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The God Who Breaks Us with Kindness · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, we are jerks to one another. We are sinners,
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  Speaker 1: and that means being mean. And in Christ we're trying
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  Speaker 1: to become less of a jerk to one another. And
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  Speaker 1: God can confront us for being jerks to one another
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  Speaker 1: by showing us overwhelming kindness. You've acted in a way
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  Speaker 1: this deplorable, and then God engulfs you with some enormous
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  Speaker 1: gentleness and it breaks you over the conviction of what
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  Speaker 1: you have done to somebody else? Has that ever happened
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  Speaker 1: to you? The God who breaks us with kindness is
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  Speaker 1: our theme today. But we get there through a great
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  Speaker 1: question about Christian hedonism because recently, in our Bible reading
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  Speaker 1: on Friday of last week, we read Ezekiel thirty six
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  Speaker 1: together and that chapter raises this question for Thomas pastor
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  Speaker 1: John Hello. As I understand Christian hedonism, there are no
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  Speaker 1: tensions between God seeking his glory from us and us
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  Speaker 1: finding our delight in Him. Brilliant system that I love.
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  Speaker 1: But it leaves me wondering about Ezekiel thirty six twenty two,
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  Speaker 1: where God says to his exiled people Israel. Therefore say
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  Speaker 1: to the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God,
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  Speaker 1: it is not for your sake, o House of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: that I'm about to act but for the sake of
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  Speaker 1: my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations
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  Speaker 1: to what you came. They can probably see what I'm
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  Speaker 1: troubled by. How is God redeeming his people from their
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  Speaker 1: sin intention with him seeking his own glory? I thought
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  Speaker 1: this was all resolved, and he ends the question with
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  Speaker 1: a big exclamation mark.
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  Speaker 2: He's gracious. I love our listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question.
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  Speaker 2: They are such good Bible read there they are. It
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  Speaker 2: is exactly the right question to ask. And the key
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  Speaker 2: I think that unlocks the perplexity, and it's an appropriate
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  Speaker 2: perplexity at first. That unlocks the perplexity. In Ezekiel thirty
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  Speaker 2: six twenty two is that the phrase for the sake
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  Speaker 2: of can have more than one meaning, both in Hebrew
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  Speaker 2: and in English. For the sake of can mean in
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  Speaker 2: order to do you good, for your sake, in order
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  Speaker 2: to do you good. So, for example, in Second Corinthians
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  Speaker 2: five twenty one, Paul says, for our sake, God made
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  Speaker 2: Christ to be sin, who knew no sin, so that
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  Speaker 2: in him we might become the righteousness of God. So
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  Speaker 2: for our sake means for our good, that we might
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  Speaker 2: become God's righteousness. But for the sake of can also
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  Speaker 2: mean because of, not for the good of, but because
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  Speaker 2: of something in the past, not in order to do
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  Speaker 2: you good, but because you acted in a certain way.
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  Speaker 2: For example, Matthew five', Ten jesus, says blessed are those
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  Speaker 2: who are persecuted for the sake of. Righteousness for the
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  Speaker 2: sake of righteousness means because of their. Righteousness blessed of
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  Speaker 2: those who are persecuted because of their. Righteousness so the
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  Speaker 2: question is which of these meanings Does ezekiel intend when
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  Speaker 2: he says In ezekiel thirty six twenty, two it is
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  Speaker 2: not for your, sake oh house Of, israel THAT i
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  Speaker 2: am about to. Act does he MEAN i am about
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  Speaker 2: to act not to do you any good at? All
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  Speaker 2: or does he Mean i'm about to act not because
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  Speaker 2: of the way you have? Acted, now the answer to
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  Speaker 2: that question is really plain in the context as you
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  Speaker 2: keep on. Reading and this passage In ezekiel thirty six
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  Speaker 2: is such a lavish description Of God's god centered, grace
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  Speaker 2: which for a lot of people sounds like a. Contradiction
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  Speaker 2: Right god centered grace towards us that sounds to them
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  Speaker 2: like an, oxymoron a contradiction Like god can't Be god
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  Speaker 2: centered and be gracious to us at the same. Time
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  Speaker 2: this passage is classic to show that that is exactly
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  Speaker 2: the Way god. Is If god were passionate for his own,
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  Speaker 2: glory some people, think, well then he can't be passionate
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  Speaker 2: for my, good but this passage shows that's the wrong
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  Speaker 2: way to. Think in, fact if you don't recognize That
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  Speaker 2: god can pursue his glory in A god centered way
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  Speaker 2: while doing us, good you won't be able to make
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  Speaker 2: any sense out of this passage at. All it's, long
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  Speaker 2: But i'm gonna read it because people are gonna be
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  Speaker 2: blessed by just listening to the lavish, Grace god centered,
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  Speaker 2: Grace god exalting grace in this. Passage so here it
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  Speaker 2: is say to The house Of, Israel thus says The Lord,
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  Speaker 2: god it is not for your, sake Oh house Of,
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  Speaker 2: israel THAT i am about to. Act now what does that.
