Oct. 2, 2024

Be What You Are

Be What You Are

We look at secret number 3 as found in the book, Secrets of the Christian Life

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We look at secret number 3 as found in the book, Secrets of the Christian Life

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. I can't do it.

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I just can't do it. I still can't use the

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word good. I can't say good morning, I can't say

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good afternoon, I can't say good evening. Because there's nothing good.

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There is nothing good at all. Okay, there is no

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one that's good. There's nothing that's good. I know I'm

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doing a little paraphrasing there, but that's man. I have

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found myself in a situation where I am just so frustrated,

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so irritated, so just done. I just want to throw

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up my hands and say, forget it. You guys, go

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play fairy tale, you go play make believe, because somebody

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here has got to say enough is enough with this nonsense.

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And that's I feel like I'm the one saying, stop

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the pretending, stop the make believe, stop the fairy tale.

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We need someone needs to face reality. And I know

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by doing that, all I'm doing is I'm placing myself

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further and further and further and further outside of well

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what most people would refer to as evangelical fundamental Christianity.

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I know I'm walking further and further away. But it's

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not that I'm attempting to do so or trying to

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do so. It's just I don't understand Christian's ability to

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be so delusional. And well, we're gonna talk about that,

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all right, We're gonna talk about that and just a minute.

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But for now, I guess I will go ahead and

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say this. I'm not gonna say good afternoon. I'm not

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gonna say that. I'll just say it is Wednesday, October

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the second, twenty twenty four. It is currently twelve forty

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pm Central time, and I am coming to you live

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from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

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And I have spent so much time in this studio

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just becoming more and more disillusioned, more and more frustrated,

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and the more sermons I listen to, the worse it gets.

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And I don't really know the solution, but here I

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am all I can do. Now. I feel like I

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feel like I'm so far into this. There's no backing out,

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there's no just throwing up my hands and walking away.

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I know probably ninety percent of the listeners of the

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podcast won't really care. They'll be like, whatever, let's just

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move on to the next thing. That was his. He

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was all obsessed with that. But I'm glad. I'm glad

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that's over. Some of you won't care, but I care.

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I can't just walk away. We're so far into this,

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all right. So we're trying to figure out the Christian

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life at the same time acknowledging a reality that no

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one wants to acknowledge. And that reality is this, are

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you ready. We cannot keep the law of God. We cannot.

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And because we cannot keep the law of God, we

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are in a perpetual state of sin. And if we're

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in a perpetual state of sin, there is something keeping

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us from obeying the law and being perfect. What is

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it that's keeping us from being perfect? Those are some

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basic things that we have. That's the reality. Look, Christians

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can try to say all day, no, no, no, no,

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we can keep the law. Well, if I can keep it,

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then I can be perfect. If I can't be perfect,

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then I can't keep it. And I can just throw

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out a couple of scriptures. Be perfect as your heavenly

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Father is perfect. Well, you can't do that. Be holy

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as he is as holy, you can't do that. You've

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never done that, meaning you're in a perpetual state of sin.

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Why can you not be holy as God is holy?

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Why can you not be perfect as your heavenly Father

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is perfect? Why can you not love God with all

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your heart, mind, body, and soul. What is it that

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it's keeping you from doing this? What is it? And

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on one hand, Christians talk about oh no, no, you can,

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you can do it, but then they even have to admit, well,

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I mean you can't do it perfectly. Well, then that

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means I'm perpetual in a state of sin. I mean

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We've talked about this reality over and over and over,

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We've listened to sermons. It is maddening right now. So

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remember there was a book, Six Secrets of the Christian Life.

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Six Secrets of the Christian Life. I told everyone to

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get a copy relatively cheap, like three dollars for a kendle,

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four dollars for a physical copy. It's only fifty five pages.

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And we were going to be like, well, how do

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is what is their answer to these problems that have

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now outlined so many times that I'm tired of saying

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it right that we are all in a perpetual state

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of sin. We cannot keep the law. So something is

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holding us back, like these realities, what is the answer?

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So we decided to use this book to at least

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look at their answers at the same time listening to

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other people put forth their answers. And it's all becoming

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just maddening and confusing. And I don't know what to

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do anymore. I don't know what to do anymore. I

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don't know what to do anymore. All right, So let's

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go there. And if I said the time is being am,

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I don't know why it's PM? All right, I said

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twelve it's twelve something pm Central time? On my mind? Now?

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Is thinking that I said? Am? If I said am,

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I apologize, all right. I can't even get that right. Okay,

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but the point is we can't get anything right. Here

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are some of the things that we have discussed and

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light of the book Six Secrets of the Christian Life.

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Are you ready? Here we go. According to this book,

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the Christian's body, the physical body, is dead spiritually. Now

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we'll explain what that means in a minute, but just

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go with the idea that, hey, the reason we still

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live in sin is because our bodies are dead. Right,

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that's kind of their basic concept that the physical body

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is dead right now, obviously not physical death, some kind

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of spiritual death, right what we'll explain in a minute.

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So that's number one, the Christian body is dead. Number two,

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the nature and the heart is completely changed. And we're

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getting ready to see the book is going to double

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down on this argument that the nature and the heart

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is completely changed. So if you are a Christian, your

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heart is completely changed. You have a new heart, you

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have a new nature. Everything internally has been made perfect.

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So the body is dead, but everything inside is made perfect.

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Number three, the body, because it is dead, cannot respond

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to the new nature. So they say that explains the problem. See,

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on the inside, you're perfect, you're golden, you're good, you're

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everything is new, everything is transformed internally, you are a

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new creature. Things have passed away, all things that become new.

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But it's your body. Your body can't respond to that

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new nature. So the new nature is like, go do it,

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and your body is just like they can't respond. Your

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body is dead to any spiritual impulse, all right, So

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this leads to number four. So number one, the body

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is dead. Number two, the nature has been changed. Number three,

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the body can't respond. Number four, A resurrection of the

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body is needed. Now, what you need? What I need?

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If we can get our bodies to experience a resurrection now, well,

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then our bodies would be able to respond to the nature.

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So with a new nature, a new heart, the empowering power,

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the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. So we would

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have a new heart, new nature, the Holy Spirit that

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empowers us, and then a resurrected body that can now

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respond to all of that spiritual inside. Then we should

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be able to be perfect. Now the issue is how

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do we get our bodies too to wake up? How

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do we get our bodies to to experience a resurrection.

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So at first, when they started explaining this, I'm like, okay,

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well this makes some sense. The body is dead, all right,

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the nature is changed, the body can't respond. Okay, this

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explains why we're still continuing sinning. So the solution is

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my body needs a resurrection, and my mind goes, okay, great,

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well that's never going to happen until glorification. When I

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get a new body, I get a resurrected body. Into

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the meantime, well, I'm I'm not going to be able

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to obey, but no, they took it a step further, like, no,

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you can experience a resurrection. Now it is possible. So

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then I'm like, okay, how do I get this resurrection?

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And remember their great answer, use a mirror. Take a mirror,

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put it in front of your face. And then now,

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and this is weird, this is where they abandon the

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resurrection metaphor, well, now you'll be slowly transformed. Well wait

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a minute, you said I need a resurrection, so it's

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almost now. They didn't are articulate it this way, but

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this is kind of the theory they went with. If

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you really I mean, they won't articulate it, but they

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created this problem. If I hold the mirror to my face,

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then a part and the mirror is the word of God,

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then a part of my body. Then can it allows

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at least a part of my body to respond. I

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don't know exactly what that looks like, but then I

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can partially respond, well, that's not really a resurrection, and

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that slowly I'm transformed. So then it really comes down

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to the solutions. Just read your Bible and study your Bible. Well,

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no matter how much I read my Bible, no matter

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how much I study my Bible, Can I obey the law?

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Can I be perfect? Can I be holy as God

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is holy? Can I love God with all my heart,

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my body? And so well, we know no matter how

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much you read the Bible, no matter how much you

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study the Bible, you cannot get to perfection. So this

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really doesn't even appear to be an answer, and it

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seems to abandon their entire metaphor. So then I was like, well,

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wait a minute. I then threw in not the book,

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did not? I threw in, Well, let's get a knife.

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Let's open up Christians and see if we can really

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understand what's going on on the inside. Do we really

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have a new heart? Do we really have a new nature?

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And if we have a new heart and a new nature,

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then what's creating the problem? Is the problem the physical body?

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And do we separate the nature from the physical body.

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And we tried to, you know, kind of do surgery,

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and we really nobody can really articulate exactly what the

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inside supposedly looks like, right, nobody really can. But we

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know this. It seems bizarre to me that Christianity at

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large is just sold on the fact that everything on

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the inside has been completely made new. Everything on the

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inside is perfect, but they can't seem to articulate, well,

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where is sin coming from? Where is sinful desires and

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sinful thoughts originating from? So then it seems what many

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Christians say is everything on the inside is perfect, and

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you basically can be perfect. The problem is external things.

