Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Putting Down Evil, Lifting Up Friends │ Msg 43-44

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Putting Down Evil, Lifting Up Friends │ Msg 43-44 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Turn please to Romans Chapter sixteen. We are getting toward
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Speaker 1: the end of our study of this letter, and we
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Speaker 1: have come to the twentieth through the twenty fourth verses
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Speaker 1: of this last chapter of the Letter to the Romans.
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Speaker 1: In honor of our great God and in respect for
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Speaker 1: his word, may we stand for the reading of the
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Speaker 1: scriptures and remain standing for prayer. Please, Romans sixteen twenty.
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Speaker 1: The God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
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Speaker 1: The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Timothy,
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Speaker 1: my fellow worker, greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason,
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Speaker 1: and Suscipi, my kinsman I Tertius, who write this letter,
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Speaker 1: greet you in the Lord Gaius host to me, and
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Speaker 1: the whole church greet you. Erast Us, the city Treasurer,
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Speaker 1: greets you, and courtas the brother. The grace of our
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ be with you. All and everyone said
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Speaker 1: our Father, we are grateful that you have not only
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Speaker 1: our names written across your heart and mind, but you
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Speaker 1: have the very hairs of our head numbered. You know
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Speaker 1: the end from the beginning. You know the deepest valley
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Speaker 1: and the highest peak of our experience. There is no
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Speaker 1: pain that touches us, that does not arouse within you
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Speaker 1: a deep sense of understanding and compassion, You are, in
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Speaker 1: fact touched with the feet of our weaknesses. We thank
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Speaker 1: you for these unknowns who have been remembered in this
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Speaker 1: ancient letter of your inspired word, reminding us that no
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Speaker 1: one is forgotten before you. We are all at the
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Speaker 1: same level at the foot of the cross. There is
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Speaker 1: no rich or poor, There is no slave or free.
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Speaker 1: There is no significant or insignificant. There is no young
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Speaker 1: or old, married or single, troubled or rejoicing. We are
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Speaker 1: all one in your eyes. Thank you for your grace
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Speaker 1: that applies in so many ways to our lives. It
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Speaker 1: has marked our steps this week, and you have shown
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Speaker 1: yourself strong over and over. Thank you, Father for working
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Speaker 1: in ways about which we do not even ask you,
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Speaker 1: and often ways we are not even aware. How faithful
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Speaker 1: you are. Watch over this flock, our father, and guide
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Speaker 1: and guard this church for your greater glory, for your
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Speaker 1: good and towards the end that you have in mind.
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Speaker 1: May we remain your faithful and trusting and humble servants.
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Speaker 1: Now Lord, these gifts are yours, and we give them
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Speaker 1: because you have already given to us in such abundance,
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Speaker 1: and out of that we express our delight and our
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Speaker 1: generosity in the name of the Savior, your Son, our
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Speaker 1: Savior Jesus. And everyone said, Amen, Well, you may have
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Speaker 1: thought we had forgotten about Romans, but we're back. After all,
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Speaker 1: it's just the forty third message. Why should we be
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Speaker 1: in a hurry? Huh. Reminds me of when we were
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Speaker 1: finishing the letter or the Book of Job. It was
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Speaker 1: an eighth grade or eight year old boy that leaned
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Speaker 1: over and said to his dad, as I was finishing
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Speaker 1: it up, that it was I three or four when
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Speaker 1: Pastor Swindahl began Job. Next Sunday will mark the eighteenth
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Speaker 1: month that we have spent in this grand grand letter. Clearly,
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Speaker 1: Roman stands as the magnum opus of the great Apostle Paul.
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Speaker 1: What the Fifth Symphony was to Beethoven, the A B
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Speaker 1: Minor Mass was to Johann Sebastian Bach, what the Messiah
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Speaker 1: was to George Frederick Handel, the Sistine Chapel ceiling was
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Speaker 1: to Michaelangelo, and the incandescent lamp to Edison. Romans is
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Speaker 1: to the prolific Apostle Paul Coleridge, the British poet realized
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Speaker 1: the profound effect of the letter when he wrote it
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Speaker 1: is the profoundest piece of writing in existence. It changed
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Speaker 1: the life of Martin Luther. Not surprisingly, Luther was so
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Speaker 1: taken by it he referred to Romans as the chief
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Speaker 1: book of the New Testament. It deserves to be known
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Speaker 1: by heart, word for word by every Christian. If that
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Speaker 1: sounds like to daunting a challenge, pause and think what
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Speaker 1: we would be like if the terrorists want ultimately invading
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Speaker 1: churches and boarding up our doors and sending us off
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Speaker 1: in all different directions to live the rest of our lives.
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Speaker 1: If in fact they allowed us to have our lives
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Speaker 1: in camps with high fences and walls around them, the
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Speaker 1: Bibles would be burned and removed, and we would be
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Speaker 1: left only with our memories. How much of the scriptures
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Speaker 1: could we bring back to life? If you are laying
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Speaker 1: God's word in your heart and committed you to the
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Speaker 1: discipline of scripture memory, you would be of enormous asset.