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  Speaker 2: Mean does that Mean i'm not about to act for
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  Speaker 2: your good just my? Good or does it Mean i'm
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  Speaker 2: not about to act because you've acted. RIGHTEOUSLY i am
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  Speaker 2: going to. Act i'm continuing to read now for the
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  Speaker 2: sake of my holy, name which you have profaned among
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  Speaker 2: the nations to which you. Came now that's the first.
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  Speaker 2: Clue they have profaned the name Of, god and he's
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  Speaker 2: about to act for that vindication of his. Holiness AND
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  Speaker 2: i will vindicate the holiness of my great, name which
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  Speaker 2: has been profaned among the, nations and which you have
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  Speaker 2: profaned among. Them and the nations will know THAT i
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  Speaker 2: am The, lord Declares, god when through YOU i vindicate
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  Speaker 2: my holiness before their. EYES i will take. You, now
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  Speaker 2: watch what's about to happen here just blows your. MIND
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  Speaker 2: i will take you from the nations and gather you
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  Speaker 2: from all the countries and bring you into your own.
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  Speaker 2: LAND i will sprinkle clean water on, you and you
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  Speaker 2: will be clean from all your uncleannesses and from all your.
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  Speaker 2: IDOLS i will cleanse. YOU i will give you a
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  Speaker 2: new heart and a new SPIRIT i will put within.
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  Speaker 2: YOU i will remove the heart of stone from your
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  Speaker 2: flesh and give you a heart of. Flesh AND i
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  Speaker 2: will put my spirit within you and cause you to
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  Speaker 2: walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my.
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  Speaker 2: Rules you shall dwell in the land THAT i gave
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  Speaker 2: to your, fathers and you should be my, people AND
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  Speaker 2: i will be Your. God AND i will deliver you
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  Speaker 2: from all the. Uncleannesses AND i will summon the grain
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  Speaker 2: and make it, abundant AND i will lay no famine on.
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  Speaker 2: YOU i will make the fruit of the tree and
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  Speaker 2: the increase of the field, abundant that you may never
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  Speaker 2: suffer disgrace and famine among the. Nations are you? Kidding
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  Speaker 2: this is How god is going to vindicate the holiness
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  Speaker 2: of his name for the sake of, rebellious wicked. People
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  Speaker 2: so it's crystal clear that when he Said i'm about
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  Speaker 2: to act not for your, sake he did not Mean
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  Speaker 2: i'm not going to do you any. Good this is
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  Speaker 2: just lavish, good and he's acting for his own sake
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  Speaker 2: to vindicate his. Holiness in, fact it means such, lavish
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  Speaker 2: over the top good it is scarcely. Imaginable god's pursuit
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  Speaker 2: of his glory and his pursuit of their good are
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  Speaker 2: happening in one lavish act Of god exalting grace towards his. People,
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  Speaker 2: now he continues in verse thirty, one and this boggles
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  Speaker 2: the mind and shocks egocentric. People verse thirty. One, then
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  Speaker 2: When i've done all this amazing good for. You then
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  Speaker 2: you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that
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  Speaker 2: were not, good and you will loathe yourselves for your
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  Speaker 2: iniquities and your. Abominations it is not for your sake
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  Speaker 2: THAT i will, act declares The.
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  Speaker 1: Lord let that.
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  Speaker 2: Be known to, you be ashamed and confounded for your,
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  Speaker 2: Ways Oh house Of. Israel so not for your sake
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  Speaker 2: means not because of your. Righteousness it's not for your.
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  Speaker 2: Sake it's not because of your righteousness THAT i am
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  Speaker 2: about to lavish you with, indescribable immeasurable, grace declares The,
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  Speaker 2: lord be ashamed and confounded for your. WAYS i can, Remember.
