Sept. 21, 2024

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

I believe 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 is one of the most misinterpreted sections of scripture in the Bible.

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I believe 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 is one of the most misinterpreted sections of scripture in the Bible.

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective.

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This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central.

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Have you ever got ready to say good morning? But

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it didn't feel like a good morning? It just felt

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like maybe a morning. There was nothing really good about it. Now.

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I can't speak for you, but for me, over the

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past few days, I don't know if anything has been

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good because there's just this feeling of discouragement, frustration, depression, irritation.

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And the more I read, the more I look things up,

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the more comments I read, the more discouraged I become.

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And I just kind of want to say, you know what,

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ladies and gentlemen, I'm tapping out. That's it. I tap out.

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I'm done. Goodbye Christianity. You just do what you're going

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to do, and I'll be over here in the corner

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because I give up. I'm done. I just throw in.

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I throw up my hands, I throw in the towel,

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whatever analogy, whatever phrase I'm supposed to be, I'm done.

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I don't know what to say because it just has ugh.

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It's just so not good right now. So I'm not

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going to say good morning. It is a morning. It

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is Saturday, September the twenty first, twenty twenty four. It

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is currently ten thirty three am Central Time, and I

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am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio

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located right here in Albilene, Texas. And from this very studio,

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I've been watching a lot of things unfold. I've been

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sent emails, I've been sent lots of information. Well, one

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person in this particular case, my daughter. She sent me this. Now,

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at the time that this was sent to me, it

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had been twenty four hours. It's now been a little longer,

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but she sent this to me. In the last twenty

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four hours, an anti trans politician was linked to a

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transgender porn website, an anti gay activists was revealed to

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have been a gay porn actor, and a Save the

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Children congressman was found to be doing drugs at a

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sex party with a high school junior. Now, these are

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all Republicans, Conservatives who are you know. We'll talk about

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values and morality and all of these types of things.

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And the last twenty four hours, an anti trans politician

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was linked to a transgender porn website, and anti gay

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activist was revealed to have been a gay porn actor.

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And I Saved the Children congressman was found to be

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doing drugs at a sex party with a high school junior.

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Now I'm not going to give any of their names

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right now because they're still ongoing informa investigation, testimony, evidence,

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all kinds of things is starting to come out. It's

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getting ugly. Accusations are flying around, and it's just not good.

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It's just it's just ugly. And of course people are

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screaming hypocrisy, hypocrisy. Of course that's going to be screaming inconsistency.

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And I could read all the things that my daughter

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sent to me about this, all the investigation, the information,

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what evidence has has and hasn't been found, Yeah, everything,

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And so I could go through all of that, But

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the point is, get you get the overall sense of

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what I'm talking about. Right, there's nothing good about that. First,

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all three individuals, they are being confronted with their own failures,

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their own sin, their own mistakes, their own however you

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would like to describe it. They're being confronted with who

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they have been and who they are in spite of

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what they have said. There's an inconsistency there. So that

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has been going on. But we all but most of

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you know, and again I'm not mentioning any names. A

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very very very prominent pastor, very famous pastor has been

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removed from his ministry due to well sin. Not going

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to give any information. We've already talked about that. Again,

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I'm not mentioning names to anyone because I don't need

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to give names, because whether we know the names or

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don't know the names, I know this is going to

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come shocking. But within the world of Christianity, within the

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world of conservative politicians, there is never ending amount of sin, inconsistency,

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and just failure. It's just inevitable. And I hate to

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say it, it's inevitable in your life, my life, in

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your church, my church, all of us we are sinners.

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In fact, I did an entire broadcast about the fact

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that we are all sinners, and I know within the

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Christian world that there people struggle with that. I was

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reading common under the news stories from on Christian websites

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about the prominent pastor who has been removed because of sin,

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and I was reading some of the comments and it

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was insane. Basically, the comments go like this, He's not

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a Christian because a man who is regenerate would not

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commit such sin. He's not one of God's children, he

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is a reprobate, he's a heretic, he's ungodly, he's unsaved.

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And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. And

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if you've been paying any attention to just the summer,

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all the pastors, very prominent pastors who have been found

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in all kinds of sin over and over and over

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now Christians and again, and one of the most common,

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the most common thing is basically throwing them out of

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the Kingdom of God and saying they're not saved. It

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seems forever or immediately people will start talking about disqualified, qualified,

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just throwing things out many cases no real scripture, not

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even even trying to handle the text, and it just

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becomes it becomes maddening. And while all of that is

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going on, while all the yelling and fighting and accusations

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and judging, it's I mean, it's inevitable that someone somewhere

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when they're making these judgments that this person's not saved

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or where they're not saved, or and they're not saved

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or they're not saved. Well everyone's basically because people just

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immediately start judging. It's just like someone falls into sin

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I guess Christians just immediately think it's their job to

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start judging it and talking about it. It's just immediately

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just they want to be a part of the discussion.

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And so my approach has been I'm not gonna mention names,

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but I'm gonna remind us instead of looking at their saying,

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let's look at our own sin. So that was my approach.

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But inevitably, as I was reading the comments, this would

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be frequently. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he

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is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,

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all things are become new. Anytime someone seems to commit now,

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it's weird. It's weird because you can commit fifty sins

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and those sins are okay. Those sins are ok But

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if you commit certain sins and all of a sudden

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it's the end.

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Right.

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You can commit fifty sins and you're not disqualified. You

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can commit one sin and you are disqualified. It's very

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weird the way Christians and the way Christians throw the

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word around disqualified. And in many cases they'll go to

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a passage You're like, well, look at the rest of

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the things that can disqualify you. If you go to

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the qualification, look at the other things, pride, a lack

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of vigilance, or like we could go through but hey,

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that's okay. So so it's already weird. But inevitably it's

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the idea that if you commit this sin, well, you

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should never be able to commit that sin, because if

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you were in Christ, new creature, old things are passed away. Behold,

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all things have become new. So within at least a

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certain element of the Christian world, there is, and I

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hate to say this, there is almost a sense of perfectionism,

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Christian perfectionism that is much more prominent than anybody would

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like to admit. Now people will say, no, no, no,

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I don't believe you. I don't believe you can be perfect.

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I'm not calling for perfection, but you are calling that

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you can't commit this sin or this sin or this sin,

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because if you are in Christ, you're a new creature.

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Old things are passed away, all things have become new.

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But if you're going to say you can't commit these

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sins if you are saved, well, according to this verse,

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if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things

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have passed away, all things have become new. I would argue,

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then this would indicate you can't commit any sin if

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you're going to you two Corinthians five seventeen that way.

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Now I will make the argument the tewod Corinthians five p.

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Seventeen is one of the most misinterpreted, one of the

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most twisted and abused scriptures in the entire Bible, and

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I have been fighting against the way Christians have used

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it for I don't know ten years, fifteen years, it

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feels like, for a good portion of my Christian life,

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because I've always said, well, wait a minute, you're telling

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me that if I'm in Christ, I'm a new creature.

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Old things have passed away, all things have become new.

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You're telling me, then there is basically there is no

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sin nature. So then why am I sinning? And you

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can't tell me that this is true of me practically?

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And at the same time say I can't be perfect. Well,

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if I can't be perfect, that means there's something keeping

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me from perfection. And whatever is keeping me from perfection

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clearly is not a new creature, and clearly not all

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something is holding it back. Well, what's keeping me from perfection?

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What is it?

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What is it?

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What is it?

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Well, if you're telling me I'm a new creature. Old

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things pass away and all things have become new. Then

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I should be able to be perfect. So can I

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be perfect? Or no? If you say I can't be perfect,

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well then I'm not a new creature. Not all things

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are new and not all the old things are gone.

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So you've got to make up your mind. But Christians

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just do this double speak. So I get very tired

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of hearing Two Corinthians five seventeen, and over the last

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few days, I've just grown weary of it because I'm like,

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how much sin has to occur and Christians stand in

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such judgment. Well, this is a sign that the church

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is in trouble, well, that Christians have been committing sin

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inside the church. I don't know if you're aware of this.

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Since the very beginning you ever read First Corinthians, there

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has been sin happening in the Church since day one,

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just like there was sin happening in the nation of

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Israel from the very beginning, just like there was sin

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happening in the lives of every person you read in

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the Bible. But somehow we have this idea, Oh, this

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is now something different. It's not different. It's the same thing.

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Church sin. In church, sin happens. It's inevitable because the

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people in the church and the people standing behind the pulpit,

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we're all sinners, but we have this weird mentality in

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the no no no, no no no. Inside the church,

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we are all in Christ. Therefore we're new creatures, the

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oldest passed away, all things that become new. So we

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are the good guys. It's those people out there who

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do bad things. In here, we don't commit any sin.

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And now now we say that, now, sometimes we'll back

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up and go, well, I mean, nobody's perfect. Well, okay,

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can you make up your mind? We love on one

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hand and point to everyone else and go the world

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out there, they're vile, they're sinners, they're disgusting, but not us.

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And then other times we're like, well, nobody's perfect. Can

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we make up our minds? Can we? I tomorrow at

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Victory Baptist Church, if everything works according to plan, we'll

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be working on this. Therefore, thou art inexcusable, Oh man,

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whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another,

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thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the.

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Same things you may not be committing the same specific sin,

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but I guarantee you you're committing the same sin at

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least as as sin is placed in categories, the same

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type of sin, you're guilty of in some way, shape

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or form.

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Maybe not the same specific but the same type the

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same category. You are most likely guilty of the same

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type of sin. Maybe not the same specific sin, but

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the same type of sin. And if we are going

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to be and if we're even going to be remotely

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honest with ourselves, we would have have to say that

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you and I are in a perpetual state of sin.

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If you look at God's standard, be ye holy as

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He is holy, you have never accomplished that. And if

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you've never accomplished that you're in a perpetual state of sin,

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love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul.

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You've never accomplished that you're in a perpetual state of sin.

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Be Ye, perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You've

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never accomplished that you're in a perpetual state of sin.

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We are all in a perpetual state of sin, But

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somehow all people who are in a perpetual state of sin, Well,

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then look at other sin and say, well, you've committed

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the wrong kind of sin. Now you be gone, You're

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out of here. You probably were never saved. And you're like, well,

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wait a minute, we're all in a perpetual state of sin.

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How can people who are all in a perpetual state

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of sin then point to other sin and say, that's

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the sin that crossed the line, that's the sin that

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threw you out of the Kingdom of God, that's the

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sin that throws you out of ministry. Wait, we're all

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everyone in the room is in a perpetual state of sin.

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Like we all show up with our rocks ready to

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stone the center, but we're all, all of us are

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holding our rocks in sinful hands. So this verse second Corinthians. Therefore,

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if any man being crist, he is a new creature,

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all things are passed away, all things become new again.

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Let me make it very clear. I'm gonna state it again.

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I know I'm being repetitive. It's one of the most

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twisted and abused and misinterpreted verses in the entire Bible.