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Speaker 1: In a place like that, you would be for many
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Speaker 1: of us a source of incredible strength. And so I
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Speaker 1: remind you the writings of this man who was constantly
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Speaker 1: contemporary and consistently relevant and regularly engaged in life, are
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Speaker 1: just as appropriate for today as they were in the
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Speaker 1: century in which they were written. Never underestimate the authority
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Speaker 1: or the power of God's inspired word. It sets people free,
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Speaker 1: It puts people on a rock in the midst of
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Speaker 1: these sandy cultural times in which we live. It gives
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Speaker 1: us hope not just in life, but beyond life, and
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Speaker 1: it holds us close to the heart of God. Never
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Speaker 1: underestimate the importance of the exposition of the scriptures. May
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Speaker 1: this church forever be known for its expository pulpit, for
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Speaker 1: its faithful preaching of the Word of God. Man, I've
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Speaker 1: heard some of the amen since we started this place wonderful,
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Speaker 1: and I know you agree. My wife and I remember
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Speaker 1: the time in our lives when we were adrift spiritually
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Speaker 1: and we hungered for the Word of God. Finally found
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Speaker 1: a place that taught it, and it was like an
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Speaker 1: oasis in the desert for our souls. We feasted there
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Speaker 1: and truth be told. By the time I got to
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Speaker 1: Dallas Seminary for the first couple of years, honestly, I
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Speaker 1: learned a few new truths in my theology class because
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Speaker 1: of the things I had learned from the teaching of
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Speaker 1: God's Word in the church where we had attended. He's
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Speaker 1: God for the teaching of his word. Now I love
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Speaker 1: the way the apostle provides a balance. Obviously, his is
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Speaker 1: the most astute of theological minds in the first century,
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Speaker 1: save that of Christ, our Savior. But he is also
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Speaker 1: a people person. For eleven chapters he hammers away at
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Speaker 1: the great doctrines of the faith, the constitution of the
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Speaker 1: Christian life set forth in chapters one through eleven of Romans.
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Speaker 1: And we learn of a God who justifies by faith,
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Speaker 1: and who gives us his peace, and provides us his power,
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Speaker 1: and enables us to live the Christian life, and sovereignly
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Speaker 1: watches over the affairs of life. But when you get
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Speaker 1: to chapter twelve, all the power of the verticals then
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Speaker 1: shifted and added to it is the horizontal of the
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Speaker 1: transforming life set forth in Romans twelve one and two.
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Speaker 1: And then before long you find Paul dealing with the
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Speaker 1: most practical of subjects, and you realize he is not
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Speaker 1: some distant, dusty minded scholar hiding away in some room,
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Speaker 1: removed from life, but he's engaged in the world in
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Speaker 1: which we live. And he mentions names in the sixteenth
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Speaker 1: chapter of this letter, that most of which we find
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Speaker 1: nowhere else in any part of the scriptures. And we'll
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Speaker 1: mention more today to tell you what kind of a
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Speaker 1: people person he was. So just an added word here
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Speaker 1: to all of us. Never get so intellectually caught up
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Speaker 1: in the scriptures that you begin to lose touch with people,
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Speaker 1: and so heavenly minded. You're of little earthly good to
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Speaker 1: folks around you. And never let it be a source
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Speaker 1: of pride, but a reminder that God has graciously opened
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Speaker 1: your mind to his truth to change your life, than
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Speaker 1: to use it to share with others. As you get
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Speaker 1: to the end of the chapter, he levels a very
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Speaker 1: strong warning. In verse seventeen, he said, I urge you
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Speaker 1: keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances.
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Speaker 1: That's a very practical warning. They are the ones whose
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Speaker 1: teaching is contrary to the truths you have learned. Turn
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Speaker 1: away from them. That takes courage to live that kind
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Speaker 1: of truthful life. It takes being willing to be misunderstood.
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Speaker 1: He says, such men are slaves not of our Lord Christ,
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Speaker 1: but of their own appetites. Guard yourself when you are
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Speaker 1: around evil, just as you lock your doors at night,
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Speaker 1: just as you lock your car when you walk away
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Speaker 1: from it at the mall. Just as you watch over
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Speaker 1: your children when they're out in the public places. So
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Speaker 1: watch over your lives so that evil doesn't encroach and
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Speaker 1: take up root. In fact, at the end of verse nineteen,
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Speaker 1: I love the way he puts it. I want you
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Speaker 1: to be wise in what is good, but I want
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Speaker 1: you to be innocent in what is evil. Isn't that
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Speaker 1: a wonderful balance. Traffic in the good when you encounter evil.
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Speaker 1: Don't be experienced in it. Stay naive about the evil
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Speaker 1: if you will. By that, I mean an experience not
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Speaker 1: in your protective mindset. But don't traffic in it now appropriately.
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Speaker 1: He turns immediately to the God of peace. Here's those
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Speaker 1: same terms in chapter fifteen, verse thirty three of this letter.