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If you listen to the wrong music, if you watch

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the wrong movies, that's where all the problems are. So

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if we'll just fix the movies we watch and the

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music we listen to, then will be perfect. Well, okay,

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that doesn't make any sense. It becomes all convoluted. So

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we have the Christian body is dead. The nature and

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the heart has supposedly changed. The body can't respond to

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the nature, so we need a resurrection of the body

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so it can respond to the nature. We don't really

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get a resurrection, though, but we can take our bibles,

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read the Bibles, and then that will somehow bring about

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some kind of transformation. But they can't really explain what's

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being transformed because it's not transforming the inside, because the

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inside is already transformed. So I guess it's transforming the

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physical body. It gets all confusing. I said, get a

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knife and open us up. And try to figure out

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what's going on in the inside. Christians can't seem to

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agree what's going on on the inside. So that brings

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us still today when we get to well, secret number three.

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We go to the third chapter of the book, and

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are you ready? Secret number three is going to basically be,

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and I'm paraphrasing, be what you are. Just be what

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you are. That's the secret. Just be what you are.

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And I'm a little confused by how this even works,

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but we're going to work through this chapter, at least

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in part and see if we can come up with

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an answer. I don't think this is going to provide

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us an answer with that. Look, they've already the book

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has already fallen apart from its basic premise. It's not

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it's I don't know what the book is doing at

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this point. Now I'm just getting very frustrated. But here

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we go. Let's go through a little bit of this book.

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Are you ready? If you have a copy of the book,

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you can open it up. I've got my hitch. Three

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is called seeing what we are, So the idea is

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be what you are. Now I'm gonna I'll be skipping

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parts of it. I'll just be reading through some I've

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got some notes here where I copied some of the book,

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and then I'm just gonna skip a lot, all right,

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So I'm just gonna try to give get us to

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the basic premise of the book. Are you ready? All right,

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here we go. The book begins by stating this or

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this chapter in the book. Again, the book is six

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Secrets of the Christian Life. Are you ready?

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Here we go.

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The richness of biblical illustration is always impressive. This is

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certainly true in the example of a mirror that we

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have just considered. In fact, it turns out that God's

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mirror offers us what many may call a double reflection.

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All right, so remember their solution is, your body is dead.

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Everything on the inside his golden is good, but your

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body can't respond. But if we look into the mirror,

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it doesn't bring about the resurrection we need, but it

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gives us some kind of transformation. So remember, the body

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is dead, everything on the inside has changed. The body

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can't respond, and we need a resurrection. And so then

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they say we'll look into the mirror. Well, now they're

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going to return to the mirror concept. And now what

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they're going to say is this mirror gives us a

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double reflection. And this double reflection is somehow now the

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key the answer to all of our problems. They quote

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James chapter one, twenty two through twenty four James one

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twenty two through twenty four, where we read, but be

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doers of the word, and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves.

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For if anyone is a hero of the word and

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not a doer, he has like a man observing his

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natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes

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away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

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All right, so we gotta be a doer of the word.

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And there's something about looking into the mirror, looking into

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the mirror that they're going to really focus on, right,

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I'm gonna read it though, and the translation that they provide.

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But be doers of the word and not hearers, only

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deceiving yourself. For if anyone is a hearer of the

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word and not a doer, he is like a man

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observing his natural face and a mirror, for he observe, observe,

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observes himself, if I can read correctly, goes away and

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immediately forgets what kind of man he was. So they're

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really going to focus on this. You're like a man

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observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes

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himself and goes away immediately and forgets what kind of

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man he was. They're really going to double down on

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this part of the mirror concept, right, So we don't

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want to Well, we'll see what they're going to do

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with this. They're going to take it in an interesting direction.

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Just we'll see where this.

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Goes, right.

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James' statement about observing one's natural face in a mirror

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is unique in the New Testament. The mirror, of course,

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is once again the word of God that James refers

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to in verse twenty two. But what does the reference

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to our natural face and verse twenty three mean? Now,

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this is where this is going to get interesting. So

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let me read this again. Be a doer of the

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word and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves. For if anyone

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is a hearer of the word and not a doer,

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he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

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But he observed, absorbed, observes himself and goes away and

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immediately forgets what kind of man he was. All right,

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So what does it mean about observing seeing beholding our

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natural face. Now they're gonna do something with this. If

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I'm looking at this, Okay, well I'm gonna I'm not

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gonna right, there's already things I could say, but I'm

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just gonna try to let them work it through so

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that we can follow their reasoning before I really start

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trying to challenge it. All Right, So here we go.

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We therefore propose the following translation. Now, what happens is

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they go through that. There's a lot of different ways

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of translating some of these phrases, and they go through

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all of the different translations, and they get into the Greek,

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and so they they propose their own translation. Here's how

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they propose it. He is like a man observing the

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face of his birth, the face he was born with,

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in a mirror. What does this mean spiritually?

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Now?

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Let me let's so if we go back and read

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it in the King James, it says he's a man

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observing his natural face in a mirror. They are translating it.

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He is like a man observing the face of his birth,

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the face he was born with, in a mirror. What

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does this mean spiritually? It's extremely important to note that

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James one twenty three follows another important statement about birth,

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and they go to James one seventeen, where we see

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James one seventeen. Every good gift and every perfect gift

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is from above and comes down from the Father of Light,

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with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Right.

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That's the verse that they tell us to go to,

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all right, This is how they read it. This is

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how they quote it. James declares that every good gift

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and every perfect gift is from above and comes down

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from the Father of lives. He immediately reminds his readers

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of the supremely perfect gift they had all received from

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their heavenly father in verse eighteen of his own will.

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He brought us forth by the word of truth, that

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we might be the kind of first fruits of his creatures.

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He brought us fourth. Now they're going to translate this

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this way. You ready, if I can read it, let

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me go back here. Okay. So James declares that every

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good gift, he immediately reminds his readers of the supremely

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perfect gift that they had all received from their heavenly

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father verse eighteen. That was nothing less than the gift

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of spiritual birth. His words in James one eighteen are

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these of his own will. He brought us four by

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the word of truth, that we might be a kind

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of first fruits of his creatures. The Greek word translated

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here by brought forth basically means to give birth or

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to bear. James statement, of course, reminds us of the

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similar words of the apostle Peter. Peter likewise affirms that

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we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible

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through the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

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Both Peter and James therefore declares that our new birth

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is by the means of God's word. All right, so

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try to follow this. According to their interpretation, James one

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twenty two says, when we observe our natural face, we

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observing the face of our birth. Then they go back

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to James one eighteen and following or it talks about

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being brought forth, and they're like, that's referring to being

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born again, our new birth. You see where they're getting

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ready to go? Here? Are are you catching on where

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they're going? Are just stay with me because they're getting

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ready to explain this. Here we go. Both Peter and

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James therefore declares that our new birth is by the

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means of God's Word. Let us note carefully, then, that

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God has brought us forth using as his instrument the

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Word of Truth. People are saved at the very moment

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that they believe any of the promises God makes in

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his Word about giving eternal life to the believer in Jesus.

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Well known examples of such promises are in John three sixteen,

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when we know many of those right, and there's plenty

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of others. But as we have already seen, God's Word

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is also the instrument by which the Holy Spirit transforms

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us more and more into the likeness of Jesus. Thus

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we may say two things. The Word of God must

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be received in faith in order for God to bring

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us forth, that is, to regenerate us. And two, the

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Word must be also received in faith for God to

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transform us. The last point was the thrust of the

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previous chapter. It is natural, therefore for James to proceed

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from a reference to our new birth to consideration of

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the role of God's Word in Christian living. This christian

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must receive it in a proper way. But this process

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of receiving biblical instruction must be followed by an obedient response.

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We are to be doers of the word and not

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only hearers, only deceiving ourselves.

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All right.

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So their argument is the Word of God is what

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is the thing that brings about our new birth. It's

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the thing that supposedly transforms us. So what we are

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supposed to do is we respond to the word by

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being obedient to the word. All right, So let's just

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stop right here. Okay, I'm gonna throw in you know

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where I'm gonna go with this. Okay, that's simple, all right.

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So the Bible says, be holy as God is holy.

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Just do it. Just do it. Don't be hearers of

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the word, obey it. Be holy as God is holy.

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Do it, do it? Come on, do it. You can't,

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you can't. You'll never be as holy as God as

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holy and practice. So immediately I know there's a problem.