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Now why am I mentioning it? Because I was sitting

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here going so what do I do? Yesterday I mentioned

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two Timothy, Chapter one, verse seven. I spent a lot

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of time working on that, and I'm having some trouble

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with it. But I knew that I would kind of

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get into the kind of the same type of discussion

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that we've had. So I'm like, well, at some point

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we'll work on it. Then, I'm just going to be honest.

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I got into a long converse station, a long chat

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with AI about sin ministry qualification, disqualification, just got into

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a long back and forth throwing out my hypotheses, having

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them challenged, and maybe at some point we'll work through

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all of that. But so while I was doing all

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of that, I'm like, well, let's look and see. You know,

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we're still doing the sermon's two point oh app sermon challenge. Well,

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let me take a look really quick and see what's

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going on, you know, on the Sermon's two point oh app.

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And I look, and the very first sermon I see

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is entitled a New Creation Second Corinthians five sixteen and seventeen.

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I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. In the

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midst of everything going on, we're gonna hear a sermon

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on Second Corinthians five seventeen. So I again I don't

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listen to anything I'm going to review. Remember this is

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a part of the Sermon's two point oh app challenge.

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We're just supposed to be listening to a sermon every

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day from the Sermon's two point oh app. Right, So

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I'm just gonna random This is the one. I mean,

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I could not skip it, right because in the midst

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of all of the stuff going on, we're gonna be

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doing or are we gonna basically say, hey, you've heard

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all the stuff going on out there in the world.

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What none of those people are saying, Because if they

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were really saved, there would be a new creature, All

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things were passed away, all things have become new. Are

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they going to approach it that way? Are they just

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going to ignore everything going on around them, whether within

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conservative you know, right leaning you know, Christian politicians and

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within the church? Are they gonna Are they gonna just

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forget that? Are they gonna mention that? How are they going?

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I don't know what they're going to do, but we're

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gonna find out together. I don't know how much of

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this we're going to review. We're gonna probably review until

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we get their basic hypotheses, and then maybe that's it.

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We'll stop.

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It's called a new creation. I don't even know the

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name of the church. Again, I just saw it like

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just a few minutes ago. I think it was under

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the new tab. It was new sermons. It may not

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even it may have been in my feet or it

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may have been under the new tab. And there was

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just one of the ones at the top, and I

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was like, okay, I mean, it's so relevant, right, it's relevant.

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So I guess when you see here's the question. When

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you see sin all in the church, right, all within

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the Christian world, sin failure, moral failure, falling, fail whatever.

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And I know some people don't like the terms falling

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or fail because they say that seems to indicate, well

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that the person didn't know what they were doing and

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they just kind of stumbled and fell. But falling and

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falling into sin, fell, the fall of man, the fall

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of Satan. Those are biblical terms and they have a

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long use within church history. That don't necessarily indicate that

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someone's not responsible. It just is the term that has

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been utilized. So I know I've saw lots of criticism

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of that terminology. But the point is, and a lot

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of when you see all of that happening within the Christianity.

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How do you approach it as an individual? Do you go, well,

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most likely none of these people are saved. Is your

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first approach to start throwing people out of the Kingdom

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of God? And then quote two Corinthians five seventeen, Well,

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if anyone's in Christ, here's a new creature, whld things

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pass away? All things that be come new? I don't

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know what their problem is. Is that your first reaction

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or is your reaction go, I'm not shocked or surprised

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because everyone in the church is a sinner, including me. Now,

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I'm not saying that we should have such a numb

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attitude towards it, but I'm saying we should have the attitude.

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I don't think we should be that shocked or surprise.

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It's been happening since biblical times. And do you then,

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do you worry about getting all the details about their sin?

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Because I have seen a lot of people on YouTube

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talking about the famous pastor and everybody wants the details.

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They're like, give us the details. We want to know

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exactly what happened. We want to know all the details.

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They want to know the details. Are you worried about

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those details. Are you more worried about the details of

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your own sin? Because everyone I've seen on YouTube they

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seem to be approaching it as if they're the good

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that they don't have sin, and they want to find

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out all the details about the sin of someone else. Well,

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let's see how this is approached and light of everything

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going on, let's see what we can find out here

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we go.

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Well, good morning.

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We are going to be in second Corinthians chapter five

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again this morning. So if you have a Bible and

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turn over there. This is an exciting week. And it's

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an exciting week because we get to have a baptism.

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Anytime we have a baptism, it's an exciting week. And

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after the sermon, Jim Christensen is going to come up

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and share his testimony about what Jesus has done to

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save him. And as he does that, one of the

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couple of things I want you to be listening for

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is what is Jim's new perception of Jesus. Because one

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of the things that God does when he saves a

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person is he doesn't just change our behavior. He does that,

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but he does more than that. He changes us at

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the level of the heart, so that we look at

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Jesus differently.

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All right, you can already see which direction we're going

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to go. When God saves you, he changes your behavior. Now,

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if God does the changing of behavior, then everyone should

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know the logical question. Well, if God changes the behavior,

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then we should be perfect because a God changed behavior

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would be a perfect behavior because God's doing the changing

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and God is omnipotent, he's holy, he's omnipresent, he's omniscient. Right,

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so our behavior, if God does the changing of the behavior,

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it should go from sinful to holy because does God

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change behavior? Only? Five PRIs so now? And again, if

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God is the one changing the behavior, any lack of

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change would then beyond God's part, not my part, because

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God is the one who does the changing of the behavior. Like,

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these are questions. I don't understand why the Church never

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wants to have these very uncomfortable discussions. If God changes

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the behavior, the behavior should be perfect. And if the

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behavior is not perfect, then the issue is on God

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because God's the one doing the changing. So then how

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do we get out of it? Well, if God, if

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the behavior is not changing, then you're not saved. So

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then immediately start throwing people out. And again, it's so weird.

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A non Catholic form of Christianity, which supposedly believes we

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are say by an imputed righteousness, connects salvation to changed behavior.

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Let me make it very clear. Imputed righteousness doesn't change behavior.

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It takes someone who's a sinner in behavior and declares

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them to be perfect in their position. Their behavior is

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not impacted by an imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness does not

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change behavior. Imputed righteousness does not change behavior. Imputed righteousness

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does not change behavior. Infused righteousness changes behavior. That's Roman Catholicism.

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And then if we start talking about well the heart

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is changed, well, wait a minute. If you go to

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Ezekiel about a new heart, that's not referring to us,

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that's referring to Israel and the restoration of the nation

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of Israel and the salvation of Israel. Now, of course

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reform people will go there and say, well, Israel's not Israel,

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that's referring to the Church. And then we get into

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a major hermeneutical issue. So already we know where this

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is starting. Behavior behavior, behavior, behavior behavior. For many, Christianity

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is nothing more than behavioral modification, and it's behavioral modification.

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Supposedly accomplished by God. Well, if God is accomplishing behavioral modification,

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then we shouldn't be hearing about all the sin that

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pastors are committing, church members are committing. We shouldn't be

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reading a Bible filled with stories of churches where there's

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all kinds of sin. Now, I guess the only thing

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you can do is then go and say, well, they

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weren't saved, they weren't saved, they weren't saved. They weren't saved,

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They weren't saved, they weren't saved, and somehow convince yourself

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that your behavior, I guess, has changed enough. So is

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it a fifty percent change that convinces you you're saved?

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But if God's changing the behavior, why would he only

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change it at fifty percent.

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The Jesus who used to be irrelevant to us, the

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Jesus who used to be detestable to us, the Jesus

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who used to be a crutch for weak minded people,

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like everyone else, is now precious, is now beautiful, is

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now the object of my hope. And this morning we're

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gonna be in Second Corinthians five, Verses sixteen and seventeen,

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and Paul is going to show us that part of

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the change that God always does in the lives of

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his people when he saves them is he gives them

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a new perception of Christ. Second Corinthians five. I'm going

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to read verses twelve through twenty oneth We're going to

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focus on verses sixteen through seventeen. Second Corinthians, Chapter five,

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starting in verse twelve. For we do not commend ourselves

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again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on

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our behalf, that you may have an answer for those

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who boast in appearance and not in the heart. For

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if we are beside ourselves, it is for God, or

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if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

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For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge

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thus that if one died for all, then all died,

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and He died for all, so that those who lived

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should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who

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died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on

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we regard no one according to the flesh, even though

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we once knew Christ according to the flesh, Yet now

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we know him thus no longer.

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Please pay close attention to that verse. Wherefore, henceforth no

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we know we have no Okay, hang on, let me

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read this again. Wherefore, henceforth know we no man after

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the flesh. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh.

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We no longer as a Christian. We don't look at

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other Christians after the flesh. We don't see them and

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their fleshly standing or their practical standing. We now see

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others in their positional standing. I see a professing Christian.

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I see them based off their positional standing, which is,

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they are declared perfect and holy by imputed righteousness. I

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think that's this is where the verse. Always people seem

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to start messing up. We know, it's about how we

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see others. It's how we perceive people. Not after the flesh.

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Yet now henceforth know we him know more. This is

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now speaking of Christ. We have known Christ after the flesh,

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Yet now henceforth we know him no more. Now Immediately

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he goes into verse seventeen with the word therefore that

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therefore is based off verse I think sixteen. But let's

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see how he handles it.

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

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Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

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Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us

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to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the

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ministry of reconciliation. That is that God was in Christ

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reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them,

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and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now,

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then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God was

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pleading through us. We implore you, on Christ's behalf, be

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reconciled to God, for He has made him who knew

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no sin, to be sin for us, that we might

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become the righteousness of God in him.

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Let's pray. Father.

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00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:52.720
We just sang from the Psalms about how when we

461
00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:55.319
want peace, we live in a world where we are

462
00:27:55.400 --> 00:27:58.359
still at war, and even though we desire peace, it

463
00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:04.160
seems like they're strife all around us. And Lord, what

464
00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:06.839
a privilege it is to know that is your people.

465
00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:12.119
Christ has taken the hostility that existed between us and God,

466
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:15.319
and He has made a way for us to have peace,

467
00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:20.079
not just with each other, but with you. And Lord,

468
00:28:20.119 --> 00:28:22.839
as we open your word and we see that Christ

469
00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:26.039
is the great savior of the world. He is the

470
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:30.160
only savior of the world, we pray that the peace

471
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:33.200
we now have with you through him will bring you

472
00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:35.240
much glory, as it's proclaimed.

473
00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:36.480
Lord.

474
00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:39.920
We also praise you for your saving work in Jim's life,

475
00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:42.880
and we praise you that we get to be part

476
00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:47.880
of a baptism today where we watch the element of

477
00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:52.799
baptism and as we celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection

478
00:28:53.960 --> 00:28:57.799
of Jesus and Jim in his union to him. And

479
00:28:57.839 --> 00:28:59.880
we praise you for this in Jesus's name.

480
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:00.920
Amen.

