Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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These remain standing, and let's hear
God's Word From Titus chapter three, tightus
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three, but this is tightus three. I'm going to read versus three through
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eight and then twelve through fifteen at
the end, and then next week we'll
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look at those verses in between those
two sections. So Titus three one through
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eight remind them to be submissive to
rulers and authorities, to be obedient,
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to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one,
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to avoid quarreling, to be gentle
and to show perfect courtesy toward all people,
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for we ourselves were once foolish,
disobedient. Let us stray slaves to
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various passions and pleasures, passing our
days in malice and envy, hated by
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others and hating one another. But
when the goodness and loving kindness of God,
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our Savior, appeared, he saved
us not because of works done by
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us in righteousness, but according to
his own mercy, by the washing of
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regeneration and the renewal of the Holy
Spirit, whom he poured out on US
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richly through Jesus Christ, to our
Savior, so that, being justified by
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His grace, we might become heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.
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The saying is trustworthy, and I
want you to insist on these things,
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so that those who have believed in
God may be careful to devote themselves to
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good works. These things are excellent
and profitable for people. And now,
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verse twelve, when I send Artemis
or Tichicus to you, do your best
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to come to me at Nico Paulus, for I have decided to spend the
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winter there. Do your best to
speed Zenus, the lawyer and to Paulus
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on their way. See that they
lack nothing, and let our people learn
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to devote themselves to good works so
as to help cases of virgent need and
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not be unfruitful. All who are
with me, send greetings to you.
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Greet those who love us in the
faith. Grace be with you all.
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Amen, please be seated well.
These final verses in Titus remind us of
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the context of this letter. It's
a letter, a written by a Paul,
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amongst a number of people are co
workers. He describes them a fellow
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soldiers, workers for this common cause
of spreading the Gospel. He's writing to
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titus, another one of these a
CO workers. He calls him at the
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beginning of the book in Titus one
for a true child in a common faith.
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On this to he has written to
titus this. A true child in
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the common faith is coworker in Christ
for the purpose of establishing a church or
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many churches there. In Crete,
we read this in verse five of Chapter
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One. This is why I left
you in Crete, so that you might
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put what remained into order and a
point elders in every town, as I
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directed you, Paul has a desire
to see that the Gospel that he has
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a begun, that has been preached
here, and the spirit that has brought
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forth, the fruit of faith and
faith itself, that it be further established,
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that, as he says later on, that what remains be established.
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Paul has talking to tide us as
a pastor and wants him to do the
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work as a pastor, and he's
been instructing him in that. And one
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of the prominent themes that has come
out a particularly in the last half of
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the book is this theme of good
works. You read it in verse fourteen.
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And let our people learn to devote
themselves to good works. This is
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something Paul Wants for the Churches of
Christ and, as it comes to us
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from the very spirit of God.
We can say that this is what God
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wants for his churches, this is
what God wants for us, he wants
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his people, he wants us to
learn to devote ourselves to good works.
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Here, at the end of the
book, He gives two particular reasons,
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so as to help in cases of
urgent need and not be unfruitful. You
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Remember, back in chapter two there
are a number of other reasons he gave
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on why we are to devote ourselves
to good works and live out our callings
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in the various stations of life God
has given us. He's called us to
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live in a way that honors his
name, in ways that won't revile cause
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the word of God to be reviled, ways that will be a pleasing to
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God. We see it, we
saw this theme also in Verse Fourteen of
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Chapter Two, were we read that
God did this saving work so that him
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who gave himself for us to redeem
us, that he redeemed us from all
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lawlessness, to purify for himself a
people for his own possession who are zealous
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for good works. So we are
to be devoted to good works, we
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read at the end of chapter three. Yet the end of Chapter Two we
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wead that God im did his work
that we might be zealous for good works.
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And then in verse eight of Chapter
Three, we read that the saying
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is trustworthy, and I want you
to insist on these things so that those
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who have believed in God may be
careful to devote themselves to good works.
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So if there's any question at all
ever in your minds as to whether or
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not we should be devoted to good
works, let that never be asked again.
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It's perfectly clear, crystal clear.
A God wants us to care,
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to be in love with, to
be devoted to good works. What does
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that look like? Well, you
might compare to other things that you are
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devoted to or people are devoted to. Consider a man, for example,
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who is said to be devoted to
his wife. What does he do for
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her? Well, he pays attention
to her, he knows her, he
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gets he does everything he can to
understand her, her and serve her.