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Speaker 1: And don't pass this off as insignificant. John Stott puts
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Speaker 1: it this way. God's peace allows no appeasement of the evil.
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Speaker 1: With God, peace perveys not with evil. Where you find evil,
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Speaker 1: you will not find things calm, but rather chaotic, or
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Speaker 1: at least moving toward the chaotic. Where you find peace,
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Speaker 1: you find the removal of evil influences and you are
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Speaker 1: at peace within only through the restraint of evil. Can
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Speaker 1: you know that prevailing peace of God. And he will
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Speaker 1: sustain you because He is a God of peace. And
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Speaker 1: then he offers this hope and a promise, This God
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Speaker 1: of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Good
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Speaker 1: Is that literally the word means to shatter, to smash,
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Speaker 1: to annihilate, to subdue completely. We need to turn back
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Speaker 1: to the first prediction of that in the Bible. Hold
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Speaker 1: your place at Romans sixteen and go to Genesis chapter three.
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Speaker 1: Will you Genesis three? What a chapter. Everything until chapter
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Speaker 1: three is talk about innocent, talk about peaceful. The garden
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Speaker 1: of Eden, all of the things are created, Adam and
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Speaker 1: Eve replaced in it. They have magnificent harmony with one
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Speaker 1: another and with their God. There is a sense of
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Speaker 1: intimacy like we cannot even imagine. Until the serpent comes
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Speaker 1: and tempts them to do the very thing. In fact,
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Speaker 1: the only thing that was prohibited, and that was that
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Speaker 1: they not partake of the tree of the knowledge of
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Speaker 1: good and evil. Don't go there. But that's the very
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Speaker 1: thing Satan used in the form of the serpent to
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Speaker 1: tempt them, and they took of the tree, and Eve
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Speaker 1: was seduced. And then she brings Adam into it, and
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Speaker 1: he is. And the Lord comes back and waiting for
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Speaker 1: the regular walk in the cool of the day as
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Speaker 1: we read of it in verse eight, and he finds
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Speaker 1: that the man and his wife are hidden from the
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Speaker 1: living God. That was a first. They're now hiding when
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Speaker 1: he brings them out in the open. Look at what
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Speaker 1: the man says verse twelve. The man said, the woman
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Speaker 1: who you gave to be with me, she gave me
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Speaker 1: from the tree, and I ate. And then the Lord
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Speaker 1: looked at the woman, and the Lord God said, or
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Speaker 1: what is this you have done? The woman said, the snake.
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Speaker 1: The snake deceived me. Isn't that interesting? We are forever
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Speaker 1: blaming someone else for what is our problem? I thought
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Speaker 1: of that what a friend of mine gave me this
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Speaker 1: fun story of a man who feared his wife was
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Speaker 1: losing her hearing. Didn't know what to do about it,
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Speaker 1: So we went to the dock, and the doc said, oh,
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Speaker 1: there's a simple, simple test. Stand about forty feet away
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Speaker 1: from her, and in normal conversation speak. If she doesn't answer,
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Speaker 1: move another ten feet closer and speak in normal conversational tone.
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Speaker 1: She doesn't speak. Move another ten feet closer. If she
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Speaker 1: still doesn't get a response, then go right up near
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Speaker 1: her face and say it again and you'll find out.
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Speaker 1: So we said to her that evening at forty feet away, honey,
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Speaker 1: what's for dinner? No response. So he moved up ten
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Speaker 1: more feet and he said, honey, what's for dinner. There's
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Speaker 1: still no response. Well, next he moves into the dining room,
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Speaker 1: gets close to the kitchen about feet aways his honey,
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Speaker 1: what's for dinner. She doesn't even turn around, and so
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Speaker 1: he gets ten feet away, honey, what's for dinner. Still
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Speaker 1: there's no response. That he gets right up behind her says, honey,
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Speaker 1: what is for dinner? She says, for the fifth time, chicken.
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Speaker 1: It's always the other person we think is the problem. Well,
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Speaker 1: I'm interesting. The snake doesn't blame it on anybody else.
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Speaker 1: Verse fifteen. God has him. If you will pin to
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Speaker 1: the ground now, and he says, I watch closely, I
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Speaker 1: will put enmity between you and the woman. Notice the
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Speaker 1: first level of conflict is between Satan and the woman.
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Speaker 1: Next between your seed and her seed. So this is
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Speaker 1: between those who follow Satan and those who will follow
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Speaker 1: in faith in her train, and he says, he shall
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Speaker 1: bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him
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Speaker 1: on the heel. So there'll be another conflict between Satan
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Speaker 1: and Christ. James Montgomery Boyce and his fine work on Romans,
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Speaker 1: writes this, we know what Satan did when he was
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Speaker 1: able to strike Christ's heal. It included hatred from the
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Speaker 1: religious leaders, mocking by the crowd, severe beatings, and eventually
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Speaker 1: the terrible agony of crucifixion. Satan might have thought he
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Speaker 1: had won, but it was only a bruising, not a
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Speaker 1: defeat for Christ, because on the third day, after the Reserve,
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Speaker 1: after the crucifixion, Jesus rose from the grave triumphantly. Paul
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Speaker 1: writes of this Inians chapter two, verses thirteen to fifteen,
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Speaker 1: where he triumphs over the forces of evil. Never forget
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Speaker 1: that he won the victory over the power of the
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Speaker 1: devil at the crucifixion, at the resurrection, and Satan, living
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Speaker 1: this deluded life, thought he was the one who won that.