481
00:29:02.920 --> 00:29:06.480
So our passage for this morning is verses sixteen and seventeen,

482
00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:09.720
And I want to look at that under three main points,

483
00:29:09.799 --> 00:29:12.400
and I think you'll see we're going to work through

484
00:29:12.440 --> 00:29:15.599
it backwards. We're going to actually look at verse seventeen

485
00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:18.519
before verse sixteen, and I think you'll see why in

486
00:29:18.599 --> 00:29:20.200
just a minute. Three things we're going to see. First,

487
00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:24.119
we're going to see conversion involves a change of the

488
00:29:24.359 --> 00:29:28.400
entire person. We'll see that in verse seventeen, conversion involves

489
00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:31.880
a change of the entire person. And then in verse

490
00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:37.960
sixteen we'll see conversion involves a change towards Christ. Then

491
00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:40.279
the final thing we'll see is that conversion involves a

492
00:29:40.359 --> 00:29:43.960
change towards others, also in verse sixteen.

493
00:29:46.519 --> 00:29:50.799
So immediately we know where this is going. This is

494
00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:54.079
this is going to look at Second Corinthians five seventeen,

495
00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:57.319
not as speaking about our positional standing. If I'm in Christ,

496
00:29:57.599 --> 00:29:59.319
I'm a new creature. Whole things have passed away, hell

497
00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:03.640
things have become new. Why because in Christ, his perfect

498
00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:08.240
righteousness is imputed to me. So I stand perfect, holy

499
00:30:08.519 --> 00:30:11.400
and transformed. That's why verse twenty one. He made him

500
00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:13.000
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that

501
00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:15.160
we might be made the righteousness of God and Him.

502
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:18.200
How am I made righteous? I am made righteous by faith.

503
00:30:18.359 --> 00:30:20.880
I am not made righteous in practice. I am made

504
00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:25.000
righteous in my position because imputed righteousness is accredited to

505
00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:28.480
my account. I'm declared to be that which I'm not.

506
00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:31.359
I'm declared to be holy when I'm not. I'm declared

507
00:30:31.400 --> 00:30:34.640
to be righteous when I'm not. That's the entire non

508
00:30:34.759 --> 00:30:38.519
Catholic understanding is we're not infused with it. We are

509
00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:42.839
imputed with righteousness. It's accredited to my account. It's a

510
00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:46.759
sometimes refer to it philologically, a forensic justification. It's a

511
00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:52.160
legal declaration. I'm legally declared to be that which I

512
00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:58.559
am not because Christ has provided to me to my

513
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:03.359
account his perfection, his obedience, and his holiness. So I

514
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:09.160
stand new, even though in practice the old is very

515
00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:16.799
much present. For some weird reason, Evangelical Christianity has abandoned

516
00:31:17.319 --> 00:31:20.559
the imputed idea even though they still claim it, and

517
00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:23.839
then look for an infused idea, and then everything becomes

518
00:31:23.880 --> 00:31:25.400
about behavioral modification.

519
00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:31.440
So conversion involves a change of the entire person. Conversion

520
00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:34.960
involves a change toward Christ, and then conversion involves a

521
00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:39.559
change towards others. But let's begin noticing how conversion involves

522
00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:44.119
a change of the entire person. Look at seven verse

523
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:48.440
seventeen one more time. It says, Therefore, if anyone is

524
00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:53.200
in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have

525
00:31:53.319 --> 00:31:58.680
passed away. Behold, all things have become news.

526
00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:01.480
You look at both verse sixx and verse seventeen.

527
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:04.359
I think it's important to know they both start with

528
00:32:04.519 --> 00:32:09.559
the word therefore. That should tip you off that Paul's

529
00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:12.359
even though the way we usually preach at our churches

530
00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:14.400
we take a couple verses a week, and sometimes we

531
00:32:14.440 --> 00:32:18.440
move really slowly, and when we do that, it's easy

532
00:32:18.519 --> 00:32:21.880
to forget that the two verses we're looking at are

533
00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:24.319
part of a much bigger section, a much bigger argument,

534
00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:27.920
and the words therefore should tip us off that we're

535
00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:31.240
not starting a new theme this morning. What Paul's doing

536
00:32:31.319 --> 00:32:35.279
is he's drawing some necessary conclusions from what he said

537
00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:39.599
last week in verses fourteen and fifteen. So Verses fourteen

538
00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:44.079
and fifteen say, the love of Christ compels us because

539
00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:46.480
we judge thus that if one died for all, then

540
00:32:46.519 --> 00:32:49.000
all died, and He died for all, so that those

541
00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:53.200
who live should no longer live for themselves, but for

542
00:32:53.319 --> 00:32:56.920
Him who died and died for them and rose again.

543
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.960
We saw last week that Paul conduct did his ministry.

544
00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:06.240
Paul conducted his life being driven by the love of Christ,

545
00:33:06.359 --> 00:33:09.960
the love that Christ showed him in dying for his

546
00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:13.640
sins and rising from the dead. And Paul told us

547
00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:16.480
all about the doctrine of union with Christ. It was

548
00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:20.680
for us and it's in Christ that all of these

549
00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:24.119
things happen. And the big idea is that Christ died

550
00:33:24.359 --> 00:33:29.559
in Christ rose in our place. He died and rose

551
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:32.279
again as are we saw last week our federal head,

552
00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:36.359
our representative, who was doing for us in his death

553
00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:38.880
and resurrection everything we need.

554
00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:42.279
And that's what Paul told us last week.

555
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:45.480
But now what he's doing is he's drawing coclusions from that,

556
00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:50.240
and he's drawing this conclusion in verse seventeen by creating

557
00:33:50.599 --> 00:33:55.720
an if then statement. If then statements are a way

558
00:33:55.759 --> 00:34:01.599
of saying, if primise A is true, then the necessary

559
00:34:01.759 --> 00:34:05.920
logical conclusion has to be premis b. We use if

560
00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:08.920
then statements all the time. We use them in parenting.

561
00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:13.239
If you clean your room, you can have dinner tonight.

562
00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:17.000
You guys think I'm a parent.

563
00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:23.519
If you do your chores, you can.

564
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:24.360
Have your allowance.

565
00:34:25.400 --> 00:34:28.119
We use it in all of life. If the stock

566
00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:31.239
market continues on the trend, it's going I'm going to

567
00:34:31.239 --> 00:34:33.760
be forced out of retirement and have to get.

568
00:34:33.559 --> 00:34:34.360
A new job.

569
00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:37.199
We use if then statements all the time to say,

570
00:34:37.239 --> 00:34:41.079
if this happens, then this necessarily has to happen.

571
00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:42.840
And what's Paul doing?

572
00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:46.360
In verse seventeen, what's the if then that Paul is

573
00:34:46.360 --> 00:34:47.639
presenting us with.

574
00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:50.480
He says, if there's the first.

575
00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:55.760
Condition, if anyone is in Christ.

576
00:34:55.480 --> 00:34:57.800
What is it? Now?

577
00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:01.360
This is why you see comments when someone falls into sin,

578
00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:06.800
some scandalous sin, Well, if they were saved, then they

579
00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:10.599
wouldn't be committing that act. Because if anyone is in Christ,

580
00:35:10.599 --> 00:35:12.280
he's a new creature. Old things will pass away. All

581
00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:15.039
things have become new. So this is why this verse

582
00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:18.320
literally becomes a baseball bat right and you walk around,

583
00:35:18.360 --> 00:35:21.000
Oh oh, you committed that sin. Well, if you were

584
00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:23.239
a Christian, you wouldn't because you would be a new creature.

585
00:35:23.239 --> 00:35:25.079
The old things would be gone, everything would be new.

586
00:35:25.239 --> 00:35:27.760
Smack you in the head. You are lost. Boom, get

587
00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:33.920
out of Christianity. You heretic it basically becomes a weapon,

588
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.239
or you could read it. If anyone is in Christ,

589
00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:42.599
then this is true of us positionally, because everyone knows

590
00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:46.480
it's not true practically, because if it was true practically,

591
00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:51.480
then nobody would sin. Okay, and you can hear my frustration,

592
00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:55.119
because we would be a new creature. The old we've gone.

593
00:35:55.159 --> 00:35:58.039
Everything would become new. That would be the eradication of

594
00:35:58.079 --> 00:36:02.639
the old nature. Everyone would be sinless, or at least

595
00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:09.880
have no sin nature. So sinlessness would be not only possible,

596
00:36:10.119 --> 00:36:14.519
it would be probable. That seems to be the direction

597
00:36:14.679 --> 00:36:17.599
he's about to take this. I'm hoping I'm incorrect.

598
00:36:19.480 --> 00:36:20.440
Mean to be in Christ.

599
00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:25.559
That expression in Christ is one of Paul's favorite ways.

600
00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:27.400
It's one of the ways he most.

601
00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:32.039
Frequently talks about our relationship to Jesus. It's an expression

602
00:36:32.039 --> 00:36:35.440
he uses over one hundred and sixty times in.

603
00:36:35.480 --> 00:36:36.800
All of his writings.

604
00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:40.320
It's an expression he uses six times in the Book

605
00:36:40.360 --> 00:36:44.280
of Second Corinthians. And when Paul talks about being in Christ,

606
00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:50.760
he's talking about how we are united to Christ by faith.

607
00:36:50.800 --> 00:36:55.039
And so what happens is at conversion, when a person

608
00:36:55.320 --> 00:36:57.920
hears the Gospel, they.

609
00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:59.960
Believe into Jesus.

610
00:37:00.199 --> 00:37:04.960
We don't just say I believe that what Jesus says

611
00:37:05.079 --> 00:37:10.400
is true. We actually believe into Jesus, which means that

612
00:37:10.519 --> 00:37:15.599
our faith, created by the Spirit of God, unites us

613
00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:19.280
to the person of Jesus, so that everything that the

614
00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:23.119
Bible says about Christ, apart from his divinity, we don't

615
00:37:23.159 --> 00:37:26.679
become God, but everything that Christ is, in everything that

616
00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:31.159
Christ does, he is and does for us and in

617
00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:36.559
our place, and so we get brought into the spiritual

618
00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:41.679
spatial realm of Jesus. So, David Garland writes, union with

619
00:37:41.880 --> 00:37:48.320
Christ represents solidarity with Christ, so that what Christ experiences

620
00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:55.159
becomes part of the believer's actual experience and existence. So

621
00:37:55.199 --> 00:37:58.360
the expression in Christ is the Bible's way of communicating

622
00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:01.000
to us that if Jesus is the.

623
00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:03.360
Object of our faith.

624
00:38:04.360 --> 00:38:07.880
We are actually united to him, everything that he is,

625
00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:11.000
everything that he has done, he is and has done

626
00:38:11.159 --> 00:38:13.639
for us and in our place.

627
00:38:13.639 --> 00:38:15.119
And we now have a new identity.

628
00:38:15.159 --> 00:38:21.719
My identity is no longer Jim Christiansin. My identity is

629
00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:23.840
no longer all of the sin that I.

630
00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:24.519
Used to do.

631
00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:28.800
My identity is now wrapped up in Jesus.

