How Alive is Alive? The Four-Fold Risenness of the Christian (Part 1) - Tim Conway
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0:02 - 0:08Do you ever just stop and think
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0:08 - 0:13about what we do?
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0:13 - 0:15A bunch of people come together
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0:15 - 0:16on the Lord's Day,
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0:16 - 0:19and they all gather inside this place,
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0:19 - 0:25and they sing together.
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0:25 - 0:26I mean, you get words up here,
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0:26 - 0:32and we all try to vocalize
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0:32 - 0:34the words that we see
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0:34 - 0:36and we all try to do it in harmony
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0:36 - 0:40simultaneously.
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0:40 - 0:43We proclaim.
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0:43 - 0:46We sing and we proclaim.
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0:46 - 0:48We teach.
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0:48 - 0:52We proclaim truth.
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0:52 - 0:54We talk to each other.
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0:54 - 0:55Do you ever think about
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0:55 - 0:57what happens in these songs?
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0:57 - 0:59I know years ago,
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0:59 - 1:02we thought about all the different ways
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1:02 - 1:04that sometimes in the song,
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1:04 - 1:06we actually are talking to God.
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1:06 - 1:08Sometimes in the song,
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1:08 - 1:10God is talking to us.
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1:10 - 1:11Sometimes in the song,
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1:11 - 1:13we are talking to each other.
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1:13 - 1:15Do you ever notice that?
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1:15 - 1:17Can anybody think of a song that we sing
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1:17 - 1:20where God is talking to us?
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1:20 - 1:20(from the room)
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1:20 - 1:22I will strengthen you, help you,
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1:22 - 1:23and cause you to stand.
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1:23 - 1:25I was thinking of the same song.
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1:25 - 1:27Anybody think of one where we
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1:27 - 1:28talk to each other?
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1:28 - 1:29(unintelligible)
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1:29 - 1:33The classic.
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1:33 - 1:38How about where we're
speaking to the Lord? -
1:38 - 1:41(unintelligible)
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1:41 - 1:44It's endless.
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1:44 - 1:48That fly...
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1:48 - 1:51(Incomplete thought)
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1:51 - 1:53Someone just recently was telling me
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1:53 - 1:55that Conrad Murrell had a fly
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1:55 - 1:56flying around his head
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1:56 - 1:58when he was preaching one time,
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1:58 - 2:00and he really believed it was demonic too.
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2:00 - 2:03I think I've mentioned that before.
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2:03 - 2:06Beelzebub is lord of the flies.
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2:06 - 2:07And he commanded that fly
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2:07 - 2:09in the name of Christ,
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2:09 - 2:12and it immediately went up to the ceiling.
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2:12 - 2:16True story.
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2:16 - 2:18But think of the other thing that we do
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2:18 - 2:20when we gather together.
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2:20 - 2:21You actually sit there
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2:21 - 2:23and you listen to a man who comes up front
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2:23 - 2:25and he talks to you.
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2:25 - 2:29If you really think about what we do
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2:29 - 2:31and what is it all meant to do?
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2:31 - 2:33It's all meant to strengthen our faith.
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2:33 - 2:36It's all meant to portray God.
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2:36 - 2:39It's a way in which we refresh
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2:39 - 2:41and we remind ourselves
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2:41 - 2:43about who God is
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2:43 - 2:45and what God requires.
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2:45 - 2:49It's a way that we see God afresh.
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2:49 - 2:51We see His glories.
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2:51 - 2:52We see His truth.
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2:52 - 2:54It's a way that the Word of God
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2:54 - 2:57is brought again and again and again
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2:57 - 2:58to the people of God
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2:58 - 3:06so that we might be built up.
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3:06 - 3:13So that we might continue in the race.
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3:13 - 3:17We put our eyes back upon the Lord Jesus.
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3:17 - 3:19It's a time when we use
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3:19 - 3:23our spiritual gifts
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3:23 - 3:25to help one another.
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3:25 - 3:27We gather together to stir up one another
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3:27 - 3:32to love and good works.
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3:32 - 3:37Brethren, we find ourselves
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3:37 - 3:40in the epistle written by the Apostle Paul
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3:40 - 3:43to the Ephesians.
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3:43 - 3:55You can turn in your Bibles there.
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3:55 - 3:58We'll read the passage this morning
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3:58 - 4:03and then we'll go to the Lord in prayer.
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4:03 - 4:06Ephesians 2, and I'm going to read to you
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4:06 - 4:12the first 7 verses.
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4:12 - 4:14"And you were dead in the trespasses
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4:14 - 4:16and sins in which you once walked,
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4:16 - 4:18following the course of this world,
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4:18 - 4:22following the prince of
the power of the air, -
4:22 - 4:23the spirit that is now at work
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4:23 - 4:27in the sons of disobedience,
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4:27 - 4:29among whom we all once lived,
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4:29 - 4:32in the passions of our flesh,
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4:32 - 4:34carrying out the desires of the body
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4:34 - 4:35and the mind and were by nature
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4:35 - 4:37children of wrath,
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4:37 - 4:41like the rest of mankind.
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4:41 - 4:44But God, being rich in mercy,
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4:44 - 4:46because of the great love
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4:46 - 4:49with which He loved us,
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4:49 - 4:51even when we were dead
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4:51 - 4:54in our trespasses,
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4:54 - 4:56made us alive together with Christ.
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4:56 - 4:59By grace you have been saved,
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4:59 - 5:01and raised us up with Him
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5:01 - 5:03and seated us with Him
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5:03 - 5:06in the heavenly places,
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5:06 - 5:12in Christ Jesus,
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5:12 - 5:21so that in the coming ages..."
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5:21 - 5:23When the Christian is discouraged
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5:23 - 5:27and wants to throw in the towel,
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5:27 - 5:30God sends verses like this at us:
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5:30 - 5:32"So that in the coming ages,
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5:32 - 5:34He might show the immeasurable
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5:34 - 5:35(or the exceeding)
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5:35 - 5:42riches of His grace in kindness."
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5:42 - 5:46The coming ages...
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5:46 - 5:52Think about an age.
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5:52 - 5:56We think of the Bronze Age.
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5:56 - 6:01Ages are segments of time
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6:01 - 6:04that we break up and we divide
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6:04 - 6:07by certain realities;
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6:07 - 6:09certain characteristics or attributes
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6:09 - 6:12that can be ascribed to that age.
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6:12 - 6:15Ages.
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6:15 - 6:17The coming ages.
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6:17 - 6:19There's no end to that.
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6:19 - 6:21Just imagine,
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6:21 - 6:24Christian, this is what you have
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6:24 - 6:26to look forward to.
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6:26 - 6:33Age after age after age...
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6:33 - 6:39of a God Who does not lack for power
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6:39 - 6:42or for wisdom.
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6:42 - 6:45Who is going to be intent
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6:45 - 6:49on showing you the unlimited,
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6:49 - 6:52boundless,
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6:52 - 6:54immeasurable,
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6:54 - 6:57exceeding riches of His grace
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6:57 - 7:02in kindness
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7:02 - 7:05toward us.
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7:05 - 7:11All this grace is directional.
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7:11 - 7:16It's coming at you.
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7:16 - 7:18Let's pray.
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7:18 - 7:23Father, this is Your Word.
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7:23 - 7:28This has been divinely breathed.
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7:28 - 7:29This is a message
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7:29 - 7:31from outside this world.
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7:31 - 7:35This is not simply
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7:35 - 7:41the intellect of a man at work.
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7:41 - 7:45This is an alien message -
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7:45 - 7:48foreign, outside.
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7:48 - 7:51These are words that are sent
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7:51 - 7:55from glory, from Heaven.
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7:55 - 8:02Divinely breathed.
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8:02 - 8:06Thy Word is truth.
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8:06 - 8:10Lord, confront us with
the truth of Your Word. -
8:10 - 8:11There is so much here.
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8:11 - 8:14Help us just to fathom
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8:14 - 8:16something of the depths of these things.
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8:16 - 8:18Father, please help us today.
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8:18 - 8:20I pray in Christ's name,
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8:20 - 8:23Amen.
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8:23 - 8:27So, in the next several weeks,
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8:27 - 8:33I want to deal with v. 4-7.
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8:33 - 8:35Many of you know, you remember,
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8:35 - 8:38I hope you do if you were here,
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8:38 - 8:40first three verses.
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8:40 - 8:45I did five messages specifically
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8:45 - 8:47on, "How Dead is Dead?
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8:47 - 8:51the Five-Fold Fallenness of Man."
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8:51 - 8:57Now, I want to contrast that,
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8:57 - 8:59because there's a "but" here.
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8:59 - 9:04The "but" is a "but" of contrast.
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9:04 - 9:07So, what I want to do now
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9:07 - 9:09is start another sermon series
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9:09 - 9:11dealing with these four verses.
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9:11 - 9:12And I've called it,
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9:12 - 9:18"How Alive is Alive?
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9:18 - 9:23The Four-fold Risenness
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9:23 - 9:25of the Christian."
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9:25 - 9:34God helping us, today is part 1.
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9:34 - 9:36So you see,
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9:36 - 9:40verse 4,
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9:40 - 9:42transition.
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9:42 - 9:44We've come to the transition point.