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Speaker 1: I like Jonathan Edward's words, Satan is the greatest blockhead
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Speaker 1: the world has ever known. For although Satan is exceedingly
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Speaker 1: knowledgeable and cunning, he was supremely stupid to suppose that
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Speaker 1: he could outthink the all wise God or overpower the almighty.
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Speaker 1: Every move Satan makes is like playing a game of
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Speaker 1: chess with a master. He moves closer to checkmate. Every
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Speaker 1: year we live, Satan is closer to being crushed, wiped out, removed, annihilated.
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Speaker 1: You read of it in Revelation chapter twenty, the first
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Speaker 1: two verses and then the tenth verse where he is
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Speaker 1: thrown into the lake of fire and there he is
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Speaker 1: left forever. That's a wonderful thought. But look at what
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Speaker 1: Paul says in Romans sixteen twenty. The God of Peace
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Speaker 1: will soon crush Satan. Now he wrote that in the
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Speaker 1: first century. This is the twenty first century. What's soon
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Speaker 1: all about? Well, we have two ways of using that
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Speaker 1: particular term rendered soon. One is just around the corner,
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Speaker 1: or I'll be there soon, meaning right away, if not immediately.
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Speaker 1: There's another kind of soon, which means quickly. It will
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Speaker 1: happen quickly, it won't take long. And when you read
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Speaker 1: of the crushing, ultimate crushing of Satan and the removal
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Speaker 1: of him from this planet or from time and eternity,
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Speaker 1: you don't read of any wrestling there's no lengthy struggle.
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Speaker 1: There's no fight. I mean, the Lord don't have to
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Speaker 1: roll up his sleeves and take him on and spend
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Speaker 1: the next for thirty years defeating him. It's just you're through,
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Speaker 1: exit out. And that's the promise right here in verse twenty.
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Speaker 1: When it happens, it will happen quickly. And aren't you glad?
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Speaker 1: He then adds the grace of our Lord Jesus be
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Speaker 1: with you grace. This magnificent subject really has the signature
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Speaker 1: of Paul all over it. If you find yourself a
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Speaker 1: demon fighter, if you will locating the evil in every turn,
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Speaker 1: you will not be a person of grace when you
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Speaker 1: ought to in the realm of grace with a grace mindset.
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Speaker 1: It is remarkable what that will do to you. Grace,
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Speaker 1: of course, is what God does for us, which we
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Speaker 1: do not deserve, and we will never earn, and we
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Speaker 1: cannot repay. It is the It is the great cry
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Speaker 1: of the reformers, salvation by grace alone, through faith alone,
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Speaker 1: in Christ alone, not by works of righteousness, which we
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Speaker 1: have done, but by His mercy, by his grace unmerited favor.
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Speaker 1: I I shudder when I realize how rarely I'm around
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Speaker 1: a person of grace. It's hard to find. We talk
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Speaker 1: of grace, but we live under guilt and shame. We
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Speaker 1: think we embrace grace, but we seem to prefer works.
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Speaker 1: We encourage grace and others, and then we judge them
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Speaker 1: when they fail. We even sing a doctrine of works.
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Speaker 1: At times. I look through an old hymnal I have
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Speaker 1: and found a gospel song that I sang as a kid,
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Speaker 1: and I thought, this is not good theology. I am
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Speaker 1: satisfied with Jesus. He has done so much for me.
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Speaker 1: He has suffered to redeem me. He has died to
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Speaker 1: set me free. Well that's great, now you're talking, but
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Speaker 1: you get to the chorus. Listen. I am satisfied. I
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Speaker 1: am satisfied with Jesus. But the question comes to me
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Speaker 1: as I think of Calvary. Is my master satisfied with me?
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Speaker 1: That's shaming you? Yes is the answer. The writer doesn't
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Speaker 1: want you to think yes. He wants you to think no.
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Speaker 1: And I have to worry card for him to be
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Speaker 1: satisfied with me. Another put it best, nearer, still nearer,
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Speaker 1: and nearer I cannot be for in the person of
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Speaker 1: his son, I am as near as he. Grace, Grace, Grace,
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Speaker 1: operate in grace, my friends. Louis Ferrychafer wrote this, any
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Speaker 1: recognition of human guilt or shame, any recognition of human obligation,
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Speaker 1: any recognition of human merit and grace cannot exist there.
