Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Please remain standing. And let's turn
our attention to Romans Chapter Five, verses
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six through eleven. Actually, I'm
going to just start reading at the beginning
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of that chapter, and but the
sermon will be on verses six through eleven
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in particular. So there's Romans five. Therefore, since we have been justified
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by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through
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him, we have also obtained access
by faith into this grace in which we
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stand, and we rejoice in the
hope of the glory of God. More
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than that, we rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
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and endurance produces character, and character
produces hope, and hope does not put
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us to shame, because God's love
has been poured into our hearts through the
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Holy Spirit, who has been given
to us for while we were still weak,
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at the right time, Christ died
from the ungodles for the ungodly,
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for one will scarcely die for a
righteous person, though perhaps for a good
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person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us
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in that, while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. Since,
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therefore, we have now been justified
by his blood. Much more shall
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we be saved by him from the
wrath of God. For if, while
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we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his son,
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much more, now that we are
reconciled, shall we be saved by
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his life. More than that,
we also rejoice in God through our Lord
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Jesus Christ, through whom we have
now received reconciliation. You may be seated.
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So this hymn that we just saying, my faith has found a resting
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place, has this chorus. I
need no other argument, I need no
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other plea. It is enough that
Jesus died, in that he died for
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me. It's sort of reminds us
of the simplicity of the Christian faith.
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There is the Cross of Christ,
and that's it. It's all about that,
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it all surrounds that. Everything that
we believe, everything that we hope
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for, everything that we are is
connected to Jesus dying on the cross,
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rising from the dead for the forgiveness
of our sins. When you consider the
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Cross, the Empty Cross of the
risen Christ, what kinds of things come
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to your mind? I would say
that there's lots of great things that could
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come to your mind. Given what
I've said about how interconnected the theology of
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the Bible is, given how personally
connected we are to the cross, there's
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lots and lots of things we could
think about. There's the historical things as
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well, the cruelty of the soldiers, the corruption of the leadership, the
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agony pain of Jesus's death. There
are many good ways to consider the cross.
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In this passage in Romans five,
six through eleven, God puts the
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cross forward and shows it to us
in a very particular way as a sign
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of his love. As a sign
of his love. We read that.
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I'm in Verse Eight, but God
shows his love for us in that wall.
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We were still sinners. Christ died
for us. That's what the Cross
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is about. Paul says it's a
demonstration, it is proof of God's love
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for us. It's maybe not the
first symbol that you would pick if you
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were picking a symbol for love,
a torture device, a cross, but
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that's what he says. This is
how God shows us his love. Remember
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also that this passage, verses six
through eleven, is coming after verse five.
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Remember that suffering produces endurance and versus
endurance produces character. Character produces hope,
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and hope doesn't put us to shame, because God's love has been poured
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into our hearts through the Holy Spirit
who has been given to us. That's
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verse five. We know this because
the Holy Spirit has been poured into our
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hearts. We experience God's love.
This is what Paul says in Verse Five,
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and then in verses six through eleven, he steps back from that and
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explains an aspect of that love,
a historical aspect of its that love.
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In other words, the reason we
feel God's love is Christians. The reason
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we know that closeness and his companionship, his friendship, his desire and care
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for us, his kindness, is
because of what Jesus has done on the
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cross, because of the cross of
love. To say that the cross is
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a sign of God's love, I
think is a real remarkable thing. To
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say that, in the Great War
between good and evil, between a perfectly
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good God who would send his son
into the world, this glorious, holy,
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perfect king, send this son into
the world a champion, a noble
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one who is perfectly merciful and honorable
and loving, and that this one would
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then be seized in the evil hearts
of Men and crucified on a cross,
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that that would become the symbol of
God's love is a testimony to his power,
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his sovereignty, His grace, his
ability to take even the greatest evils
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of this world, even the crucifixion
of the Son of God, and turn
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it for the greatest good, the
greatest act of love. That's why we
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need no other argument. That's why
all we need is the cross of Christ.
