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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Righteousness Is a Five-... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Have you ever walked past a park bench with a
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Speaker 1: wet paint sign on it and wanted to run your
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Speaker 1: finger across it? Well, Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck
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Speaker 1: Swindauld exposes the uncomfortable fact we're all rule breakers at heart,
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Speaker 1: whether it's pushing the speed limit or flirting with boundaries,
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Speaker 1: something inside us whispers, you can't tell me what to do.
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Speaker 1: Sinfulness saturates the human condition. Yet here's the scandalous truth.
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Speaker 1: God knows exactly who we are and loves us anyway.
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Speaker 1: Teaching from Romans Chapter four, Chuck titled today's message, righteousness
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Speaker 1: is a five letter word.
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Speaker 2: The Lord Jesus Christ came to live and to die,
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Speaker 2: and when he died, he paid the complete penalty for
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Speaker 2: the sins that you and I have committed. Past president
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Speaker 2: and future paid for them, all paid them in full,
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Speaker 2: so that a holy God would be satisfied that there
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Speaker 2: had been a payment for sin. It is only just
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Speaker 2: that that happened. And now the Lord God says to us,
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Speaker 2: I offer you salvation. Christ having paid the penalty, I
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Speaker 2: offer you the gift of salvation. Believe it, accept it.
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Speaker 2: Just like Abram trusted me, you trust me for this
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Speaker 2: now as If that isn't enough, Paul goes further. He's
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Speaker 2: been known to do that too, So he goes back
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Speaker 2: to something else that's familiar, and that's something altogether different
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Speaker 2: from abram standing under the stars. This illustration is an
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Speaker 2: illustration of a paycheck verse four. He goes into that one.
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Speaker 2: Now to the one who works, his wage is not
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Speaker 2: credited as a favor, but as what is by the way,
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Speaker 2: credited means credited to his account. It's a financial term
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Speaker 2: for adding to the ledger when nothing is there, bankrupt,
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Speaker 2: and now it's credited to your account. Now, in this case,
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Speaker 2: we've got a person who has a job. At the
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Speaker 2: end of the pay period, he picks up his check
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Speaker 2: or she picks up her check, and the employer has
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Speaker 2: a responsibility to pay you your wage. You take that wage,
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Speaker 2: and you have it now as your own, because you
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Speaker 2: earned it. I've never seen anyone at payday say thank you,
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Speaker 2: thank you for the gift. How gracious of you is
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Speaker 2: my boss to just give me a check. Don't do that?
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Speaker 2: Say thanks, and then you sign your name, you endorse it,
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Speaker 2: and you deposit it. Why because you earned it. Now,
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Speaker 2: hopefully you're not as arrogant as I've just illustrated. But
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Speaker 2: you know what I mean, You've earned that. That's your pay.
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Speaker 2: There's no gift in it. But verse five to the
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Speaker 2: one who does not work, isn't this great? Paul is
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Speaker 2: so logical. To the one who works, that's verse four.
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Speaker 2: But to the one who does not work, that's verse five.
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Speaker 2: But does what believes in him who justifies the ungodly,
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Speaker 2: His faith is credited as righteousness. Blessed is the man
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Speaker 2: whose sin the Lord will not take into account. That's
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Speaker 2: wonderful news as far as one can imagine. The sin
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Speaker 2: is removed so that I'm no longer separated from God
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Speaker 2: by my sinfulness. I'm now connected to God by faith,
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Speaker 2: and I have the righteousness of Christ to boot. That's
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Speaker 2: a magnificent thought. But it isn't enough for Paul. So
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Speaker 2: let's dig deeper. You have got to see how he
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Speaker 2: approaches this with the right of circumcision. If you're Jewish,
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Speaker 2: it's a part of life. In fact, the rabbi performs
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Speaker 2: the circumcision, and not only is it talked about, it
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Speaker 2: is considered one of the rights of righteousness. You must
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Speaker 2: be circumcised. It's part of becoming like the Lord. You're
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Speaker 2: to follow him as he is required. So Paul says, wait, wait, wait, okay.
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Speaker 2: In light of that being Jewish, Paul says, let's stay
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Speaker 2: with Abraham for a moment. He believed God and it
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Speaker 2: was credited to him for righteousness. Now was he circumcised
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Speaker 2: at the time he believed God? Was that a part
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Speaker 2: of his salvation? Or was it after the fact. Let's
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Speaker 2: check that out. Now look at verse nine through those eyes.
