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Message from Aaron Keeton - Saturday Evening Session · Simply Christ Podcast

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  to the Simply Christ podcast. This episode was recorded at the
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  Upper Midwest Fellowship Camp. Let's get right into it.
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  I have AI have a message that that I, I'm assuming this will
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  affect everybody. I don't know for sure that you
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  have had an experience like this, but I think most of us
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  have had a time in which we have been let down by somebody,
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  somebody that maybe held a spiritual role, somebody that
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  would have been maybe a preacher or someone that we looked up to.
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  I'll tell you my personal little experience.
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  Really the reason why I came up with this lesson was when I
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  guess most of you know this. I don't have any Amish or men
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  not background. Me and my wife were both public
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  school. We were raised in Christian
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  homes, but not really. We didn't really have anybody
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  around us and our family or in the churches that had a lot of
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  kids and and really no, nobody that even had kids seemed like
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  they were doing a good job of, of raising their kids.
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  They were not training them. They were unruly And, and we
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  both, that was the thing we kind of were unified in.
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  We found a great unity in when we were dating and get married
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  was that we wanted to do different than what we had saw
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  around us. We were seeing that the rule was
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  the children were going astray, not remaining faithful.
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  And we felt like that shouldn't be the rule.
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  That should be the exception. So we were looking around kind
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  of for examples because they weren't in the churches that we
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  were in. And my wife actually saw on TV
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  were both raised, you know, watching TV all the time.
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  And so she saw this show about the Duggars.
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  And I don't know how many of you even know who that is, but there
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  was the Duggars and we saw this show and she was really
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  impressed by that. And she told me about it and we
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  saw it and, and they did, they had all kinds of kids.
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  They were well mannered. They were conservatively dressed
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  at the time. And they, they were good
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  influence. And we really appreciated what
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  they, what they, you know, the example that they set.
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  And then, you know, we've got these scandals.
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  And again, I don't know how much of you know this, but they've
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  had a little bit of scandals with a couple of their sons, you
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  know, bad, bad stuff. And the tendency is to get let
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  down, right? Like we, we see that we
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  especially when it's someone that did have an influence on
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  you. And again, I don't know that
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  everybody in here has that, but I think most of us have been let
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  down by some other person. Maybe it was just in the fact
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  that when you saw the gospel and told it to somebody else or knew
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  somebody else was hearing it like you did and they didn't
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  receive it, maybe you was let down in that.
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  Maybe you thought someone was more upright than what they was
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  and they let you down in that. Maybe someone.
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  In fact, I've had an experience or two in which someone let me
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  down that I don't think they were trying to, right.
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  They weren't trying to discourage me.
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  They weren't trying to let me down, but something they said
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  discouraged me or, you know, was an A had a negative impact on
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  what I thought to be true or right or whatever it was.
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  So I think most of us have some sort of experience in which we
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  were let down by someone. In fact, in Ecclesiastes chapter
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  3, there's a verse here that I think is very fitting to this
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  Ecclesiastes 3 and verse 16 says this.
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  He says, and moreover, I saw under the sun the place of
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  judgement. Like literally the judge, you
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  know, like, I mean, he's looking around maybe at the high priest
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  or the the people that would sit at the gate of the city and
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  judge a matter or whatever. He says I looked in the place of
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  judgement, that wickedness was there, right that like he, he
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  goes to the place that ought to be making a right decision,
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  ought to be making the right call.
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  And he looks in that position, that high upheld position, and
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  there's wickedness there. He says and the place of
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  righteousness, that iniquity was there.
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  So I, I, I mean, again, I think we see that we see any time that
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  there's a scandal about a preacher or someone that is held
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  to be up, you know, held to be a, a righteous man and we see
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  something come out that is maybe it's, you know, some kind of
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  scandal or whatever. We look in that place where it
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  ought to been holiness and righteousness and there winds up
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  being wickedness there, right? So, so Solomon is looking at
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  this. He's seeing in the positions in
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  which it ought to be truth and righteousness and holiness
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  upheld that he finds maybe not all the time.
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  I mean, it's true like all these, these scandals maybe that
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  we see they're not necessarily the rule.