632
00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:33.800
Now very true. Now did you hear? My identity is

633
00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:36.920
no longer the sin I used to do. See, that's

634
00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:43.840
the whole No, my identity is now in Christ irregardless

635
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:46.920
of the sin that I still do. It's not that

636
00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:49.840
I stop doing the sin. It's now that I am

637
00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:53.119
in Christ by faith, and now I am declared to

638
00:38:53.239 --> 00:38:57.159
be sinless. And my position it has nothing to do

639
00:38:57.199 --> 00:38:59.400
with whether I'm committing this in or not committing the sin.

640
00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:01.840
It's that I'm in Christ by faith and now I'm

641
00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:05.559
declared to be righteous, even though I am not righteous.

642
00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:13.480
That's literally the entire Protestant Reformation. But maybe now he

643
00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:16.159
did mention identity, So maybe he's going to leave this

644
00:39:16.199 --> 00:39:19.400
in the realm of our identity, our position, and he's

645
00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:23.280
going to acknowledge the absolute conflict of our position with

646
00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:26.039
our practice. Let's see if that's what he does.

647
00:39:28.719 --> 00:39:31.480
But what's the consequence of being in Christ. Paul says,

648
00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:34.440
if anyone is in Christ, and then he goes on

649
00:39:34.559 --> 00:39:38.800
to say, here's the then therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

650
00:39:39.280 --> 00:39:43.880
he is a new creation. Old things have passed away.

651
00:39:43.960 --> 00:39:50.920
Behold all things have become new. If you have a

652
00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:53.480
Bible with you actually look down at verse seventeen, and

653
00:39:53.559 --> 00:39:56.440
as you do, notice you have a couple words in

654
00:39:56.519 --> 00:40:01.800
verse seventeen that are in italics. When there's words in

655
00:40:01.840 --> 00:40:06.119
your Bible that are italicized, that's the translator's way, the

656
00:40:06.159 --> 00:40:10.039
people that translated your Bible from Greek or Hebrew into English.

657
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:14.639
That's their way of communicating. We're adding some words that

658
00:40:14.679 --> 00:40:17.519
weren't there in the original to try to make it

659
00:40:17.559 --> 00:40:24.119
communicate more clearly. And that's generally helpful here, I don't

660
00:40:24.159 --> 00:40:27.960
think it is. The reason that's important is because verse

661
00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:33.719
seven literally reads, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, a

662
00:40:33.800 --> 00:40:37.880
new creation, old things have passed away, Behold all things

663
00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:42.280
have become new. So your Bible probably says if anyone

664
00:40:42.360 --> 00:40:46.639
is in he is a new creation, and it actually,

665
00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:49.000
in the original language doesn't say that it just says

666
00:40:49.199 --> 00:40:52.880
if anyone is in Christ, New Creation, And so the

667
00:40:52.960 --> 00:40:57.039
question becomes, is Paul telling us that if we are

668
00:40:57.119 --> 00:41:02.800
in Christ, we as personal individual rules have become new creations?

669
00:41:03.920 --> 00:41:07.280
Or is he telling us that if we are in Christ,

670
00:41:07.719 --> 00:41:12.639
we have been brought into what Jesus is doing, the

671
00:41:12.719 --> 00:41:16.599
New Creation. I think it's most likely that Paul actually

672
00:41:17.719 --> 00:41:21.679
doesn't describe which one he means, because he wants that

673
00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:26.119
ambiguity to force us to ask the question. If you're

674
00:41:26.119 --> 00:41:28.559
at all familiar with the story of the Bible, you

675
00:41:28.599 --> 00:41:31.719
know God initially makes man, and he puts mankind in

676
00:41:31.800 --> 00:41:35.079
a garden. There's no sin, there's no shame, there's.

677
00:41:34.880 --> 00:41:37.159
No death, there's no separation from God.

678
00:41:37.639 --> 00:41:41.440
Man lives in the garden, naked and unashamed, in the

679
00:41:41.480 --> 00:41:45.360
presence of God, and it's awesome. But then man falls

680
00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:53.039
into sin, and sin affects everything. Sin doesn't just affect

681
00:41:53.199 --> 00:41:57.119
Adam and Eve. Sin brings the entire.

682
00:41:57.079 --> 00:42:01.639
Created order under a curse. Gether Dad. I don't know

683
00:42:01.639 --> 00:42:03.519
why I thought of this, but it was weird.

684
00:42:03.679 --> 00:42:05.679
I was watching an antelope run across the road the

685
00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:08.480
other day and it hit the fence and it tripped.

686
00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:10.840
And I was like, you only did that because the.

687
00:42:10.760 --> 00:42:17.639
Fall everything about the world is under a curse. But

688
00:42:17.760 --> 00:42:22.679
Christ coming into the world actually does something for the.

689
00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:23.960
Entire created order.

690
00:42:24.199 --> 00:42:27.079
Christ doesn't just come into the world to save people

691
00:42:27.079 --> 00:42:29.760
from their sins. He does that, but he comes into

692
00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:33.960
the world to reverse the effects of the Fall and

693
00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:39.320
to bring all of creation back into subjection to the

694
00:42:39.480 --> 00:42:40.519
image of God.

695
00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:42.159
We call it the Kingdom of God.

696
00:42:42.199 --> 00:42:46.000
It's the restored Heaven and the restored Earth, brought back

697
00:42:46.280 --> 00:42:51.639
under the dominion of King Jesus. And in one sense,

698
00:42:51.760 --> 00:42:58.519
that is our future escatological hope. We as God's people,

699
00:42:59.079 --> 00:43:02.079
wait for and we long for the day when Christ

700
00:43:02.199 --> 00:43:07.079
comes back and he makes all things new, and takes

701
00:43:07.119 --> 00:43:10.960
everything that's broken, everything that's under the curse, and makes

702
00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:14.480
it what it should be. John actually prophesied about that

703
00:43:14.519 --> 00:43:17.840
in Revelation twenty one, verses one through five, when he said,

704
00:43:17.880 --> 00:43:20.760
now I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth.

705
00:43:20.760 --> 00:43:25.199
For the first heaven and the first Earth passed away, and.

706
00:43:25.159 --> 00:43:26.480
There was no more sea than I.

707
00:43:26.679 --> 00:43:30.519
John saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down

708
00:43:30.599 --> 00:43:34.199
out of Heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned

709
00:43:34.280 --> 00:43:38.960
for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, behold,

710
00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:43.840
the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will

711
00:43:43.920 --> 00:43:46.800
dwell with them, and they will be his people. God

712
00:43:46.920 --> 00:43:51.199
himself will be with them, and He will be their God.

713
00:43:52.039 --> 00:43:54.719
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

714
00:43:54.760 --> 00:43:57.599
There will be no more death, no sorrow, no crying.

715
00:43:57.800 --> 00:44:01.079
There will be no more pain for them. Things have

716
00:44:01.320 --> 00:44:05.760
passed away than he who sat on the throne said, behold,

717
00:44:06.239 --> 00:44:11.960
I am making all things new. And he said to them,

718
00:44:12.079 --> 00:44:17.480
write these words, for they are true and faithful. So,

719
00:44:18.159 --> 00:44:22.679
if you're a Christian, your hope is that God is

720
00:44:22.719 --> 00:44:25.599
making all things new. Your hope is that there's a

721
00:44:25.639 --> 00:44:29.880
new creation that is coming, and it is going to

722
00:44:29.960 --> 00:44:33.400
be consummated at the second coming of Christ. And at

723
00:44:33.519 --> 00:44:37.079
that moment, every effect of sin that touches your world

724
00:44:37.360 --> 00:44:39.960
will be done away with and everything will be made right.

725
00:44:42.519 --> 00:44:47.920
And that's not now, okay, So that has nothing to

726
00:44:47.960 --> 00:44:50.400
do with now. That's all what will happen. And I

727
00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:53.039
am complete agreement that there is coming a time there

728
00:44:53.039 --> 00:44:55.239
will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more death,

729
00:44:55.320 --> 00:44:58.039
no more sin. Everything will be made new. There will

730
00:44:58.079 --> 00:45:00.840
be a new everything, a new heaven, new earth. We

731
00:45:00.960 --> 00:45:07.280
have new bodies. Yes, that is not now. That is

732
00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:10.199
not now we are, that is we do not even

733
00:45:10.280 --> 00:45:14.519
even we can only read and imagine that reality. The

734
00:45:14.519 --> 00:45:17.760
reality around us now is the complete opposite of that.

735
00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:24.000
But there's also a sense in which Christ is not

736
00:45:24.360 --> 00:45:29.400
only going to make all things new. Our text says

737
00:45:29.559 --> 00:45:34.199
us new creation. He's not just going to do that.

738
00:45:34.280 --> 00:45:38.000
He is doing that. He is making all things new.

739
00:45:38.039 --> 00:45:40.679
He's already started the process.

740
00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:44.079
He's inaugurated the new creation by coming into the world

741
00:45:44.760 --> 00:45:49.639
in the person of Christ and redeeming his people, saving

742
00:45:49.679 --> 00:45:54.639
them from their sins, and progressively through sanctification, renewing the

743
00:45:54.760 --> 00:45:57.440
image of God in them so that they are becoming

744
00:45:58.159 --> 00:45:59.199
like their Savior.

745
00:46:01.440 --> 00:46:06.039
Now, wait a minute, okay, watch for kind of a

746
00:46:06.119 --> 00:46:08.320
you know, a bait and switch here. Okay, wait a minute,

747
00:46:08.320 --> 00:46:10.760
Wait a minute. No, it says if any man be

748
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:15.159
in Christ, a new creature, he just now is reading it.

749
00:46:15.280 --> 00:46:23.400
If anyone is in Christ, he's slowly becoming a new creature, slowly, progressively.

750
00:46:23.960 --> 00:46:26.440
So that means I'm not a new creature. It means

751
00:46:26.440 --> 00:46:31.800
I'm becoming one slowly. Now, if I'm only becoming one slowly,

752
00:46:32.280 --> 00:46:35.880
how slowly, And if I'm not one yet then that

753
00:46:36.079 --> 00:46:40.960
means sin is inevitable and is going to be around us.

754
00:46:42.320 --> 00:46:46.000
So do I? Am I slowly becoming? One percent per year,

755
00:46:46.199 --> 00:46:50.400
five percent per year, ten percent per year? And is

756
00:46:50.480 --> 00:46:53.840
God the one slowly making me a new creature? Why

757
00:46:53.960 --> 00:46:56.920
is God doing it in a progressive slow way? Why

758
00:46:56.960 --> 00:46:59.679
does if God is the one doing or am I doing? It?

759
00:46:59.719 --> 00:47:03.000
Is my doing or God's doing? If God is doing it,

760
00:47:03.119 --> 00:47:05.719
then why is he slowly making me a new creature?

761
00:47:05.840 --> 00:47:08.639
Because in any area I'm not new, then that would

762
00:47:08.679 --> 00:47:10.400
be on God because God has not done it yet?

763
00:47:10.519 --> 00:47:12.639
Or am I responsible? Is it God?

764
00:47:12.719 --> 00:47:13.159
Or is it me?