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Speaker 2: Is this blessing then, the blessing of being justified by faith?
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Speaker 2: Is this blessing then on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised? Also,
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Speaker 2: what's he getting at? Is this salvation just for the
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Speaker 2: jew or would it include the gentiles? Is it an
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Speaker 2: offer just for God's chosen people? Or would it include
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Speaker 2: those of us who are not Jewish? For we say
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Speaker 2: faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness, how then was
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Speaker 2: it credited Let's dig deeper here. Let me ask was
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Speaker 2: it while he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised,
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Speaker 2: but while uncircumcised. That's the answer to his question. He's saying,
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Speaker 2: before you go check, I want to tell you Abram
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Speaker 2: was justified before he was circumcised, not after So circumcision
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Speaker 2: was not a part of it. It was a follow up.
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Speaker 2: It was years afterwards. In fact, let's go back and look.
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Speaker 2: Let me show you. Go back to Genesis chapter sixteen.
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Speaker 2: Then we'll get into seventeen, Chapter sixteen, verse I think
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Speaker 2: it's sixteen. Yes, Abram was eighty six years old when
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Speaker 2: Hagar bore Ishmael to him. Remember the discussion out under
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Speaker 2: the stars, You're gonna have descendants like the star. Here's
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Speaker 2: a start. Okay, we've got Abram now at eighty six.
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Speaker 2: Look at the next verse. Unfortunately there's a chapter break,
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Speaker 2: but ignore that. Now we read in verse one when
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Speaker 2: Abram was ninety nine years old. Okay, do the math.
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Speaker 2: We suddenly have jumped a bunch of years over a
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Speaker 2: dozen years to get into chapter seventeen. That the Lord
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Speaker 2: appears to Abram and talks to him again. I'll save
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Speaker 2: time by telling you he describes to him in this
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Speaker 2: chapter the importance of bearing the mark of righteousness people
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Speaker 2: to know that you are my people. And so I'm
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Speaker 2: going to establish the right rite, the right of circumcision.
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Speaker 2: Brand new thing to Abram. He's ninety nine years old.
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Speaker 2: His son is thirteen years old. Look at verse twenty four,
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Speaker 2: seventeen twenty four. Now, Abraham was ninety nine years old
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Speaker 2: when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,
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Speaker 2: and Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he
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Speaker 2: was the same very same day, Abraham is circumcised. Ishmael
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Speaker 2: his son circumcised. If that's not good enough, all of
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Speaker 2: those in his household born in the house were circumcised
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Speaker 2: with him. Abraham said, I'm going to take this seriously.
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Speaker 2: I have been a friend of God all these years,
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Speaker 2: and if God says that's necessary as a part of obedience,
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Speaker 2: and I will follow through. Has nothing to do with
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Speaker 2: his being declared righteous. That was taken care of in
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Speaker 2: chapter fifteen. Now, Romans chapter four, some of you were
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Speaker 2: getting it. Some of you were saying, what time is it?
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Speaker 2: Look down at four verse eleven. In fact, as it
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Speaker 2: gets to the subject of circumcised, verse eleven, he received
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Speaker 2: a sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of
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Speaker 2: the faith, which he had while uncircumcised, so that he
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Speaker 2: might be the father of all who believed without being circumcised,
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Speaker 2: that righteousness might be credited to all of them. See
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Speaker 2: the word seal. Think of your diploma. Most of us
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Speaker 2: have at least one, Okay, some of you have a bunch.
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Speaker 2: You look closely at every diploma that's a valid diploma.
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Speaker 2: There's not only the diploma itself with your name on
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Speaker 2: it and all of the high powered words that relate
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Speaker 2: to that degree or diploma, there's also a seal with
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Speaker 2: a date. Now, a piece of paper with just a
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Speaker 2: seal is of no use. A diploma with no seal
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Speaker 2: is invalid. But when you put them together, the seal
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Speaker 2: follows the earning of the degree. It's after the fact
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Speaker 2: you come to the end of the course, you have
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Speaker 2: earned your degree. You now receive the degree with the
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Speaker 2: seal of the school, the signature of the presidents and others,
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Speaker 2: and it's dated and it's valid. Baptism follows the act
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Speaker 2: of salvation, the experience of salvation, the faith of salvation.