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  They may be the exception, but we see them exceptions and it
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  disappoints us so, and I may say this again, but here's kindly
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  the the the point that I want to make to you tonight.
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  We often measure God's faithfulness based on the
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  faithfulness of men, right? So we say we may look at
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  something and we may say that the we look at this individual
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  that ought to have been righteous, that ought to have
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  been a a holy person. We see them, we see them fall in
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  their faithfulness and we relate that in our minds to God must
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  not be faithful. So that's what I really want to
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  address tonight is the fact that we make that mistake in which
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  we, we put so much stock into men that we basically judge the
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  faithfulness of God based on the faithfulness of another man.
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  So we realize, I mean, this is this is a set of verses that I
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  used to read and think was only about the bad people.
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  But Romans chapter 3 and starting in verse 9, he says
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  this. This is Romans 3 and verse 9.
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  And actually, the context of this is very important to the
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  argument because he's basically, if you know Romans very well,
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  you know that Paul starts out by telling us how the people that
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  did not acknowledge God turn to these things, all these bad
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  things, and God turn them over to more and more wickedness as
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  they refuse to acknowledge God. And then he turns around after
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  saying a big list in the end of chapter 1 of thing of great sins
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  that people do. And we are all, you know, we're
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  all quick to condemn it. We all see that list and we all
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  think that's the other people. And he turns around in chapter 2
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  and says the things that you just made a judgement call on
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  you do the same things. He turns around in the addresses
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  in chapter 2 how that the the Jew which should have been a lot
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  to the world, which should have known God's words.
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  He is supposed to be the one that's guiding and is a example
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  to other people. And he says you condemn this,
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  but do you do the same thing right?
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  And then he comes into chapter 3 and he is comparing those two
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  things that the Gentile which knew not God and the Jew which
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  should have known God. And he says in verse 9 this
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  Romans 39, he says, what then are we better than they?
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  That is, is the Jew better than the Gentile?
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  No in no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and
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  Gentiles that they are all under sin as it is written.
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  Listen to this list. And like I said, I used to, I
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  used to think this was everybody else.
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  I mean, honestly, I did, I just, I read, I mean, because I, I
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  felt like I was doing more than most.
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  I mean, I'll be honest, I did, I felt like that as a, as I before
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  I saw the gospel, I felt like I was trying harder than most.
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  So when I read this list, I, I applied it to the bad people,
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  right? But listen to what he says.
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  He says this is Romans 3 and verse 10 as it is written.
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  There is none righteous, no, not one.
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  He says there is none that understandeth.
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  There is none that seeketh after God.
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  They are all gone out of the way.
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  They are together, that is as a whole become unprofitable.
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  There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
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  Their throat is an open sepulchre.
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  With their tongues they have used deceit.
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  The poison of ASP is under their lips, whose mouth is full of
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  cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
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  blood. Destruction and misery are in
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  their ways, and the way of peace.
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  Have they not known there is No Fear of God before their eyes?
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  Now we know that what thing so ever the law saith, It saith to
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  them who are under the law. Listen to this, that every mouth
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  may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God,
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  right? So I kind of read that really to
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  say this, that we see or we are let down when we see people fall
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  from what they have appeared to be.
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  But in another sense, we shouldn't be surprised, right?
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  In another sense, we shouldn't be shocked when we see great
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  wickedness come out. We're we're we were looking for
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  justice and righteousness and we found iniquity.
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  We shouldn't be surprised, right?
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  He's making this conclusion about humanity, of how wicked we
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  are and how we've all gone astray.
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  I mean, he says we're like sheep, all gone away, gone after
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  our own ways. So in a sense, we shouldn't be
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  surprised, but the danger that I keep wanting to stress to you is
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  if you look at the man or the woman and you equate their
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  unfaithfulness as unfaithfulness of God, then you're missing it,
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  right? I mean that, that you, you,
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  you're, you're basing this on what man has done, not what God
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  has done. In fact, let's let's look at
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  something that Solomon said in First Kings chapter 8.
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  First Kings chapter 8. This is Solomon is just kind of
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  been dedicating the temple and build it there and all the
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  things that go along with with, you know, putting it together
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  and all the riches that get in it.