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Speaker 1: How important you know what moves us. It isn't law,
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Speaker 1: it is a judgment. It's mercy, it's grace. Stephen Brown
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Speaker 1: tells a wonderful story in his book A Scandalous Freedom.
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Speaker 1: I was not the best student in the large high
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Speaker 1: school I attended. In fact, I I graduated fourth from
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Speaker 1: the bottom in my class. Let me tell you about
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Speaker 1: a teacher I had who cried when she gave me
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Speaker 1: a low grade on a test. It really surprised me
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Speaker 1: because I generally considered teachers the enemy. The teacher returned
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Speaker 1: our papers and asked me to wait after the class
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Speaker 1: to get my paper. I figured I was in really
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Speaker 1: big trouble. But after everyone had left, she handed me
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Speaker 1: my paper with an F marked on it. Steven. She said,
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Speaker 1: you can do a whole lot better than this, and
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Speaker 1: she began to weep. I didn't know what to say
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Speaker 1: or how to react, so I quietly left the classroom.
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Speaker 1: You know something, I made an A on the next test.
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Speaker 1: I didn't make an A because I'd grown smarter or
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Speaker 1: because I bought into academic excellence. I'm not that smart
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Speaker 1: and at that age didn't care house about academic excellence.
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Speaker 1: I made an A because a teacher loved me enough
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Speaker 1: to shed tears over my failure. That's grace. Please listen.
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Speaker 1: Take the word shame out of your vocabulary. Take the
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Speaker 1: words I am ashamed of you out of your vocabulary,
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Speaker 1: or you'll never traffic in grace. Parents, take away the
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Speaker 1: shame shame based disciplined statements I'm ashamed of you. I mean,
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Speaker 1: would any kid after that go? Oh boy? Now, really obey?
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Speaker 1: That's really motivating to know that you're a shamed of me.
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Speaker 1: That's what I've been waiting for. Wow, let me tell
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Speaker 1: you something. When you put your arm around him and
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Speaker 1: you cry and you tell them how it broke your
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Speaker 1: heart because you know they can do so much better,
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Speaker 1: and you believe they will. Mitteisam, they will. They will.
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Speaker 1: Nothing motivates like grace. Speaking of grace, look at this list.
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Speaker 1: These are some of my favorite people. Timothy, my fellow worker,
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Speaker 1: greets you now by the way, the ones listed at
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Speaker 1: the beginning of chapter sixteen live in Rome, and Paul
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Speaker 1: in Corinth is greeting them all twenty seven of them
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Speaker 1: in Rome. But at the end of the letter, verses
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Speaker 1: twenty one to twenty three, they're living in Corinth and
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Speaker 1: they're greeting the people back in Rome. These are people
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Speaker 1: around Paul when he's the letter's being written. So these
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Speaker 1: are people that he could turn around and see they're
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Speaker 1: around him. The others he sees them in his mind's eyes,
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Speaker 1: so he names Timothy. Didn't name him at the beginning
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Speaker 1: of the letter, probably because Timothy was gone. Normally he
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Speaker 1: would list Timothy as one of those along with him writing.
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Speaker 1: But he calls him as my fellow worker, Timothy, his
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Speaker 1: child and the faith. Everybody needs a Timothy. Everybody is
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Speaker 1: a better person because of a Timothy. We all need
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Speaker 1: a Paul, and we all need a Timothy, and we
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Speaker 1: all need a Barnabas, which is another subject. But Timothy,
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Speaker 1: Timothy from a mixed marriage, led to Christ by the
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Speaker 1: Apostle and recipient of a couple of the letters before
28:54
Speaker 1: Paul is gone, and he calls him my fellow worker.
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Speaker 1: I hope you have some fellow workers in your life.
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Speaker 1: You know what Timothy was. Let me use the word
29:06
Speaker 1: I've used recently quite a bit. He was an advocate.
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Speaker 1: He was right alongside Paul. He took away a lot
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Speaker 1: of the sting of loneliness and rejection by being as
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Speaker 1: advocate fellow worker. The next three names are called kinsman.
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Speaker 1: See the end of verse twenty one. My kinsmen. It
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Speaker 1: could either be shirttailed relatives, most likely their fellow Jews.
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Speaker 1: And one is Lucious, probably not doctor Luke. Paul doesn't
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Speaker 1: call Luke Lucius. This is maybe the same one mentioned
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Speaker 1: in Acts thirteen. In fact, to really trace these guys,
29:51
Speaker 1: you need to keep a finger in the Book of Acts,
29:54
Speaker 1: need to keep a finger here in Romans, and then
29:57
Speaker 1: go back and forth, because you'll see these men mentioned
29:59
Speaker 1: often in that other book. Lucius is a man named
30:04
Speaker 1: who was among the group before Paul and Barnabas struck
30:08
Speaker 1: out on the first missionary journey. He is called a
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Speaker 1: man of Syene, one of those men in Antioch see
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Speaker 1: the name Jason. He was his friend from Thessalonika mentioned
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Speaker 1: in Acts seventeen one to nine. Jason was one who
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Speaker 1: put him up and gave him a place to stay,
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Speaker 1: and later suffered for it. He remembers Jason and Soucipiter.