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Speaker 2: And it is not unlike baptism. We are baptized not
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Speaker 2: to be saved, but as a mark that we are
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Speaker 2: a follower of Christ. The same thought here in the
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Speaker 2: words seal. It is a seal of the rights, it
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Speaker 2: is a mark. It is a statement of the righteousness
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Speaker 2: of the faith which has been credit did to him
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Speaker 2: verse twelve. He goes further, the father of circumcision to
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Speaker 2: those who not only are of the circumcision, but who
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Speaker 2: also follow in the steps of the faith of our
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Speaker 2: father Abraham, which he had while uncircumcised. He says it
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Speaker 2: yet again, he is driving the point home. Why, because
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Speaker 2: truth to be learned is to be learned from truth
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Speaker 2: already known Abraham Abraham's circumcision. Every reader, Jewish reader that
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Speaker 2: was knowledgeable of the truth would understand that. He would
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Speaker 2: just have one more hang up, what about the law?
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Speaker 2: I've been taught all my life that it's the law
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Speaker 2: that I'm to keep. Next verse while recovering these grounds,
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Speaker 2: Paul says, let me go one step further. For the
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Speaker 2: promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would
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Speaker 2: be heir of the world was not through the law,
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Speaker 2: but through the righteousness of faith. Righteousness is really a
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Speaker 2: five letter word. It is a faith matter, and it
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Speaker 2: does not come from the law. Then why have we
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Speaker 2: had the law preserved? What is it about the law
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Speaker 2: that is so helpful? Look at verse fifteen. The law
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Speaker 2: brings about wrath. But where there is no law, there
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Speaker 2: is no violation. So let's go back. Let's go back
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Speaker 2: to truth. Already know when we were lost, when we
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Speaker 2: were without Christ, we lived a life pleasing ourselves, self centered,
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Speaker 2: self occupied, self fulfilled. All of it was about ourselves.
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Speaker 2: In that situation, we were distant from God, and we
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Speaker 2: lived our life in what was called a life of
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Speaker 2: depravity until we came to Christ and the light came.
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Speaker 2: But the law helped us realize how sinful we are.
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Speaker 2: It's thou shalt not, and thou shalts, and thou shalt not,
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Speaker 2: and thou shalt all said to us, this is a requirement,
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Speaker 2: this is written, this is required of you do it,
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Speaker 2: And we couldn't do it. The violation told us in
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Speaker 2: our hearts we are doing wrong. It served its purpose.
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Speaker 2: It's like a tutor that brought us to the cross.
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Speaker 2: Illustrations needed. When I was a kid, I threw a
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Speaker 2: paper route in Houston, and my paper happened to be
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Speaker 2: the Houston Press, which was delivered in the afternoon. I
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Speaker 2: don't think any longer they have the Press, but back
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Speaker 2: then it was a fairly well read paper that came
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Speaker 2: in the afternoon, and I'd pack those papers all rolled
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Speaker 2: up in the canvas bags on my bicycle and I
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Speaker 2: would ride through the neighborhood and I would throw those papers.
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Speaker 2: I knew that route virtually by heart. But by the
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Speaker 2: time I finished, I had one hundred and thirty six
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Speaker 2: on my route. But the time I finished that last paper,
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Speaker 2: I was hustling to get home. And I got to
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Speaker 2: this lot, which was across the street from our home,
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Speaker 2: owned by mister Roberts. Mister missus Roberts bought their home
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Speaker 2: on this lot, but they also bought this part of
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Speaker 2: the lot, and they didn't build anything on it. They
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Speaker 2: just grew grass and beautiful flowers and other things. Well,
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Speaker 2: when you come home on the on the sidewalk, that's
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Speaker 2: a long way to go to go around that lot
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Speaker 2: every time, especially since we live right here across the
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Speaker 2: street from So I just cut across the lawn just grass.
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Speaker 2: I didn't, you know, ride over dogs or tear up
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Speaker 2: fly I just in fact, I had my own little
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Speaker 2: path after a while, my own little bike path right
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Speaker 2: along here. And every once in a while I'd think,
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Speaker 2: I wonder what mister Roberts thinks about this, and that'd
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Speaker 2: pass it off. He's a great neighbor. He loves our family,
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Speaker 2: and he's fine until one day out there on my
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Speaker 2: path is a little sign which what did it say?