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He is by her side, he
is careful to be with her, to
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love her, and in every way
he gives himself up for her. A
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man that is not devoted to his
wife is one who goes after other women,
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one who doesn't care about her.
Doesn't spend time with her, I'm
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doesn't pay attention to to her.
You can say similar things about good works.
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To be devoted good works means to
care about them, to think of
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them as an important thing, the
the it is the proverbs often describe the
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fool as the one who simply doesn't
care, one who is ignorant of them.
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It's the wise person who goes after
understanding the moral order that God has
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set in place and really seeks to
know it. Is devoted to wisdom,
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not just in knowledge but the application
of it. When we're devoted something,
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it means caring about it, learning
about it, it means trying and trying
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again even when we fail, because
it's what we love. We're devoted to
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it. Well, in addition to
saying that we here to be devoted to
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good works, zealous for good works
in our lives, Paul at the beginning
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of chapter three, gives some particulars
of that in versus one through one and
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two. He gives very specific commands. So if we were to ask,
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okay, Lord, how are we
supposed to live, then I'm what are
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the ways in which we are supposed
to be devoted to good works? We
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have several listed right here. There
of course others, but let's pay to
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the attention to the ones appall mentions. He says remind them to be submissive
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to rulers and authorities, to be
obedient, to be ready for every good
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work, to speak evil of no
one, to avoid quarreling, to be
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gentle and to show perfect courtesy toward
all people. If you look at this
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checklist and consider the last few hours, the last week, the last year,
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your life as a whole, how
do you evaluate yourself? God has
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put rulers and authorities over all of
us. Every one of us have people
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that are in charge and are to
be submitted to. Have you done that?
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Are we obedient? Are we not
just doing good works, but are
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we ready for good works? And
what of our tongues? Do we speak
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in evil ways of other people?
Do we not only not quarrel but avoid
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quarreling? Do we seek to be
gentle and show perfect court to see toward
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all people? These are the kinds
of works that God says we, as
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Christians, are to be devoted to, and you can see them in stark
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contrast with verses three and four,
for we ourselves were once foolish disobedient,
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let us stray, slaves to various
passions and pleasures, passing our days in
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malice and envy, hated by others
and hating one another. If you take
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these two characterizations and you imagine two
people, one that is submissive, obedient,
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ready for good, every good work, speaking evil of no one,
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pursuing gentleness, avoiding quarreling and showing
perfect courtesy toward all people, and you
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have another one who is foolish,
disobedient and slave to their passions and pleasures,
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hating people, being hated and passing
his days in malice and envy.
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Which one do you want to be
like? which person do you want to
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live with? What kind of society
would you want to have? When we
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imagine this first person, this one
that is submissive and obedient and gentle and
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ready for every good work, imagine
for a moment what our communities, our
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campuses, are churches, would be
like if we were this kind of people.
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What if only the Christians in the
world did this kind of thing?
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How awesome would that be? How
wonderful and pleasurable it would be to live
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a life like that, to be
a person like that, to be known
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and be loved by people like that. When we consider the attractiveness of that
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kind of life, when we consider
the God who commands us to it,
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when we consider the grace we have
been given and being delivered from a different
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kind of life into that, we
find ourselves hopefully wanting to do these kinds
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of things. How how do we
do these kinds of things? How do
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we become this kind of person,
this kind of pleasurable, enjoyable, wise
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good person? Well, there's all
kinds of practical things we could consider,
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all kinds of really great tips and
suggestions which should be learned and employed.
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But let's focus on the thing that
God gives us to focus on. What
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is Paul's answer to this question?
What does Paul say to Titus? He
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says in verse a, the saying
is trustworthy, and I want you to
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insist on these things so that those
who have believed in God may be careful
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to devote themselves to good works,
Paul says to Titus. All right,
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pastor, I want you to insist
on these things, saw that the people
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will be devoted to good works,
those people that have believed in God,
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Christians. Well, what are the
these things? What are the things that
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Paul that God himself wants this pastor
and all ministers to not just mention,
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but insist on, focus on,
spend their time on. Well, it's
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what we have in versus three through
eight. First we've already read versus verse
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three. This describes our sinful state. Ministers of God are supposed to describe
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our sinful state, to point out
what we once were, what we have
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been rescued from, what the flesh
and side is like because of original sin,
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and that's bad. Versus three says
we were once foolish, disobedient,
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led astray and so on, slaves
to various passions and pleasures. But the
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minister is not only to describe and
remind people of their sinful states, but
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to remind them as Christians. That's
that's that. That is something that they
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have come out of. Verse Four. But when the goodness and loving kindness
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of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us not because of works
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done by us in righteousness, but
according to his own mercy. This is
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what we call the good news.