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  And he makes this comment. This is First Kings 8 and verse
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  56. First Kings 8 and verse 56.
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  He makes this comment. He says, Blessed be the Lord
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  that hath given rest unto his people Israel.
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  Now listen to this. According to all that He has,
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  all that He promised, there hath not failed one word of all His
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  good promise, which He promised by the hand of Moses his
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  servant. Now let's, let's think about
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  that story. Let's think about their history
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  from Abraham, or well, not really from Abraham.
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  Let's, let's take it from Exodus up to the present.
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  Here in First Kings, they've got a history of unbelief, right?
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  I mean, that's what Hebrews tells us, that they, the people
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  that were 20 years old, 20 years old and upward, other than Caleb
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  and Joshua, they failed to enter into the promised land because
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  of unbelief. So they've got a history of
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  unbelief. They've got a history of
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  disobedience. But God has a history of doing
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  everything that he promised, right?
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  He promises them. He says, I'm going to feed you
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  with manna. I'm going to send you meat by
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  quail. And regardless of their
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  unfaithfulness, that doesn't stop, does it?
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  Right. So Solomon here can stand up and
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  say he doesn't say all this, but he could say, now we have failed
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  God. We have fallen short of what our
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  requirement was to believe these promises.
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  But God, not one word of what he has promised has failed, right?
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  So regardless of what this people did, I mean, that's what
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  Jesus says about them. There are stiff necked people.
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  How many times would I have gathered you together as a
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  chick, that together you know, her chicks under wings and ye
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  would not, they were very unfaithful.
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  But God did not fail in one word that He had promised, right?
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  So as you look, I mean again, we can take that same story.
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  Look back when they did what God said, when He promised them that
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  if they've marched rock around the walls of Jericho 7 times, it
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  was when they did that it fell right?
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  When he says you can go over there and you can take the land
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  of the giants and the spies come back and say, no, they're too
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  big for us. God's promise was faithful.
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  When they actually did go do that, they was able to do it.
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  But when they doubted, they failed.
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  Now, if you want to, let's go back to Romans again, back to
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  Romans chapter 3, Romans 3. We read the last part of that
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  chapter, but let's go back to the beginning of that chapter,
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  Romans chapter 3. And again, like I said, he has,
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  he's just got done saying that the that the name of God is
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  blasphemed through among the Gentiles, through the Jews,
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  because the Jews would condemn a certain thing and yet do it
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  themselves. That's what he said back in
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  Romans 224. And he's comes to chapter 3 and
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  he says this. What advantage then hath the
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  Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision much every way like
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  he? I mean, he's in the midst of
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  concluding them. In the same chapters we just
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  already read, he's going to conclude they're all under sin.
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  But he's making the point. Is there an advantage to being a
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  Jew, to being someone that God had already dealt with, that
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  already knew the stories of who God was, that already had His
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  laws, that already had a understanding of who He was,
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  knew what the promises was, was, you know, informed on all the
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  prophecies that pertain to them? Is there an advantage in that?
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  He says yes, absolutely in every way.
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  There is an advantage to that. He says in verse 2 much every
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  way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles
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  of God. But now listen to this and and I
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  want you to think about the context.
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  He's comparing Jew to Gentile. He says, is there an advantage
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  to the Jew because of what I just said?
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  Them knowing the promises, promises, them telling the
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  stories of how their fathers saw the miracles, how their fathers
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  were brought out of the wilderness, how they watched the
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  great works of God and saw all those things he did.
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  They knew all these things, right?
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  They were, I mean, they've, they did kind of fail in this, but
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  they were prepared in the sense of the information they had and
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  the history they had. They were prepared to know what
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  was coming right when Jesus comes on scene, OK, he says, if
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  that's the case, verse 3 for what if some did not believe?
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  In other words, they have all this information, but what if
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  when it comes, which is actually did really, what happened when
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  it comes? What if most of them, or what if
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  all of them don't believe it? Right?
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  What if Jesus comes on the scene?
