Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Let's here God's Word now from Romans
Chapter Ten. If you're able to remain
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standing, please do. If not, that's fine. Be seated, but
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will read Romans Chapter Ten, verses
five through thirteen. Romans chapter ten,
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Verse Five, for Moses Writes about
the righteousness that is based on the law,
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that the person who does the commandments
shall live by them. But the
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righteousness based on faith says, do
not say in your heart who will ascend
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into heaven, that is, to
bring Christ down, or who will descend
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into the abyss, that is to
bring Christ up from the dead. But
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what does it say? The word
is near you, in your mouth and
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in your heart. That is the
word of faith that we proclaim, because
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if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart
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that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, for with
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the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and
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is saved. For the Scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not
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be put to shame, for there
is no distinction between you and Greek,
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for the same Lord as Lord of
all, bestowing his riches on all who
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call on him, for everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will
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be saved. May God bless his
word to us. Please be seated well
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here in Romans ten, Paul is
addressing a very particular thing. He calls
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it a word, as as one
way he puts it. He calls it
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a word, he says, he
describes it in various ways. In Verse
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Eight, he calls it the word
of faith that we proclaim, and this
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word is an important word. This
is the thing I want to just introduce
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our the are thinking and kind of
set our minds properly. It's an important
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thing that he is talking about,
and you can get that from those word
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proclaim right. You typically don't proclaim
something that's unimportant, right. You don't
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proclaim the fact that you decided to
watch a different television show this evening.
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You don't proclaim the fact that you're
putting your seat belt on. You proclaim
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things that are significant. And so
Paul actually uses a Greek word for the
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word, word that communicates that,
rather than just saying word, he says
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Rama. He talks about it's a
word that means a significant word, an
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important word, a Rama, and
this Rama he is proclaiming now, this
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word that he proclaims he connects with
something Moses has said, and we'll think
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about that. But I want to
just mention very briefly here is that there's
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this connection between these two things,
what Moses has said and what Paul has
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said. But at the end of
it all you get this simple point when
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you put these two lessons together,
the lesson of Moses, the word of
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Moses, the lesson of Paul,
the word of Paul. When you put
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these things together, you get this
simple point about the word. The word
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that God speaks is a word that
promises life, not because of your good
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works, but because Jesus works on
your behalf. That's his basic message about
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this word. It's a word that
promises life, not because of your good
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works, but it promises life because
of Jesus's good works done on your behalf.
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This message, this thing that I've
just said, is Paul's central message.
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It's not just Paul's Paul's an apostle
of God. This is God's message.
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This is our eternal hope. This
is the reason why we live the
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way we live. It's the reason
why we say the things we say,
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the reason why we do the things
we do so in order that we don't
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take this for granted, this message, this promise of life that comes because
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of Jesus's obedience. Let's listen carefully
to what Paul says in this passage and
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not ignore it or take it for
granted, but listen carefully to what he
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says, to what Moses said before
him, and how Paul takes that and
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builds on it. And I want
to do that in three parts this morning.
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I want to talk about what the
Word Promises, I'm what the word
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requires, and then how we respond. What the word promises, what the
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word requires, and then how we
respond. So what the word promises?
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What is it that the word of
God promises? This is so simple.
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This is so simple. If you
are righteous, God will bless you.