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9:44 - 9:46Before this,
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9:46 - 9:47in this chapter - before this,
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9:47 - 9:51nothing but gloom and despair
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9:51 - 9:56and hopelessness and wrath.
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9:56 - 10:02You were, Christian. You were that.
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10:02 - 10:06But, with v. 4, we find out
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10:06 - 10:12what happens when God goes to work.
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10:12 - 10:14Notice.
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10:14 - 10:18I want you to notice a word here.
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10:18 - 10:22Go to v. 5.
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10:22 - 10:28And look at the word "made."
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10:28 - 10:30Now the subject that you attach
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10:30 - 10:35to that verb is God
from the previous verse. -
10:35 - 10:43But, God made us alive.
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10:43 - 10:46I know the old King James says quickened.
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10:46 - 10:50That's the archaic word for making alive.
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10:50 - 10:51Quickened.
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10:51 - 10:52Don't you like that?
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10:52 - 10:54Quick.
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10:54 - 10:56Quickened.
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10:56 - 11:01God makes something happen.
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11:01 - 11:06God makes us into something.
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11:06 - 11:07Just grasp that.
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11:07 - 11:08That's what we're dealing with here.
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11:08 - 11:10When we come to these verses,
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11:10 - 11:12this is about what God has done.
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11:12 - 11:15That's what we have in these verses:
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11:15 - 11:18The making of a Christian.
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11:18 - 11:19And we want to notice this.
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11:19 - 11:20Why?
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11:20 - 11:24Because, brethren, you tell me
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11:24 - 11:27what is more important
than being a Christian? -
11:27 - 11:30Tell me.
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11:30 - 11:33Because there's nothing you
can put in its place. -
11:33 - 11:36There's nothing that rivals this.
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11:36 - 11:37There is nothing above this.
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11:37 - 11:39There is nothing beyond this.
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11:39 - 11:41Why? Brethren, because there's nothing
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11:41 - 11:43beyond verse 7.
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11:43 - 11:46And you don't get to verse 7,
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11:46 - 11:48unless 4, 5, and 6 are a reality
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11:48 - 11:50in your life.
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11:50 - 11:53Four, five, and six are past tense.
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11:53 - 11:54If you're a Christian,
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11:54 - 11:56they've already happened to you.
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11:56 - 11:58This is God making the Christian.
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11:58 - 12:00The only thing future
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12:00 - 12:04in these four verses is v. 7.
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12:04 - 12:06There's nothing beyond that.
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12:06 - 12:08There is nothing.
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12:08 - 12:13Look, what can be beyond
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12:13 - 12:15a God of all power and all wisdom
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12:15 - 12:16saying, you know what?
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12:16 - 12:20I am going to, from
the depths of My power, -
12:20 - 12:22the depths of My wisdom,
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12:22 - 12:23the depths of My grace,
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12:23 - 12:25the riches of My mercy,
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12:25 - 12:27I am going to reach in;
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12:27 - 12:28I'm going to reach in
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12:28 - 12:30to the depths of My being;
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12:30 - 12:32the depths of My innovation,
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12:32 - 12:35and I am going to create ways
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12:35 - 12:37through all these coming ages,
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12:37 - 12:40to show My kindness.
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12:40 - 12:42And make no mistake about it,
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12:42 - 12:45God means to put Himself on display
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12:45 - 12:48in the so doing of this.
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12:48 - 12:50To be an object.
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12:50 - 12:53To be a vessel of mercy.
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12:53 - 12:55You understand, God's mercies
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12:55 - 12:57are not just like bestowed one time
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12:57 - 13:00and then that's it.
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13:00 - 13:01To be a vessel of mercy means
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13:01 - 13:03God is going to seek to fill you
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13:03 - 13:05to overflowing with His mercy,
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13:05 - 13:09again and again and again
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13:09 - 13:10and again and again
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13:10 - 13:12through all of the coming ages.
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13:12 - 13:13There's nothing beyond that.
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13:13 - 13:15There's nothing higher than this.
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13:15 - 13:17This is what we're dealing with.
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13:17 - 13:19And we're dealing with what God does
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13:19 - 13:22to make a person who actually
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13:22 - 13:24becomes one who is going to
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13:24 - 13:26enjoy all of this.
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13:26 - 13:31This is God making some people
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13:31 - 13:37into something that they were not before.
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13:37 - 13:39That's what we have.
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13:39 - 13:41That's what's before us.
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13:41 - 13:44This is the making of a Christian.
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13:44 - 13:45Do you recognize that?
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13:45 - 13:50To make alive is to make a Christian.
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13:50 - 13:51What we have before us
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13:51 - 13:53is God's Christianity.
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13:53 - 13:55And I want to emphasize that
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13:55 - 13:57because there's a lot
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13:57 - 14:02that purports to be Christianity.
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14:02 - 14:10A lot of name only out here.
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14:10 - 14:13But what we have here is the real deal.
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14:13 - 14:17This is what you've got to have
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14:17 - 14:20if you're going to be a Christian.
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14:20 - 14:25There's a lot of decisional stuff.
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14:25 - 14:27I just had somebody ask me,
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14:27 - 14:30"what do you think of altar calls?"
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14:30 - 14:32There's lots of people
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14:32 - 14:34making lots of decisions.
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14:34 - 14:38Listen, there is a place for that.
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14:38 - 14:40People decide for Christ,
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14:40 - 14:42but people decide all sorts of things.
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14:42 - 14:44People decide I'm going to go to church.
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14:44 - 14:46People decide to not do this
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14:46 - 14:51and to do another thing.
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14:51 - 14:57You know probably, most of you,
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14:57 - 15:07"decisional regeneration."
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15:07 - 15:09We're not talking about something
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15:09 - 15:11that men start.
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15:11 - 15:19Listen, no one goes down this process;
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15:19 - 15:21nobody goes through this process -
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15:21 - 15:23I shouldn't say "down"
through this process. -
15:23 - 15:25I mean "down" in the way you read the text
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15:25 - 15:27but it's actually up.
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15:27 - 15:28There's a being raised up.
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15:28 - 15:30This is an upward movement here.
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15:30 - 15:32Maybe down in the page,
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15:32 - 15:35but up in the spiritual reality.
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15:35 - 15:37And it doesn't happen unless
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15:37 - 15:41it happens this way.
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15:41 - 15:45This is so important.
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15:45 - 15:48This is so essential.
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15:48 - 15:50This is it.
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15:50 - 15:51Some of you know,
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15:51 - 15:54we recently had a man,
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15:54 - 15:56like right over here,
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15:56 - 15:57you may remember,
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15:57 - 15:58he was here on a Sunday.
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15:58 - 16:00He stood up afterwards
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16:00 - 16:03and he just wept and he wept and he wept.
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16:03 - 16:07And he showed up at our conference.
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16:07 - 16:11Man who is right now
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16:11 - 16:14striving, seeking to pastor a church
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16:14 - 16:17out there in West Texas.
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16:17 - 16:20And he's striving to lay foundations.
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16:20 - 16:23And I talked to him on
the phone this week. -
16:23 - 16:25Brethren, wherever you are,
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16:25 - 16:27whether you're out in Valentine, TX
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16:27 - 16:29or you're here in San Antonio, TX.
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16:29 - 16:30Whether you live today
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16:30 - 16:32or whether you lived 2,000 years ago
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16:32 - 16:36like these Ephesians...
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16:36 - 16:39There is no more important
question than this: -
16:39 - 16:43What is true Christianity?
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16:43 - 16:46What is it?
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16:46 - 16:48Because I'll tell you this:
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16:48 - 16:55Satan means to deceive this race.
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16:55 - 17:02Most men at least have some concept
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17:02 - 17:05that we need to do something
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17:05 - 17:08about our sin.
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17:08 - 17:10And one of the most prevalent lies
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17:10 - 17:15that Satan loves to
blanket this world with, -
17:15 - 17:18is that there is a way other than this
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17:18 - 17:20to, in the end,
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17:20 - 17:25miss punishment for our sin.
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17:25 - 17:29Listen.
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17:29 - 17:33Christianity is the only
hope this world has. -
17:33 - 17:36There is no other.
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17:36 - 17:39Being a Christian is the only hope
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17:39 - 17:43in this world.
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17:43 - 17:46You know, I know we know that truth,
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17:46 - 17:48but sometimes we just need to really
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17:48 - 17:49be gripped with it.
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17:49 - 17:51Unless the people up and
down our streets, -
17:51 - 17:53unless our children,
unless our family, -
17:53 - 17:54unless this happens to them,
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17:54 - 17:56there is no other hope.
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17:56 - 17:57This is the hope.
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17:57 - 17:58There is none other.
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17:58 - 18:00There is nothing else.
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18:00 - 18:02We theoretically know this.
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18:02 - 18:03Brethren, we need to just stop
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18:03 - 18:04for a moment
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18:04 - 18:07and really let it sink in.
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18:07 - 18:10There is absolutely no other hope but one.
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18:10 - 18:12There are not five hopes.
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18:12 - 18:13There are not three.
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18:13 - 18:14There are not two.
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18:14 - 18:15This is it.
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18:15 - 18:19Period.
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18:19 - 18:21Or we might put the question this way:
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18:21 - 18:28Why am I a Christian?
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18:28 - 18:32Why is anybody if they are one?