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  They know he's coming. They have all these prophecies
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  leading up to him. They know that God has promised
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  to send a Messiah. Well, what if when he shows up,
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  nobody believes him? That's what he says.
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  For what if some did not believe?
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  Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
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  Here's what he's saying. If this people that knows all
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  his words and all his promises, if when one of them like his son
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  showing up on the scene happens and they fail to believe it,
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  does that mean that the promises are of none effect, right?
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  Listen what he says in the next verse.
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  God forbid. Yay, let God be true, but every
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  man a liar, as it is written that thou mightest be justified
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  in thy sayings and that thou mightest overcome when thou art
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  judged right. So God.
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  In fact, you could look at it this way.
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  God has already said they're going to have a blind eye and A
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  and a hard heart and they're not going to receive this.
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  So God knows that though they have the advantage, they're
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  going to reject this son, right? Well, if their actions, like if,
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  if we were looking around, if we were on the outside, let's just
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  say that the, the Gentile had the understanding.
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  Let's say he looks at the situation and says, well, nobody
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  is believing this. Does that make it ineffectual?
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  And here's my point. The people that have let us
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  down, the people that have seemed true and ended up false,
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  is that a mark against God or against that man?
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  Right. Who's that a mark against?
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  Who is it that? Who does that say that the
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  unfaithfulness is in? It's not God.
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  It didn't. I mean, just like this story
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  right here, if there if nobody believed it, I mean, and if you
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  look at the percentage, it was a small percentage.
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  Even though the first several thousand true believers came out
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  of Israel, it's still a small percentage of the amount of
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  people that there was that was Israelites, right?
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  So their lack of belief does not make the promises of God without
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  effect. Now let's turn over, if you
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  would, to Second Timothy. Chapter 2, Second Timothy,
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  chapter 2 and verse 12 He says this.
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  Second Timothy 212 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.
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  If we deny him, he also will deny us.
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  Wasn't this if we believe not yet.
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  He abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself.
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  Now, folks, it doesn't matter if it doesn't matter what science
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  or anybody else comes up with. It doesn't matter if if this
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  whole nation turns against God and we all become atheists and
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  we all believe in evolution, it doesn't matter, right?
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  God is still true. He's still the creator
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  regardless of what we conclude, regardless of what man comes up
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  with. I mean think about the verse.
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  If we believe not yet he abideth faithful.
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  You cannot base your assessment of God's faithfulness on what
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  man does. They'll let you down, right?
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  I mean, I have said that many times.
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  Men will let you down. They just will.
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  I mean, you're not if you are. And like I said, I don't know,
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  maybe not, but I think that we have a tendency to look at a
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  man, you know, a man that we may look up to or a woman that we
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  may look up to. And we hold them higher than we
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  ought to. And then they say something or
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  they do something or they don't act like we think they ought to
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  act. And it and it shakes our faith,
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  right? I mean, is that happened to us?
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  We see someone do something and it shakes our faith and we feel
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  like maybe God, maybe he's not who he says he is because I
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  never thought this person would do that.
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  Folks, if we believe not, if they believe not, he still
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  abides faithful, right? He cannot deny himself.
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  It's like, I mean, I understand that maybe our, maybe our
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  thinking would be that this is impossible.
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  Like I think that it's almost impossible if you read your
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  Bible that that this would happen, but it is true that it
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  doesn't matter. Let's say the whole world turned
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  against him and there was not a believer left.
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  It doesn't make the truth of the Bible and of God any less right.
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  Doesn't make any difference. It's it's not, it is not
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  affected how true or how real God is.
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  If no one believes that he's real, it doesn't make any
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  difference. Now go back to chapter 1.
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  This is Second Timothy 1 and verse 12, Second Timothy 1 and
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  verse 12. And I want you to think about
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  this and I want you to kind of put yourself, I'm going to read
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  part of this and then we're going to go back and look
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  something else in just a second. But I want you to put yourself
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  in Paul's situation or in his perspective.
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  Paul makes this comment to Timothy verse second Timothy
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  112. He says this for the which
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  'cause that is for you know the this cause of preaching the
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  gospel. I also suffer these things.
