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Now let me share something with you
for Christians who struggle

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with sadness and looking
at yourself

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and always really feeling down.

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The more you know God,

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the more you're going to see
His holiness.

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The more you see His holiness,

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the more you're going 
to see your sin,

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which leads you to deeper
depths of conviction,

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contrition and mourning.

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But if that's all you see,

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you're in trouble.

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But with that greater 
revelation of God's holiness,

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and that greater 
revelation of your sin

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also comes a greater revelation

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of what God has done 
for you in Christ,

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and that unconditional love,

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and that grace abounding 
to the chief of sinners.

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So although, you're almost 
like a paradox,

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the more you walk with Christ,

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the deeper is your contrition 
and mourning over sin,

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and yet greater your joy,

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and there's a transmission
that goes on.

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No longer is your joy

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found in your own performance,

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but it's found in the 
finished work of Christ.

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So, if the devil walks in

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and starts pointing out all
kinds of things about you,

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you yawn.

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And you go,

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you don't even know
the half of it.

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This has never been about me.

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Have I ever said this was about me?

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This is not about me.

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I don't hope in me.

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If I hope was in me,

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you could kill my hope with 
a dagger right now;

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the smallest pin knife
would take down my hope.

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But my hope's not in me.

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It's in my older Brother,

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and if you don't leave,

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I'm going to call Him.

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You don't want me to call Him.

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Oh, believers, I want
you to know something.

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People sometimes - young men,
will come and they'll go,

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they look at guys who preach

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in a lot of places
around the world,

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and all these young guys think,

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man, this guy, he reached
some spiritual level,

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and because he reached
that spiritual level,

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God really uses him.

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No.

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No.

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The older you get, the more
needy you become of grace.

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And the more happy you 
are in Christ alone.

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The older you get, the
more of your sin you see.

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And you trust not in the flesh,

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you glory in Christ Jesus.

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And when all your everything

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is based upon His perfect work,

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as weak as you might be,

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you're as solid as a rock.

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Because the devil can't touch Him.

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The devil can't touch Him.

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A young guy one time,

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he calls me up,

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he was a seminary student.

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He was just saying,

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Brother Paul, he wrote me,

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I'm so ungodly, I'm so unrighteous,

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I'm so this and that.

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I knew the young man.

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He was a fine, sincere Christian.

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And he was just so struggling.

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He said I'm just so ungodly and ignorant.

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And I wrote him back and I said,

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"Dear brother, you 
are much more ungodly

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and much more ignorant 
than you now know.

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Love, your brother, Paul."

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I have the gift of 
mercy and encouragement.

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And so he calls me up on the phone,

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and he goes,

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"Thanks?"

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And I said, look, I've watched your life.

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In many ways

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you seem to have 
made greater progress

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than I have.

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But I'm happier than you.

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And he said why?

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I've given up on trying to find hope

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in my performance.

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And all, everything for me, is in

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the unconditional love of my Savior.

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If you know anything about the ministry

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that the Lord's given me.

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If you've heard anything,

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you go, man, that 
man just talks about sin,

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he nails people, he's 
the meanest preacher

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that ever walked the planet.

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Let me tell you something.

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When it comes to unbelievers who

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are professing faith in Christ

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and they are 
asleep in their sin

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and they are going 
to die and go to hell,

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yes, I am going to rip, rip, rip,

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because it doesn't appear to me

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that hardly anyone else 
is doing that.

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I am not going to let them go to hell

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except over my cries that they wake up

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and see their destruction.

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But,

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when I pastor,

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sometimes people come to church

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if I'm preaching and they go,

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are you the same guy on YouTube?

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Because all you do is talk about love,
love, love, love? Why?

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Here's the reason.

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If the person truly becomes converted,

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I don't have to do anything.

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They're sheep.

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They're going to follow Him.

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As a shepherd, you know

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what my greatest worry is,

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for the people who 
are truly converted?

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I don't want them coming 
under false condemnation.

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And I don't want them doubting 
the love of God.

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You see, the whole deal

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depends on conversion.

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Do you see that?

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You get them converted,

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and you talk to them about

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the unconditional love of God,

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and you know what they'll do?

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I'll tell you what they won't do,
they won't stand there and go

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well, if it's like this,

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let's just sin.

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No, you tell a true sheep

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about the unconditional love of God

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and that it doesn't matter what they do

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or how far they fail,

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Christ loves them and
is going to restore them

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and work in them,

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and a bruised reed 
He will not break

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and a smoldering wick He will
not put out.

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You tell them that,

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they say, well, if it be like that

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then I want to love Him more.
I want to serve Him more.

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I want to follow Him.

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If I'm really free,

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you see?

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So, all you have to do

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is get converted, and I'll be nice to you.

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But here's another thing,

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if I'm preaching on the streets

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in a place where everybody's

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just wild and wicked as 
Sodom and Gomorrah,

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on this present day planet,

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I stand up and I preach the love of God.

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The time for preaching hard

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is when people have become deceived

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by religion.

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And when they think 
they're something they're not.

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And when most of the religious authorities

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in the world are affirming them

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in their false conversion.

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And for self-preservation,

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those preachers are saying
"peace, peace,"

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when there is no peace.

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And people, they are building

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their huge churches on the bones

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of carnal, dead church members.