765
00:47:13.480 --> 00:47:13.599
Now?

766
00:47:13.679 --> 00:47:16.280
We've now he just he just now took a verse

767
00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:19.400
that says we are to a verse that says you

768
00:47:19.480 --> 00:47:20.960
are becoming.

769
00:47:24.440 --> 00:47:25.320
And so we believe.

770
00:47:26.519 --> 00:47:29.480
He teaches a church that the Kingdom of God and

771
00:47:29.519 --> 00:47:33.400
the new Creation are already.

772
00:47:34.079 --> 00:47:35.960
And not yet.

773
00:47:36.599 --> 00:47:41.119
God is already doing his restorative work in his creation.

774
00:47:41.719 --> 00:47:46.800
He is making all things new, but we are not yet.

775
00:47:47.880 --> 00:47:51.239
I remember he said that this involves all of creation.

776
00:47:51.360 --> 00:47:58.840
God is already changing creation. Now, God is already restoring creation.

777
00:48:00.360 --> 00:48:05.320
Where is God restoring creation? Where? And the countries where

778
00:48:05.360 --> 00:48:11.159
there is starvation and drought and famine and plague, and

779
00:48:11.199 --> 00:48:13.320
a country where there is in a world where there

780
00:48:13.360 --> 00:48:18.280
is cancer and disease and hurricanes and tornadoes and blizzards

781
00:48:18.360 --> 00:48:27.280
and like. So God is doing that now that I'm perplexed.

782
00:48:27.400 --> 00:48:33.039
So God is currently redoing the creation. Now, right, let's

783
00:48:33.039 --> 00:48:34.119
see where this goes.

784
00:48:35.880 --> 00:48:40.840
Entirely living there. Yet. Now you're probably going, what in.

785
00:48:40.880 --> 00:48:43.039
The world does all of that have to do with

786
00:48:43.320 --> 00:48:48.199
Two Corinthians five seventeen. Well, remember, Paul simply says if

787
00:48:48.239 --> 00:48:54.000
anyone is in Christ new creation, And we're answering the question,

788
00:48:54.800 --> 00:48:57.880
why does he say new creation rather than saying he

789
00:48:58.039 --> 00:49:00.920
is a part of the new creation or he is

790
00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:04.159
a new creation. Why doesn't Paul put a pronoun or

791
00:49:04.159 --> 00:49:08.599
a verb in front of new creation. I'm making the

792
00:49:08.800 --> 00:49:12.480
argument that Paul intentionally doesn't tell us that because he

793
00:49:12.599 --> 00:49:17.079
wants us to think about both realities at the same time.

794
00:49:17.199 --> 00:49:18.639
Namely, that Jesus.

795
00:49:18.239 --> 00:49:21.920
Has already inaugurated his kingdom through his life, through his death,

796
00:49:21.960 --> 00:49:25.639
through his resurrection. He's already started to restore things and

797
00:49:25.679 --> 00:49:29.000
make them new. And when he saves a person, when

798
00:49:29.039 --> 00:49:33.960
he regenerates a person, they become not just individuals who

799
00:49:33.960 --> 00:49:36.880
are made new, They become a part of that much

800
00:49:36.920 --> 00:49:43.800
bigger program. David Garland writes, translating the words literally new

801
00:49:43.880 --> 00:49:47.599
creation without inserting a pronoun or a verb and adding

802
00:49:47.599 --> 00:49:52.480
an exclamation point would allow for both options, since the

803
00:49:52.559 --> 00:49:57.320
eschatological reality of the new creation affected by Christ's first

804
00:49:57.440 --> 00:50:03.599
advent makes possible the subjective change in individuals who become

805
00:50:03.679 --> 00:50:12.480
new creations in Christ. This is the Christian doctrine of regeneration.

806
00:50:13.079 --> 00:50:16.840
What is regeneration? Our Church's Confession of Faith says that

807
00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:22.079
regeneration is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit,

808
00:50:22.920 --> 00:50:27.320
who quickens the dead and their trespasses and sins, enlightening

809
00:50:27.360 --> 00:50:32.440
their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the Word of God,

810
00:50:32.800 --> 00:50:39.000
renewing their whole nature so that they love and practice holiness.

811
00:50:40.760 --> 00:50:45.280
Okay, so supposedly, now and salvation, you're going to practice holiness.

812
00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:52.760
You're going to understand the Bible. Okay. Well, if that's

813
00:50:52.840 --> 00:50:55.360
the case, then how come after two thousand years nobody

814
00:50:55.400 --> 00:50:57.159
can agree on the Bible. If the Holy Spirit now

815
00:50:57.159 --> 00:51:03.360
gives us the understanding of the Bible, and if instantaneously

816
00:51:03.400 --> 00:51:12.440
at salvation we practice holiness, so does God instantaneously, So

817
00:51:12.639 --> 00:51:15.480
change our heart therefore we no longer have a sinful heart,

818
00:51:15.639 --> 00:51:19.199
so we now have what a perfect heart, a pure heart.

819
00:51:19.400 --> 00:51:22.880
So therefore then we shouldn't be there, we should be sinless. Right,

820
00:51:23.119 --> 00:51:26.519
So once again I'm confused, Like, Hey, God's already started

821
00:51:26.599 --> 00:51:28.800
changing creation, but I mean not really, I mean because

822
00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:31.719
creation is still a mess. So okay, But so it is,

823
00:51:31.800 --> 00:51:34.000
but it not okay. I can understand the idea of

824
00:51:34.000 --> 00:51:37.239
what it will be, but it's not yet all right,

825
00:51:37.639 --> 00:51:40.760
So but then when it comes to us, we will

826
00:51:40.800 --> 00:51:43.920
be changed. So we're not changed, but at the same

827
00:51:43.960 --> 00:51:47.079
time we are changed. I don't know are we changed

828
00:51:47.159 --> 00:51:49.840
or not changed? Can we just need to be dogmatically

829
00:51:49.880 --> 00:51:52.920
assert what is the case? Are we changed? If we

830
00:51:53.079 --> 00:51:57.400
are changed, then there is no changing occurring because we've

831
00:51:57.440 --> 00:51:59.960
already been changed. So either we are in the price

832
00:52:00.360 --> 00:52:03.280
of being changed. Therefore, I'm not a new creature. I'm

833
00:52:03.280 --> 00:52:06.480
becoming a new creature. Or I are you saying that

834
00:52:06.679 --> 00:52:09.639
I am a new creature but I'm becoming a new creature.

835
00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:13.679
So I am positionally and I'm becoming one practically. Well,

836
00:52:13.679 --> 00:52:17.000
if I'm becoming one practically, then I'm not yet one practically,

837
00:52:17.119 --> 00:52:19.800
So stop telling people that you are one practically. You're

838
00:52:19.840 --> 00:52:23.480
only one positionally, not practically, and I'm becoming one. And

839
00:52:23.480 --> 00:52:26.400
if I'm becoming one, who's the one causing it to occur?

840
00:52:26.559 --> 00:52:26.760
Now?

841
00:52:26.760 --> 00:52:31.360
You just said in regeneration. Now boom, I get a

842
00:52:31.400 --> 00:52:34.440
new heart, Boom, I understand the Bible. Boom, I understand

843
00:52:34.440 --> 00:52:38.800
practicing holiness. That sounds like I've been absolutely changed. So

844
00:52:38.920 --> 00:52:40.760
am I changed? Or am I not changed? I just

845
00:52:40.840 --> 00:52:43.239
need it to be stated clearly.

846
00:52:45.880 --> 00:52:50.880
It is a work of God's free and special grace alone.

847
00:52:51.760 --> 00:52:54.159
Titus three talks about the same thing, and Titus three

848
00:52:54.360 --> 00:52:59.119
four through seven it says, but when the kindness and

849
00:52:59.159 --> 00:53:04.719
the love of God, our Savior, towards men appeared, not

850
00:53:04.880 --> 00:53:08.159
by works of righteousness that we had done, but according

851
00:53:08.199 --> 00:53:12.320
to his mercy He saved us how through the washing

852
00:53:12.480 --> 00:53:16.559
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, who He

853
00:53:16.679 --> 00:53:21.440
poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Then,

854
00:53:21.519 --> 00:53:25.400
having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs

855
00:53:25.480 --> 00:53:30.440
according to the hope of eternal life. So what happens

856
00:53:30.760 --> 00:53:34.719
when a person that's being saved by God here's the gospel,

857
00:53:34.760 --> 00:53:36.760
and puts their faith in Christ. They're part of a

858
00:53:36.880 --> 00:53:40.239
much bigger work that God is doing when He is

859
00:53:40.360 --> 00:53:45.440
restoring and recreating and renewing and making a live everything

860
00:53:45.480 --> 00:53:49.800
that is broken by sin. What happens every time God

861
00:53:49.880 --> 00:53:54.760
lovingly saves someone by uniting them to Christ. They personally

862
00:53:55.039 --> 00:53:59.679
experience a microcosm of what God is doing all over

863
00:53:59.679 --> 00:54:02.239
the world world and what he will finally do when

864
00:54:02.320 --> 00:54:03.280
Jesus returns.

865
00:54:04.199 --> 00:54:05.400
They become a.

866
00:54:05.519 --> 00:54:10.719
Part, a partaker of the new creation. That's exactly exactly

867
00:54:10.719 --> 00:54:14.719
what Ezekiel prophesied about in Ezekiel thirty six twenty six.

868
00:54:17.880 --> 00:54:22.840
Ezekiel has about Israel. Okay, all right, so God is

869
00:54:23.079 --> 00:54:27.840
changing creation, but he's not really changing. So I'm very

870
00:54:27.880 --> 00:54:30.000
confused here because he makes it sound like, hey, all

871
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:33.639
of creation is broken, but God's already changing it. God's

872
00:54:33.679 --> 00:54:36.519
not changing creation. Ladies and gentlemen, look at the world

873
00:54:36.559 --> 00:54:42.119
around you. Death, disease, famine, hunger, starvation. I mean, come, no,

874
00:54:42.480 --> 00:54:45.719
it's not happening now, it will It's not happening now. Now.

875
00:54:45.719 --> 00:54:48.199
If you want to say, well, he's changing people, well,

876
00:54:48.519 --> 00:54:51.159
is he changing people? And if God's doing the changing,

877
00:54:51.320 --> 00:54:53.800
then it's God? Then why aren't we just changed? So

878
00:54:53.880 --> 00:54:55.880
are we changed or not changed? Well? You say we

879
00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:58.760
will be changed, but we're currently being changed. Well, if

880
00:54:58.800 --> 00:55:02.239
we currently are being then I'm not new now, I

881
00:55:02.320 --> 00:55:05.320
will be new currently, I'm in the process of changing.

882
00:55:05.719 --> 00:55:08.280
But then if God is doing the changing, then why

883
00:55:08.320 --> 00:55:11.800
does God do it progressively? And if he's doing it progressively,

884
00:55:11.960 --> 00:55:15.000
any lack of change is then on God, not on

885
00:55:15.079 --> 00:55:17.639
the people. He can't blame the people if God is

886
00:55:17.679 --> 00:55:20.159
the one doing the changing, that they're not changed. So

887
00:55:20.239 --> 00:55:22.039
the only way we get out of that is to say,

888
00:55:22.079 --> 00:55:24.920
the reason you're not changed enough is because you're not saved.