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  Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. Now let's, I'm going to read the
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  rest of the verse in just a second, but I want you to think
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  about what Paul has. What does he mean by that?
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  Turn back, hold your finger out there and turn back to 2nd
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  Corinthians Chapter 11, Second Corinthians Chapter 11.
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  And we kind of talked about this a little bit last night when the
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  men were gathered around here. Not these verses, but we talked
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  about this concept of what if bad things happen to me?
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  What what if, what if great misfortunes fall upon me or, or
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  something bad happens or whatever?
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  How am I to think of this? Now we were talking about
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  something like a trailer, you know, pulling the trailer down
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  the road and it coming unhooked and, and causing us maybe a
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  lawsuit or whatever. But I want you to think about
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  what Paul's situation was the 2nd Corinthians 11 and verse 23
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  in comparison to something that light.
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  Listen to this he says Second Corinthians 11/23 are they
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  ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool.
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  I am more in laborers more abundant in stripes above
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  measure. Now I want you to Paul just said
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  there in second Timothy, I suffer these things and I'm not
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  ashamed. I, I mean, what would you think
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  if you were preaching the gospel, if you were saying God
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  is real, if you were saying he's the savior of the world, if you
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  were preaching his son's death, burial and resurrection and over
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  and over again so that you lost count.
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  You got beat for that. Would that shake your face if
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  over if if you were striped so many times?
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  I mean, I don't think this is an an exaggeration.
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  He says stripes above measure. I have lost count of the licks I
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  have taken for preaching the gospel.
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  Stripes above. Measure in in, in prisons more
• 26:05
  frequent. I mean, you're out here doing
• 26:08
  what God told you to do and you keep getting thrown in jail.
• 26:13
  He says in. Deaths OFT, like maybe some of
• 26:19
  us or maybe most of us have had an instance where we felt like
• 26:22
  we were close to death. But it was just like, you know,
• 26:24
  you're driving down the road and somebody swerves over and you
• 26:26
  swerve all the way at the last minute and you say, Oh my, I was
• 26:28
  so close to he's not talking about accidents.
• 26:32
  He's saying that I was in jeopardy to the point of I had a
• 26:37
  a face to face death experience for the gospel sake and often
• 26:44
  right several times. He said 24 of the Jews five
• 26:50
  times received a 40 stripes save one, he said.
• 26:57
  In fact, just of the Jews alone I've got beat 5 * 40 with 39
• 27:02
  stripes. He says.
• 27:05
  Thrice, that is 3 times I was beaten with rods like they laid
• 27:11
  him down. They did not, they did not give
• 27:16
  him what I see some people give their kids just a love tap, you
• 27:19
  know, like, oh, don't do that. You know, I mean, they laid him
• 27:22
  down and they were beating him with a rod, right?
• 27:26
  Like a strong man is swinging a rod and beating him with it.
• 27:33
  Thrice was I. Beaten with rods.
• 27:35
  Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck.
• 27:39
  A night and a day have I been in the deep?
• 27:41
  Like he has a shipwreck and he has to float around wondering if
• 27:45
  he's going to get eaten by a shark for a day and 1/2 right,
• 27:50
  he says in journeys, often in perils of water, in perils of
• 27:53
  robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils by the
• 27:57
  heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in
• 28:01
  perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in
• 28:05
  weariness and painfulness, in watchings, often in hunger and
• 28:13
  thirst. That's not saying I'm I went
• 28:17
  from I I went all I ate breakfast and I had to wait till
• 28:22
  9 O clock that night to eat supper.
• 28:24
  That's not what he's saying right?
• 28:25
  Like real hunger. Like real starvation and thirst.
• 28:33
  He says. In fastings, often in cold and
• 28:38
  nakedness. Besides, those things are
• 28:41
  without that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the
• 28:46
  churches, he said. You know, on top of all that
• 28:50
  physical suffering, I've got this fire to put out over here
• 28:55
  at Corinth. I've got this going on over here
• 28:57
  at Galatia. I've got this going on over here
• 29:00
  at Philippi, right? I mean, I'm worried about what's
• 29:03
  going on, what's being taught over here.