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Speaker 1: We know nothing more except it may be the same
30:35
Speaker 1: as Sufiter mentioned in Acts twenty and verse four. But
30:39
Speaker 1: they're there because they're around Paul and he. They want
30:45
Speaker 1: to greet the people in Rome. And then look at
30:48
Speaker 1: the next word, not name, next word, I did you
30:55
Speaker 1: love it? Tertius is writing the letter, so he says, hey, Paul,
31:00
Speaker 1: can I yeah, go ahead, by Tertius, who write this letter,
31:08
Speaker 1: greet you in the Lord. You know what the name means. Third. Third.
31:16
Speaker 1: If you ever send one of your kids or grandkids
31:18
Speaker 1: to Canna cook camp, y'all come back with a little
31:22
Speaker 1: little button says I'm third. Usually it's big. I'm third.
31:27
Speaker 1: When you first look at it, you go, no, honey,
31:30
Speaker 1: you're our fifth child. You know, No, it's not not
31:33
Speaker 1: like that dead. Third is God or Christ is first.
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Speaker 1: Others are second and I'm third. Not good? They learn,
31:43
Speaker 1: you know, think of others, serve Christ your third. They
31:47
Speaker 1: could all be named Tertius primus, secundus, Tertius courtis quintus,
31:57
Speaker 1: and I don't know anymore. So that's the the first five.
32:01
Speaker 1: But why would he be called Tertius because he's a slave.
32:05
Speaker 1: And when you became a slave, they took away your
32:07
Speaker 1: proper name. You were a number. So he's number three
32:14
Speaker 1: here in the house of Gaeis. And he could, he
32:18
Speaker 1: could write, and so he was chosen to be the
32:22
Speaker 1: the uh stenographer, if you will, the Amanuensis, the one
32:25
Speaker 1: who wrote the letter I third greet you and lords.
32:32
Speaker 1: You know, I love that because he's a nobody. But
32:40
Speaker 1: he's ahead of you and me. His name's in the Bible,
32:45
Speaker 1: isn't that Just like the Lord? There is no nobody.
32:52
Speaker 1: There is no such thing as insignificant. Your life may
32:56
Speaker 1: have been an absolute cesspool of activity for years. You
33:02
Speaker 1: have no less status and the wealthiest, most blessed, most gifted,
33:09
Speaker 1: most educated believer in the family of God. You're there,
33:14
Speaker 1: Why grace? What's your name? Third? Third? And Gaius probably
33:25
Speaker 1: had some bucks. Gaius was the host to Paul and
33:30
Speaker 1: to the whole church. So he's got a nice, big home,
33:33
Speaker 1: and that's great. Paul needed a place to stay in
33:36
Speaker 1: all those people around him, so Gaius has come on
33:39
Speaker 1: in stay here. So he greets you, and along with
33:44
Speaker 1: him is Erastus Erestes, great what is he called. He's
33:52
Speaker 1: not third, He's called the Oikonomus manager. He's a city manager.
34:00
Speaker 1: The guys loaded, in fact, they found near the ancient
34:05
Speaker 1: ruins of Corinth on the marble pavement these words. Erastus
34:10
Speaker 1: laid the pavement at his own expense. The guy adopted
34:16
Speaker 1: a highway, and he got his name inscribed in marble. Erastus.
34:26
Speaker 1: I'm a little insight, and it doesn't come from me.
34:28
Speaker 1: I don't get the credit for this. Donald Barnhouse gets
34:30
Speaker 1: the credit for this insight. Many of the slaves picked
34:36
Speaker 1: up the name Restus because he didn't want a name
34:41
Speaker 1: of a number Primus or Secundus or Tertius. We'll call
34:48
Speaker 1: him Erastus. Not good, but Erastus is. He's wealthy. He's
35:01
Speaker 1: right there next to Turchies. I love that urches. Move over.
35:07
Speaker 1: I gotta get this written down here rest Us. And
35:10
Speaker 1: you know, look at the last one and Courtas the brother.
35:17
Speaker 2: Is that great?
35:18
Speaker 1: He's the younger brother. Hey, bud, don't forget me, okay,
35:24
Speaker 1: the brother Cortas if in fact that's what it was.
35:32
Speaker 1: How you see, folks, uh, we have turned these people
35:36
Speaker 1: in the Bible into sort of untouchable icons. Splaster, Paris
35:44
Speaker 1: Saints Marble standing in a corner of some joint. It's
35:49
Speaker 1: got a cross on top. Probably shouldn't call it a joint,
35:53
Speaker 1: but you know what I mean. I'm big. You know
35:56
Speaker 1: they're just people. If the book were to be written today,
36:00
Speaker 1: you'd be in it, you say, not me. Why not
36:05
Speaker 1: happened to be there with Paul hanging out writing a letter. Hey,
36:12
Speaker 1: don't forget my brother, don't forget quartus. The grace of
36:20
Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. The
36:25
Speaker 1: last verse probably isn't in the better texts, so the
36:28
Speaker 1: grace flows out of verse twenty. Really, God always has
36:34
Speaker 1: a remnant. God always has a remnant. You're part of
36:39
Speaker 1: that remnant. And the less known don't worry, you won't
36:46
Speaker 1: get to glory. And the Lord says, what who are you?