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Speaker 2: Keep off the grass? And I thought that means for
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Speaker 2: everybody but paper boys. You know that he's not going
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Speaker 2: to keep me off his grass. I mean we're friends.
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Speaker 2: Me and my dad are good buddies. And so I
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Speaker 2: kept coming. And about two days later, handwritten, kind of tacky,
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Speaker 2: but in large print, this means you. And I'm thinking me. No,
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Speaker 2: I knew it meant me, and I kept doing it.
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Speaker 2: You know, I wish I could say, and so I stopped.
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Speaker 2: You know, I have to tell you it made me
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Speaker 2: want to do it more than ever. It is my path.
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Speaker 2: I started this just grass. Then he talked to my
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Speaker 2: father and I stopped doing it. Just changed my mind.
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Speaker 2: In another of her ways, I gave you a better
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Speaker 2: one Thanette. Years ago, when I was growing up in Houston.
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Speaker 2: Down in Galveston, they built the first high rise hotel
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Speaker 2: that I can remember. I think it's a Galvez. It
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Speaker 2: might have been the flagship hotel. I forget which one,
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Speaker 2: but it was multi story, like fourteen stories above the
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Speaker 2: gulf right there. I mean, when you go up and
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Speaker 2: you stayed in one of those upper areas, I'm told
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Speaker 2: we never were there, But I was told that it
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Speaker 2: was really lush, you know, And there was a balcony well.
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Speaker 2: People would go up and stay there, and then they
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Speaker 2: would get their rotten reel, had big sinkers on their
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Speaker 2: line would go all the way down and then they'd
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Speaker 2: catch redfish and flounder and trout and all kinds of
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Speaker 2: stuff from the gulf. The only problem was there was
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Speaker 2: a dining room at water level that had big plate
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Speaker 2: glass windows, very Fenci three hundred and sixty degree around
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Speaker 2: this dining room, and these sinkers would come swinging down
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Speaker 2: the wind and they'd break the windows, and the people
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Speaker 2: were run. The hotel thought, what are we gonna do?
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Speaker 2: How can we keep people from fishing? And one of
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Speaker 2: the managers said, I got an idea, and it worked.
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Speaker 2: He said, let's take out the sign in every room
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Speaker 2: that says absolutely no fishing from the balcony. Nobody ever
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Speaker 2: fished again once the plan was taken out, because the
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Speaker 2: sign says, what a great idea. So they'd take their
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Speaker 2: pole all apart and stick it under their arm and
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Speaker 2: go in there with their od reel and put it
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Speaker 2: all together. But the sun, who cares. It's like wet paint.
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Speaker 2: Don't touch You've touched every one of those places that's
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Speaker 2: wet paint. Wet paint. I wonder, Oh it is wet.
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Speaker 2: It's feedling at sixty five. Oh, I won't dare go
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Speaker 2: oversee to you. There's something exciting about going seventy and
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Speaker 2: then seventy five and the guy's coming around you shoom.
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Speaker 2: So you go, hey, you're not gonna do that to me,
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Speaker 2: not in this hummer woo. You catch him up. Okay,
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Speaker 2: But the sign say, but the sign, you know what
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Speaker 2: it says. It says I'm a violator. That's what it says.
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Speaker 2: Says down deep inside me, there is something that says
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Speaker 2: when I read that, I just have to do it.
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Speaker 2: And the law did that for us, when it revealed
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Speaker 2: the kind of guy I really am. And then Jesus
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Speaker 2: talks about how those who were sinful can't have a
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Speaker 2: relationship with his father. I don't need any convincing. I
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Speaker 2: don't need mister Roberts to tell me I was wrong
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Speaker 2: to cut across his lawn. I don't need some manager
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Speaker 2: to tell me not to fish from the balcony. I'm
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Speaker 2: smart enough to know that sinker's liable to hit the window.
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Speaker 2: I just don't care. And if he tells me not
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Speaker 2: to do it that it's him and me. I'm gonna win.