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Not Very simple. It's very straightforward. Maybe you don't know what the right
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word righteous means or the word bless
means. So I think I can make
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it even more simple. Good boys
get good things, bad boys get bad
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things. It's that simple. If
you do good things, if you are
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a righteous person, God rewards that, he blesses that. If you are
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a bad person and evil person,
if you do evil things, God does
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not bless that, but he curses
it. Now under Moses, those blessings
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and curses are spelled out very clearly
in Deuteronomy. He says to his people
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there's these big sections, long chapters, of curses and blessings, and he
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talks about various ones. If you're
if you're good, if you obey the
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law of God, he will give
you long life, good land, healthy
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flocks, pregnancy, vines that produce
yummy wine, all kinds of good things,
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wealth, peace. But if you're
bad, if you disobey the law,
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then all of God's wrath comes upon
you. The opposite of those things
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happen. Instead of good things,
you get bad things, instead of pregnancy,
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you get miscarriages and you get infertility
and you get bad land and you
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get vines that don't work and thieves
that steal your wealth and war from your
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enemies. This is the basic setup
of God's word. If you are righteous,
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if you do good, you will
get good things. If you are
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bad, if you do wrong things, you will be cursed. The stakes
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under Jesus in many ways get even
heightened all the more under Moses. When
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Moses speaks, he talks primarily about
these blessings of this world and this time
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in this place. Jesus, however, talks about eternal things. So when
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he talks about life, he takes
all that Moses says and says that this
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is some seaking of speaking about something
even greater. It's speaking of eternal life.
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We're not just talking about life here
in this world that is nice and
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pleasant. We're talking about everlasting life
that is perfect in every way if you're
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righteous. But alternatively, if you
sin, if you disobey, if you
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go against what the things that God
has commanded, then the words forever and
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everlasting get attached to things like fire
and death and wrath. Under Moses,
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the things that God promises as a
result for obedience or disobedience. In a
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sense, you can kind of fall
in and out of that. You're in
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the land, you're out of the
land. There's a there's a kind of
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impermanence to it, even as the
things that are promised are impermanent. But
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under Jesus, when Jesus talks to
us about how things are in their finality,
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what does he say? Well,
as these things are eternal, they
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are eternal. To put it another
way, you can get kicked out of
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Israel, but you can't get kicked
out of heaven. The life that God
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promises to Israel is temporary and provisional, but the life that it's pointing to,
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this heavenly life, is eternal.
There's no I'm losing it. So
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that's what the word promises, blessings
and curses. But what does it require?
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Well, as I've said, it
requires righteousness, it requires obedience.
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Now, under Moses, that mode, that law was, was somewhat that
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righteousness was somewhat possible. In a
sense, the righteousness was in somewhat somewhat
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within their ability. Let me read
to you a little bit from a Deuteronomy
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thirty place that Paul is quoting.
This is at the end of all of
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this law. I'm Moses is given
a very robust God has given to Moses
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a very robust set of laws.
He's given the blessings, he's given the
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curses, and then he says in
Deuteronomy thirty verse eleven, for this commandment
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that I command you today is not
too hard for you. Neither is it
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far off. It is not in
heaven that you should say who will ascend
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into heaven and bring it to us
that we may hear it and do it?
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Neither it is beyond the sea that
you should say. Who will go
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over the sea for us and bring
it to us that we may hear it
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and do it? But the word
is very near you. It is in
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your mouth, it is in your
heart, so that you can do it.
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You hear the echoes there, ascending, descending near you, heart,
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mouth, all of these connections,
the way that Paul picks this up well
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before we get to that. What
is Moses saying? He's saying God has
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given you the law. He's told
you very clearly, very plainly, Israel,
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how you are to obey him.
You don't have to, you know,
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shake some sticks or look at the
leaves or cloud patterns. You don't
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have to ascend into heaven and say
to God, please tell me your secrets.
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What do you want me to do? You don't have to go far
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away places, across the sea or
a cross dangerous places to find this out.
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It's very near you, Moses says, he's just told you it and
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it's not too difficult for to you
to do. You are able to do
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it. He says, it is
near you. But even that, though,
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in a sense it was not difficult
for them to do. Their sin
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got the better of them, their
pride, their rebellion, and they didn't
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do it. As we know,
Israel was kicked out of the land,
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they were excommunicated from communion with God
and even from one another. And this
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all is meant to impress upon us
the good degree of righteousness that God requires.
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If God requires a kind, a
degree of righteousness that is somewhat doable
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in order for them to stay in
the land, what kind of degree of
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brighteousness do you think he requires for
us to be in heaven, for us
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to Have Eternal Righteousness and safety?