• 29:05
  I've got these brethren coming behind me trying to teach people
• 29:09
  that they need to go back and obey the law of Moses.
• 29:11
  I've got all this coming on me, right?
• 29:15
  I mean, think about that, that he's, he's going through all
• 29:18
  this physical pain and suffering for it.
• 29:21
  And then on top of that, he's got trouble in most of the
• 29:26
  churches. That's bothering him, but go
• 29:30
  back to. Second Timothy 1 and verse 12.
• 29:33
  He says I'll read the whole verse this time for the which
• 29:36
  'cause I also suffer these things.
• 29:41
  Nevertheless, I'm. Not ashamed.
• 29:44
  Right, like. It doesn't matter how many times
• 29:47
  I get beat for the gospel sake. It doesn't really matter how
• 29:50
  many problems there is over here in the churches or how many
• 29:53
  false doctrines are going around from place to place.
• 29:57
  I'm not ashamed. Listen to this, for I know whom
• 30:04
  I have believed. Now, folks.
• 30:09
  If all you know, if the only person you know, and the only
• 30:15
  way you are measuring the faithfulness of God is by
• 30:20
  another man, then you're going to get discouraged.
• 30:25
  But if you. Know God, if you, if you go back
• 30:29
  and read these stories and you learn who he really is, you'll
• 30:34
  be like Paul and you'll say, I know him right?
• 30:38
  I know whom I believed, he says, and am persuaded that he is able
• 30:44
  to keep that which I have committed unto him against that
• 30:48
  day he. Said it really doesn't.
• 30:51
  Matter what's going on around me, I know God.
• 30:54
  I know how faithful he is. I know that that's true, that
• 30:58
  there's not been one word fail of all his promises.
• 31:01
  Like Solomon said, I know him. In the last verse.
• 31:07
  Turn over to Romans 4. I'm tempted to read the whole
• 31:13
  definition of what Abraham was, but I actually just want to read
• 31:17
  this one verse. This is Romans 4 and verse 21.
• 31:22
  This is a explanation of what he means when he says that Abraham
• 31:27
  was a great man of faith or that Abraham was the father of faith.
• 31:31
  This is a good definition and goes right along with what we
• 31:34
  just said about Paul. He says this.
• 31:37
  This is talking about Abraham. He started telling what this
• 31:41
  definition of what Abraham did starting in verse 18, but in 21
• 31:45
  he makes this comment is Romans 421.
• 31:49
  He says about Abraham that he was big and and being fully
• 31:54
  persuaded that what he that is God had promised, he that is God
• 32:03
  was able also to perform. Now folks, if you base.
• 32:12
  God's performance on the performance of me or anybody
• 32:16
  else, you're going to be let down.
• 32:20
  But if you read about God and you see His faithfulness and His
• 32:25
  keeping of His promises, forget about man.
• 32:29
  Just look at the. Faithfulness of God, right?
• 32:32
  Don't be discouraged and and I don't know, I don't know how
• 32:34
  much that it it personally affected me when I saw that when
• 32:42
  I see something I'm I'm looking for righteousness and I find
• 32:46
  iniquity in that it did affect me.
• 32:49
  And this is what I thought. I mean, I had to go back and
• 32:53
  evaluate it like this. So if you have had in fact that
• 32:58
  may be that may keep someone from believing the gospel
• 33:03
  because they look at the unfaithfulness of a man and they
• 33:07
  doubt God's faithfulness. That words, you see someone that
• 33:12
  maybe had a great influence on you and they turn out to be not
• 33:17
  what you thought or they don't believe the gospel and you let
• 33:19
  that hang you up on believing the truth of God.
• 33:24
  And it's a stumbling block to you.
• 33:25
  I say, forget about the man. Look at God, look at his
• 33:31
  faithfulness. Put your confidence in his
• 33:34
  ability to perform what he has promised because I'll say it
• 33:39
  again, man, I'll let you down. I don't care if it's me or
• 33:42
  whoever it is, I'll let you down.
• 33:45
  But God does not fail. So I hope that's been an
• 33:47
  encouragement to you. Hope that'll put our focus in
• 33:51
  the right place, but appreciate your attention.