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To understand this better, it's helpful
to go back in time, to
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flash back all the way to the
very beginning of the world and remember how
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God first entered into a relationship with
man. At the Cross we see this
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war breaking out, evil man crucifying
the son of God, that war between
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God and Man, that enmity,
enemies on both sides. It didn't start
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that way. When the world began, man and God, we're friends,
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not because man had made himself so
good, but because God had made him
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good. God had lovingly, intimately, carefully particularly crafted human beings and placed
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Adam in particular, the very first
human, in this garden, a blessed
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place full of provision and beauty and
care, real intimacy with God. God
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even provides for Adam and giving him
eve and together they have. They share
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this humanity the image of God,
and are called to worship God and serve
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him and obey him as his servants, as his creatures, and they do
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until man chooses an act of treason, of rebellion. Adam and Eve sin
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against God by doing the thing that
we confessed earlier, by doing the one
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thing that God had commanded them not
to do, despite the fact that God
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had made them good, the fact
that they were in a good and wonderful
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case place, that they had the
protection and care of God, that he
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promised them eternal life if they would
obey it, chose not to. They
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chose a an act of rebellion,
even a Satanic Act. They chose the
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side of the evil one. They
chose to listen to lies, they chose
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to go against the one who would
make them, made them. They chose
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to become enemies of God. And
they are, as we say, theologically
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or they they fell. They fell. When we say they fell, we
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don't mean that they stumbled. This
is the kind of I fallen and I
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can't get up kind of fall,
the kind of fall that sometimes people have
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that ends their lives. You break
a bone so bad that infections sets in
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that you cannot recover. That's what
happened to Adam and Eve. They became
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weak, they became sinful, corrupt, they they were broken, and we
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know very well all about that because
we experience it every day. We know
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the flesh and the corruption in our
own lives. We know about illness,
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we know about disease and grief and
sorrow. We know about slavery, to
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sin, the demands of the law, fear of the wrath of God.
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We know about death. We know
what it means to be scared of hell.
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We know about lies, murder,
adultery. We know about stealing and
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idolatry. We know what it means
to have broken families and broken friendships,
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to have divisions in the church,
in the country. We know about strife.
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We know who we are in our
flesh and our sinfulness, and that
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fall, that disease, that grief, that sorrow, was not contained to
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Adam and Eve, is now connected
intimately to their humanity, so that as
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they are fruitful and multiply, they
multiply like an infestation of Scorpions or mosquitoes,
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the kind of thing that you if
it was in your home, in
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your house you would eradicate. You
would say this is a problem, this
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is not good, and God,
who is perfectly good, would not tolerate
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it. He told them before they
sinned that in all his goodness, the
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wages of sin were deaf and wrath
and curse. And that's exactly what happened.
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But God, after their fall,
did the most amazing thing. He
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made a promise to his enemies.
He went to his enemies, to Adam
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and Eve, these people that had
just broken everything, destroyed everything, and
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he said, I'm going to save
you, and I'm going to save you
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through the birth of a son whom
you will bear, who will crush the
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head of this evil one who has
deceived you and whose side you have joined.
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That promise is fulfilled in Jesus.
That's why, when the Bible talks
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about Jesus coming to deliver us from
wrath, like in First Tet Thessalonians one
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hundred and ten, that Jesus delivers
us from wrath, it's a very real
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kind of situation. In Our fallenness
and in our sin, this promised one
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is born and he comes in and
he rescues us. Now this is all
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hard for us to understand because of
what Paul says in verses seven and eight.
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He says we all know, he
sort of gives this argument that we're
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all very familiar with. One will
scarcely die for a righteous person. This
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is the sort of you know.
Imagine there's someone and this person has not
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really done anything bad. Will You
die for them? Will you give your
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life for this person who hasn't done
anything bad? Well, most people won't
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scarcely die for that person. But
what if that person is good? It's
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not just someone who hasn't done anything
bad, but this is a good person,
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someone who's really done great and honorable
things. Paul says. Well,
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maybe in that case people would be
willing to give their lives for someone,
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a hero, a saint, someone
who is really exemplified themselves in the world
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and among men as as someone worthy
and good. Well, maybe for that
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person we would be willing to give
our lives. But Jesus does something really
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different. He doesn't give his life
for good people. He doesn't even give
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his life for just righteous people.
He gives his life for ungodly people,
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for enemies. There was a story
that I saw reported a few days ago
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of a man who, during the
Paris attacks a few weeks ago. Was
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it one of the venues? Working
at one of the venues there, and
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as the terrorists came in and were
shooting people and firing rounds all over the
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place, he, who worked at
this venue, went in and was showing
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people where the exits were, there
were backdoors and secret sorts of things,
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as stages and places tend to have, and he was getting people out,
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took them to safety and other buildings
and then would come back into the building
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and take them out again, and
back and forth and back and forth,
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and many people he's I guess he
was remaining somewhat anonymous, but people have
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been trying to find him and they
found him and people are saying I am
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so thankful, I owe my life
to this good man. Look at what
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he has done. Well, this
man, he didn't know anything about the
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people there in that venue. He
just knew that these were innocent people.