Well, of course we know. It's
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perfect righteousness. God wants perfection.
And so let me tell you, let
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me ask you, or command you, if I may, go ahead and
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take account of yourselves, take account
of your sins. Look at your hearts
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honestly, carefully, way yourself in
the balance. Have you sinned? Do
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you sin? Think about every area
of your life for a moment. Think
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about your family relationships, your work
relationships, think about the relationships you have
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with your friends, with your enemies. Think about your personal relationship with the
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Lord. Are you doing the things
that he commands? When we look at
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our hearts and we are very honest, with ourselves, we will see that
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none of us meet the standard of
righteousness that God requires, that when we
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look at this great and perfect and
holy formula, good and get good,
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bad and get get get bad,
this new this formula, though good and
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true and righteous and just, is
a death sentence. If eternity is being
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held out to us and we look
at our sin and we weigh ourselves in
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the balance, what can any of
US say? Moses says the righteous person
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who lives by the law will live, and we say, well, that's
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not me. And that's the point. This is why Moses came and said
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what he said. This is why
a God spoke to him in this way
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and speaks to us, to teach
us of our sins, to show us
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the law and what God requires and
how we do not meet it. We
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cannot measure, we cannot meet the
standard. So here's a question for you.
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Why does Paul then talk about this
righteousness as something that's possible, the
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righteousness that earns true and eternal life, the righteousness that gets the salvation and
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eternal salvation of God? Why does
he talk about it in the same way
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as Moses? Why does he use
the same language? Righteousness doesn't say who
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will ascend into heaven, who will
descend into the abyss. In other words,
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he's saying that it's attainable, it's
possible. How can he say that?
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How can the righteousness of God that
gets US heaven be close to us
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and near to us? The answer
is because it's not a righteousness based on
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the law, it's a righteousness based
on faith. You see, the principle
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never changes in scripture. That's why
Moses and Paul can walk hand in hand
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as Prophets of the Lord and communicate
his word. They are not contradictory.
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God's word always is and always has
been. The righteous are the ones who
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obtain life. But what Paul does
is he builds on what Moses has said
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and he says, Moses taught you
that the righteous obtain life, but he
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also taught you that you're not righteous, and so now Jesus Christ is come
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into the world to be righteous for
you, to give you the righteousness of
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God. You See, God doesn't
throw the righteous standard out the window.
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He doesn't say, well, never
mind, I'm just going to give gifts
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to evil people. No, he
says, I'm going to give gifts to
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righteous people, but I'm going to
do that, not by requiring you to
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obey, because you can't do that, and that's been proven time and time
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again, but I'm going to do
that by giving you, by gifting to
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you, by gracing you with what
you cannot do. And so what we
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see is the means of obtaining our
righteousness is by faith. It's not by
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trusting in our works, but by
trusting in Christ's works for us. When
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he says that the word is near
to us, he's talking about Jesus who
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has come down from heaven. He's
talking about Jesus who is descended even unto
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death, but he's also about talking
about Jesus who rose again from the dead,
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victorious over sin and over the curse, so that he might be stole
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upon us the riches of heavenly life. This is what the word says.
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This is what the word is that's
near to us, it's not far off.
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We don't have to go to find
either the law or salvation, because
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God has brought both into the world, so close to us that it's in
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our hearts, it's in our mouths. What do I mean? I mean
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that this is a word that you
have heard, this is a word that
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you are hearing even now. Does
the fact that God has given you his
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own righteousness when you had failed to
earn it, when he gives it to
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you so that he might just bless
you out of his sheer love and give
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you eternal life? Does that not
sit in your heart? This is what
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the word gives to us. This
is what the word requires, this is
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what the word says. It says
to us that righteousness gives us life,
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but righteousness by faith is trusting in
Jesus, who gives it to us.
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So we've considered and heard what this
righteousness of faith says. We've considered what
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the word promises and what the word
requires and how it's given to us,
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Jesus giving to us what we could
not obtain on our own. But we
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cannot leave it there. We have
to think about how we respond. And
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why is that? Why can't we
be simply content to know the word of
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Jesus, to know the faith that
Paul is proclaiming, that I'm proclaiming to
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you today? Why can't we be
content simply to know what has been done?