36:52
Speaker 1: You're one of his sovereign act of God. Whereby he
36:56
Speaker 1: declares righteous the believing sinner, while we're still on the
37:00
Speaker 1: sinning state. Every tertius, every secundous, every primus, every quintus,
37:06
Speaker 1: every quartus, he remembers, it's grease. Now three great lessons
37:17
Speaker 1: that linger. Number one, we cannot ignore or deny the
37:24
Speaker 1: presence of evil. If Satan will soon be crushed under
37:28
Speaker 1: our feet, he hasn't yet been crushed. There will always
37:34
Speaker 1: be people and circumstances and influences from the world system,
37:39
Speaker 1: our own flesh working in concert. And let me tell you,
37:42
Speaker 1: spiritual warfare is the real deal. It isn't the figment
37:48
Speaker 1: of some fanatics imagination. If you could see the evil forces,
37:53
Speaker 1: it would shock most of you at work in the heavenlys,
37:58
Speaker 1: at work around us, and even at work in the
38:02
Speaker 1: family of God. The Venerables Bible teacher Jay Sideloe Baxter wrote,
38:09
Speaker 1: whenever Satan gets to Christians, eight out of ten times
38:12
Speaker 1: he does so through other Christians. I have lived to
38:17
Speaker 1: see that come true, far more troubles with fellow Christians
38:24
Speaker 1: than unbelievers. You cannot ignore or deny the presence of evil.
38:37
Speaker 1: Here's the second. We need not fear nor be intimidated
38:45
Speaker 1: by evil. First, John first on four, verse four, and five.
38:52
Speaker 1: In verse four, greater is he who is in you
38:54
Speaker 1: than he who is in the world. Don't be intimidated
38:56
Speaker 1: by evil. By the way, it takes discernment to do
39:00
Speaker 1: the first. So you are regularly aware that evil is present,
39:07
Speaker 1: and evil maybe at work. You don't live suspicious, but
39:10
Speaker 1: you don't ignore or deny could be from evil. Second,
39:15
Speaker 1: when you encounter it, you're not afraid. In a previous
39:18
Speaker 1: church I served for a number of years, our receptionist
39:21
Speaker 1: received a call or The caller asked, this is this
39:25
Speaker 1: the church that teaches people about Jesus, the church that
39:28
Speaker 1: believes the Bible, that tries to get people to turn
39:30
Speaker 1: their lives over to Christ as their master. The receptionist,
39:35
Speaker 1: taken back, said well, yes, that's us. You described us accurately.
39:40
Speaker 1: Are you interested in where we're located? He quickly responded no.
39:45
Speaker 1: I just want you to know that I'm a representative
39:47
Speaker 1: of the Church of Satan, and we worship Satan and
39:50
Speaker 1: the demons. There are just as many of us working
39:53
Speaker 1: against you and your teacher, and we are going to win.
39:58
Speaker 1: Hung up the phone. But that's blatant evil. Four More
40:07
Speaker 1: often it's subtle. Have another friend sitting on a plane
40:10
Speaker 1: years ago, back when they served food on plates, remember
40:17
Speaker 1: toy food, but they served food little weenies and little
40:22
Speaker 1: piece of wilted lettuce and enjoy your meal. Anyway, my
40:27
Speaker 1: friend got the meal and the one next tour did not,
40:30
Speaker 1: and she noticed it passed it up and kind of
40:33
Speaker 1: was bowing. And she said, I noticed you didn't eat.
40:37
Speaker 1: He said, no, I'm fasting. Oh. She said, you must
40:40
Speaker 1: be a Christian. He said, know, as a matter of fact,
40:44
Speaker 1: I am fasting in honor of my Master Satan. We're
40:48
Speaker 1: praying that at least one hundred Christian leaders marriages will
40:51
Speaker 1: break up this year. It's amazing. It puts a chill
40:59
Speaker 1: up our back when we hear that. But why should
41:02
Speaker 1: we be surprised by the way. It's pretty effective, isn't it.
41:12
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid of it, just be aware of it.