889
00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:27.320
But how can you determine what is enough change or

890
00:55:27.320 --> 00:55:29.719
not enough change? If God is the one doing the changing.

891
00:55:33.119 --> 00:55:33.760
He said, I.

892
00:55:33.719 --> 00:55:38.119
Will give you a new heart and a new spirit.

893
00:55:38.159 --> 00:55:40.360
I will put in you, and I will remove the

894
00:55:40.400 --> 00:55:42.639
heart of stone from your flesh, and.

895
00:55:42.639 --> 00:55:48.119
I will give you a heart of flesh.

896
00:55:48.480 --> 00:55:52.159
But what does this creative and regenerative work of God

897
00:55:52.320 --> 00:55:55.119
look like when it starts showing up.

898
00:55:55.039 --> 00:56:02.360
In absolutely cannot stand when someone quotes Ezekiel thirty six

899
00:56:02.639 --> 00:56:06.000
twenty six and absolutely rips it so far out of

900
00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:09.320
its original context that it no longer even means anything.

901
00:56:09.599 --> 00:56:13.480
Ezekiel thirty six literally starts in verse one, And thou

902
00:56:13.559 --> 00:56:18.280
son of Man, prophesy into the mountains of Israel, and say, ye,

903
00:56:18.320 --> 00:56:22.360
mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Thus

904
00:56:22.360 --> 00:56:26.559
says the Lord God, because the enemy hath said against you. Aha,

905
00:56:26.599 --> 00:56:30.119
even the ancient high places are are in possessions. This

906
00:56:30.159 --> 00:56:33.079
is about Israel. They'll look at verse four. Therefore, ye

907
00:56:33.119 --> 00:56:36.119
mountains of Israel. Just look at verse eight. But ye, o,

908
00:56:36.280 --> 00:56:39.559
mountains of Israel. This is Israel, Israel, Israel, Israel. And

909
00:56:39.599 --> 00:56:41.760
if you don't believe me, he just read twenty six.

910
00:56:41.800 --> 00:56:43.880
A new heart. Also, will I give you and a

911
00:56:43.920 --> 00:56:45.920
new spirit I will put within you. And I will

912
00:56:45.920 --> 00:56:48.039
take away the stony heart out of your flesh. And

913
00:56:48.079 --> 00:56:49.880
I will give you and a heart of flesh. And

914
00:56:49.920 --> 00:56:51.840
I will put my spirit within you, and cause you

915
00:56:51.880 --> 00:56:53.880
to walk in my statues. And you shall keep my

916
00:56:54.000 --> 00:56:56.480
judgments and do them well. According to verse twenty seven,

917
00:56:56.480 --> 00:56:59.360
if I get a new heart, I'm gonna be perfectly obedient.

918
00:57:00.599 --> 00:57:03.960
This is not about progressively. I will be perfectly obedient.

919
00:57:04.000 --> 00:57:06.079
Oh he skipped that part. But then look at verse

920
00:57:06.119 --> 00:57:08.320
twenty eight. And you shall dwell in the land that

921
00:57:08.360 --> 00:57:11.679
I gave to your fathers. That's not you that's not me,

922
00:57:12.119 --> 00:57:15.320
that's Israel. Would we for crying out loud? If we're

923
00:57:15.360 --> 00:57:18.400
going to be exege eating scripture, can we not read

924
00:57:18.599 --> 00:57:22.039
the scripture and acknowledge that that's about Israel. It's not

925
00:57:22.159 --> 00:57:26.880
about you or me. Man, I'm so sick and tired

926
00:57:26.920 --> 00:57:31.440
of that. It's not even complicated. Now. Are there complications

927
00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:35.199
that arise from that interpretation? Yes, but the text screams

928
00:57:35.360 --> 00:57:37.760
like what does God have to do? He says Israel

929
00:57:37.840 --> 00:57:40.519
like fifty times, and we're like, well, that's not Israel.

930
00:57:40.599 --> 00:57:42.639
Let me just go reach and grab into that rip

931
00:57:42.719 --> 00:57:44.800
theren and say this is you. Everyone. You have a

932
00:57:44.840 --> 00:57:46.639
new heart. We'll have have a new heart. Then we

933
00:57:46.679 --> 00:57:49.599
should all be obedient. Why are we not obedient.

934
00:57:54.880 --> 00:57:58.559
People's lives? Paul gives us two ways that this.

935
00:57:58.559 --> 00:58:03.000
New creation in God's people actually expresses itself, and that

936
00:58:03.039 --> 00:58:08.159
brings us to our second point. Conversion involves a change

937
00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:09.800
towards Christ.

938
00:58:10.320 --> 00:58:11.280
We'll give verse sixteen.

939
00:58:12.679 --> 00:58:19.320
Verse sixteen says therefore, from now on we regard no one.

940
00:58:19.519 --> 00:58:21.880
I'm gonna stop there because obviously we're not going to

941
00:58:21.880 --> 00:58:26.440
get any real explanation here. We're not going to get

942
00:58:26.480 --> 00:58:30.519
any real explanation. Let me state it for the fiftieth time.

943
00:58:31.079 --> 00:58:35.079
If any man be in Christ, that's our positional reality.

944
00:58:35.360 --> 00:58:39.400
By faith, I am in Christ. There I am a

945
00:58:39.480 --> 00:58:43.079
new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things

946
00:58:43.079 --> 00:58:46.480
are become new. That is because I'm in Christ. This

947
00:58:46.559 --> 00:58:50.679
is now my positional reality. I am new. The old

948
00:58:50.760 --> 00:58:56.519
is gone, everything is new. Why because Christ's obedience, passive

949
00:58:56.599 --> 00:59:00.599
and active, his righteousness is imputed to my account. I

950
00:59:00.679 --> 00:59:04.199
stand before God a new creature. The old is completely gone,

951
00:59:04.320 --> 00:59:08.320
and all God sees is his son's perfect righteousness and

952
00:59:08.360 --> 00:59:12.719
obedience accredited my account. So I stand be perfect before

953
00:59:13.039 --> 00:59:18.559
God now and practice clearly, I'm not a new creature,

954
00:59:18.840 --> 00:59:22.360
because if I was a new creature in practice, I

955
00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:28.840
wouldn't sin. Because I'm completely new creature, new creation. The

956
00:59:28.960 --> 00:59:35.400
old is completely gone. That is not true practically, we

957
00:59:35.639 --> 00:59:41.639
have to acknowledge that. But Christianity strugg and even there

958
00:59:41.679 --> 00:59:43.920
he kind of went back and forth. So we are,

959
00:59:44.360 --> 00:59:47.159
but we aren't quite yet. Then he says God is

960
00:59:47.199 --> 00:59:49.719
the one doing the change. So God's only doing the

961
00:59:49.800 --> 00:59:52.639
change incrementally. So then if God is so, God is

962
00:59:52.719 --> 00:59:54.920
turning me into a new creature. I'm not a new creature.

963
00:59:54.920 --> 00:59:58.360
He's turning. I'm a new creature positionally, but he's God's

964
00:59:58.400 --> 01:00:00.639
turning me into a new creature. Okay, if you want

965
01:00:00.639 --> 01:00:04.960
to go with that, well, then again, then it's at

966
01:00:04.960 --> 01:00:07.440
the same time he said that regeneration, I get a

967
01:00:07.480 --> 01:00:09.360
new heart, and I get well, wait a minute, that's

968
01:00:09.400 --> 01:00:13.480
not God changing me. That God's instantaneously changing me. So God,

969
01:00:13.559 --> 01:00:16.280
is God changing me? Or did he instantaneously change me?

970
01:00:16.639 --> 01:00:18.960
He he kind of went with both concepts. He didn't

971
01:00:18.960 --> 01:00:22.159
offer any explanation here. So then this is once again,

972
01:00:22.199 --> 01:00:24.760
will Christians sit in church and they leave and who

973
01:00:24.800 --> 01:00:27.039
knows what the people walk out with, but I can

974
01:00:27.079 --> 01:00:30.320
tell you what people they walk out with. The mentality, Well,

975
01:00:30.360 --> 01:00:33.960
then oh then we're basically got to be perfect. We

976
01:00:34.039 --> 01:00:36.679
got to be we we It's all about behavioral modification,

977
01:00:36.920 --> 01:00:39.559
basically being perfect and not doing this, this and this. Well,

978
01:00:39.559 --> 01:00:41.719
how do you live in that reality? Here's how you

979
01:00:41.760 --> 01:00:43.960
live in that reality. You create a list of the

980
01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:47.320
big sins. See, I don't commit these sins. Therefore I'm

981
01:00:47.320 --> 01:00:50.000
a new creature. I mean, I commit all these sins.

982
01:00:50.039 --> 01:00:52.840
But that's okay, a new create, a new creator creation

983
01:00:53.039 --> 01:00:56.280
can create can commit these sins. We just can't commit

984
01:00:56.320 --> 01:00:58.679
these So then what do we do when someone commits

985
01:00:58.679 --> 01:01:01.719
a big sin? Well, they probably weren't even saved. Well

986
01:01:01.719 --> 01:01:04.159
wait a minute, So I can commit these sins and

987
01:01:04.199 --> 01:01:06.880
be saved, but I can't commit these sins and be saved.

988
01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:09.679
How do we make that determination? We have to play

989
01:01:09.719 --> 01:01:14.480
this little game because Christians are so utterly confused about

990
01:01:14.519 --> 01:01:17.880
how to interpret this verse. When you put your faith

991
01:01:17.920 --> 01:01:24.360
in Christ, you are a new creation. Positionally, I am

992
01:01:24.400 --> 01:01:28.440
to perceive other Christians, and I am to see them

993
01:01:28.960 --> 01:01:31.679
based off their faith in Christ, that they are a

994
01:01:31.719 --> 01:01:35.280
new creation. I see them based off their positional standing.

995
01:01:36.800 --> 01:01:41.159
I see that before God they're holy and righteous. I

996
01:01:41.280 --> 01:01:48.480
acknowledge that practically, what should I see sin? What should

997
01:01:48.519 --> 01:01:51.679
we expect to see sin? What should you expect to

998
01:01:51.679 --> 01:01:54.519
see in the church sin? What should you should expect

999
01:01:54.559 --> 01:01:57.320
to see in the life of those who teach you sin?

1000
01:01:57.480 --> 01:01:59.280
What should you expect to see in the life of

1001
01:01:59.679 --> 01:02:02.920
past sin? What should you expect to see in your

1002
01:02:02.960 --> 01:02:06.719
own life? Sin? Because it's the reality again, how can

1003
01:02:06.760 --> 01:02:08.960
I you say, Well, but you got to prove it, No,

1004
01:02:09.119 --> 01:02:11.320
I don't. First of all, just be honest with yourself.