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The Bible gives me all kinds of scriptures. Do this,

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don't do this, do this, don't do this. Be perfect,

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Heavenly Father is perfect. Don't do this, do this, don't

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do this, don't do that. Well, then immediately you're gonna

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be like, well, wait a minute, I'm just supposed to

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be obedient to it. If I can't be obedient to it.

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This is not an answer to the problem. This is

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simply saying, hey, your body. I mean, I don't even

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know how this even relates anymore to the first chapter.

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Your body is dead. Well, now I'm supposed to just

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read the Bible and just do it. I can't do

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it according to the first chapter, because you've already acknowledged

401
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my body is dead, So then how do I do it?

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So often Christians have deceived themselves into thinking that more

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mere exposure to God's Word will be effective for Christian living.

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They may think, for example, that hearing a good sermon

405
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of listening to edifying teaching will make them better. But

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this is a delusion. The effect of the Word is

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only truly realize when we put it into practice. We

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will have more to say about this in the following chapters.

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For now, however, we must note that a mere hero

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of the Word is like a person who forgets what

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he sees in his mirror. He forgets the face of

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his birth. So, hey, it doesn't matter how much you read,

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doesn't matter how much you study. It's about how much

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you obey. And if you don't obey it, you're like

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someone who observes his face in a mirror and just

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walks away. But remember they're translating it. You forget the

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face of your birth, all right? Just and please note

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they're connecting that to the new birth. Are you catching

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on to where this is headed? Are you now? Again?

420
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I'm just going to state it for the billionth time.

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If you go to James one and you tell everyone,

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don't just be a hearer, be a doer of the word,

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then your solution to the Christian life is just do it.

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Well again, I can give you scripture, be holy as

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God is holy? Can you just do that? You can't

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be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You can't.

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So just telling people be a doer of the word

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is already problematic. Now I know Christians, all these Christians

429
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are going to be listening telling me, no, you can

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do it. You're telling me you can be holy as

431
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God is holy. If you believe that, you're delusional, you

432
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cannot be because that would mean you're perfect in thought word. Indeed,

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by what you do and by what you leave undone

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that you're perfect in every area internally externally. You're never

435
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going to be that. So immediately we know we can't

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just simply say, well, just obey it. Well, this book

437
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has already said in secret number one that our bodies

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can't respond to even our new nature. We need a resurrection.

439
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They're still told, I haven't told me how to get

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the resurrection. So here we go. Now, this is where

441
00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:16.200
they're gonna add an interesting twist to this. Are you ready?

442
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According to this book spiritually, what is the face of

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our birth? And light of the context in James one,

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it is natural to refer to this expression to the

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only reference to any birth of ours in this chapter,

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that is to our birth from above. Oh, now this

447
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is getting interesting. So they are reading it this way.

448
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But be doers of the word and not hearers, only

449
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deceiving yourself. For if anyone is a hearer of the

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word and not a doer, he's like a man observing,

451
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observing in his his natural face in a mirror what

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they are saying. If you are, if you are, if

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anyone is a hear of the word and not a

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do or if you just hear the word and you

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don't obey it, you're like someone looking into the word

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of God, and you're beholding your natural face or your

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face of your birth. You are beholding the face of

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your new birth. That's how they're interpreting this. This is

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your You are looking into the face of your new birth,

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and you're walking away. If you just hear and don't obey,

461
00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:29.200
you're someone looking into the Bible, seeing the face of

462
00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:32.920
your new birth and walking away. You're observing the face

463
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.000
of your new birth and you're just walking away. That

464
00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:41.680
is their interpretation. Right here we go. In that case,

465
00:27:41.799 --> 00:27:45.200
the face of our birth represents what we are inwardly

466
00:27:45.319 --> 00:27:49.480
by virtue of having been born from above, a new

467
00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:53.119
person lives inside the same old physical house, and we

468
00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:56.240
can see this person in the mirror of God's word.

469
00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.599
So what they're saying is, hey, when you read your

470
00:27:59.599 --> 00:28:03.279
Bible and you look into that mirror, you're not only

471
00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:08.720
seeing God. You see who you are spiritually. You see

472
00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:12.559
your new all that new nature, everything that's supposedly changed

473
00:28:12.599 --> 00:28:19.799
and transformed. You are seeing that. That's their interpretation of

474
00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:25.079
this passage. Now I'm getting a little nervous because I

475
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:30.359
think it's just making I don't think this illustration is

476
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:33.319
doing what they're claiming. I think it's just a normal illustration. See,

477
00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:35.880
this is the problem when you go to an illustration

478
00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:40.599
in the Bible, and you start trying to make everything

479
00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:45.119
this represents this, This represents this, this represents that you

480
00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:48.000
almost inevitably are going to just you're going to turn

481
00:28:48.039 --> 00:28:50.400
the passage into something that was never intended. I think

482
00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:53.319
it's just pretty simple, pretty straightforward. Be a doer of

483
00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:56.799
the word and not a hear only deceiving yourselves. Hey,

484
00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:59.119
you're deceiving yourself if you just hear it and you're

485
00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:02.200
not doing because God calls for hearing and doing, so,

486
00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:05.079
don't deceive yourself. You are supposed to hear it, and

487
00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:07.599
you're supposed to do it, And immediately you should say

488
00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:11.359
whoa is me? I'm a man, I'm an I'm unclean.

489
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:14.559
I can now I can't pull this off and you can't. Right,

490
00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:18.119
That's why you need imputed righteousness. But okay, now, then

491
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:20.960
James just goes on to say, if anyone is a

492
00:29:20.960 --> 00:29:22.799
hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like

493
00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:25.039
a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for

494
00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:27.599
he observes himself and goes away and immediately forgets what

495
00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:29.880
kind of man he was. I think what it is

496
00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:32.559
saying is when you don't do it, it's just it's

497
00:29:32.680 --> 00:29:35.119
just the same thing as looking in a mirror and

498
00:29:35.240 --> 00:29:38.799
just like okay, and you don't do anything about it.

499
00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:40.640
You just see yourself and you just walk away and

500
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:44.000
you forget what you saw. I don't think it's supposed

501
00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:46.599
to be. What they're saying is no, no, no, no no.

502
00:29:46.759 --> 00:29:49.119
What this passage is saying is you're looking into the

503
00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:55.559
mirror and you're seeing the spiritual transformation that God has

504
00:29:55.640 --> 00:30:00.759
done in you, and you're walking away and forgetting that.

505
00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:03.839
That's the argument they're making. Let's read this again so

506
00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:05.480
that you can and get an idea of what they're

507
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:10.000
trying to say. A new person lives inside the same

508
00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:12.920
old physical house, and we can see that person in

509
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:15.440
the mirror of God's word. So that new person is

510
00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:18.799
what you're supposedly remember inside everything is supposedly perfect. The

511
00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:20.839
only way to see the perfection of what you are

512
00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:23.799
inside is supposedly to look at the Bible, and then

513
00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:26.599
you will see how perfect you are on the inside.

514
00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:33.079
To hear God's word correctly expounded, or to read it

515
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.640
with spiritual inside and understanding, means that we have a

516
00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:40.119
contemp We have contemplated what we truly are by the

517
00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:42.720
grace of God. But as we have already seen, it

518
00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:46.319
also involves contemplating the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

519
00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:48.640
Can both things be true at the same time. The

520
00:30:48.680 --> 00:30:52.200
answer is a definitive yes. In fact, to perceive and

521
00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:54.960
contemplate the moral and spiritual glory of the Lord Jesus

522
00:30:55.079 --> 00:30:57.519
Christ means to see what we truly are as a

523
00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:00.640
result of our birth from above. Of course, destiny is

524
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:02.759
to be like Him in the totality of our being,

525
00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:06.880
but that that process begins with a radical inward transformation,

526
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:11.400
which is the new birth. From the moment of our regeneration.

527
00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:17.599
We have a sinless inner nature. There we go, now

528
00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:21.400
the now the book is doubling down the moment of salvation.

529
00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:27.519
You have a sinless inner nature. So inside of you

530
00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:36.319
is completely sinless according to this theory, So I have

531
00:31:36.400 --> 00:31:44.119
a completely So if we're completely sinless on the inside,

532
00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:46.559
where does sin come from?

533
00:31:47.319 --> 00:31:47.480
Now?

534
00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:50.920
There? There there? Their argument is, is my body is dead,

535
00:31:51.079 --> 00:31:53.920
so my body cannot respond to this sinless nature. So

536
00:31:53.960 --> 00:31:55.759
then how does this going to get my body to

537
00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:59.319
respond to the sinless nature? So here here I'm gonna

538
00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:01.799
go find I'm going to go to the actual book.

539
00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:12.400
Now, all right, here we go, Christians, here we go.