This is what we call the Gospel,
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which means good news. God has
gone to people that are enslaved to sin,
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hating people spending their days not just
in laziness, but spending their days,
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passing their time in malice and envy, and he saved them. God
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has come into the world, his
God, our Savior, has appeared.
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Mention here of Jesus Christ being manifested, made flesh, and he saved us.
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Not because we rescued ourselves out of
this sinful states, no, but
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because of God, according to his
own mercy. We read, then,
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not only of our sinful states and
not only the appearing of God our Savior,
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but of this great work that he
has done, and Paul describes this
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in such beautiful terms. He saved
us not because of works done by us
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in righteousness, but according to his
own mercy, by the washing of regeneration
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and the renewal of the Holy Spirit
whom he poured out on US richly through
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Jesus Christ, our Savior, so
that, being justified by His grace,
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we might become heirs according to the
hope of eternal wife. I want you
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to insist on these things. It's
trustworthy, and when you insist on these
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things, tight us that people of
God will devote themselves to good works.
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Isn't that amazing? Paul, of
course, wants him pete but wants tied
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us to remind people of their duties
to God, he says, remind them
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to be submissive to rulers, authorities, and so on and so forth.
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He wants tied us to tell them
the law, but he tells him specifically
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that these things won't happen unless he
insists on the Gospel. That is how
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we are changed, that's how churches
are grown, that's how we are established
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in the faith and begin to produce
the things that we want to produce.
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That's the answer to the question.
How can we be these, this kind
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of people? And the answer is
by the grace of God. He justifies
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us in Jesus Christ, not according
to our righteousness, but according to his.
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He confirms our hope in him by
giving us an inheritance of eternal life.
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He says that we in Jesus become
heirs according to the hope of eternal
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life. He says, in these
few verses packed so tightly with so many
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Gospel truths, that he gave us
the spirit who cleanses us, washes US
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and renews us. These are promises
that were promised back in the Old Testament.
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Ezekiel, thirty six, twenty five
I will sprinkle clean water on you
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and you shall be clean from all
your uncleanliness and from all your idols.
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I will cleanse you. Hebrews ten, twenty two. Let us draw near
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with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled
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clean from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water, the Holy
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Spirit. Not only does God desire
to save us and sends a savior,
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but then he sends us a spirit
to sprinkle as clean, to wash US
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and renew us. We even read
in these verses here on that this washing,
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of regeneration and then renewal of the
Holy Spirit comes when he is poured
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out richly on us through Jesus Christ, our Savior. He didn't just give
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us the Holy Spirit, he poured
out the Holy Spirit richly on you,
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on you, who is sinful,
hating, full of malice and envy.
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God has poured himself out on you, called you a son, made you
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an air, rescued you from sin
and death, all because of his grace.
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So we are right to ask how
are we changed? And the answer
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is by the grace of God.
How does that happen? How is it
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the pastor might ask himself. By
insisting on the truths of the Gospel,
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the people of God will be careful
to devote themselves to the works of the
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law, zealous even. How is
it that the preaching of the Gospel can
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turn people, can page people and
even bring about excellent and profitable lives?
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Well, it's my hope that you
already have the beginning of this answer,
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if not more, in your heart. In hearing the goodness of your heart,
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if in hearing the goodness of the
grace of God that was given to
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you, who didn't deserve it,
this wonderful gift of God himself giving himself
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to you, if that doesn't make
you want to serve God, then there's
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a problem inside. If the Gospel
hasn't touched you in a way that has
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changed you, if when you when
you receive and hear of the good gifts
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of God being granted to you,
and you kind of shrug your shoulders and
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say there's a problem and we should
talk the Gospel, the the good news
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of the grace of God works in
us in a way that we almost can't
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help but respond with obedience and love
and worship. Now, it's true,
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we don't always do this, and
it's why tied us is called to remind
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them of these things. Even though
this fruit is produced in us by the
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spirit, we are called to work
in it. But when we hear the
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Gospel, we become like children thinking
about their birthdays. When we hear the
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Gospel, the good news about how
we have been reborn and be nude by
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the grace of God and the Holy
Spirit, we smile. We think,
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isn't this amazing? Look at what
God has has done for me, and
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this begins to answer the question.