1005
01:02:11.400 --> 01:02:13.960
Just be honest with yourself, Just be honest with the

1006
01:02:14.079 --> 01:02:18.440
his two thousand years of church history. Sin sin, sin, sin, sin.

1007
01:02:18.559 --> 01:02:20.920
And that's only the big sins. We're not even talking

1008
01:02:20.960 --> 01:02:23.960
about the never ending reality of just the quote unquote

1009
01:02:24.000 --> 01:02:26.960
smaller sins. But here's the thing. I can just give

1010
01:02:26.960 --> 01:02:30.400
you a couple of verses. Love God with all your heart, mind,

1011
01:02:30.440 --> 01:02:33.360
body and soul. If you even convince yourself you're doing that,

1012
01:02:33.599 --> 01:02:37.639
your problem isn't your sin. You're delusional. Love your neighbor

1013
01:02:37.679 --> 01:02:40.360
as yourself. You love yourself more than you love anything

1014
01:02:40.360 --> 01:02:43.400
on this earth. And you know that deep deep, deep,

1015
01:02:43.440 --> 01:02:45.599
deep deep down, And in fact, you tend to love

1016
01:02:45.679 --> 01:02:49.199
other people only because of them get loving you. You're

1017
01:02:49.239 --> 01:02:51.719
getting something from it. If you weren't getting something from it,

1018
01:02:51.760 --> 01:02:53.599
you wouldn't keep loving them. You would move on and

1019
01:02:53.639 --> 01:02:56.079
find someone who you get something from. You know it,

1020
01:02:56.119 --> 01:02:58.599
and I know it. The Bible says, be holy as

1021
01:02:58.599 --> 01:03:00.880
God is holy. You have never been holy as God

1022
01:03:00.960 --> 01:03:03.280
is holy. You never will be holy as God is holy.

1023
01:03:03.400 --> 01:03:05.760
So therefore you're in a perpetual state of sin. Jesus

1024
01:03:05.800 --> 01:03:07.599
said in the Sermon on Them, mout be he perfect

1025
01:03:07.639 --> 01:03:10.559
as your heavenly Father is perfect. You have never been perfect.

1026
01:03:10.719 --> 01:03:13.199
You never will be perfect. So just according to those

1027
01:03:13.239 --> 01:03:15.800
scriptures alone, you're in a perpetual state of sin. Well,

1028
01:03:15.800 --> 01:03:17.480
how can you be in a perpetual state of sin

1029
01:03:17.559 --> 01:03:19.639
and at the same time tell everyone if any was

1030
01:03:19.639 --> 01:03:21.760
in Christ, he's a new creature. Whole things have passed away,

1031
01:03:21.840 --> 01:03:24.159
all things have become new, and that you've been transformed.

1032
01:03:24.960 --> 01:03:33.239
You've been transformed positionally, you haven't been transformed practically, And

1033
01:03:33.320 --> 01:03:36.960
this is why this confusion, this confounding. And then you

1034
01:03:37.000 --> 01:03:39.639
go to Ezekiel to quote a verse that's not even

1035
01:03:39.679 --> 01:03:42.480
about us, it's about Israel. Israel, Israel, Israel Israel, and

1036
01:03:42.679 --> 01:03:45.320
Israel will get that new heart and then they will

1037
01:03:45.440 --> 01:03:49.320
dwell in the land. This is the restoration, regeneration, and

1038
01:03:49.360 --> 01:03:52.480
salvation of Israel. So until they're in the land and

1039
01:03:52.559 --> 01:03:54.360
all the things that happen when they're in the land,

1040
01:03:54.840 --> 01:03:58.239
as stated in Ezekiel occurs, then that's when that happens

1041
01:03:58.280 --> 01:04:03.079
that has not happened yet, quoting Oh, I'm so tired

1042
01:04:03.159 --> 01:04:08.880
of that. So here's the thing. Whenever I go through this,

1043
01:04:08.960 --> 01:04:11.719
people always get furious with me. Don't get furious with me.

1044
01:04:12.119 --> 01:04:15.519
If you believe you're a new creature practically and you basically,

1045
01:04:15.559 --> 01:04:18.599
no longer sin, then just go live it. Just don't sin.

1046
01:04:20.719 --> 01:04:22.800
I'm not telling you to go sin. I'm not telling

1047
01:04:22.840 --> 01:04:26.400
you no. Just go prove to everyone how sinless you are.

1048
01:04:26.639 --> 01:04:29.960
Go prove to everyone how perfect you are. But here's

1049
01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:32.639
what I want you to do. When nobody is looking

1050
01:04:32.840 --> 01:04:35.440
and no one is around, I want you to really

1051
01:04:35.480 --> 01:04:38.519
have a conversation with yourself. I want you to admit

1052
01:04:38.559 --> 01:04:41.920
what's really going on when nobody's looking. I want you

1053
01:04:41.960 --> 01:04:44.639
to think about all the things you are deleting from

1054
01:04:44.679 --> 01:04:47.239
your Internet history. I want you to think about what

1055
01:04:47.280 --> 01:04:49.960
you're feeling inside. I want you to think about your

1056
01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:53.960
feelings and desires. I want you to really think about

1057
01:04:54.000 --> 01:04:56.880
how much you actually supposedly love God and how much

1058
01:04:56.880 --> 01:04:58.880
you actually don't. I want you to think about your

1059
01:04:58.960 --> 01:05:01.719
own sin. I want you to be face to face

1060
01:05:01.800 --> 01:05:04.719
with your own self. Stop worrying about everyone else, stop

1061
01:05:04.920 --> 01:05:11.639
arguing with other people. Just be honest with yourself. And

1062
01:05:11.679 --> 01:05:15.519
in many cases, what you'll find is you're nowhere as

1063
01:05:15.559 --> 01:05:17.519
a new creature, as much as a new creature as

1064
01:05:17.559 --> 01:05:19.719
you think you are or as you're pretending to be.

1065
01:05:23.679 --> 01:05:25.639
But if you've got it all figured out, then just

1066
01:05:25.679 --> 01:05:27.719
go show everyone, and you can tell you can raise

1067
01:05:27.760 --> 01:05:31.039
your hand and tell everyone, look to me. I am

1068
01:05:31.039 --> 01:05:34.719
the new Creation. I will show you how to be perfect.

1069
01:05:34.920 --> 01:05:37.559
I will show you now. Of course, immediately you'll push back, go, well,

1070
01:05:37.599 --> 01:05:39.599
I'm not saying you have to be perfect. If you're

1071
01:05:39.639 --> 01:05:42.320
a new creation and old things are passed away and

1072
01:05:42.559 --> 01:05:45.320
all things have become new, and you have a new heart,

1073
01:05:45.480 --> 01:05:47.840
and the Holy Spirit is doing this and this and

1074
01:05:47.880 --> 01:05:50.480
this and this and this and this as we sell Christianity.

1075
01:05:50.719 --> 01:05:52.960
Ladies and gentlemen. You may not be perfect, but you've

1076
01:05:53.000 --> 01:05:55.760
put yourself in the you've put yourself in a position

1077
01:05:55.800 --> 01:05:58.119
where you're claiming to be as close to perfect as

1078
01:05:58.119 --> 01:06:01.480
you can possibly get. So don't sit there in one

1079
01:06:01.519 --> 01:06:03.719
hand sell it that way and then try to backtrack

1080
01:06:03.760 --> 01:06:07.000
and say, well, I'm not saying I'll be perfect. No no, no, no, no,

1081
01:06:07.000 --> 01:06:10.880
no no no. You're claiming basically a complete eradication of

1082
01:06:10.920 --> 01:06:13.519
the old nature. And if you believe that, that's okay,

1083
01:06:13.639 --> 01:06:15.880
just go live it. Just go live it. And if

1084
01:06:15.880 --> 01:06:18.000
you want to throw everyone out of the Kingdom of God,

1085
01:06:18.119 --> 01:06:20.519
if you want to throw oh well hey, if they

1086
01:06:20.519 --> 01:06:22.159
were a new creation, they wouldn't do this, and they

1087
01:06:22.199 --> 01:06:24.400
wouldn't do that. Go ahead, throw everyone out of the

1088
01:06:24.480 --> 01:06:26.679
Kingdom of God. Throw everyone out, and it can be

1089
01:06:26.800 --> 01:06:30.280
you and your own little idea of Christianity, and you

1090
01:06:30.320 --> 01:06:33.559
can be perfect, and you can stand superior to everyone else.

1091
01:06:34.320 --> 01:06:36.840
You can condemn everyone else. You can throw everyone else

1092
01:06:36.840 --> 01:06:39.519
out of ministry, and you can be what you think

1093
01:06:39.559 --> 01:06:42.320
you are. Go ahead and be that way. But the

1094
01:06:42.440 --> 01:06:47.480
day is coming. Well, you're going to be confronted with

1095
01:06:47.559 --> 01:06:50.880
the reality that you're not all that you claim to be.

1096
01:06:52.639 --> 01:06:55.320
You're going to be confronted one day with the reality

1097
01:06:55.599 --> 01:06:57.920
that you still have a sinful nature. You're going to

1098
01:06:57.960 --> 01:07:00.960
be confronted with the reality one day that you're still

1099
01:07:01.000 --> 01:07:03.719
a sinner. Oh, you may pretend as long as you

1100
01:07:03.760 --> 01:07:06.400
can pretend. You may try to convince yourself, but I

1101
01:07:06.440 --> 01:07:09.519
guarantee you other people who know you, other people who

1102
01:07:09.599 --> 01:07:12.960
live with you, other people who know you, they know

1103
01:07:13.239 --> 01:07:17.039
the reality that you're a sinner just.

1104
01:07:17.119 --> 01:07:17.800
Like I am.

1105
01:07:18.199 --> 01:07:20.519
But that's okay. You go ahead and pretend to be

1106
01:07:20.719 --> 01:07:24.719
a other. Go ahead, go ahead, do it. You can

1107
01:07:24.760 --> 01:07:27.880
stand and judge and condemn everyone and throw everyone under

1108
01:07:27.920 --> 01:07:29.880
the bus. Go ahead and live your Christian life. Father,

1109
01:07:30.039 --> 01:07:32.360
walk around with a baseball bat and start smacking people

1110
01:07:32.400 --> 01:07:34.320
saying you're not saved, you're not saved, you're not saved,

1111
01:07:34.360 --> 01:07:36.239
you're not saved, you're not safe. Go ahead, if that's

1112
01:07:36.239 --> 01:07:38.719
the way you want to be. I want no part

1113
01:07:38.719 --> 01:07:40.920
of your Christianity, But go ahead and be that way.

1114
01:07:41.199 --> 01:07:43.199
I'm not telling you to stop being that way. Go

1115
01:07:43.239 --> 01:07:45.599
ahead and be that way. I just can't wait for

1116
01:07:45.679 --> 01:07:48.559
the day when all of a sudden you're confronted with

1117
01:07:48.599 --> 01:07:52.039
the reality of who you are, and when you are broken.