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18:32 - 18:33Why?
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18:33 - 18:34What has happened?
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18:34 - 18:36And there's only one
answer to that question. -
18:36 - 18:38That man, that woman, or that child
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18:38 - 18:40is a Christian
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18:40 - 18:44solely based on this one fact:
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18:44 - 18:47God made them one.
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18:47 - 18:50God makes.
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18:50 - 18:54God makes.
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18:54 - 18:59This goes way beyond decisions.
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18:59 - 19:01People make decisions.
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19:01 - 19:05People make the right decision
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19:05 - 19:08only as a consequence of God
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19:08 - 19:12making something happen.
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19:12 - 19:16God makes.
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19:16 - 19:19Look at the text.
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19:19 - 19:24Brethren, you know, I'm looking at this
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19:24 - 19:25as I'm studying,
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19:25 - 19:28and there's a lot going on here.
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19:28 - 19:31There's a lot of places we could focus.
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19:31 - 19:36But, what I want to do today
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19:36 - 19:39right now at this moment,
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19:39 - 19:43I want us to try to peel -
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19:43 - 19:48not unimportant aspects of these verses,
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19:48 - 19:54but I want to peel back the adornments.
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19:54 - 19:57Paul loves to decorate his sentences.
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19:57 - 19:58You ever recognize that?
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19:58 - 20:02Oh, he loves all these expressions.
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20:02 - 20:04He loves all sorts of modifiers
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20:04 - 20:06and adjectives and qualifiers
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20:06 - 20:09and explanatory phrases.
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20:09 - 20:10But I want us to look past them.
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20:10 - 20:14I want us to peel them away for a second.
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20:14 - 20:16To where we have this:
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20:16 - 20:19the main subject
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20:19 - 20:21and the main verb.
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20:21 - 20:23Now actually, in this sentence
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20:23 - 20:28there are three main verbs
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20:28 - 20:30or predicates.
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20:30 - 20:35There's one subject, three verbs.
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20:35 - 20:39Look here.
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20:39 - 20:42Verse 4
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20:42 - 20:46"But God..."
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20:46 - 20:51OK, there is our subject.
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20:51 - 21:00What is the main subject of a sentence?
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21:00 - 21:07It is the "who" or the "what"
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21:07 - 21:12that is doing the action of the verb.
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21:12 - 21:13That's the idea.
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21:13 - 21:15The main subject is the one word
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21:15 - 21:16that tells us who or what
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21:16 - 21:18the sentence is all about.
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21:18 - 21:21And that's God.
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21:21 - 21:24But now, brethren, what's next?
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21:24 - 21:27Being rich in mercy.
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21:27 - 21:30Well, that's an adornment here.
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21:30 - 21:34Paul wants us to know
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21:34 - 21:37where this comes from -
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21:37 - 21:40the action that God is going to do.
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21:40 - 21:42It comes from God's mercy.
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21:42 - 21:43And he goes on to say,
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21:43 - 21:44"because of the great love
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21:44 - 21:46with which He loved us."
-
21:46 - 21:48Where does the mercy come from?
-
21:48 - 21:50You see, what he's doing is
-
21:50 - 21:52he's wanting to look at here,
-
21:52 - 21:55momentarily, at the very character of God,
-
21:55 - 21:57at the attributes of God
-
21:57 - 22:02that cause God to do what He does.
-
22:02 - 22:03It's not what He does,
-
22:03 - 22:05but it's the cause of why He does
-
22:05 - 22:07what He does.
-
22:07 - 22:11Now, look at v. 5.
-
22:11 - 22:13Let's peel this away.
-
22:13 - 22:19This has to do with when this takes place.
-
22:19 - 22:22This is important to Paul.
-
22:22 - 22:23Because again, it communicates much
-
22:23 - 22:26about God's mercy and love.
-
22:26 - 22:29It happened when we
were dead in trespasses. -
22:29 - 22:33Not when we did good things.
-
22:33 - 22:37OK, now here we are.
-
22:37 - 22:41"...made us alive together with Christ."
-
22:41 - 22:43Now you have a parenthesis.
-
22:43 - 22:45"By grace you have been saved."
-
22:45 - 22:48Let's peel that off for a second.
-
22:48 - 22:50Now, here we are back to
-
22:50 - 22:53the second main verb.
-
22:53 - 22:57"...and raised us up."
-
22:57 - 23:03KJV and the New KJV say "together."
-
23:03 - 23:06It's implied - together with Christ.
-
23:06 - 23:10The ESV puts "with Him" in there.
-
23:10 - 23:12It's implied from v. 5.
-
23:12 - 23:16He made us alive together with Christ.
-
23:16 - 23:18Raised us up together,
-
23:18 - 23:22and seated us together
-
23:22 - 23:24with Christ is implied,
-
23:24 - 23:29in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
-
23:29 - 23:31Just stop right there.
-
23:31 - 23:35Here's what we're left with.
-
23:35 - 23:39But God made us alive together with Christ
-
23:39 - 23:41and raised us up with Him
-
23:41 - 23:42and seated us with Him
-
23:42 - 23:43in the heavenly places
-
23:43 - 23:48in Christ Jesus.
-
23:48 - 23:49You see that?
-
23:49 - 23:50He did it.
-
23:50 - 23:53He made alive.
-
23:53 - 23:56The making alive is where we were -
-
23:56 - 23:58we were dead - He made us alive.
-
23:58 - 23:59And then there's movement.
-
23:59 - 24:01He raised us up.
-
24:01 - 24:06And then there's where He takes us to.
-
24:06 - 24:08He seated us with Christ
-
24:08 - 24:09in the heavenly places.
-
24:09 - 24:12This is the action
-
24:12 - 24:14that God performs.
-
24:14 - 24:16Let it sink in.
-
24:16 - 24:17You cannot be a Christian
-
24:17 - 24:19apart from the truth that's contained
-
24:19 - 24:20in these verses.
-
24:20 - 24:22V. 7 is the only thing that's future
-
24:22 - 24:24for the Christian.
-
24:24 - 24:25Now get this,
-
24:25 - 24:27let this sink in.
-
24:27 - 24:33Christian, you are alive.
-
24:33 - 24:35That's not something future.
-
24:35 - 24:36That's not something that happens
-
24:36 - 24:38when you die,
-
24:38 - 24:40and then you go off into eternity
-
24:40 - 24:41and God makes you alive.
-
24:41 - 24:44You are alive now.
-
24:44 - 24:47You are raised up now.
-
24:47 - 24:50How high are you raised up?
-
24:50 - 24:53You are raised up so that you are seated
-
24:53 - 24:55with Christ in the heavenly places.
-
24:55 - 25:02Every one of these verbs -
-
25:02 - 25:06indicative aorist.
-
25:06 - 25:08What is that?
-
25:08 - 25:11Past tense.
-
25:11 - 25:13Simply put.
-
25:13 - 25:16You convey that over into the English,
-
25:16 - 25:19it's a simple past tense verb.
-
25:19 - 25:23These things have already happened to you.
-
25:23 - 25:27Now, you need to recognize that.
-
25:27 - 25:31You are alive.
-
25:31 - 25:33You are raised up.
-
25:33 - 25:37And you are raised up so high
-
25:37 - 25:40that you are seated with Christ
-
25:40 - 25:43in the heavenly places.
-
25:43 - 25:46Only v. 7 is future.
-
25:46 - 25:50And look, I'm sure those Ephesians
-
25:50 - 25:52sitting there 2,000 years ago
-
25:52 - 25:56when they first heard this read -
-
25:56 - 26:00the actual handwritten - maybe by his hand
-
26:00 - 26:05or by his secretary.
-
26:05 - 26:07You know it was actually read
-
26:07 - 26:09for the first time publicly in the church
-
26:09 - 26:11at Ephesus.
-
26:11 - 26:12Or if it was a circular letter,
-
26:12 - 26:17whatever churches it was showing up in.
-
26:17 - 26:20I can guarantee you this.
-
26:20 - 26:22They didn't all hear,
-
26:22 - 26:25you have already past tense
-
26:25 - 26:27been seated with Christ
-
26:27 - 26:30in the heavenly places,
-
26:30 - 26:31and they didn't just think,
-
26:31 - 26:34oh yeah, that's totally plain to us.
-
26:34 - 26:36We have all of that figured out.
-
26:36 - 26:38We see exactly how that is.
-
26:38 - 26:43The same way that you say
-
26:43 - 26:46what?
-
26:46 - 26:48No, no, no... No, Paul.
-
26:48 - 26:52That's future.
-
26:52 - 26:53And he says no,
-
26:53 - 26:57I'm under the inspiration of God here.
-
26:57 - 26:59I know what I'm saying.
-
26:59 - 27:00Or maybe Paul could even say,
-
27:00 - 27:02I don't know what I'm saying.
-
27:02 - 27:05But this is what the
Spirit is leading me to say. -
27:05 - 27:10However, this is what God says.
-
27:10 - 27:15This is what God has already done.
-
27:15 - 27:18God seated us -
-
27:18 - 27:20seated - the verb here
-
27:20 - 27:26is caused us to sit down together.
-
27:26 - 27:28Already.
-
27:28 - 27:30Here's the thing.
-
27:30 - 27:33As Christians, don't doubt it.