When we hear and, more importantly,
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when we believe, these things,
we find that we're careful to devote ourselves
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to good work out of the necessity
of the spirit of God working in our
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hearts. The sorrow that you feel
for sin, the hatred that you feel
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of the of the sin in your
life, that comes from the spirit of
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God working in you bringing about repentance
in your life, the gratitude that you
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feel, the thankfulness that you have
inside, the assurance that is there of
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what God has done for you,
that he has indeed adopted you as his
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child. This comes because of him
working in you. When we know the
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works that God has done for us, we begin to respond by nature,
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by spiritual nature, in praise and
obedience. When we don't hear the Gospel,
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when we don't believe the Gospel,
the opposite happens. We hear of
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the duties God has commanded and we
despair. We think of our sin and
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we think, well, that's it. We think of the obstacles in the
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world, the inevitability of death,
the Vanity of life, just spinning on
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and on and on, without really
anything happening except more evil and more sin.
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Without the Gospel, we're left with
nothing but death and depression despair.
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But with the Gospel we have the
promise, the hope, the assurance of
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something new, something real, something
confirmed, and we can have confidence in
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it, beloved, because it is
not a work done by us in righteousness.
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We didn't drill deeper down into the
Aquifer of our evil and fine goodness
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all of a sudden. No,
we are given the grace of God,
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the spirit poured out richly on us. That is how the change happens and
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that is how the change continues to
happen. God Not only justifies us by
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the righteousness of Christ, but he
continues to work in us to conform us
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to his image. The reason you
desire these things and the reason you will
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pursue, in zeal and, devotion, Godliness and service and worship is because
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God is working in you and he
will continue to work in you. So
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when you despair of your sin and
when you feel the weight of it and
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the oppression of it, and and
and and in then the recognition of it
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yet once again, in one more
week, one more failure, do not
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despair but hear of the greater works
of Jesus Christ, of God the Father
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and God the spirit, who has
been at work in the world and is
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also at work in you. And
so, as Christians, we are called
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to think deeply about the law of
God, to pursue it in hardy hearts
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and full devotion, full steam ahead. But we do it as people who
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have been changed by grace and who
know that when we fail in this,
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we can go back to God again
for forgiveness and for grace, knowing that
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he will continue us and persevere us
to the very end because, as the
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Bible says, Jesus Christ is both
the author and perfector of our faiths.
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May God grant us this kind of
faith. Let us pray our father in
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heaven we thank you for setting your
loving eye is on us. We did
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not deserve this. We fully admit
to you our sinfulness are in both our
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particular acts and in the nature of
our flesh, and we ask, Oh
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God, that you would humble us
as we see these things, that you
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would help us to hate the flesh
that is in us, that the evil
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that remains, to turn away from
our wickedness and our evil. We asked,
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Lord, that you would help us
to turn not merely away from from
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these things, but unto Jesus,
who promises to change US and renew us
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and to wash US clean. Lord, without him, the darkness around us
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and in our hearts overwhelms us,
it enslaves us. We asked, Lord,
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that you would break these chains,
that you would set us free all
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will because of the powerful grace that
comes to us in Jesus, poured out
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to us by the spirit. We
ask, Lord, that you would put
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our confidence in him and that you
would help us, I'm to believe,
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this message of Chrace, so that
we may no longer live in our sin
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but might live according to the spirit, slaves and righteousness and of good works.
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We asked, Lord, we pray
for this particular congregation of your people,
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for this particular or expression of your
church. We ask, Lord,
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that we would not be lazy or
foolish about the law, but would be
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devoted to it, zealous for it, striving after every good work that we
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might please you. But, Lord, keep us from sinful pride and keep
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us from failure. Keep us,
Lord, in your grace and help us
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to work not according to our strength, but according to the strength of the
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spirit of working in us. We
ask, Lord, that you would do
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this, as we think about the
particular needs of your people that have been
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mentioned this evening. In all of
these particular circumstances, we asked that you
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would help your people to acquit themselves
well and that you might be glorified by
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your work in us. Pray for
Leeds to and and her husband Bill.
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We asked that you would be with
him in these surgeries and that you would
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help him to recover. We also
pray for this blood clot that he has
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and asked that you would bring him
healing and, as you do that,
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Lord, we asked that he would
become very aware of your mercy and would
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turn to you for his salvation.
We also pray for Steve and Sarah Wilson.
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We asked that you would be with
them as they