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna show him that great big thief I caught
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Speaker 2: when I get back. Why because I'm a sinner and
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Speaker 2: we act like we're not. When I was in high school,
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Speaker 2: I got voted junior Rotarian of the month. That was
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Speaker 2: before I rode the motorcycle down Miss Straisner's English class
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Speaker 2: right down the middle of the thing, and they took
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Speaker 2: that away from me, that said, you shouldn't be a
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Speaker 2: rotaar in the year if you're going to Lupy Lopez.
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Speaker 2: And I did that, but after three days of being expelled,
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Speaker 2: which my folks never knew about. Right now, my mother
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Speaker 2: is hearing about this, I know, and I'm hearing her say,
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Speaker 2: I'm so disappointed in you. I know that's what's going on.
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Speaker 2: I wasn't Junior Rotarian of the year as a Klotz,
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Speaker 2: but I knew how to take it. I knew how
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Speaker 2: to look good not good. Neither are you looking at
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Speaker 2: me like that? And that's why the offer is so astounding.
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Speaker 2: He would die for people like us who not only
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Speaker 2: would do wrong, but would take delight in doing it
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Speaker 2: while we were yet sinning Christ died. Is there any
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Speaker 2: reason it's called grace? Absolutely, that's what God does for us,
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Speaker 2: which we don't deserve, can never earn or repay. It's
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Speaker 2: his favor. Will you get it straight in your mind?
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Speaker 2: Will you understand it? Will you revel in it? This
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Speaker 2: dear lady that left our service still just kind of
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Speaker 2: shaking her head, is still trying to believe that salvation
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Speaker 2: could be a gift and she cannot lose it. She's
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Speaker 2: still trying to tell herself because her religion has told
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Speaker 2: her all of her life, you got to keep doing it.
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Speaker 2: So I said to her, for she left, just tell
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Speaker 2: me when you've done enough that you've earned it, come
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Speaker 2: see me. She said, I all my life I can't do.
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Speaker 2: And I said, I mean, that's it. That's why it
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Speaker 2: makes sense. You know what I can do. I can
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Speaker 2: take a gift, and I can praise my God for
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Speaker 2: the gift, and I can live my life for His
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Speaker 2: glory now that I'm empowered to do it. Though I
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Speaker 2: won't always do that. Sometime I'll presume on his grace,
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Speaker 2: but still grace, and he never wipes me out because
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Speaker 2: He's a gracious God. Oh if I go too far
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Speaker 2: and too long, he'll discipline me. He'll deal with me
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Speaker 2: like my daddy dealt with me and helped me. Not
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Speaker 2: cut a corner over mister Robert's lawn. Back in the
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Speaker 2: nineteenth century, Horatio Bonar put it like this. Not what
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Speaker 2: these hands have done can save this guilty soul. Not
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Speaker 2: what this toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit hole.
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Speaker 2: Not what I feel or do can give me peace
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Speaker 2: with God. Not all my prayers and sighs and tears
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Speaker 2: can bear my awful load. Thy work alone, Oh Christ,
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Speaker 2: can ease this weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O
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Speaker 2: Lamb of God can give me peace within Thy grace alone,
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Speaker 2: Oh God to me can pardon? Speak Thy power alone,
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Speaker 2: Oh Son of God, can this sore bondage break? I
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Speaker 2: bless the Christ of God. I rest on love divine,
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Speaker 2: and with unfaltering lip and heart, I called it Savior Mine.
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Speaker 2: I want us all to sit before the Lord for
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Speaker 2: a few moments. Just bow your head. I know that
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Speaker 2: my words reach into ears that are hearing something for
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Speaker 2: the first time. Most of you it's familiar information, but
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Speaker 2: for some it's brand new truth. That Christ would pay
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Speaker 2: the penalty that I should have paid, I should have died.
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Speaker 2: I deserve hell, and so do you. Christ took the
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Speaker 2: hell that I deserved and paid that price in full,
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Speaker 2: so that without my having to work my way in
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Speaker 2: God in grace could invite me into his family. If
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Speaker 2: you've never met the Savior of what in the world
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Speaker 2: are you waiting for? This is the moment you will
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Speaker 2: be declared righteous, the moment you believe. We don't need
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Speaker 2: to sing to you. We don't need to ask you
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Speaker 2: to demonstrate what you're doing in front of everybody else.