-
27:33 - 27:38Let's all together just
seek to comprehend it, -
27:38 - 27:39in the weeks ahead.
-
27:39 - 27:44I'm not going to deal with
that so much today. -
27:44 - 27:46Let's seek to comprehend these things.
-
27:46 - 27:49Let's seek to comprehend
what's being said here. -
27:49 - 27:52It's obvious that Paul is concerned
-
27:52 - 27:54that we be very clear in our thinking
-
27:54 - 27:57as to the great thing that
God has done for us. -
27:57 - 28:00This is tremendous, folks.
-
28:00 - 28:01This is tremendous.
-
28:01 - 28:03And what we need to do -
-
28:03 - 28:04here's what I want us to do.
-
28:04 - 28:06Here's what I really feel constrained,
-
28:06 - 28:10in these four messages to try to get at,
-
28:10 - 28:14is brethren, this is not simply
-
28:14 - 28:20some theoretical or
hypothetical thought here. -
28:20 - 28:22There's reality to this.
-
28:22 - 28:25These texts mean something.
-
28:25 - 28:27They are experiential.
-
28:27 - 28:31This has to do with our lives.
-
28:31 - 28:33You don't go from dead to living
-
28:33 - 28:37and have this just be some theory.
-
28:37 - 28:40This is experience.
-
28:40 - 28:41This is real.
-
28:41 - 28:42This is transforming.
-
28:42 - 28:44This has to do with things
-
28:44 - 28:47that are observable in our lives.
-
28:47 - 28:49And what I want us to try to do
-
28:49 - 28:54is get our hands around this
-
28:54 - 28:58in these weeks ahead.
-
28:58 - 28:59So, let's dive in.
-
28:59 - 29:02At least make some effort to explore
-
29:02 - 29:05some of the riches here.
-
29:05 - 29:08Let me just say this or ask this:
-
29:08 - 29:11You want to know another name
-
29:11 - 29:14for what God's doing here?
-
29:14 - 29:16OK, one of those things we peeled off,
-
29:16 - 29:20let's bring it back in.
-
29:20 - 29:22Let's just read this.
-
29:22 - 29:22V. 4
-
29:22 - 29:25"God being rich in mercy
-
29:25 - 29:26because of the great love
-
29:26 - 29:28with which He loved us
-
29:28 - 29:31even when we were dead in our trespasses,
-
29:31 - 29:35made us alive together with Christ."
-
29:35 - 29:38What's another name for all that?
-
29:38 - 29:40Adoption would be one.
-
29:40 - 29:41You go back to chapter 1,
-
29:41 - 29:43you definitely see it there.
-
29:43 - 29:48But immediately in Paul's mind,
-
29:48 - 29:51notice what he says in
the parenthesis here. -
29:51 - 29:57"By grace you have been saved."
-
29:57 - 30:00I like that.
-
30:00 - 30:04You know what he's saying here?
-
30:04 - 30:08Brethren, let's grasp this.
-
30:08 - 30:10What he's saying here
-
30:10 - 30:13is that to be made alive
-
30:13 - 30:16together with Christ
-
30:16 - 30:20is to be saved.
-
30:20 - 30:24You say, well, of course.
-
30:24 - 30:28But let's think.
-
30:28 - 30:29You know what I find?
-
30:29 - 30:32Very often, being saved
-
30:32 - 30:36is connected with being forgiven.
-
30:36 - 30:38Now that's true.
-
30:38 - 30:41Or being saved is being connected
-
30:41 - 30:44with justification,
-
30:44 - 30:46which goes right along
with being forgiven. -
30:46 - 30:48It's being declared righteous.
-
30:48 - 30:50No longer are your sins
-
30:50 - 30:52imputed to you.
-
30:52 - 30:53They're imputed to Christ,
-
30:53 - 30:57and paid for in His Person.
-
30:57 - 30:59But here's what I find interesting,
-
30:59 - 31:01and I want to emphasize this.
-
31:01 - 31:03Because what I found
-
31:03 - 31:05when Brother Charles
came out with his book, -
31:05 - 31:08"Justification and Regeneration,"
-
31:08 - 31:12is I have found that in
the reformed movement, -
31:12 - 31:14there is a great love and appreciation
-
31:14 - 31:16for the doctrine of justification,
-
31:16 - 31:18but I want you to see right here,
-
31:18 - 31:22Paul bypasses forgiveness
and justification - -
31:22 - 31:23now he doesn't always do that,
-
31:23 - 31:25I'm well aware of that.
-
31:25 - 31:26And in other places in this letter
-
31:26 - 31:30he definitely deals with those things.
-
31:30 - 31:32But right here,
-
31:32 - 31:34when he wants to size up
-
31:34 - 31:37what it means to be saved,
-
31:37 - 31:42he's not so interested
in the legal aspects -
31:42 - 31:47as much as he is in the experiential
-
31:47 - 31:50transformation that takes place
-
31:50 - 31:53by way of regeneration,
-
31:53 - 31:54being made a new creation,
-
31:54 - 31:57that's what it is to be born again,
-
31:57 - 31:59to be made alive.
-
31:59 - 32:00Whereas you were dead,
-
32:00 - 32:02you are alive.
-
32:02 - 32:04This is what it is to be saved.
-
32:04 - 32:05Why emphasize that?
-
32:05 - 32:07Because, look, to be saved
-
32:07 - 32:09isn't merely walking through life
-
32:09 - 32:10with this mental notion
-
32:10 - 32:13that oh, my sins are forgiven.
-
32:13 - 32:16Listen, time and again
-
32:16 - 32:21in Scripture, the authors
come back to this: -
32:21 - 32:24that there's no legal reality unless
-
32:24 - 32:27there is this kind of transformation
-
32:27 - 32:30in your life.
-
32:30 - 32:34You must be alive.
-
32:34 - 32:36There must be life
-
32:36 - 32:40pulsing through you.
-
32:40 - 32:42This is Christianity.
-
32:42 - 32:45Christians are not just people
-
32:45 - 32:51who say, oh, wretched man that I am,
-
32:51 - 32:54but my sins are forgiven.
-
32:54 - 32:59Yeah, I know there's nothing good in me,
-
32:59 - 33:05but I'm forgiven.
-
33:05 - 33:08I believe.
-
33:08 - 33:13Listen, there better be
something good in you. -
33:13 - 33:18There better be the seeds of life in you,
-
33:18 - 33:22or you're not saved.
-
33:22 - 33:28There better be the fruit of life.
-
33:28 - 33:33That's salvation here in this verse.
-
33:33 - 33:36Here's something else.
-
33:36 - 33:43Don't miss Christ in these verses.
-
33:43 - 33:48It's together - notice that reality.
-
33:48 - 33:52Our being made alive,
-
33:52 - 33:55it's not separate from Christ.
-
33:55 - 33:58It's integrally tied with Him.
-
33:58 - 33:59Being joined with Him.
-
33:59 - 34:02Being in union with Him.
-
34:02 - 34:05Being together - together.
-
34:05 - 34:09We are made alive together.
-
34:09 - 34:11Not separate.
-
34:11 - 34:13Together.
-
34:13 - 34:15This is essential.
-
34:15 - 34:17This is unique.
-
34:17 - 34:20No other religion has this.
-
34:20 - 34:22No other religion has this essential
-
34:22 - 34:26togetherness with Christ.
-
34:26 - 34:27Nothing else.
-
34:27 - 34:31Christianity is solely
unique at this point. -
34:31 - 34:33Together.
-
34:33 - 34:35This is what makes Christianity
-
34:35 - 34:37and God's salvation entirely different
-
34:37 - 34:40and apart from everything else.
-
34:40 - 34:42Look, this is not man's effort
-
34:42 - 34:45to rise up to God
-
34:45 - 34:46and to get to God
-
34:46 - 34:48and to seek God.
-
34:48 - 34:51This is God making people
-
34:51 - 34:55what He makes them: Christians.
-
34:55 - 34:59In union, connected with Christ.
-
34:59 - 35:02Never apart from Christ.
-
35:02 - 35:05If God saves, if God makes alive,
-
35:05 - 35:09it is always in this fashion.
-
35:09 - 35:11Biblical salvation is all about
-
35:11 - 35:13what God has done
-
35:13 - 35:15through His only begotten Son.
-
35:15 - 35:19Just think
-
35:19 - 35:21about what Paul is saying here.
-
35:21 - 35:22Again, I'm not asking you
-
35:22 - 35:24to comprehend all this.
-
35:24 - 35:26I hope in the weeks ahead,
-
35:26 - 35:27we're going to reach down
-
35:27 - 35:30deeper and deeper and deeper.
-
35:30 - 35:34I'm not asking for
full comprehension here. -
35:34 - 35:37But just try to absorb this truth
-
35:37 - 35:40into your brains to some degree.
-
35:40 - 35:45The Christian is together
-
35:45 - 35:53with Christ.
-
35:53 - 35:55Connected.
-
35:55 - 35:58Even tighter than this.
-
35:58 - 36:01Like the branch and the vine.
-
36:01 - 36:07There's an organic union.
-
36:07 - 36:10Integrally one with Him.
-
36:10 - 36:14The thing is, it's everywhere assumed,
-
36:14 - 36:16that in this connection,
-
36:16 - 36:18that what's true of Christ
-
36:18 - 36:21is likewise true of the Christian.