540
00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:15.079
This is what they're gonna say. Christians are often not

541
00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:20.200
aware of this fact. They know only too well that

542
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:23.480
they have a great deal of sin in their lives,

543
00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:27.240
so they're like, okay. The problem is Christians don't know

544
00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:30.799
this fact. They don't know they have a sinless inward nature.

545
00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:32.759
They don't know it because they just know all of

546
00:32:32.759 --> 00:32:36.680
the sin in their life. So it acknowledges that Christians

547
00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:39.680
have sin in their life. But what it seems we

548
00:32:39.759 --> 00:32:46.039
have to do is just be shown how sinless we are. Internally.

549
00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:51.680
It does not seem likely to them that they have

550
00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:55.680
a basically sinless inner nature. They're painfully aware of the

551
00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:00.000
defilement of sin and their inward experience. Yet the simple

552
00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:02.279
fact remains that they can say with Paul, I have

553
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:04.799
been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live,

554
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:07.680
but Christ lives in me. But if Christ lives in us,

555
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.160
then then that life and so far as it has

556
00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:22.400
lived by him, can only be sinless. Oh boy, all right, okay,

557
00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:27.880
ladies and gentlemen. This this is see, this is where

558
00:33:27.920 --> 00:33:32.119
I've reached a point of just total exhaustion. I don't

559
00:33:32.119 --> 00:33:34.160
even know what to say about this stuff anymore. Let

560
00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:36.000
me read this again. So according to them, all right,

561
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:39.680
so on the inside you're perfect, you're absolutely part. On

562
00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:42.319
the outside, there there's still all of the sin. However,

563
00:33:42.519 --> 00:33:47.039
here's a simple fact. I have been crucified with Christ.

564
00:33:47.759 --> 00:33:50.319
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives

565
00:33:50.359 --> 00:33:52.960
in me. Well, if I no longer live and Christ

566
00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:58.960
is living in me, well, even this book agrees. If

567
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:03.559
Christ lives in us, then that life, in so far

568
00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:07.079
as it is lived by him, can only be sinless. Well,

569
00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:11.159
if I'm dead and He's now living in me, then

570
00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:14.119
the life he's living in me has to be sinless.

571
00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:17.679
Even the book acknowledges that. Well, if it's sinless, ladies

572
00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:26.199
and gentlemen, then where in the world is sin coming from?

573
00:34:26.480 --> 00:34:29.400
It says. The Truth agrees with numerous scriptures. For one thing.

574
00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:31.840
If we have eternal life, we have Christ, because he

575
00:34:32.039 --> 00:34:34.440
who has the Son has life. In fact, he himself

576
00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:37.199
is the true God in eternal life. This is why

577
00:34:37.239 --> 00:34:40.360
to those who possess eternal life. John can also say,

578
00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:42.719
we know that whoever is born of God does not sin.

579
00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:45.519
But he who has been born of God keeps himself,

580
00:34:45.639 --> 00:34:49.679
and the wicked one does not touch him. Right, Well,

581
00:34:49.679 --> 00:34:52.599
everyone quotes first John. Well, if we do not sin,

582
00:34:53.400 --> 00:34:55.960
what they're saying is we don't sin on the inward nature.

583
00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:59.079
We may sin, but we don't sin with the inward nature.

584
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:00.800
Well you see where the this is going to create

585
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:04.119
kind of almost a gnostic idea. Oh see, I may

586
00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:06.599
sin with my body, but I don't sin with my

587
00:35:06.679 --> 00:35:11.800
inward nature. So I'm just sinning with my body doesn't

588
00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:16.199
impact my I'm sinless inner nature. Now you see this

589
00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:19.440
gets convoluted. Well, then why am I sinning with my body?

590
00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:23.480
Wouldn't my inward nature control what my body does or

591
00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:32.199
doesn't do. Now they're arguing that body can't. Christ is

592
00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:35.519
living in me and everything in me is sinless, but

593
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:39.559
somehow my body can still sin. Well, then what's controlling

594
00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:46.440
the body? In the same sense, Paul's personal struggle with

595
00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:49.440
his sinful physical body led him to a twofold understanding

596
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:51.519
of himself. At the end of Roman seven, he is

597
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:54.599
able to conclude, so with my mind, I myself, his

598
00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:57.519
true inward self serves the law of God. But with

599
00:35:57.599 --> 00:36:00.239
the flesh the law of sin. My true self Paul

600
00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:03.400
is saying, it is in servitude of God's law, So

601
00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:08.800
in and internally, what they're saying is, hey, we do

602
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:15.960
everything right, but externally we don't. Now well, then this

603
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.000
is the argument. So wait, if they're focusing that all

604
00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:22.800
of my sin is in external sin, well we know

605
00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:27.159
that's just not true. You know all the sin you

606
00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:31.440
commit internally, you know your thoughts, you know your desires.

607
00:36:31.639 --> 00:36:34.239
Where are that? Where is that coming from? If everything

608
00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:43.840
on the inside is perfect, Paul is saying in this

609
00:36:43.920 --> 00:36:47.880
passage in Romans seven twenty five, Paul is telling us

610
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:49.920
here that it is the inner man is a slave

611
00:36:49.960 --> 00:36:52.679
to the law of God, but the physical body is

612
00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:55.880
enslaved to the law of sin. From Paul's perspective, his

613
00:36:55.960 --> 00:36:59.559
inward nature could produce only obedience, but this was hindered

614
00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:02.840
and blocked by the dominance of the flesh and his

615
00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:06.440
physical body. So what they're saying is Paul saying, Hey,

616
00:37:06.480 --> 00:37:11.800
on the inside, I'm one hundred percent perfect, but my body,

617
00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:19.360
so the flesh dominates the flesh or it is hindered.

618
00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:23.440
So this internal perfection is hindered and blocked by the

619
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:28.000
dominance of the flesh and his physical body. So according

620
00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:32.480
to this, my body, my physical body, has dominance over

621
00:37:32.519 --> 00:37:36.400
the new nature has dominance over the Holy Spirit living

622
00:37:36.440 --> 00:37:40.360
in me. Well, that even becomes more confounding and confused.

623
00:37:43.159 --> 00:37:46.559
If God has moved in, he's living in me, everything

624
00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:49.280
is perfect on the inside. I mean, this would seem

625
00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:52.599
to indicate I do not I commit no sin internally,

626
00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:54.719
because there would be no place for me to commit

627
00:37:54.760 --> 00:37:58.840
sin internally. Right, if my nature is completely changed, my

628
00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:02.000
heart is completely changed, there would be no sin coming

629
00:38:02.039 --> 00:38:06.719
from inside the house. Their argument is just the body.

630
00:38:06.920 --> 00:38:09.559
All the sin is coming from the body because it

631
00:38:09.639 --> 00:38:13.760
has dominance over the new nature. Well, that's our rate.

632
00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:16.920
There's so many problems with this. All right, let's see

633
00:38:16.920 --> 00:38:19.000
if we can if this will make any sense. All right,

634
00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:25.559
all right, So Paul teaches us that our body is

635
00:38:25.639 --> 00:38:28.519
dead and incapable of expressing the life of God that

636
00:38:28.599 --> 00:38:30.880
is within us. Only the resurrecting power of the en

637
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:35.480
dwelling Holy Spirit can overcome this death or this deadness.

638
00:38:37.480 --> 00:38:40.079
Well wait a minute, Okay, so the spirit in me

639
00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:43.519
can actually overcome my dead body. Well, if the spirit

640
00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:46.840
in me can overcome my dead body, then I should

641
00:38:46.880 --> 00:39:01.960
be able to be perfect. Oh man, we must conclude,

642
00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:05.519
according to this book that when we are born again,

643
00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:09.320
God imparts to us a spiritual nature that responds only

644
00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:12.320
to His word and will. The inward nature is a

645
00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:16.000
moral likeness of God's sinless son. Inwardly, therefore, we have

646
00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:18.400
a spiritual face that is like the face of our

647
00:39:18.440 --> 00:39:22.639
Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. It follows that from contemplating

648
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:25.119
the Lord Jesus in God's words shows us we ourselves

649
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:27.199
are like At the deepest level of our being and

650
00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:30.159
God's word, we see both his face and our own.

651
00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:32.519
So when I study the Bible and I see the

652
00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:35.480
perfection of God, and I see the perfection of Jesus,

653
00:39:35.559 --> 00:39:39.119
what I'm also seeing is the perfection that is inside me,

654
00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:41.760
because that is what I am on the inside. On

655
00:39:41.840 --> 00:39:45.559
the inside, I am perfect, just like Jesus. On the inside,

656
00:39:45.679 --> 00:39:57.039
I'm perfect, just like God is perfect. But my body,

657
00:39:57.400 --> 00:40:01.679
this man, it's like then what they have, the body

658
00:40:01.840 --> 00:40:10.000
operating completely independently of the perfection on the inside. Your nature,

659
00:40:10.079 --> 00:40:14.360
your heart, all of that's been transformed. But your body

660
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:18.400
somehow is operating independently from what's going on in the inside.