41:16
Speaker 1: Greater is he who is in you than he was
41:18
Speaker 1: in the world. Cynthia was telling me of a lady
41:24
Speaker 1: who was going through the horrors of an assault and
41:30
Speaker 1: of a rape, and the man was going to do
41:34
Speaker 1: her greater harm. And she said, in the name of
41:37
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, leave me alone. And he ran,
41:43
Speaker 1: he ran, Praise God, he ran the third And don't
41:53
Speaker 1: ever forget this. We will not experience victory until we
41:59
Speaker 1: appropriate grace personally. Pray that the Lord in the study
42:07
Speaker 1: of Romans will building you a person of grace, and
42:13
Speaker 1: when he does, you will be a rarity. You may
42:17
Speaker 1: be the only grace person in your home. You certainly
42:21
Speaker 1: will be the only grace person where you work, most
42:25
Speaker 1: likely the only one in your neighborhood. Pray that you
42:31
Speaker 1: will be a person of grace. You know what grace
42:33
Speaker 1: people do. They free people, They free them, they set
42:38
Speaker 1: them free. I read this past week that Abraham Lincoln
42:43
Speaker 1: went to a slave market, and there he noted a young,
42:46
Speaker 1: beautiful African American woman being auctioned off to the highest
42:51
Speaker 1: offer he bid on her in one He could see
42:58
Speaker 1: the anger in the young woman's eyes, as could imagine
43:01
Speaker 1: what she was thinking. Another white man who will buy
43:06
Speaker 1: me and use me and then discard me. As Lincoln
43:12
Speaker 1: walked off with her, he turned to the woman and said,
43:16
Speaker 1: you're free. Yeah, free? What does that mean? It means
43:26
Speaker 1: you're free, he smiled. Does that mean I can say
43:30
Speaker 1: whatever I want to say? Yes, it means you can
43:35
Speaker 1: say whatever you want to say. Well? Does it mean,
43:39
Speaker 1: she asked, incredulously, that I can be whatever I want
43:43
Speaker 1: to be. Yes, you can be whatever you want to be.
43:50
Speaker 1: Well does it mean she said, hesitatingly, hesitatingly, that I
43:55
Speaker 1: can go wherever I want to go. Yeah, it means
43:59
Speaker 1: you're free to go wherever you want to go, And
44:03
Speaker 1: the young woman, with tears welling up in her eyes, said,
44:07
Speaker 1: I I think I want to go with you. I
44:15
Speaker 1: want to go with you. Most contagious people on the
44:20
Speaker 1: planet are people of grace. They're also the most misunderstood.
44:31
Speaker 1: I'll welcome you to the ranks. I'm going to tell
44:38
Speaker 1: you there's a price to pay. It's called being misunderstood.
44:47
Speaker 1: I want us to bow our heads. Let me say
44:54
Speaker 1: to fellow Christians today that what repeatedly kills our witness
44:58
Speaker 1: is pretense. It's not freedom, it's pretense. I urge you,
45:10
Speaker 1: fellow Christians, to set people free. I love Ruth Graham's
45:17
Speaker 1: words when she was alive. She said, it's my job
45:22
Speaker 1: to love Billy. It's God's job to make him good.
45:31
Speaker 1: God help us to get this message because it isn't
45:34
Speaker 1: being promoted in the church today. Grace. If you've never
45:45
Speaker 1: met the Lord of Grace, you're right now free to
45:49
Speaker 1: trust him or turn him off. Nobody here is going
45:53
Speaker 1: to force you or embarrass you. You can live your
45:57
Speaker 1: life and then you can die your lonely death without
45:59
Speaker 1: him him. It's your call. Now, trust me. He's at work.
46:07
Speaker 1: I don't say that in a cavalier manner, but he's
46:11
Speaker 1: at work. You've never trusted him. He has a way
46:16
Speaker 1: of making you pretty miserable till you do. May you
46:21
Speaker 1: have no sleep, no rest, no relief, till you come
46:27
Speaker 1: to the Savior. If we can help you with that decision,
46:34
Speaker 1: connect with us. That's why we're here. God of grace
46:42
Speaker 1: and God of glory, God of magnificent freedom, God of
46:53
Speaker 1: profound and endless love. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
47:01
Speaker 1: Thank you for the Savior. Thank you that he took
47:06
Speaker 1: all of the cursing. He took all of the load
47:11
Speaker 1: of sin once for all, and in taking it, he
47:19
Speaker 1: relieved us from having to pay penance, earn our way
47:24
Speaker 1: in or prove the sincerity of our faith. Teach us
47:31
Speaker 1: the simplicity of taking the gift and reveling in the freedom.
47:37
Speaker 1: Forgive us, our Father, for putting anyone under bondage, which
47:43
Speaker 1: we do regularly. May we stop it. And Lord, just
47:49
Speaker 1: as you've remembered these seven and eight virtually unknown people,
47:53
Speaker 1: remind us that you know us. You know everything about us,
47:59
Speaker 1: and the one who loves us the best noses the best.
48:05
Speaker 1: How great of you? I pray for those who've never
48:10
Speaker 1: trusted your son that they may do so before sundown
48:16
Speaker 1: this day in the name of Jesus I pray, and
48:22
Speaker 1: all the people of Grace said Amen. Amen.
48:29
Speaker 2: The preceding message, putting Down Evil, Lifting Up Friends, was
48:33
Speaker 2: copyrighted in two thousand and eight, twenty ten, and twenty
48:36
Speaker 2: twenty five, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
48:39
Speaker 2: twenty five by Charles Rswindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
48:45
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.