-
36:21 - 36:23Now, we thought about that when we were
-
36:23 - 36:27just a few moments ago baptizing.
-
36:27 - 36:30Think of these truths.
-
36:30 - 36:32Not asking you to fully comprehend them,
-
36:32 - 36:35but think about them.
-
36:35 - 36:37The Apostle Paul, his language,
-
36:37 - 36:39especially in these four letters:
-
36:39 - 36:45Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians.
-
36:45 - 36:49He loves to use this language.
-
36:49 - 36:51Galatians 2:20
-
36:51 - 36:53You don't have to turn there.
-
36:53 - 36:54Stay here in Ephesians.
-
36:54 - 36:56But listen to this:
-
36:56 - 37:07"I have been crucified with Christ."
-
37:07 - 37:09Do we think like that?
-
37:09 - 37:11Do we know that reality?
-
37:11 - 37:12See, brethren, the thing is,
-
37:12 - 37:14what Paul is doing here,
-
37:14 - 37:15I'm made alive together with Christ;
-
37:15 - 37:17I've been raised up together with Christ;
-
37:17 - 37:19I'm seated together with Christ.
-
37:19 - 37:21He talked this way.
-
37:21 - 37:29I am crucified with Christ.
-
37:29 - 37:33Or this, Romans 6:8 says,
-
37:33 - 37:38"We have died with Christ."
-
37:38 - 37:41So I'm crucified with Christ.
-
37:41 - 37:45I have died with Christ.
-
37:45 - 37:47Colossians 2:12 and Romans 6
-
37:47 - 37:53say that we are buried with Christ
-
37:53 - 37:59in baptism.
-
37:59 - 38:01Colossians 3:3
-
38:01 - 38:03"For you have died,
-
38:03 - 38:06and your life is hidden..."
-
38:06 - 38:09Listen, your life -
-
38:09 - 38:11all that you areas a Christian,
-
38:11 - 38:21is hidden with Christ in God.
-
38:21 - 38:23Just take this in.
-
38:23 - 38:25There's a mystery here.
-
38:25 - 38:27I know it.
-
38:27 - 38:29But what ought to be clear
-
38:29 - 38:32is that Paul is teaching us
-
38:32 - 38:36that what God does to us
-
38:36 - 38:39spiritually,
-
38:39 - 38:45has a parallel in Christ physically.
-
38:45 - 38:47Because think with me here.
-
38:47 - 38:49Think.
-
38:49 - 38:51It's not a direct parallel.
-
38:51 - 38:54It's not a one for one physical reality
-
38:54 - 38:59where there's a parallel
physical reality in us. -
38:59 - 39:01It's not a spiritual reality in Christ
-
39:01 - 39:04that has a spiritual reality in us.
-
39:04 - 39:07It's a physical reality in Christ...
-
39:07 - 39:11(Incomplete thought)
-
39:11 - 39:16It's amazing how God has designed
-
39:16 - 39:19all that Christ would do
-
39:19 - 39:21so that there are these
-
39:21 - 39:24spiritual parallels in now what He does
-
39:24 - 39:26in the life of a Christian.
-
39:26 - 39:27Think with me.
-
39:27 - 39:35Paul says I have been
crucified with Christ. -
39:35 - 39:38Christ was physically crucified.
-
39:38 - 39:40When Paul wrote that,
-
39:40 - 39:44he had not been physically crucified.
-
39:44 - 39:51But he had been spiritually crucified.
-
39:51 - 39:54Or think with me here:
-
39:54 - 39:57We are seated together with Christ
-
39:57 - 39:59in the heavenly places.
-
39:59 - 40:05Now Christ is physically there.
-
40:05 - 40:07You and I are not physically there.
-
40:07 - 40:10We are physically here.
-
40:10 - 40:14But, that doesn't take away the reality
-
40:14 - 40:17that there is a spiritual crucifixion,
-
40:17 - 40:19there is a spiritual death,
-
40:19 - 40:23there is a spiritual being made alive,
-
40:23 - 40:24a spiritual rising up,
-
40:24 - 40:28a spiritually being seated with Christ
-
40:28 - 40:31in the heavenly places.
-
40:31 - 40:32And these are the realities
-
40:32 - 40:36that I want us to try to draw on
-
40:36 - 40:38and try to get to the root of
-
40:38 - 40:42and try to pull some of the reality.
-
40:42 - 40:47Brethren, what does it mean?
-
40:47 - 40:49Look, Paul's not mincing words here.
-
40:49 - 40:54He's not wasting these people's time.
-
40:54 - 40:56He recognized the people
he was talking to, -
40:56 - 40:59struggling with the same kind of trials
-
40:59 - 41:01our brother Mark is.
-
41:01 - 41:03Being put in the fire.
-
41:03 - 41:06Facing persecution.
-
41:06 - 41:10Oftentimes ready to throw in the towel.
-
41:10 - 41:13What do you say to 1st century Christians
-
41:13 - 41:17who are facing a Greek-Roman society
-
41:17 - 41:19that hates Christianity,
-
41:19 - 41:21feeds them to the lions,
-
41:21 - 41:22have their own set of gods,
-
41:22 - 41:25calls the Christians atheists,
-
41:25 - 41:26persecutes them,
-
41:26 - 41:29in certain seasons murders
-
41:29 - 41:30multitudes of them.
-
41:30 - 41:33What do you say?
-
41:33 - 41:36He says to these people,
-
41:36 - 41:39you are already seated
together with Christ -
41:39 - 41:40in the heavenly places.
-
41:40 - 41:42Now look, if that doesn't have
-
41:42 - 41:45some kind of real bearing
on the life of people, -
41:45 - 41:47what good is it?
-
41:47 - 41:49What good is it?
-
41:49 - 41:50You know what?
-
41:50 - 41:51If it means nothing,
-
41:51 - 41:54it's like telling somebody that has cancer
-
41:54 - 41:55and they're dying,
-
41:55 - 41:59Oh, but you know,
-
41:59 - 42:04you have the remedy within you.
-
42:04 - 42:05It's like telling somebody,
-
42:05 - 42:08Oh, it will all work out OK.
-
42:08 - 42:13When the truth is it's not working out OK.
-
42:13 - 42:15But if you tell somebody,
-
42:15 - 42:17oh no, the remedy is at work inside you
-
42:17 - 42:20and you're going to feel
pretty rotten at first, -
42:20 - 42:23but shortly to follow,
-
42:23 - 42:25the healing will start.
-
42:25 - 42:27Paul's telling these people something
-
42:27 - 42:30to get them through,
-
42:30 - 42:34your husband leaving you
for another woman, -
42:34 - 42:40your wife leaving you,
-
42:40 - 42:45your child not being converted,
-
42:45 - 42:48death close to you,
-
42:48 - 42:52persecution,
-
42:52 - 42:55when God's providences don't seem
-
42:55 - 42:58to smile on you,
-
42:58 - 43:02when it's hard.
-
43:02 - 43:04If you haven't experienced
-
43:04 - 43:05what Mark has experienced,
-
43:05 - 43:11you haven't lived the
Christian life very long. -
43:11 - 43:13I've had those seasons too.
-
43:13 - 43:15And you know the seasons are not
-
43:15 - 43:20where I wanted to go back to my old life.
-
43:20 - 43:23For me, the throwing in the towel
-
43:23 - 43:24was not that.
-
43:24 - 43:27It's not like, oh, I'm just going to
-
43:27 - 43:28go back to the old way.
-
43:28 - 43:29I don't want that.
-
43:29 - 43:33I don't desire that.
-
43:33 - 43:36The throwing in the towel
-
43:36 - 43:40is just pack the car
-
43:40 - 43:43and let's go to Frisco, Colorado
-
43:43 - 43:45for good.
-
43:45 - 43:47And I'm going to hide away in a cabin
-
43:47 - 43:51and don't anybody come looking for me.
-
43:51 - 43:52That, for me, is throwing in the towel.
-
43:52 - 43:55But that's not what God's called us to.
-
43:55 - 43:57And you can imagine that these people
-
43:57 - 43:59in Ephesus 2,000 years ago,
-
43:59 - 44:01many of them - they wish they had wings,
-
44:01 - 44:03just like David wished,
-
44:03 - 44:05that they could fly away
-
44:05 - 44:08and be at peace.
-
44:08 - 44:10But we've not been promised peace,
-
44:10 - 44:15not even in the confines
of our own family. -
44:15 - 44:16No promise of peace.
-
44:16 - 44:20In fact a promise of a sword.
-
44:20 - 44:23So, somebody has a sword
-
44:23 - 44:27piercing their own heart in their family.
-
44:27 - 44:28And seriously, Paul, you're going to
-
44:28 - 44:30come along and tell me,
-
44:30 - 44:35I'm seated with Christ in
the heavenly places? -
44:35 - 44:37Try again.
-
44:37 - 44:41Get me something better than that.
-
44:41 - 44:42And Paul would say,
-
44:42 - 44:45Oh no, my friend,
-
44:45 - 44:47there is nothing better than that.
-
44:47 - 44:50You just need to grasp
-
44:50 - 44:53something of the reality of it.
-
44:53 - 44:56Because if you do,
-
44:56 - 44:59you will have foretastes of glory.