661
00:40:18.440 --> 00:40:22.199
This is so confounding and confusing. So so somehow, as

662
00:40:22.199 --> 00:40:25.880
a Christian, your body is not being controlled in any way, shape,

663
00:40:25.960 --> 00:40:30.320
or form, by your nature, by your heart. It's operating independently.

664
00:40:30.360 --> 00:40:48.559
I don't know what's controlling the body. According to James,

665
00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:52.320
the person who beholds the face of his birth. Remember,

666
00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:54.519
so let me go back to James one twenty four,

667
00:40:54.960 --> 00:40:57.880
or of James one twenty two. But be doers of

668
00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:00.639
the word and not hear us only deceiving yourself. For

669
00:41:00.719 --> 00:41:02.559
if anyone is a hearer of the word and not

670
00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:06.039
a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face

671
00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:11.119
in a mirror. For he observes, observes, observes himself. I

672
00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:13.079
don't know why I cannot say that word today. He

673
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:16.599
observes himself and goes away and immediately forgets what kind

674
00:41:16.599 --> 00:41:21.679
of man he was. So when we observe our face,

675
00:41:21.920 --> 00:41:25.360
they are claiming in this book, you are observing that

676
00:41:25.559 --> 00:41:31.360
perfect one percent sinless nature. You are observing the face

677
00:41:31.519 --> 00:41:35.639
of your new birth. When you observe that perfect face,

678
00:41:36.599 --> 00:41:40.079
that's the key to I guess this is the secret

679
00:41:40.119 --> 00:41:43.159
of the Christian life. When you read your Bible, you

680
00:41:43.199 --> 00:41:47.119
see you observe the perfection of God, and you observe

681
00:41:47.199 --> 00:41:50.000
the perfection of God in you. Because the perfection of

682
00:41:50.039 --> 00:41:52.480
God has now been placed inside of you. You are

683
00:41:52.480 --> 00:42:06.440
completely perfect on the inside. We ought to observe carefully

684
00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:08.800
what we are by the grace of God and our

685
00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:11.960
innermost self. We should carry that recollection with us in

686
00:42:12.039 --> 00:42:14.800
everyday life. So the key is for you as a Christian,

687
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:18.280
this is their secret. You must observe what you really are.

688
00:42:18.880 --> 00:42:21.239
You have to see what you really are. And if

689
00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:22.920
you will see what you really are, you need to

690
00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:25.880
take that into everyday life. Hey go look in the mirror.

691
00:42:26.039 --> 00:42:28.719
Do you see the perfection of God? Great Now, look

692
00:42:28.760 --> 00:42:31.360
at how perfect you are in the inside. You are

693
00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:34.280
perfect on the inside. You are perfect on the inside.

694
00:42:34.320 --> 00:42:44.800
You are perfect on the inside. Fundamentally, obedient hearing springs

695
00:42:44.800 --> 00:42:47.679
from the moral and spiritual beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ,

696
00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:51.119
deeply impacting us. A Christian can rejoice at the realization

697
00:42:51.480 --> 00:42:55.159
that such inward beauty is his by new birth. He

698
00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:58.119
can be inspired to express this beauty through obedience. But

699
00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:00.760
of course, this captivation of the art by the beauty

700
00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:03.239
of Jesus and the work of God's Holy Spirit through

701
00:43:03.360 --> 00:43:06.320
his word. However, a moment of reflection will show that

702
00:43:06.360 --> 00:43:10.960
obedient hearing can cannot be the result of an enormous

703
00:43:10.960 --> 00:43:14.480
burden of guilt or an intolerable load of obligation. If

704
00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:18.559
such responsiveness does not arise from our intermost self as

705
00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:22.039
a deeply felt desire, it remains a work of the flesh.

706
00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:24.920
The spirit of the legalist is far removed from what

707
00:43:24.960 --> 00:43:27.519
we are talking about here. So it's not about like, Okay,

708
00:43:27.679 --> 00:43:29.719
I'm gonna do better. I gotta do better because I

709
00:43:29.719 --> 00:43:32.360
feel bad, I feel guilt. No, no, no, they're saying,

710
00:43:32.400 --> 00:43:35.159
that's not the right way. That's a fleshly motivation. What

711
00:43:35.239 --> 00:43:40.039
it must come from is the perfection of what you

712
00:43:40.079 --> 00:43:45.320
are in the inside gives rise to the external obedience.

713
00:43:45.519 --> 00:43:48.519
It must flow from the end, because everything on the

714
00:43:48.519 --> 00:44:05.920
inside is perfect according to this view. So here's their conclusion.

715
00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:10.559
So now we see that God's word offers us a

716
00:44:10.639 --> 00:44:14.760
double reflection. So as we observe the word, as we

717
00:44:14.840 --> 00:44:18.400
observe our face in this mirror, we're really seeing two things.

718
00:44:18.519 --> 00:44:21.320
We're seeing God and we see ourselves. And what do

719
00:44:21.320 --> 00:44:24.079
we see when we see ourselves? We don't see our corruption,

720
00:44:24.440 --> 00:44:27.840
we don't see our sin. We see our perfection that's

721
00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:33.159
supposedly inside of us. On the one hand, his word

722
00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:35.519
shows us the moral and spiritual glory of the Lord

723
00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:37.920
and Savior Jesus Christ. But on the other hand, the

724
00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:40.480
Word shows us the face of our spiritual birth. And

725
00:44:40.599 --> 00:44:43.960
yet these two reflections are in harmony. Jesus Christ himself

726
00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:46.480
is the eternal life that we already have within us,

727
00:44:46.719 --> 00:44:49.159
and when that life has lived, it is Jesus Christ

728
00:44:49.199 --> 00:44:52.679
living in me. The Christian life, therefore, is God working

729
00:44:52.719 --> 00:44:56.239
in our experience what we already are by a new birth.

730
00:44:56.440 --> 00:44:59.800
It is the mirror of God's word transforming us through

731
00:44:59.840 --> 00:45:03.599
the ministry of the God's Spirit, and the increasing expression

732
00:45:04.719 --> 00:45:07.239
and word and deed of what we have become by

733
00:45:07.239 --> 00:45:10.199
the miracle of the new birth. So what they're saying

734
00:45:10.400 --> 00:45:12.440
is the Christian life. The secret of the Christian life

735
00:45:12.519 --> 00:45:17.320
is we slowly become in practice what we are in nature.

736
00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:21.199
Now this doesn't, and this doesn't still explain why we

737
00:45:21.239 --> 00:45:23.320
continue to send and why we cannot get to perfection.

738
00:45:23.960 --> 00:45:27.639
But this is supposedly the way it works out. So

739
00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:31.840
this is how they describe the third secret. It is

740
00:45:32.400 --> 00:45:37.519
it is our coming to be an experience what we

741
00:45:37.639 --> 00:45:43.760
already are and our innermost being. So the Christian life

742
00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:49.039
is you are coming to be an experience what you

743
00:45:49.239 --> 00:45:53.239
already are. In your intermost being, and your intermost being

744
00:45:53.719 --> 00:45:58.920
deep inside of you is just perfection. It is perfection.

745
00:45:59.320 --> 00:46:01.239
And when you look into the Bible, you will see

746
00:46:01.280 --> 00:46:04.039
all of that perfection inside of you. You look to

747
00:46:04.119 --> 00:46:06.519
God and you see him holy, and you're like, well,

748
00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:11.480
thank God, that holiness, that perfection, that holiness is inside

749
00:46:11.519 --> 00:46:15.519
of me because I'm now made perfect and holy inside.

750
00:46:16.360 --> 00:46:32.119
That's their argument. Uh, I don't know what.

751
00:46:32.239 --> 00:46:32.719
I don't know what.

752
00:46:33.519 --> 00:46:34.920
I don't know what to say. I don't even know

753
00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:41.360
how to process this. This would seem to indicate if

754
00:46:41.400 --> 00:46:44.039
there's I mean literally, you would have to acknowledge us

755
00:46:44.239 --> 00:46:47.960
if there is any sin inside, Like if you really

756
00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:51.159
took this view to its logical conclusion, if there's any

757
00:46:51.239 --> 00:46:54.960
sin on the inside of you and thought and desire

758
00:46:55.199 --> 00:46:58.920
and emotion, you're not saved because everything on the inside

759
00:46:59.000 --> 00:47:08.119
is supposed to be perfect. This would create, according to

760
00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:15.920
this theory, this hypothesis. I'm trying, I'm trying to process this.