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Well, the reason is that faith
that is proclaimed as not just for
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our heads, it's for our hearts, it's for our mouths. Indeed,
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our minds aren't even mentioned in this
passage. The word is said to be
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in our hearts, to be in
our mouths. Excuse me now. Don't
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get me wrong, of course it's
in our minds. Of course this is
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a knowledge that we have. Paul
says it here. It's something that we
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understand, but it's when it says
it's in our hearts, it means that
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it's not just meant for our emotions, it's meant for all of ourselves.
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When scripture speaks of the world that
uses the word heart, it means that,
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in this very inclusive way, it
includes our heads. Are Affections,
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are wills. You don't really believe
something, do you, unless you believe
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all of you believes it. You
don't really really believe something unless it's filling
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you up, if it's in every
part of you. And that's exactly my
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point. The doctrines of the Gospel
are not just ahead knowledge. It's a
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heart knowledge, a will, motivator. That's why true saving knowledge of Jesus
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never stops at what Jesus says,
but what Jesus has, but what Jesus
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says has an effect on what we
say. God speaks and we respond.
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So, practically speaking, what does
righteousness by faith sound like? What does
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it sound like? How do we
express that? Well, there's a couple
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things that Paul brings up in this
passage. The first thing he mentions is
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confession. The second thing he mentions
is calling in terms of confession. Righteousness
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by faith or the righteousness of faith, sounds like straight up, straight talk
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about Jesus, as Paul says,
plainly, confess with your mouth that Jesus
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is Lord. That's pretty plain,
isn't it? That's pretty simple. We
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confess with our mouth that Jesus is
ward. That's what it means to believe
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in this righteousness that's based on faith. And, of course, brothers and
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sisters, confession that Jesus and Lord
doesn't mean just on Sunday. A means
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in all of our lives and it's
not just moving our lives. Confession,
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you know we I'm confessing with my
mouth that Jesus is Lord. It means
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saying it, meaning it. It
means that trusting him for all things,
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leaning on him for all things.
And that goes right into the second point.
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It's not just about confession, but
it's about calling the lads. The
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last verse of Our text says this
morning righteousness that's based on faith, this
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word that comes to US produces confession, but also calling. We call on
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him for our salvation. Pure Paul
quotes Joel and he says, he says
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in verse thirteen, for everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will
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be saved. Calling on the name
of the Lord means that you recognize that
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you need something for yourself. Remember
that balance, remember that heart check we
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did earlier. Do you have a
need? Yes, you should all be
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saying, yes, I have a
need. I have sins, I have
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sins that lead to death. I
am a sinner. And so when we
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hear the righteousness is based on faith, what do we do? We confess
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that Jesus is Lord and we call
out on him to save us, and
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he promises us that he will.
Calling out on Jesus for salvation means no
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more pretending, it means no more
faking it means no more putting a happy
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face and acting or ignoring or repressing
the fact that, because of your sin,
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your sin others sin, you and
I are in a heap of trouble.
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Calling out for a salvation means recognizing
that you need to be saved,
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like a person who's fallen out of
a boat and can't swim. The second
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part of our calling isn't just recognizing
our desperate need, but it's reaching out
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to him, it's saying save me
and believing that he is ready and able
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to do that. He's Lord Right, he's God, he's capable. In
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the Greek culture of Paul's Day,
calling on someone didn't just mean visiting them.
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I'm going to call on you.
Calling on someone meant appealing for help,
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reaching out, saying save me,
and this was often to a god.