-
44:59 - 45:00It will change your whole mindset.
-
45:00 - 45:04It will change your thinking.
-
45:04 - 45:08Brethren, think with me here.
-
45:08 - 45:10We're not dealing with being seated.
-
45:10 - 45:13We're dealing with being
made alive in Christ. -
45:13 - 45:14Let's try to reach down
-
45:14 - 45:17into some of the realities.
-
45:17 - 45:18Look.
-
45:18 - 45:22Here's some of the reality,
-
45:22 - 45:25"but" at the beginning of v. 4,
-
45:25 - 45:26that's the contrast.
-
45:26 - 45:28But - what?
-
45:28 - 45:29You're alive.
-
45:29 - 45:30And you were dead.
-
45:30 - 45:32You're no longer dead.
-
45:32 - 45:33Now you're alive.
-
45:33 - 45:34That's the contrast.
-
45:34 - 45:36You are no longer what you use to be.
-
45:36 - 45:38You've put off the old man
-
45:38 - 45:43who belongs to your former manner of life.
-
45:43 - 45:44Right? Former.
-
45:44 - 45:45You were formerly something.
-
45:45 - 45:47You're not that anymore.
-
45:47 - 45:49That is the opposite.
-
45:49 - 45:51That's the contrast.
-
45:51 - 45:54Brethren, we've got to let that grip us.
-
45:54 - 45:59The truth is our life in Christ
-
45:59 - 46:02puts an end to our death.
-
46:02 - 46:03You're not dead any longer.
-
46:03 - 46:05The Christian has come
-
46:05 - 46:09to the end of the days as a dead man.
-
46:09 - 46:10The word "but."
-
46:10 - 46:12That's that stark contrast.
-
46:12 - 46:18We are truly alive together with Christ.
-
46:18 - 46:19Don't you see what this is saying?
-
46:19 - 46:21Look at the contrast.
-
46:21 - 46:22Brethren, you are alive.
-
46:22 - 46:24You are not like you were.
-
46:24 - 46:26You are no longer dead in sin.
-
46:26 - 46:28That's no longer true.
-
46:28 - 46:30You no longer follow
the course of this world. -
46:30 - 46:32Listen! Listen, Christian!
-
46:32 - 46:37You no longer follow the
course of the world. -
46:37 - 46:39You are alive!
-
46:39 - 46:41Put off the rags of death.
-
46:41 - 46:43Put off the grave clothes.
-
46:43 - 46:45Put them off!
-
46:45 - 46:47Enough!
-
46:47 - 46:48You're not of the world.
-
46:48 - 46:50You're no longer following
-
46:50 - 46:52the prince of the power of the world.
-
46:52 - 46:53You're no longer among
-
46:53 - 46:55the sons of disobedience.
-
46:55 - 46:57You're no longer lusting
-
46:57 - 46:59after all the things in the body,
-
46:59 - 47:00in the mind.
-
47:00 - 47:02You're no longer children of wrath.
-
47:02 - 47:04You're no longer under
the displeasure of God. -
47:04 - 47:06You live in His smile.
-
47:06 - 47:07Be done with that.
-
47:07 - 47:08It's no longer.
-
47:08 - 47:12You're alive.
-
47:12 - 47:19Brethren, alive together with Christ.
-
47:19 - 47:21I'm amazed.
-
47:21 - 47:24I'll be real direct.
-
47:24 - 47:27My children showed me a thread -
-
47:27 - 47:28something we just dealt with
-
47:28 - 47:30in our elder's meeting -
-
47:30 - 47:32my children showed me a thread
-
47:32 - 47:33off of Facebook,
-
47:33 - 47:37where Christians, some in this place,
-
47:37 - 47:41are arguing for why it is appropriate
-
47:41 - 47:43for a Christian to be entertained
-
47:43 - 47:50by movies with filthy, foul language.
-
47:50 - 47:53What in the world are you thinking?
-
47:53 - 47:57Are you alive together with Christ?
-
47:57 - 48:00Or are you following the
course of this world? -
48:00 - 48:02There is a contrast here.
-
48:02 - 48:03And if you can find no contrast
-
48:03 - 48:06between your life and the world?
-
48:06 - 48:10Fill in the blank.
-
48:10 - 48:13Amen?
-
48:13 - 48:16We're alive!
-
48:16 - 48:18You know what?
-
48:18 - 48:20I'm not in the course of the world,
-
48:20 - 48:22because my desires are changed.
-
48:22 - 48:24I love new things.
-
48:24 - 48:26I've been made alive to God.
-
48:26 - 48:27I desire God.
-
48:27 - 48:28I desire to please God.
-
48:28 - 48:30I desire to have the things in my life
-
48:30 - 48:32that He loves, not the
things that He hates. -
48:32 - 48:34Not the things that He forbids.
-
48:34 - 48:36Not the things that I find in Scripture
-
48:36 - 48:37that He despises.
-
48:37 - 48:39Why in the world would you fill your life
-
48:39 - 48:41with movies full of garbage?
-
48:41 - 48:44Worldly garbage.
-
48:44 - 48:47Unless that's what you love.
-
48:47 - 48:49Unless that's what you pant after.
-
48:49 - 48:55Brethren, we're the living ones.
-
48:55 - 48:57There is an end to our death.
-
48:57 - 48:59We no longer live like the dead.
-
48:59 - 49:01We are the living ones.
-
49:01 - 49:03We're alive.
-
49:03 - 49:05This is not theoretical.
-
49:05 - 49:07This is what God-wrought Christianity is,
-
49:07 - 49:10and we need to be gripped by the contrast.
-
49:10 - 49:14That the Christian is a total contrast
-
49:14 - 49:15to what he once was.
-
49:15 - 49:18Brethren, you get to the
end of this letter - -
49:18 - 49:20we no longer follow the course of the
prince of the power of the air. -
49:20 - 49:21You know what we do now?
-
49:21 - 49:23We wrestle not against flesh and blood,
-
49:23 - 49:25but who do we wrestle against?
-
49:25 - 49:26We wrestle.
-
49:26 - 49:26Why?
-
49:26 - 49:28That's what living people do.
-
49:28 - 49:29They wrestle.
-
49:29 - 49:31They put off the former manner of life
-
49:31 - 49:33or they put off the old man
-
49:33 - 49:35which belongs to the former manner of life
-
49:35 - 49:36and guess what?
-
49:36 - 49:38Deceitful desires.
-
49:38 - 49:40That's a deceitful desire
-
49:40 - 49:41to want to go desire movies
-
49:41 - 49:43that are full of filth.
-
49:43 - 49:45Filthy, foul language.
-
49:45 - 49:46What is that?
-
49:46 - 49:47That's worldly.
-
49:47 - 49:49That's ungodly.
-
49:49 - 49:52That's filling your life
full of companionships -
49:52 - 49:54that corrupt good manners.
-
49:54 - 49:57Why in the world?
-
49:57 - 49:57Look.
-
49:57 - 49:59Walk worthy of the calling
-
49:59 - 50:00to which you've been called.
-
50:00 - 50:01What have you been called to?
-
50:01 - 50:03You've been called to life
-
50:03 - 50:04together with Christ.
-
50:04 - 50:11Your life is hidden with Christ in God.
-
50:11 - 50:14That speaks of children of light.
-
50:14 - 50:16Not children of wrath.
-
50:16 - 50:17Not sons of disobedience.
-
50:17 - 50:18Children of light.
-
50:18 - 50:21So let all that is true of light
-
50:21 - 50:24burst forth from your life.
-
50:24 - 50:27Put all filthy communication away.
-
50:27 - 50:30Not only out of your mouth,
-
50:30 - 50:31put it away.
-
50:31 - 50:32It shouldn't even be named.
-
50:32 - 50:35That's in this letter.
-
50:35 - 50:40That's what living people do.
-
50:40 - 50:41Look.
-
50:41 - 50:44Don't let worldly professing Christians
-
50:44 - 50:47be surprised when they wake up in hell.
-
50:47 - 50:48Why?
-
50:48 - 50:52Because this is true Christianity.
-
50:52 - 50:57Being made alive together with Christ.
-
50:57 - 50:59It's not theory.
-
50:59 - 51:03You see, our whole position as Christians
-
51:03 - 51:06has changed.
-
51:06 - 51:07Position.
-
51:07 - 51:10That's the where we are.
-
51:10 - 51:11Where are we?
-
51:11 - 51:14Well, we used to be dead in...
-
51:14 - 51:18you notice the prepositions
of Scripture sometimes. -
51:18 - 51:19Where were we?
-
51:19 - 51:23Dead in... there's your preposition.
-
51:23 - 51:26In trespasses and sins.
-
51:26 - 51:28That's where we were.
-
51:28 - 51:29Where are we now?
-
51:29 - 51:33In Christ.
-
51:33 - 51:35Where were we before?
-
51:35 - 51:39In the place where we followed the world.
-
51:39 - 51:43In the place where we followed the devil.
-
51:43 - 51:45Where are we now?
-
51:45 - 51:48Raised up!
-
51:48 - 51:50Up!
-
51:50 - 51:52There's position there.
-
51:52 - 51:55We're not down there.
-
51:55 - 51:57We're not in the darkness.
-
51:57 - 52:01We've been raised up.