1118
01:07:52.719 --> 01:07:58.880
Just remember the gospel. The Gospel is about us being

1119
01:07:59.320 --> 01:08:04.719
given and puted righteousness, not an infused We are saved

1120
01:08:05.079 --> 01:08:08.639
by the obedience and perfection of Christ, and we are

1121
01:08:08.679 --> 01:08:13.199
declared to be that which we are not. The law

1122
01:08:13.519 --> 01:08:15.840
every scripture that says do this, do this, don't do this,

1123
01:08:15.920 --> 01:08:18.760
do this, do this, that's law. All it's therefore is

1124
01:08:18.800 --> 01:08:22.199
to show you you can't and expose your failure so

1125
01:08:22.239 --> 01:08:25.680
that you will do what. Run to the imputed righteousness

1126
01:08:25.760 --> 01:08:28.199
of Christ. And there we are declared to be that

1127
01:08:28.319 --> 01:08:32.920
which we are not. But Christianity wants to be about

1128
01:08:33.119 --> 01:08:35.680
we receive some supernatural power so that we can be

1129
01:08:35.680 --> 01:08:38.960
better than everyone else. We are two thousand years of

1130
01:08:39.039 --> 01:08:42.159
church history shows the churches never better than everyone else.

1131
01:08:42.680 --> 01:08:44.840
How many times do we have to? And what we

1132
01:08:44.880 --> 01:08:47.960
see is when we see other people fall, we just say, well,

1133
01:08:48.039 --> 01:08:50.680
it just shows how And I've saw comments, have all

1134
01:08:50.720 --> 01:08:53.279
the comments this over the last few days, Well this

1135
01:08:53.399 --> 01:08:56.000
just shows how messed up the church is. And everyone

1136
01:08:56.119 --> 01:08:58.800
speaks as if everyone else is messed up, but they

1137
01:08:58.960 --> 01:09:02.439
are not. Even in the comments, they're all perfect. Everyone

1138
01:09:02.439 --> 01:09:05.319
else is messed up. Everyone seems to think that they've

1139
01:09:05.319 --> 01:09:07.600
got it all together and everyone else is a piece

1140
01:09:07.640 --> 01:09:12.720
of trash. And that mentality within Christianity is a disease.

1141
01:09:18.520 --> 01:09:23.079
Everyone shows up with their rocks, ready to stone the sinner.

1142
01:09:23.239 --> 01:09:26.840
Everyone is everyone oh boo, he's not saved. He's not saved,

1143
01:09:26.920 --> 01:09:29.680
she's not saved. No, Christians don't act like that, ready

1144
01:09:29.680 --> 01:09:33.039
to just stone everyone. Someday Jesus needs to show up.

1145
01:09:32.960 --> 01:09:34.680
And go who whoa, whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa.

1146
01:09:35.119 --> 01:09:37.199
Let me write something down. Maybe he doesn't write it

1147
01:09:37.239 --> 01:09:38.920
in the dirt. Maybe he puts it on a whiteboard

1148
01:09:38.960 --> 01:09:40.920
in front of everyone and he writes your name and

1149
01:09:40.960 --> 01:09:43.760
he starts listing all of your sins. Maybe you'll drop

1150
01:09:43.800 --> 01:09:46.840
your rock, Maybe you'll drop your stone. Maybe you'll stop

1151
01:09:46.880 --> 01:09:49.920
trying to stone and kill people because you realize you

1152
01:09:50.000 --> 01:10:07.800
deserve to be stoned. Tewod Corinthians five seventeen speaks of

1153
01:10:07.840 --> 01:10:14.760
a beautiful reality that in Christ and my position, i'm new,

1154
01:10:16.319 --> 01:10:22.439
the old is completely gone because of an imputed righteousness.

1155
01:10:23.560 --> 01:10:26.760
But reality tells me, and he, in a sense, he

1156
01:10:26.840 --> 01:10:29.560
kind of gave it away. He says, well, God is

1157
01:10:29.600 --> 01:10:34.239
going to restore and make all creation new. Right, He's

1158
01:10:34.239 --> 01:10:35.920
not doing it now. He tried to imply that God

1159
01:10:35.960 --> 01:10:38.720
somehow doing it now, but clearly he's not doing it now, right,

1160
01:10:38.840 --> 01:10:40.960
So then he kind of forgot the creation part and

1161
01:10:40.960 --> 01:10:42.600
then tried to come to us. And then he tried

1162
01:10:42.600 --> 01:10:45.239
to say, well, we're new, but we're not yet new. Okay,

1163
01:10:45.279 --> 01:10:47.159
Well then all right, that's if you want to go

1164
01:10:47.239 --> 01:10:50.560
with that idea. Then don't tell people you're new now.

1165
01:10:50.800 --> 01:10:53.199
Don't talk about how in regeneration you get a new

1166
01:10:53.199 --> 01:10:55.239
this and no, no, no, no, no no, you just

1167
01:10:55.279 --> 01:10:57.760
said that we're just becoming new. Well, don't tell me

1168
01:10:57.800 --> 01:11:00.520
that I'm already new. I'm already a new position. I'm

1169
01:11:00.560 --> 01:11:02.439
not new practically, And if God is the one that's

1170
01:11:02.439 --> 01:11:05.680
supposedly making me new practically. Well, then why is God

1171
01:11:05.760 --> 01:11:10.720
doing it in such a slow way? And if God

1172
01:11:10.760 --> 01:11:14.439
is doing it in a slow, meticulous, progressive way, you

1173
01:11:14.479 --> 01:11:17.680
can't condemn someone for sin because God has not yet

1174
01:11:17.760 --> 01:11:20.640
changed them in that area where they're sinning. So then

1175
01:11:20.680 --> 01:11:23.159
it would be on God. Oh you say no, no, no,

1176
01:11:23.199 --> 01:11:26.239
it's on you. So then I'm the one who's changing me. Well,

1177
01:11:26.319 --> 01:11:29.079
I have to work with God, so then God's changing me.

1178
01:11:29.119 --> 01:11:31.399
But I can stop God from changing me, so then

1179
01:11:31.439 --> 01:11:34.560
I'm more powerful than God. This just becomes a series

1180
01:11:34.640 --> 01:11:38.319
of unanswerable riddles, and nobody ever wants to take it

1181
01:11:38.319 --> 01:11:40.640
apart that way. We just want it simple. We just

1182
01:11:40.680 --> 01:11:43.359
want the concept that when you become a Christian dunt

1183
01:11:43.439 --> 01:11:46.039
unt to done, you have supernatural power and how you're perfect,

1184
01:11:46.199 --> 01:11:48.399
and now you can walk around and tell everyone how

1185
01:11:48.439 --> 01:11:51.239
they're true pieces of trash and they shouldn't be in ministry,

1186
01:11:51.319 --> 01:11:53.600
and you can kick everyone out of the Kingdom of God. Oh,

1187
01:11:53.680 --> 01:12:05.399
it's got to be good to be king. Christianity is

1188
01:12:05.439 --> 01:12:10.520
the story of a holy God saving sinners by imputing

1189
01:12:10.640 --> 01:12:15.720
righteousness to them even though they're still sinners, and the

1190
01:12:15.720 --> 01:12:20.039
only hope of those sinners is the imputed righteousness of Christ.

1191
01:12:20.439 --> 01:12:24.039
Their salvation is in His work. And then we have

1192
01:12:24.119 --> 01:12:27.479
the inevitent. We have the impossible task of trying to

1193
01:12:27.600 --> 01:12:31.319
live out practically what is true, positionally, and it will

1194
01:12:31.359 --> 01:12:35.680
never come anywhere close to being right. It's going to

1195
01:12:35.720 --> 01:12:37.479
be a mess. It's gonna be a it's going to

1196
01:12:37.520 --> 01:12:39.880
be sinful, it's going to be it's gonna be failure.

1197
01:12:40.079 --> 01:12:41.479
And that's why the world is going to look at

1198
01:12:41.560 --> 01:12:43.840
us as hypocrites. That's why we have to constantly try

1199
01:12:43.840 --> 01:12:45.800
to explain to the world. No, no, no, no, no no.

1200
01:12:47.359 --> 01:12:51.479
I'm declared righteous by an imputed righteousness, not an infused

1201
01:12:51.960 --> 01:12:53.960
So I am declared to be that which I am

1202
01:12:54.000 --> 01:12:57.520
admitting to you. I am not. I'm admitting to you

1203
01:12:57.680 --> 01:13:00.520
I'm still a sinner. I'm admitting to you I still

1204
01:13:00.560 --> 01:13:04.039
fall short. I'm admitting to you my own lust, my coveteousness,

1205
01:13:04.039 --> 01:13:07.760
my pride, my arrogance, my gossip, my slander, my false witness.

1206
01:13:08.479 --> 01:13:11.560
I'm admitting that all of this is still very much present.

1207
01:13:12.319 --> 01:13:15.680
I'm sayd by an imputed righteousness. I know that these

1208
01:13:15.720 --> 01:13:18.119
things are wrong, and I'm seeking to try to live

1209
01:13:18.840 --> 01:13:21.479
a life differently, but I still have the same sinful

1210
01:13:21.560 --> 01:13:23.960
nature that I had before. I'm saying trying to explain

1211
01:13:24.000 --> 01:13:25.680
that to the world. The world we tend to just

1212
01:13:25.720 --> 01:13:29.079
try to say, I'm not what I was, and therefore

1213
01:13:29.319 --> 01:13:32.520
I don't do that stuff anymore. Well, you can try

1214
01:13:32.560 --> 01:13:37.079
to pretend now. You may not do certain things, but

1215
01:13:37.319 --> 01:13:39.600
even though you're not doing them externally, you may be

1216
01:13:39.680 --> 01:13:44.520
doing them internally. So today, as I stated in the

1217
01:13:44.800 --> 01:13:48.000
broadcast when we talked about we're all sinners. Today, write

1218
01:13:48.079 --> 01:13:51.479
down five sins you've committed in the last twenty four hours.

1219
01:13:53.920 --> 01:13:57.399
Not someone else's sin. Don't worry about the famous pastor

1220
01:13:57.640 --> 01:14:01.039
who has now been removed from ministry. Worry about your own,

1221
01:14:02.640 --> 01:14:05.560
and then ask yourself, how can I keep committing these sins?

1222
01:14:05.920 --> 01:14:09.399
If what I am here preached in church, I'm supposedly

1223
01:14:09.439 --> 01:14:11.239
a new creature. The old has passed away all things

1224
01:14:11.239 --> 01:14:14.319
that become new, I shouldn't be committing these sins. Well,

1225
01:14:14.359 --> 01:14:18.880
the reason you're committing those sins is your new Positionally, practically,

1226
01:14:18.960 --> 01:14:21.920
the old is very much present, and Ezekiel thirty six

1227
01:14:24.000 --> 01:14:33.960
is about Israel, not for us. Thanks for listening, everyone,

1228
01:14:34.039 --> 01:14:36.760
Have a great day. God bless