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They needed to be saved and he
he took care of it. Jesus didn't
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do that. Jesus came to save
the terrorists. Jesus came to save the
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ungodly, the enemies. He didn't
come to save the people that were doing
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all right and just caught caught up
in something. He came to save the
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people on the other side. He
came to save us in our sins,
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and Paul tells us how he does
and it's so important because when we look
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at the cross, we don't just
see a fallen soldier, the great champion
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of God on the battle field and
look to him and say now there was
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a brave man, there is someone
who went out and fought for what was
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good. That's not how we see
Jesus. He wasn't just a brave man
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who fell in the battle and fell
for the right side. God says that
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he was a sacrifice, like the
Old Testament sacrifices, one who was offered
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up to God, who was bled
so that that blood would atone for our
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sins, so that's God's wrath would
be propitiated so that he would stand in
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our place. He wasn't just an
example, he was a substitute, a
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sacrificial substitute for our sins. That's
what the Cross is. It's an altar
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with the lamb of God on it, dying and bleeding for the very people
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who are crucifying him. And that's
what he does and in that very effective
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sacrifice, in that death, in
dying for the ungodly, in that sacrificial
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way, our INS are cleansed because
it's not just a lamb or a dove
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or a bowl that's on that altar. It's the son of God, it's
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the Lord. God, in his
humanity and his divinity, sacrificed for us
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so that all of his perfect righteousness
would be imputed to us and that all
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of our sins, all of them, all of that ungodliness, all of
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that rebellion, all of the treason
and sedition, would be forgiven. But
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Jesus doesn't just wipe the slate clean
and make us innocent. He reconciles with
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us with God, and he does
it not just and not primarily in this
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passage, in changing our hearts,
but in changing God's heart. It's not
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that God makes us good people and
then God then turns to us and says,
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all right now that you're no longer
my enemy. is we can be
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friends again. You stopped fighting against
me, so we can have peace.
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No, God makes peace with us
while we are still enemies, while we
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are still God ungodly, while we're
still sinners. He totally satisfies that and
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that's why, when we say I
need no other argument, I need no
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other plea, we don't look inside
ourselves and we say, wow, I'm
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so glad I've deeply and truly repented, or I'm so glad that I've cried
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enough tears or felt enough sorrow or
born enough grief. No, we say
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I'm so glad Jesus is born my
sorrows, Jesus is born the grief that
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Jesus has taken, the sins that
God made the move, and God did
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it perfectly, because it wasn't depend
on us any longer, only on Jesus,
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and that's why we only need him. And in that peace that we
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are given, we now have reconciliation
with God. Instead of being his enemies,
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where his friends, where his beloved, even his pride? Paul goes
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on to say that not only he
keeps piling this on, not only do
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we have all of this justification and
reconciliation, but we can know that the
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coming wrath of God, on the
day of the Lord, we don't even
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need to fear that the justification that
begins on the cross is completed, even
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to that end, that there's power
not only in his death but also in
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his life. You remember what Jesus
says, for example in Matthew and eighteen,
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when he gives the Great Commission because
of his resurrection, because of his
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life, he says, all authority
in Heaven on earth has been given to
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me. Go there for and baptize
and teach. Or you can think of
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the power of his life in terms
of Hebrews seven hundred and twenty five,
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because Jesus lives now, because he
resurrected from the dead and didn't remain dead
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on the cross but conquered it overcame
our sin. Hebrews seven hundred and twenty
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five says he is able to save
to the uttermost those who draw near to
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God through him, since he always
lives, since he always lives to make
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intercession for them. Or consider Jesus
his life. In Romans Eight and eleven.
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There's this pledge that's given. If
the spirit of him who raised Jesus
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from the dead dwells in you,
if the spirit of him who raised Jesus
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from the dead dwells in you,
he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead
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will also give you life to your
mortal bodies through his spirit, who dwells
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in you. You See, not
only was Jesus a sacrifice for our sins,
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but his resurrection from the dead and
the outpouring of the spirit in love
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guarantee he's for us that when the
day of the Lord comes and when God
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comes to finally judge all of his
enemies and send them to hell forever and
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ever, we, who have been
bought for and redeemed by the blood of
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Christ, will live, will live
forever and ever even as our Lord lives.
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That is the love of God.
That is the love of God,
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and that is why, when we
look on the Cross of Christ, we
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see love, lots and lots of
love, because there I am, a
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sinner, corrupt, fighting and enemies
with God, reconciled to him through this
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gift of Christ, in Jesus's death, you have been given what Charles Hodge
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calls the highest possible or conceivable proof
of God's love for sinners. And you
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are a sinner, I'm a sinner, we all are sinners. Were all
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born of that same corrupted flesh of
Adam and eve. So let us turn
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to Jesus Christ, in the faith
that say yeves. We turn to Jesus
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and receive him as he is offered
to us. We don't look anywhere else,
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we don't look for other arguments,
we don't try to find things in
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ourselves to rescue us and save us
from this corruption. We look at the
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Cross of Christ, we look at
the son of God, whom God has
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given to save us from our sins, and we say that that's enough.
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God has said that it is God
has given it to us. What else
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do we need? Nothing, nothing
else. We don't need anything else,
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and so we receive it gratefully and
with joy and with the rejoicing that is
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described here in verse eleven. More
than that, we also rejoice in God
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through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
We don't have to wait till the end
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of time to know that we have
joy and cheer and hope. We have
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it right now, because we are
those who have been forgiven. So,
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beloved of the Lord, put your
faith in Jesus and you will enjoy justification
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and rejoicing and sanctification and reconciliation and
peace with God and joy in him now
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and forever. Let us pray