-
52:01 - 52:05We used to be among
-
52:05 - 52:08the sons of disobedience.
-
52:08 - 52:09Among.
-
52:09 - 52:13That's where we were.
-
52:13 - 52:16Lust.
-
52:16 - 52:19The lusts of the mind.
-
52:19 - 52:23Wanting what's foul.
-
52:23 - 52:25But that's not where we are anymore.
-
52:25 - 52:27Where are we now?
-
52:27 - 52:32You know how far up we are?
-
52:32 - 52:35We're up there where He's seated.
-
52:35 - 52:37That's where we are now.
-
52:37 - 52:40There's a change of position here.
-
52:40 - 52:43And there's a change of state.
-
52:43 - 52:45I mean, that is the greatest
-
52:45 - 52:46and most obvious reality
-
52:46 - 52:49Paul's bringing out in v. 5.
-
52:49 - 52:53This transition from death to life.
-
52:53 - 52:54It's done.
-
52:54 - 52:57For Christians, it all lies in the past.
-
52:57 - 52:58The Christian above all other things
-
52:58 - 53:00can shout it out:
-
53:00 - 53:04"I am no longer dead!"
-
53:04 - 53:05"I am alive!"
-
53:05 - 53:10The days of my death are past.
-
53:10 - 53:11They're gone.
-
53:11 - 53:13There's absolutely nothing,
-
53:13 - 53:17brethren, but life before us.
-
53:17 - 53:19Physically.
-
53:19 - 53:21What is that?
-
53:21 - 53:22Death is so harmless now
-
53:22 - 53:26that Scripture calls it sleep.
-
53:26 - 53:29Rest.
-
53:29 - 53:32To be absent with the body...
-
53:32 - 53:35Christ said to that -
-
53:35 - 53:40he wasn't a doomed criminal.
-
53:40 - 53:42It's not doom to say,
-
53:42 - 53:47"This day you will be
with Me in Paradise." -
53:47 - 53:49What do I have to look forward to?
-
53:49 - 53:51Christ never forsaking me.
-
53:51 - 53:53Never leaving me.
-
53:53 - 53:57Putting me in trials, yes.
-
53:57 - 54:02But there aren't only trials here.
-
54:02 - 54:04My son just got saved.
-
54:04 - 54:07There's not only trials here.
-
54:07 - 54:09And He promises that His grace
-
54:09 - 54:13will be sufficient.
-
54:13 - 54:17And He brings seasons of great joy here.
-
54:17 - 54:20The suffering is but for a moment.
-
54:20 - 54:23The sun will break forth
-
54:23 - 54:24even in our darkened seasons.
-
54:24 - 54:26There is a light at the end of the tunnel,
-
54:26 - 54:32even when we can't see it.
-
54:32 - 54:34This fullness of day.
-
54:34 - 54:37Greater likeness of Christ.
-
54:37 - 54:41Purifying, being made more and more
-
54:41 - 54:43and more sinless.
-
54:43 - 54:47More and more and more like Christ.
-
54:47 - 54:48And then bang!
-
54:48 - 54:50It's just going to grab us.
-
54:50 - 54:53We are going to be
hauled off into eternity -
54:53 - 54:56and gaze on His face
-
54:56 - 54:59and be made like Him.
-
54:59 - 55:02There's no more death.
-
55:02 - 55:06You don't get eternal life when you die.
-
55:06 - 55:10You don't get it at the day of judgment.
-
55:10 - 55:11You have it.
-
55:11 - 55:13It's past tense.
-
55:13 - 55:16You've been made alive.
-
55:16 - 55:19The Christian is done with death.
-
55:19 - 55:22We are done with dying.
-
55:22 - 55:23Don't you get it?
-
55:23 - 55:26We are together with Christ.
-
55:26 - 55:28You go to Scripture
-
55:28 - 55:29and it says,
-
55:29 - 55:34"In Him was life."
-
55:34 - 55:36That's Who we're together with.
-
55:36 - 55:39The Father has granted the Son
-
55:39 - 55:42to have life in Himself.
-
55:42 - 55:46We are together with Him Who is life;
-
55:46 - 55:48Who has been granted to have life
-
55:48 - 55:50within Him.
-
55:50 - 55:53The last Adam is what?
-
55:53 - 56:00He has become a life-giving spirit.
-
56:00 - 56:02When Christ, Who is your life...
-
56:02 - 56:04That's how Scripture speaks.
-
56:04 - 56:08Christ. You're together with life.
-
56:08 - 56:10Listen, Christ has come,
-
56:10 - 56:12and He's put His arms around us
-
56:12 - 56:13and embraced us.
-
56:13 - 56:16But see, it's closer, it's
more organic than that. -
56:16 - 56:18There's actually a connection now.
-
56:18 - 56:20We have become one with Him.
-
56:20 - 56:23We're one with life.
-
56:23 - 56:25There's no more death.
-
56:25 - 56:27You're one with He Who is life.
-
56:27 - 56:28You're one with the One Who is
-
56:28 - 56:30the last Adam,
-
56:30 - 56:31who is a life-giving spirit.
-
56:31 - 56:38He breathes nothing but life into you.
-
56:38 - 56:39And we can suffer
-
56:39 - 56:41and we can be in dark seasons,
-
56:41 - 56:43but that life is very real.
-
56:43 - 56:46Because even in the darkness,
-
56:46 - 56:49even in that darkness,
-
56:49 - 56:52our faith in Christ presses us through.
-
56:52 - 56:55Even in that darkness,
-
56:55 - 56:57that faith is upheld
-
56:57 - 57:00by the mighty hand of God.
-
57:00 - 57:03Even when we waver and we teeter all over,
-
57:03 - 57:04when we feel like we're going to
-
57:04 - 57:05throw in the towel,
-
57:05 - 57:08and we're going to fail...
-
57:08 - 57:11there is an unmovable hand
-
57:11 - 57:13beneath us
-
57:13 - 57:15that carries us through.
-
57:15 - 57:18Some through the water, brethren.
-
57:18 - 57:23Some through the flood.
-
57:23 - 57:24It's true.
-
57:24 - 57:30There's floods and there's fires.
-
57:30 - 57:32But He is going to finish that work
-
57:32 - 57:33which He started.
-
57:33 - 57:36Have you ever heard Paul exclaim,
-
57:36 - 57:40it is no longer I who live,
-
57:40 - 57:43but Christ Who lives in me.
-
57:43 - 57:44Do you know this?
-
57:44 - 57:47He Who is life lives in me.
-
57:47 - 57:49I cannot die.
-
57:49 - 57:50Because Christ cannot die.
-
57:50 - 57:52Because Christ is one with me.
-
57:52 - 57:54And because in that union,
-
57:54 - 57:56His life is my life.
-
57:56 - 58:00My life is bound to His life.
-
58:00 - 58:01And He can't die.
-
58:01 - 58:02I can't die.
-
58:02 - 58:05I'm one. I'm bound with Him.
-
58:05 - 58:06Have you experienced this?
-
58:06 - 58:10This is what it is to be a Christian.
-
58:10 - 58:11This isn't what it is simply
-
58:11 - 58:13to be a great apostle like Paul.
-
58:13 - 58:16This is what it is to
be the least Christian. -
58:16 - 58:20You have been made alive,
-
58:20 - 58:23because God has made you alive
-
58:23 - 58:24if you are a Christian.
-
58:24 - 58:26This is a reality.
-
58:26 - 58:27What does it mean?
-
58:27 - 58:28We're alive.
-
58:28 - 58:30We're no longer alienanted from God.
-
58:30 - 58:32Have you ever read in Scripture,
-
58:32 - 58:33alive to God -
-
58:33 - 58:34no longer alienated.
-
58:34 - 58:36What does it mean to be alive to God?
-
58:36 - 58:38Suddenly, we recognize Him.
-
58:38 - 58:40We see Him! We feel Him!
-
58:40 - 58:41We experience Him!
-
58:41 - 58:44There's reality to the living God.
-
58:44 - 58:45We hunger for Him.
-
58:45 - 58:48We hear His voice in His Word.
-
58:48 - 58:51We long after, we desire after...
-
58:51 - 58:53Desiring God.
-
58:53 - 58:54Hungering for Christ.
-
58:54 - 58:57Feasting on His blood.
-
58:57 - 59:00Brethren, this is the reality.
-
59:00 - 59:02This is life.
-
59:02 - 59:04Life. Life.
-
59:04 - 59:08Why would God do this?
-
59:08 - 59:09Well, you see it there.
-
59:09 - 59:13You see it there at the beginning of v. 4.
-
59:13 - 59:14If we would find an answer,
-
59:14 - 59:18it's in the character of God Himself.
-
59:18 - 59:21Just think.
-
59:21 - 59:22Paul's amazed by this.
-
59:22 - 59:26Even when we were dead
-
59:26 - 59:27in our trespasses...
-
59:27 - 59:30that's the thing that just blows him away.
-
59:30 - 59:36God did this when I was the way I was?
-
59:36 - 59:39Even then? Even then?
-
59:39 - 59:41Such riches of mercy.
-
59:41 - 59:44Brethren, you look at the way
-
59:44 - 59:51that this word has been translated.
-
59:51 - 59:57Sometimes, it's tender mercies
-
59:57 - 60:01or tender compassion
-
60:01 - 60:04or lovingkindness.