761
00:47:18.760 --> 00:47:23.920
Oh man, this this would create basically this this kind

762
00:47:23.920 --> 00:47:29.320
of scenario. Okay, So, no sin, any sin you commit,

763
00:47:29.440 --> 00:47:32.079
any sin you struggle with, is not coming from inside.

764
00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:35.280
There can be no sin arising from inside because you

765
00:47:35.280 --> 00:47:39.440
you're perfect on the inside, so sin can only be

766
00:47:39.559 --> 00:47:43.039
coming from either an external source outside of yourself. So

767
00:47:43.079 --> 00:47:46.400
you can blame the world or you can blame Satan, right,

768
00:47:52.880 --> 00:48:00.239
you see, then this becomes if I'm perfect on the inside,

769
00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:04.679
how can external sin? I guess their argument is that

770
00:48:04.719 --> 00:48:12.199
the body is suggest as vulnerable to the external sin

771
00:48:16.159 --> 00:48:20.079
or can the external body produce its own sinful desire?

772
00:48:20.519 --> 00:48:31.039
But isn't desire coming from the inside.

773
00:48:32.119 --> 00:48:35.519
I don't.

774
00:48:37.400 --> 00:48:40.880
If everything's perfect on the inside, then that means there's

775
00:48:40.880 --> 00:48:44.440
no sinful desires arising from within you. Right, so you

776
00:48:44.480 --> 00:48:48.360
can't say you can't say there's any sin inside of

777
00:48:48.400 --> 00:48:51.360
you at all, right, other than they would try to

778
00:48:51.360 --> 00:48:53.760
say the physical body. But this is where it gets confusing.

779
00:48:54.039 --> 00:48:57.360
Then what is controlling the physical body? See there's a disconnect.

780
00:48:57.480 --> 00:49:01.239
So the body is operating independently of the nature. But

781
00:49:01.320 --> 00:49:03.519
at the same time it says that the Holy Spirit

782
00:49:03.920 --> 00:49:07.440
can overcome the body. Well, if the Holy Spirit can

783
00:49:07.519 --> 00:49:10.280
overcome the body, then you're saying something inside of me

784
00:49:10.559 --> 00:49:13.400
is what's controlling the body. Well, if the Holy Spirit's

785
00:49:13.400 --> 00:49:16.000
inside of me and I have a new nature and

786
00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:18.440
it can overcome the body, then why is the body

787
00:49:18.480 --> 00:49:25.199
so vulnerable to sin. If everything on the inside of

788
00:49:25.239 --> 00:49:27.880
me is perfect, this would have to include my will,

789
00:49:28.320 --> 00:49:31.119
This would have to include my desires, This would have

790
00:49:31.159 --> 00:49:34.880
to include my emotions, this would have to include my motivations,

791
00:49:35.079 --> 00:49:38.559
because they're saying everything inside me is completely perfect. It

792
00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:43.440
is sinless where in the world. I don't get how

793
00:49:43.519 --> 00:49:47.000
my body. Then I want to understand it, but it

794
00:49:47.079 --> 00:49:56.920
makes no sense. What moves what would the I don't understand.

795
00:49:57.079 --> 00:50:08.159
I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't understand. And look,

796
00:50:08.320 --> 00:50:10.599
this is not the only this is not the only

797
00:50:10.639 --> 00:50:13.880
thing that would say something similar. Look, I can't really

798
00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:15.800
break it down for you. I don't understand how to

799
00:50:15.800 --> 00:50:18.360
make it work right. Somehow I'm just supposed to walk

800
00:50:18.400 --> 00:50:21.920
away going, hey, hey, don't forget what I am inside,

801
00:50:22.119 --> 00:50:24.599
and now I'm just gotta live out what I am

802
00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:29.159
on the inside. And then it's like, but don't don't

803
00:50:29.199 --> 00:50:32.880
do that being motivated by guilt, and it's and basically

804
00:50:32.880 --> 00:50:35.480
it's like, you, God's gonna do it for you. If

805
00:50:35.480 --> 00:50:38.480
God's gonna do it for you, I don't even understand.

806
00:50:38.559 --> 00:50:40.800
But this is not the only look. Today I was

807
00:50:40.840 --> 00:50:45.679
looking at my feed on the sermon's two point oh app. Look,

808
00:50:45.719 --> 00:50:47.320
this is what I heard. This is the first thing

809
00:50:47.360 --> 00:50:49.119
I think it was in my feed on the sermon's

810
00:50:49.159 --> 00:50:51.320
two point Oh app Are you ready? The audio is

811
00:50:51.360 --> 00:50:53.719
not great, but you're gonna catch on. It's only like

812
00:50:53.760 --> 00:50:55.800
a couple of minutes long. You're gonna catch on. This

813
00:50:55.880 --> 00:50:59.199
is what almost every Christian teaches, almost something similar to this.

814
00:50:59.239 --> 00:51:04.280
Listen Geting's church family. This is Joe Calabresee and I

815
00:51:04.360 --> 00:51:06.519
wanted to share a little bit with you on this

816
00:51:06.679 --> 00:51:10.360
Wednesday in the word. The text that I like to

817
00:51:10.360 --> 00:51:13.599
speak about is from our sermon this past weekend. It's

818
00:51:13.719 --> 00:51:19.599
Romans six versus seventeen and eighteen. And hearing the scripture

819
00:51:19.639 --> 00:51:22.800
again this weekend couldn't help remind me of a time

820
00:51:22.920 --> 00:51:25.760
of my life where I was set free from sin.

821
00:51:25.880 --> 00:51:28.800
I was a slave to sin, no doubt, But our

822
00:51:28.800 --> 00:51:31.519
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ set me free from the

823
00:51:31.599 --> 00:51:34.440
bondage of sin and gave me a new heart and

824
00:51:34.480 --> 00:51:37.480
a new life and caused me to walk in his ways.

825
00:51:37.840 --> 00:51:42.199
Now now, please, Now, I was in bondage des sin,

826
00:51:42.239 --> 00:51:45.159
but he's no longer in bondage to sin. He has

827
00:51:45.199 --> 00:51:47.400
a new life, He has a new heart, he's a

828
00:51:47.440 --> 00:51:54.880
new nature. I mean, this is just the standard Christianity. Okay, well,

829
00:51:54.920 --> 00:51:56.880
if you have a new life, new heart, you've been

830
00:51:56.880 --> 00:52:07.679
completely set free. Are you saying you don't sin? I'm

831
00:52:07.719 --> 00:52:08.559
gonna play this again.

832
00:52:10.679 --> 00:52:15.679
Here we go, Reading's church family. This is Joe Calabresee,

833
00:52:15.679 --> 00:52:17.719
and I wanted to share a little bit with you

834
00:52:17.840 --> 00:52:21.519
on this Wednesday in the word. The text that I

835
00:52:21.679 --> 00:52:24.559
like to speak about is from our sermon this past weekend.

836
00:52:24.960 --> 00:52:30.079
It's Romans six Versus seventeen and eighteen. And hearing the

837
00:52:30.199 --> 00:52:33.960
scripture again this weekend couldn't help remind me of a

838
00:52:34.079 --> 00:52:37.360
time of my life where I was set free from sin.

839
00:52:37.480 --> 00:52:40.400
I was a slave to sin, no doubt, but our

840
00:52:40.400 --> 00:52:43.119
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ set me free from the

841
00:52:43.199 --> 00:52:44.079
bondage of sin.

842
00:52:46.079 --> 00:52:47.440
Now, let me just ask this question.

843
00:52:48.280 --> 00:52:50.880
If you've been set if you were a slave to sin,

844
00:52:50.960 --> 00:52:53.559
but you're no longer a slave to sin, that should

845
00:52:53.559 --> 00:52:54.880
mean you should be able to stop sinning.

846
00:52:54.960 --> 00:52:55.199
Right.

847
00:52:55.760 --> 00:53:04.760
If you can't stop sinning, you're still a slave. Let's

848
00:53:04.800 --> 00:53:07.599
just play this out. I mean, it's only like about

849
00:53:07.760 --> 00:53:08.840
two minutes long. Here were you.

850
00:53:10.519 --> 00:53:12.559
And gave me a new heart and a new life

851
00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:16.039
and caused me to walk in his ways. Now Romans

852
00:53:16.039 --> 00:53:20.039
sixth seventeen and eighteen speaks about this. It says, but.

853
00:53:22.159 --> 00:53:26.559
And if God causes me to walk in his ways, well,

854
00:53:26.599 --> 00:53:30.119
God doesn't cause me to walk in his ways imperfectly.