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  Speaker 2: TONY i can, remember in the fall of nineteen seventy,
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  Speaker 2: one sitting in my rocking chair In, Munich, germany Every
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  Speaker 2: sunday evening for several weeks Reading The Religious affections By
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  Speaker 2: Jonathan edwards in the chapter on evangelical. Humiliation and that
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  Speaker 2: is the word he used as he Unpacked ezekiel thirty
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  Speaker 2: six in a way that delivered. Me it devastated, me
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  Speaker 2: and it delivered me from a popular deception people were
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  Speaker 2: saying in the. Seventies it was very. Popular they were
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  Speaker 2: saying in those days that the meaning of The cross
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  Speaker 2: Of christ was that it was an evidence That god
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  Speaker 2: recognized in you a diamond of infinite, worth and he
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  Speaker 2: showed the worth that he recognized in you by paying
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  Speaker 2: an infinite price for. You And edwards was pointing, out
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  Speaker 2: that's exactly the opposite of what this text. Teaches grace
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  Speaker 2: shown To israel and grace shown to us In christ
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  Speaker 2: is not evidence of our recognized, worth but of the
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  Speaker 2: infinite value of the sovereign grace Of, god owing to
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  Speaker 2: nothing in. Us it was not for the sake of your,
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  Speaker 2: worth Oh, israel THAT i lavished you with. Grace it
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  Speaker 2: was not for the sake of your, worth Oh, christian
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  Speaker 2: THAT i gave The son Of god for. You it
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  Speaker 2: was to vindicate my holiness and display the immeasurable greatness
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  Speaker 2: of the glory of my, grace not because of anything in. You, So,
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  Speaker 2: thomas you have put your finger on a crucial. Scripture oh,
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  Speaker 2: my it does not mean there's a conflict between the
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  Speaker 2: vindication Of god's holiness and the demonstration of his. Grace
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  Speaker 2: it means grace doesn't respond to. Worth it gives. Worth
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  Speaker 2: it finds us treason us and, dead and makes us
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  Speaker 2: children Of.
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  Speaker 1: God, yeah disciplined with a divine. Kiss it really, Was
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  Speaker 1: it really.
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  Speaker 2: WAS i had never never heard anybody say that the
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  Speaker 2: outpouring of that kind of lavish grace should make me. Ashamed,
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  Speaker 2: ye the emotional dynamic was always leap For, jill which
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  Speaker 2: of course is, true but it misses a. STEP i
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  Speaker 2: can just appoint the place after place in my life
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  Speaker 2: where it's the kindness Of god and the kindness of
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  Speaker 2: people that make me feel like a. Jerk, right you've
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  Speaker 2: acted in As you've acted in a way that's just so,
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  Speaker 2: deplorable and then they Or god shows you some enormous,
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  Speaker 2: kindness and the first response isn't, well of Course i'm
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  Speaker 2: worth being treated like. That the first response is.
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  Speaker 1: Risk, wretched many disciplined with a divine. KISS i remember
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  Speaker 1: you talking about that in the. Past my, goodness that was.
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  Speaker 1: Powerful you've acted in a way towards another that's, deplorable
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  Speaker 1: and then they Are god shows you some enormous. Kindness
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  Speaker 1: it's it's right here in The, bible and it's in
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  Speaker 1: your life testimony for us to Pasture. John as you just.
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  Speaker 1: MENTIONED abja forty five is one of my favorite episodes
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  Speaker 1: all time where you recount a time in your life
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  Speaker 1: when you found a crate of pairs rotted in the
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  Speaker 1: ga and you got angry With, noel and you knew
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  Speaker 1: you were out of. Line and a moment later you
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  Speaker 1: walked out into the, sunshine and he, said, quote WHEN
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  Speaker 1: i got on the, driveway the sun was bright as
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  Speaker 1: glorious as could, be the sky was, BLUE a sweet
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  Speaker 1: breeze was blowing on my, face AND i stopped and.
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  Speaker 1: Cried it broke me like nothing else could disciplined with
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  Speaker 1: a divine. Kiss thank, You Pastor. JOHN i thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining us. Today have a question to Ask Pastor. John
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  Speaker 1: find a link to email us and find episode forty
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  Speaker 1: five at the same. Place ask Pastor john dot com
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  Speaker 1: episode forty. Five that would have been way back in
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  Speaker 1: the first twenty, thirteen our first, year maybe the first few.
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  Speaker 1: Months that would have. Come. Wow, well how should believers, identify,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: reject and respond to false teachers actually pastors who persistently
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: teach false. Doctrine hopefully we never have to face this,
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  Speaker 1: dilemma but if we, do The bible tells us exactly
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  Speaker 1: what to do in. Response Bestor john will explain. It next.
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  Speaker 1: Time I'm Tony. Rank we'll see you back. Here On,
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  Speaker 1: thursday