-
60:04 - 60:08Think about those words.
-
60:08 - 60:11Those are like words...
-
60:11 - 60:15tender compassion.
-
60:15 - 60:17They're the kind of words
-
60:17 - 60:19that humanly speaking we would expect,
-
60:19 - 60:23like a wife to feel towards her husband
-
60:23 - 60:26or a husband towards his wife.
-
60:26 - 60:29Two people who love each other.
-
60:29 - 60:31Attracted to each other.
-
60:31 - 60:32Find much in the other
-
60:32 - 60:35that is very desirable.
-
60:35 - 60:38God comes along and finds us
-
60:38 - 60:43absolutely an abhorrence.
-
60:43 - 60:45This is what rocks Paul
-
60:45 - 60:47to the core of his being.
-
60:47 - 60:50Even when I was a blasphemer,
-
60:50 - 60:53and even when I was an insolent opponent,
-
60:53 - 60:58even then - even after
the things that I've done, -
60:58 - 61:02rich, rich mercy
-
61:02 - 61:04extended towards me.
-
61:04 - 61:16Brethren, I fear that man seems to
-
61:16 - 61:21find it almost impossible to harmonize
-
61:21 - 61:25the God Who is sovereign;
-
61:25 - 61:27the God Who makes alive
-
61:27 - 61:31and chooses which ones to make alive
-
61:31 - 61:35and which ones not to make alive;
-
61:35 - 61:37the God of election,
-
61:37 - 61:42the God of predestination.
-
61:42 - 61:45Many find it very difficult to harmonize
-
61:45 - 61:52rich mercies.
-
61:52 - 61:53There is this idea that
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61:53 - 61:58the "God of Calvinism" -
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61:58 - 62:03He's cruel. He's distant.
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62:03 - 62:05He's out there.
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62:05 - 62:07He's cold. He's stoic.
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62:07 - 62:08He's unfeeling.
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62:08 - 62:12He's harsh.
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62:12 - 62:19Brethren, that's Allah.
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62:19 - 62:24That's not the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. -
62:24 - 62:29His mercies are tender.
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62:29 - 62:31Tender.
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62:31 - 62:34Riches of mercy.
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62:34 - 62:44And they flow out of a great love.
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62:44 - 62:46I hope you can see it.
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62:46 - 62:48Look, should we fear such a God?
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62:48 - 62:49Yes.
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62:49 - 62:51Oh yeah.
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62:51 - 62:56He is kind. He is full of tender mercies.
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62:56 - 62:58Brethren, we don't want to misread
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62:58 - 63:00those mercies.
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63:00 - 63:04If you go on rejecting His Son,
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63:04 - 63:07Oh, He is greatly to be feared.
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63:07 - 63:09Be sure of that.
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63:09 - 63:10These mercies don't mean that
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63:10 - 63:16this God is a pushover.
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63:16 - 63:20Listen.
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63:20 - 63:24What God presents Himself as in Scripture,
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63:24 - 63:26He's holding out His arm.
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63:26 - 63:30All day long even.
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63:30 - 63:31What's there?
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63:31 - 63:35He's offering these mercies.
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63:35 - 63:37Come take them.
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63:37 - 63:40Come take them.
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63:40 - 63:42This is how He portrays Himself.
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63:42 - 63:46Come take them.
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63:46 - 63:48Jesus can look to His Father
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63:48 - 63:50and say, "Father, I thank You that
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63:50 - 63:52You have not revealed these to the wise
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63:52 - 63:54and the prudent,
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63:54 - 63:57but to babes."
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63:57 - 63:59What's God's answer
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63:59 - 64:01to the fact that nobody comes
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64:01 - 64:04and takes these mercies from His hand?
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64:04 - 64:08Election.
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64:08 - 64:12Be made alive.
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64:12 - 64:13No man can come to Me
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64:13 - 64:16unless My Father Who sent Me draws him.
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64:16 - 64:17See, be made alive.
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64:17 - 64:19And suddenly, we look at those mercies
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64:19 - 64:23in His hands,
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64:23 - 64:25I want those.
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64:25 - 64:30I'm a sinner. I need those.
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64:30 - 64:34The Spirit convicts us of sin.
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64:34 - 64:38And there's the remedy.
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64:38 - 64:42Be made alive.
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64:42 - 64:44That's God's work.
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64:44 - 64:48God makes Christians.
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64:48 - 64:50That's the reality.
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64:50 - 64:53Have you tasted God's rich mercies?
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64:53 - 64:55Are you alive?
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64:55 - 64:56Do you have life?
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64:56 - 64:59Are you aware of such a reality
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64:59 - 65:00that has grabbed you?
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65:00 - 65:01Has embraced you?
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65:01 - 65:03Has changed you?
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65:03 - 65:05Has made you something you weren't before?
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65:05 - 65:06Do you see it?
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65:06 - 65:08I desire what I didn't desire before.
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65:08 - 65:13I don't desire what I did desire before.
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65:13 - 65:15That group of friends...
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65:15 - 65:17I can't fit with them anymore.
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65:17 - 65:18Why?
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65:18 - 65:20Because I'm alive and they're dead.
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65:20 - 65:21When I was dead,
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65:21 - 65:22well that was comfortable.
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65:22 - 65:23But I'm not dead.
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65:23 - 65:24Something has changed.
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65:24 - 65:26Do you know this?
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65:26 - 65:27A power in your life,
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65:27 - 65:29influencing you?
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65:29 - 65:30Moving you?
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65:30 - 65:31Directing you?
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65:31 - 65:32I'm talking about something
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65:32 - 65:33outside of yourself.
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65:33 - 65:35Not some ingenuity with yourself.
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65:35 - 65:37Not some decision you made.
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65:37 - 65:38Do you feel this?
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65:38 - 65:39Do you know this reality
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65:39 - 65:41of God Who is working on you
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65:41 - 65:43from outside?
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65:43 - 65:45Are you aware of this reality
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65:45 - 65:46like the songwriter was?
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65:46 - 65:49I was blind, but now I see!
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65:49 - 65:50I see!
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65:50 - 65:52Why? God has made me alive.
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65:52 - 65:54My eyes are open.
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65:54 - 65:58Sin: I'm no longer impotent.
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65:58 - 66:00I'm no longer in it as a slave
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66:00 - 66:02and dead.
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66:02 - 66:04And now, it no longer
has dominion over me. -
66:04 - 66:05I may fall,
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66:05 - 66:06but I'll tell you this,
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66:06 - 66:08it doesn't have dominion.
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66:08 - 66:10Because it's not like I just jump up
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66:10 - 66:11and run back after it again.
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66:11 - 66:13I confess those sins.
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66:13 - 66:15He is faithful and just
to forgive those sins. -
66:15 - 66:16There is a fight.
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66:16 - 66:18I don't follow the devil anymore.
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66:18 - 66:19I wrestle with him.
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66:19 - 66:21Oh, there's battles.
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66:21 - 66:23Yes, there's battles.
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66:23 - 66:24But see, there was no battle before,
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66:24 - 66:26because I was dead in sin.
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66:26 - 66:28I followed the flow.
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66:28 - 66:30Now, I'm seeking to move against it.
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66:30 - 66:31I'm walking the other way.
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66:31 - 66:32And I feel it.
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66:32 - 66:34And there's a power within me
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66:34 - 66:36that keeps my legs moving.
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66:36 - 66:38Step after step,
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66:38 - 66:40even though the flow is strong
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66:40 - 66:41to go back the other way.
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66:41 - 66:43I keep going in that direction.
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66:43 - 66:45Why? There's a power at work within me
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66:45 - 66:47that is not of this world.
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66:47 - 66:49It's supernatural.
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66:49 - 66:49It's divine.
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66:49 - 66:51Are you aware of this?
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66:51 - 66:54Brethren, are you aware
of being made alive -
66:54 - 66:55together with Christ?
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66:55 - 66:58What a tremendous thing, is it not!
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66:58 - 67:01Brethren, to God... God makes Christians.
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67:01 - 67:03it's to God be the glory.
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67:03 - 67:05To God be the praise
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67:05 - 67:07as we heard it in the first hour.
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67:07 - 67:15Salvation belongs to the Lord.
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67:15 - 67:18Father,
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67:18 - 67:21We just bow our heads before You.
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67:21 - 67:23You are God and we are not,
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67:23 - 67:27and You are full of
the most tender mercies -
67:27 - 67:31towards those who deserve
them not in the least. -
67:31 - 67:32And we thank You.
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67:32 - 67:34Thank You. Thank You that Your love
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67:34 - 67:40was so great, so deep,
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67:40 - 67:47that You even offered up Your own Son.
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67:47 - 67:51He became sin.
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67:51 - 67:58All that punishment came upon His head.
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67:58 - 68:01That we might be made alive.
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68:01 - 68:03And that we might experience
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68:03 - 68:05the exceeding, the immeasurable riches
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68:05 - 68:07of your grace in kindness
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68:07 - 68:08through all these coming ages.
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68:08 - 68:10Lord, what have You done for sinners.
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68:10 - 68:14What an amazing thing this is.
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68:14 - 68:15We thank You,
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68:15 - 68:17in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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68:17 - 68:18Amen.
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