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Speaker 2: We don't need to have you sacrifice or promise to
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Speaker 2: come to church for a year, or to give up
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Speaker 2: your sins or somehow clean up your life. You couldn't
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Speaker 2: do that if you try. Remember, you're sinful. But you
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Speaker 2: can believe it. Please believe it. There's any way we
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Speaker 2: can help you in the process of growing now that
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Speaker 2: you've believed it, while we're here, or maybe you need
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Speaker 2: help and just leaning with this kind of faith on
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Speaker 2: the one who gives you this promise that seems as
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Speaker 2: impossible as Abraham hearing about his sons and daughters being
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Speaker 2: as many as the stars of the sky. But it's
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Speaker 2: true and yours to claim. Father. On this cold Sunday afternoon,
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Speaker 2: we pause to thank you for the warmth of your
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Speaker 2: relationship with us through Christ. Thank you for never distancing
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Speaker 2: yourself from us, no matter how fast we've driven, how
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Speaker 2: far we've run, how often we've disobeyed. Thank you for
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Speaker 2: your grace that's sufficient beyond what we will ever imagine,
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Speaker 2: ever be able to earn. So we'll stop trying, and
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Speaker 2: we'll start obeying. We'll just love you and believe you,
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Speaker 2: and leave our salvation at the cross. Pray for those
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Speaker 2: who've never met your son as their savior, that you
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Speaker 2: will hold them accountable, keep them awake at night, make
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Speaker 2: them restless within, stir within them hunger and heart for
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Speaker 2: spiritual things, and bring them to your son Jesus. It
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Speaker 2: is in his name we all pray. Everybody said Amen.
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Speaker 1: Jux Wendaul titled today's message righteousness is a five letter word,
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Speaker 1: and that word, of course, is faith fai. If you're
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Speaker 1: ready to learn more about Paul's letter to the Romans,
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Speaker 1: Inside for Living has assembled an excellent collection of study
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Speaker 1: tools for this series. The first is from our Searching
24:54
Speaker 1: the Scripture's Bible studies. This is a spiral bound Bible
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Speaker 1: study workbook that comes in two volumes, and volume one
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Speaker 1: is available now. The bundle also includes Chuck's entire commentary
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Speaker 1: on Romans from The Living INSIGHT's commentary collection, and finally,
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Speaker 1: it includes audio messages from every single sermon in Chuck's
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Speaker 1: teaching series on Romans. To check out this special bundle
25:17
Speaker 1: of resources on Romans, just go to Insight dot org,
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Speaker 1: slash offer, or call us at eight hundred seven seven
25:24
Speaker 1: to two eighty eight eighty eight. But that's not all.
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Speaker 1: If you're looking for a new book for the Fall
25:30
Speaker 1: and something that fills your mind with soul satisfying truth,
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Speaker 1: we highly recommend a brand new book from Chuck Swindahl.
25:37
Speaker 1: It's called Looking in All the Right Directions. This book,
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Speaker 1: available only through Insight for Living, features the final five
25:45
Speaker 1: sermons Chuck delivered last year to the congregation that he
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Speaker 1: shepherded for more than twenty five years. In these emotion
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Speaker 1: filled messages, Chuck shares his heart on matters common to
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Speaker 1: all of us, getting through seasons of unwonted hardship, standing
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Speaker 1: firm for the truth in a world that rejects the truth,
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Speaker 1: and using your God given gifts to bring meaning and
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Speaker 1: purpose to your life. To purchase a copy of Looking
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Speaker 1: in All the Right Directions by Chucks Wendall, call us
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Speaker 1: at eight hundred seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight,
26:15
Speaker 1: or go to inside dot org slash offer. Finally, if
26:20
Speaker 1: you'd like to write to us with comments or questions,
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Speaker 1: here's our address. It's Insight for Living, post Office box
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Speaker 1: Office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five three four.
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Speaker 1: Your gift will empower us to provide these programs so
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Speaker 1: men and women all around the world will hear about
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Speaker 1: God's amazing grace. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuckswindall
26:58
Speaker 1: describes the man who against hope Tuesday on Insight for Living.
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Speaker 1: The preceding message righteousness is a five letter word, was
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Speaker 1: copyrighted in two thousand and seven, twenty ten, and twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty five, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty five by Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated. All rights are
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Speaker 1: reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is
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Speaker 1: strictly prohibited,