered how
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Speaker 1: outwardly good he was. He would have had a sin
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Speaker 1: nature that had to be accounted for, a sin nature
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Speaker 1: that had to be redeemed. And there is nothing that
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Speaker 1: he could do, nothing he could have done in order
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Speaker 1: to take that away from himself. Just like you, just
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Speaker 1: like me. He would have been alienated and hostile in mind,
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Speaker 1: and he would have been doing evil deeds. But he
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Speaker 1: was not born of ordinary generation. He's the God-man who
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Speaker 1: was born of a virgin, who therefore did not inherit
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Speaker 1: Adam's sin. And it is only because of that, because
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Speaker 1: he didn't inherit Adam's sin, he could atone for ours.
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Speaker 1: Which is exactly what he did. He reconciled us in
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Speaker 1: his body of flesh by his death. in order to
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Speaker 1: present us holy, blameless, and above reproach in him, in Christ,
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Speaker 1: under his federal headship. And that's our only hope. That's
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Speaker 1: our only answer. And Paul makes that clear In verse 23,
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Speaker 1: because there's an if clause there. If indeed you continue
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Speaker 1: in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the
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Speaker 1: hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been
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Speaker 1: proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul,
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Speaker 1: became a minister. In other words, we have to receive
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, as he has been presented.
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Speaker 1: which takes us right back to where we began. There
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Speaker 1: are indeed people who think very highly of Jesus, and
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Speaker 1: they're fine as long as Jesus stays a man. For
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Speaker 1: many of them, as long as he stays the baby
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Speaker 1: in the manger. Amen? Amen? For others, he doesn't have
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Speaker 1: to just stay the baby in the manger. He can
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Speaker 1: actually grow up. But he has to grow up into
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Speaker 1: the man who is the picture of love and morality
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Speaker 1: that I can embrace. So he has to be a
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Speaker 1: picture of love and morality who said some things that
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Speaker 1: I can rip kicking and screaming out of context and
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Speaker 1: put on a billboard encouraging women to come to my state.
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Speaker 1: to kill their babies in the womb. He has to
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Speaker 1: be a picture of love and morality that I can
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Speaker 1: just drag kicking and screaming out of the scriptures and say, how?
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Speaker 1: How can you as a Christian say that you're against
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Speaker 1: marriage equality? When Jesus preached love, when he never spoke
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Speaker 1: against homosexuality. Stop me if you've heard these before. In
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Speaker 1: other words, I find in Jesus someone whom I can
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Speaker 1: use to justify my lifestyle. So they're fine if he
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Speaker 1: stays the baby in the manger. And they're fine if
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Speaker 1: he grows up as someone that they can use and
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Speaker 1: manipulate in order to promote whatever it is that they
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Speaker 1: want to promote. But when he stands as the God-man,
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Speaker 1: when he stands as the one who created the world
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Speaker 1: and everything in it, When he stands as the one
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Speaker 1: who's preeminent over all creation. When he stands as the
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Speaker 1: one who sustains the world. When he stands as the
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Speaker 1: one who's king of kings and lord of lords. When
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Speaker 1: he stands as the one who laid down his life
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Speaker 1: to die for sin because as God, he takes sin
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Speaker 1: that seriously. Well, now it's a different story. And Paul says,
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Speaker 1: the only way that this means anything for you, that
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Speaker 1: is of any use, is if you believe that Jesus
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Speaker 1: is everything that the scriptures say he is. You don't
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Speaker 1: get to use him for your purposes. He gets to
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Speaker 1: use you for his. Because he's not running for God.
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Speaker 1: He just is. This is why we not only sing
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Speaker 1: about him, but we sing to him. This is why
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Speaker 1: we not only learn and value his words, but we
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Speaker 1: worship him. We adore him. We surrender our very lives
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Speaker 1: to him. Because he is indeed the God-man. He is
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, God our creator. Jesus Christ, man our redeemer.
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, Master. Redeemer and friend. Let's pray.
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Speaker 1: God our Father we bow before you tonight. in the
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Speaker 1: midst of a world that continues to refuse to kiss
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Speaker 1: the Son. We bow before you tonight in the midst
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Speaker 1: of a world that continues to desire to use you
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Speaker 1: for its own purposes, to use your Son, our Lord,
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Speaker 1: our Master, our Savior for their own purposes. We bow
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Speaker 1: before you in the midst of a world that is
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Speaker 1: offended when Jesus becomes anything more than that which they desire.
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Speaker 1: And yet we bow before you in humble adoration. Acknowledging
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Speaker 1: that you are our God, the God and Father of
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Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ. We bow before you in humble
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Speaker 1: gratitude for the person and work of Christ. And we
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Speaker 1: bow before you pleading with you that you would grant
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Speaker 1: us grace, not only to hold firmly to these truths,
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Speaker 1: but to proclaim them in the midst of a world
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Speaker 1: that hates them, unless and until and apart from the
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Speaker 1: quickening work of your Spirit. And so, Father, we pray
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Speaker 1: that you would continue to put your word in our
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Speaker 1: mouths and that you would continue by the power of
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Speaker 1: your spirit to make them effectual that we might proclaim
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Speaker 1: the truth of the gospel, that we might proclaim the
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Speaker 1: glories of the God-man, and that as we do so,
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Speaker 1: you would call lost sinners to yourself, and that Christ
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Speaker 1: would indeed have the fullness of the reward for which
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Speaker 1: he died. Thank you for reminding us once again of
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Speaker 1: our great need and your great provision. We pray these things,
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Speaker 1: believe these things, and hope in these things because we
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Speaker 1: ask them in that name that is above every name,
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Speaker 1: that name at which every knee will bow in heaven
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Speaker 1: and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue
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Speaker 1: will confess that he is Lord. Lord. To the glory
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Speaker 1: of God the Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.