855
00:53:30.559 --> 00:53:32.320
Because if God is the one causing me to walk

856
00:53:32.320 --> 00:53:34.440
in his ways, but he doesn't cause me to walk

857
00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:36.960
in them perfectly, then God is the cause of me

858
00:53:37.039 --> 00:53:39.639
not walking them in perfectly. So does God's cause me

859
00:53:39.719 --> 00:53:42.800
to walk in his ways perfectly? Or does God cause

860
00:53:42.840 --> 00:53:45.679
me to walk in them imperfectly? Like this just becomes

861
00:53:45.719 --> 00:53:49.360
so confounding. I don't even know how Christians say these

862
00:53:49.360 --> 00:53:52.920
things and nobody stops and go this makes literally no sense.

863
00:53:55.599 --> 00:53:59.199
Thanks be to God that you were once slaves of sin,

864
00:54:00.079 --> 00:54:02.760
have become obedient from the heart to the standard of

865
00:54:02.800 --> 00:54:06.079
teaching to which you were committed, and having been set

866
00:54:06.199 --> 00:54:11.719
free from sin, and have become slaves of righteousness. So

867
00:54:11.880 --> 00:54:15.280
there's a time where we are complete slaves to sin.

868
00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:19.119
Sin is our master. We can do no other. Even

869
00:54:19.159 --> 00:54:21.360
when we try to fight it on our own, we

870
00:54:21.519 --> 00:54:24.559
go back to the same sin, the same vices, and

871
00:54:24.599 --> 00:54:28.400
we're not able to free ourselves. We are bound and

872
00:54:28.519 --> 00:54:32.800
literally slaves the sin, as Scripture says, but we see

873
00:54:32.800 --> 00:54:37.800
a transition in the heart of a believer. You become

874
00:54:37.920 --> 00:54:41.280
a slave to righteousness. So when you put your.

875
00:54:43.159 --> 00:54:45.480
So in the heart of a believer, you become a

876
00:54:45.639 --> 00:54:49.320
slave to righteousness, a slave to If you're a slave

877
00:54:49.400 --> 00:54:53.199
to righteousness, ladies and gentlemen, if you have a new heart,

878
00:54:53.320 --> 00:54:57.679
I don't you should not sin? Then now is he

879
00:54:57.760 --> 00:55:00.760
going to acknowledge that sin accurse? This is inevitably what's

880
00:55:00.800 --> 00:55:04.679
going to happen. I've been set free, I've been made perfect.

881
00:55:04.920 --> 00:55:08.480
But wait for the butt because at some point, I

882
00:55:08.519 --> 00:55:10.719
bet you there's going to be some acknowledgment of sin.

883
00:55:11.039 --> 00:55:14.159
Every time we listen to this it's the same. It

884
00:55:14.199 --> 00:55:16.679
gets so maddening. Here we go.

885
00:55:18.239 --> 00:55:21.360
Trust in faith, in Christ alone to save you, and

886
00:55:21.400 --> 00:55:25.639
you turn from your sin and repentance, and you fully

887
00:55:25.679 --> 00:55:28.440
trust in Christ alone. He sets you free. Not only

888
00:55:28.480 --> 00:55:33.079
does he save you from God's wrath and eternally secures

889
00:55:33.119 --> 00:55:36.679
you and justifies you by faith, he also sets you

890
00:55:36.760 --> 00:55:39.599
free from sin. You're no longer a slave to sin.

891
00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:43.199
And it's working on the cross breaks those chains. And

892
00:55:43.320 --> 00:55:45.840
I experienced that in my life. There was a time

893
00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:49.400
like I said before, where sin was my master, and

894
00:55:49.440 --> 00:55:51.639
that's all I knew. And even when I would try

895
00:55:51.639 --> 00:55:53.960
to fight on my own, I could not break free.

896
00:55:54.320 --> 00:55:56.639
I would go back right and get discouraged, and go

897
00:55:56.719 --> 00:55:58.760
back and get discouraged. So when the Lord was really

898
00:55:58.800 --> 00:56:02.320
working on my heart and convicting me of my sin

899
00:56:02.719 --> 00:56:05.320
and drawing me to salvation, that was the experience. I

900
00:56:05.360 --> 00:56:08.199
had a constant slavery to sin. I wanted to try

901
00:56:08.199 --> 00:56:10.239
to clean myself up and do the right thing, but

902
00:56:10.280 --> 00:56:13.519
I couldn't. I couldn't on my own. But thanks be

903
00:56:13.599 --> 00:56:17.840
to God, and thanks by his grace, when He solemnly

904
00:56:17.960 --> 00:56:20.960
saved me and opened my eyes to the Gospel and

905
00:56:21.039 --> 00:56:23.760
his finished work on the Cross, I was set free

906
00:56:24.239 --> 00:56:28.039
from sin. Sin was no longer my master. Christ was,

907
00:56:28.480 --> 00:56:31.920
and his ways and his righteousness. In wanting to walk

908
00:56:31.960 --> 00:56:36.480
in his ways, became my master from that day on. Now,

909
00:56:36.519 --> 00:56:39.440
sure we have our setbacks, but we're quick to repent,

910
00:56:39.880 --> 00:56:42.840
quick to turn, quick to rush, rush to his grace

911
00:56:42.880 --> 00:56:46.679
and the cross and experience his forgiveness and get back

912
00:56:46.800 --> 00:56:50.599
up and walk in righteousness. So I wanted to share something.

913
00:56:50.639 --> 00:56:53.800
At that time, when the Lord saved me and opened

914
00:56:53.840 --> 00:56:56.840
my eyes, I was reading rom in six and shortly

915
00:56:56.880 --> 00:57:00.199
after I started writing something down that became someone of

916
00:57:00.239 --> 00:57:03.800
a poem that reflects these verses in Romans six seventeen

917
00:57:03.840 --> 00:57:06.159
and eighteen. So I'd like to share that with you

918
00:57:06.360 --> 00:57:10.079
church family here on this Wednesday. In the word, I

919
00:57:10.199 --> 00:57:15.920
call it set free. So here's what I wrote. I

920
00:57:16.039 --> 00:57:19.199
was a slave to a horrible master. I would try

921
00:57:19.199 --> 00:57:22.800
to run, and he would pursue me faster. On my own,

922
00:57:22.880 --> 00:57:26.480
I could not escape his wrath. I would try to fight,

923
00:57:26.559 --> 00:57:30.400
but remained on a destructive path. It was a battle

924
00:57:30.400 --> 00:57:33.719
I could not win, for I was trapped as a

925
00:57:33.760 --> 00:57:37.679
slave to sin. I knew without a doubt there had

926
00:57:37.719 --> 00:57:40.679
to be a way out. I cried to the Lord above,

927
00:57:41.320 --> 00:57:45.119
and quickly he poured out his love. My Savior came

928
00:57:45.199 --> 00:57:48.400
and set me free. Mastered by sin, I will no

929
00:57:48.519 --> 00:57:52.440
longer be. I was once dead and had no purpose.

930
00:57:53.320 --> 00:57:56.320
I'm now alive in Christ and owe him My service

931
00:57:57.360 --> 00:57:59.840
as a slave to righteousness is what I now give,

932
00:58:00.719 --> 00:58:04.719
And on a path towards holiness is how I now live.

933
00:58:05.800 --> 00:58:07.960
So thank you for taking the time to listen.

934
00:58:10.079 --> 00:58:14.079
Now what he said is we still have setbacks now,

935
00:58:14.119 --> 00:58:16.599
so now we're not gonna call it sin. We just

936
00:58:16.639 --> 00:58:23.079
have setbacks and then we immediately repent. Everything's been made perfect.

937
00:58:24.199 --> 00:58:28.159
I'm a slave to righteousness, but we have setbacks. We're

938
00:58:28.199 --> 00:58:30.199
on the path to holiness. Let me make it very

939
00:58:30.199 --> 00:58:32.400
clear for you. If you're on the path to holiness,

940
00:58:32.519 --> 00:58:34.719
that means you're not holy. And if you're not holy,

941
00:58:34.880 --> 00:58:36.800
you're in a perpetual state of sin. And if you're

942
00:58:36.800 --> 00:58:39.719
in a perpetual state of sin, by definition, you're still

943
00:58:39.719 --> 00:58:42.199
a slave to sin. Because unless you stop.

944
00:58:42.039 --> 00:58:47.679
Sinning, you're still a slave to sin. I don't understand.

945
00:58:48.920 --> 00:58:54.599
It's like talking in circles. Hey, everything's perfect. We've been

946
00:58:54.599 --> 00:58:57.599
completely set free. I mean, we still have setbacks. Why

947
00:58:57.599 --> 00:59:02.039
do we have setbacks? And when did sin become called

948
00:59:02.039 --> 00:59:05.760
a setback? So now my sin is simply a setback.