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But here in the Bible we are
talking about not a god but the
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God. We have another reminder here
about the divine nature of Jesus. He
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is not merely a man or a
great man, he is God and is
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therefore able to save. And in
the passage that Paul's quoting from Joel,
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it's a passage about judgment, it's
a passage about the judgment day and the
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end of the world, and he
says all who call on Yah way will
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be saved. And here we see
that Yah way, that Jehovah, is,
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of course, the Lord Jesus,
so these are the two ways that
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Paul talks about, in the ways
that we respond to the word that has
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been spoken to us. But let
me add one more or take it just
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a little bit further, rather to
its its logical conclusion. Confession and confession
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and calling. The Confession and calling
that Paul speaks of cannot be thought of
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in purely verbal ways, though certainly
it should be found on our lips.
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It has to be found in our
actions. What does that look like?
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Well, means that any time you
sense your sin and you turn to God,
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even in the unspoken prayers of your
heart, that's a calling out,
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that's a confession. Whenever we feel
the weight of our sins, our depravity,
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are desperation, all of the things
that bring us so low and so
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down, and we see that in
ourselves and we turn to the Cross and
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we see God taking himself to the
lowest point so that we can be saved.
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We can know that God will save. Maybe it's when you're anger gets
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the better of you, or your
lust or your discontentment or your jealousy,
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or any time you choose to find
forgiveness of Jesus instead of paying for your
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sins by tormenting yourself or by trying
to do more good deeds. Anytime you
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stop trying to please God by climbing
up into heaven to prove yourself or de
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ending down into the depths to atone
for your sins. Anytime you stop that
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and instead look to the cross of
Jesus and stay here is Yahwah, here
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is my great covenant Lord Who Promises
To save me, then you know that
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you are confessing and calling because of
a righteousness based on faith. These are
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the practical ways the confession and calling
plays out in our lives. Each and
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every single one of us has our
own struggles, our own weaknesses, our
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own sins, but each one of
us also has a choice. Will we
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continue to try and find life by
obedience to the law, a doomed project
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to be sure, or will we
step away from our pride, our Self
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Righteousness, and call it for what
it is, but also see the grace
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of God for what it is given
to us in Christ his obedience for us?
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As I bring this to a close, I want to remind you of
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one last thing that Paul says.
This choice that I've just presented to you,
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this choice that Paul is telling us
about is not a fearful one.
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You choose Jesus and you will not
be ashamed. This is not always true.
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Sometimes we make choices in life that
come back and bite us in the
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you know, you trust the wrong
person, you go to the wrong dealership.
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Maybe next thing you know, you
find yourself regretting that you ever walked
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on to that lot. Why did
I do that? Now you're stuck on
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the side of the road. Or
maybe you've trusted people in financial decisions,
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or you've trusted people in relationships and
you find yourself, at the end of
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the day, ashamed, embarrassed.
How stupid could I have been? This
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is not the case with Jesus.
God is no used car salesman or a
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Bernie made off. He is the
author of truth itself, and he has
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humbled himself to reveal of that truth
to you, even to the point of
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suffering, even to the point of
death. That's how far God went to
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reveal his self to you. That's
how far God went to tell you the
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truth, to speak to you about
the righteousness that comes by faith. It's
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a death which, by the way, didn't last. He rose again from
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the dead, not because you brought
him up, but because is God did
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for you and, as Paul says, he was raised from the dead,
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undeniable proof for all to see that
God did what he said he would do.
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The promise was fulfilled. So here
in this letter and in the preaching
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of the word today, God has
brought this word to each and every one
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of you and in that word God
has proclaimed what he always says, his
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righteousness, the righteousness that is based
on faith. That's the lesson here this
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morning. You can't be a good
person. God still requires it, but
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he meets the requirement for you.
That's what the word says and I pray,
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I pray, that this is a
word that won't fall flat on your
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ears. I want you to be
saved. I want you to know the
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righteousness that's based on faith. You
know the righteousness that's based on the law.
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It's built into you. God built
it into you. Know you know
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what he requires. I don't have
to tell you that. What you didn't
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know, though, until God revealed
it, is that he loved you so
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much that he sent his only begotten
Son that whoever would believe in him would
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be saved. But now you know, so believe in him and be saved.
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Let's pray