949
00:59:06.880 --> 00:59:09.360
Before I was a Christian, my sin with sin, But

950
00:59:09.440 --> 00:59:15.800
now it's just a setback. It's just a setback. I'm

951
00:59:15.840 --> 00:59:19.119
no longer a slave to sin. Do you keep sinning?

952
00:59:20.360 --> 00:59:23.760
What is sin? Any lack of conformity to the perfect

953
00:59:23.760 --> 00:59:27.519
standard of God's word and God's law, which is Demand's perfection.

954
00:59:27.840 --> 00:59:30.400
I'm not perfect in thought, I'm not perfect in word.

955
00:59:30.559 --> 00:59:33.039
I'm not perfect. Indeed, I fell in what I do.

956
00:59:33.239 --> 00:59:36.079
I fell in what I don't do. Therefore, I'm in

957
00:59:36.079 --> 00:59:38.239
a perpetual state of sin. If I'm in a perpetual

958
00:59:38.239 --> 00:59:41.079
state of sin, then I'm not free. And if I

959
00:59:41.079 --> 00:59:43.639
can't get to perfection, then I'm enslaved to the thing

960
00:59:43.679 --> 00:59:49.719
that's keeping me from perfection. What is keeping me from perfection? Well,

961
00:59:49.719 --> 00:59:52.440
it can't be any sin in me, because supposedly everything

962
00:59:52.480 --> 00:59:55.679
in me has been completely transformed. Then where is sin

963
00:59:55.840 --> 01:00:00.440
coming from? Can someone tell me? I have always thought

964
01:00:00.679 --> 01:00:04.760
the sin arises from the inside, because the inside is

965
01:00:04.800 --> 01:00:17.519
still corrupt. Look, I would prefer that all Christians would

966
01:00:17.559 --> 01:00:20.119
just say we can be perfect, and I am perfect,

967
01:00:20.119 --> 01:00:22.480
and I barely sin, and if I do sin, I

968
01:00:22.480 --> 01:00:25.400
don't really know why, but it's so infrequent that it

969
01:00:25.440 --> 01:00:27.679
doesn't really bother me. And the fact that you keep

970
01:00:27.719 --> 01:00:30.320
sinning and you keep acknowledging your sin, and you're so

971
01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:33.239
convinced that you're sinning all the time, well you're not safe.

972
01:00:33.480 --> 01:00:35.159
Just say that, and then I can say, well, then

973
01:00:35.159 --> 01:00:39.000
I'm not a Christian because I can't accept your nonsense.

974
01:00:40.239 --> 01:00:42.840
But no, what they want is the best of both worlds.

975
01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:47.199
We are completely new, we're completely transformed. I mean we'll

976
01:00:47.239 --> 01:00:53.079
have setbacks. I mean we're still gonna sin. I mean inevitably.

977
01:00:53.159 --> 01:00:56.000
That's where they will talk a big game and then

978
01:00:56.039 --> 01:00:58.639
inevitably admit, well, I mean we're still going to sin. Well,

979
01:00:58.639 --> 01:01:03.079
if we're still sinning, why why would I still sin?

980
01:01:03.119 --> 01:01:05.559
If I've been completely set free from it? And not

981
01:01:05.599 --> 01:01:08.000
only been set free from it, I have a completely

982
01:01:08.119 --> 01:01:11.840
new nature, and I have the power of God supposedly

983
01:01:11.920 --> 01:01:27.360
moving me to obedience. Now, I don't understand the sixth

984
01:01:27.440 --> 01:01:32.119
Secret Book telling me that if I observe my natural face,

985
01:01:32.159 --> 01:01:35.320
which is my I guess, my new birth. If I

986
01:01:35.400 --> 01:01:37.960
observe the face of my new birth, then what I

987
01:01:38.000 --> 01:01:41.480
will see is that inside I am basically I am perfect.

988
01:01:41.760 --> 01:01:45.360
I'm holy as God is holy inside of me. That's

989
01:01:45.400 --> 01:01:48.840
the nature I have. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that makes

990
01:01:49.559 --> 01:01:52.760
But somehow my body dominates that well, but the Holy

991
01:01:52.800 --> 01:01:55.920
Spirit can overcome that dominance. But the whole Holy Spirit

992
01:01:55.960 --> 01:01:59.639
doesn't just do It makes no sense. It makes literally

993
01:01:59.679 --> 01:02:03.239
no sense. Since look, I don't know about the rest

994
01:02:03.280 --> 01:02:10.599
of Christianity. The only thing I know is this most

995
01:02:10.599 --> 01:02:15.000
merciful God. We confess that we have sinned against You

996
01:02:18.760 --> 01:02:21.920
and thought word indeed, by what we have done and

997
01:02:21.960 --> 01:02:24.440
by what we have left undone, we have not loved

998
01:02:24.480 --> 01:02:26.480
you with our whole heart. We have not loved our

999
01:02:26.519 --> 01:02:29.599
neighbor as ourselves. We are truly sorry, and we humbly

1000
01:02:29.639 --> 01:02:32.840
repent for the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, have

1001
01:02:32.960 --> 01:02:38.400
mercy on us and forgive us. And I know I

1002
01:02:38.440 --> 01:02:43.000
have to confess that in the morning, in the afternoon,

1003
01:02:43.639 --> 01:02:47.480
and the evening, late at night, early in the morning,

1004
01:02:47.960 --> 01:02:50.199
later in the morning, in the middle of the day,

1005
01:02:50.679 --> 01:02:53.440
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, because

1006
01:02:53.480 --> 01:02:55.960
I know I'm perpetually in sin. How do I know

1007
01:02:56.000 --> 01:02:58.679
I'm perpetually in sin? Because I own the same Bible

1008
01:02:58.760 --> 01:03:01.199
you do, and it says be holy as God is holy.

1009
01:03:01.440 --> 01:03:03.880
And I can't do that, never can do that, never

1010
01:03:03.920 --> 01:03:05.679
will do That. Tells me to love God with my

1011
01:03:05.719 --> 01:03:08.000
whole heart, my whole heart, my whole mind, my whole body,

1012
01:03:08.000 --> 01:03:09.000
and whole soul. I never do.

1013
01:03:09.079 --> 01:03:09.159
That.

1014
01:03:09.159 --> 01:03:11.280
Tells me to love my neighbor as myself. It tells

1015
01:03:11.280 --> 01:03:13.079
me to love my enemy. It tells me to turn

1016
01:03:13.119 --> 01:03:15.079
the other cheek. It tells me and I go on

1017
01:03:15.199 --> 01:03:16.960
and on and on and on and on. It tells

1018
01:03:17.000 --> 01:03:20.960
me pride. God hates pride. God hates coveteousness. God hates

1019
01:03:21.360 --> 01:03:23.199
And I can go on and on and on and

1020
01:03:23.239 --> 01:03:25.320
on and on, and all I see is my sin

1021
01:03:25.360 --> 01:03:27.440
and my sin, and my sin and my sin and

1022
01:03:27.480 --> 01:03:30.280
my sin and my sin and my sin. I think

1023
01:03:30.360 --> 01:03:32.440
when I open the Word of God, I do behold

1024
01:03:32.519 --> 01:03:36.000
my natural face. It's the natural face of a sinner,

1025
01:03:36.280 --> 01:03:40.199
because that natural sin, that nature is still inside of me.

1026
01:03:40.639 --> 01:03:45.119
And I am perfect positionally, but practically I'm still a

1027
01:03:45.199 --> 01:03:55.440
sinner and will sin until resurrection, until glorifications. That's the

1028
01:03:55.480 --> 01:03:58.480
only that's the only way. I don't have any other answers.

1029
01:04:00.480 --> 01:04:08.000
All right, I'll stop there. I don't know what I

1030
01:04:08.000 --> 01:04:09.320
don't know what else to say. I don't know what

1031
01:04:09.360 --> 01:04:16.800
else to say. All right, thanks for listening. I'm not

1032
01:04:16.840 --> 01:04:18.519
gonna say have a good day, because I don't know

1033
01:04:18.519 --> 01:04:20.199
how there are anything good. I don't know how anything

1034
01:04:20.239 --> 01:04:22.599
good comes from any of this. It's just maddening. It's

1035
01:04:22.639 --> 01:04:25.639
just madness. And and I don't know. I don't I

1036
01:04:25.679 --> 01:04:26.280
don't get it.

1037
01:04:26.400 --> 01:04:27.039
I don't get it.

1038
01:04:27.079 --> 01:04:29.719
But we had, we started the Six Secrets. We have

1039
01:04:29.760 --> 01:04:31.719
to continue to look at it. So I just all

1040
01:04:31.760 --> 01:04:34.320
I can do is just keep walking through this until

1041
01:04:34.480 --> 01:04:36.719
we come up with something. All right, Thanks for listening,

1042
01:04:36.800 --> 01:04:37.320
God bless