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in the book of Revelation and we are now in chapter 14. So Revelation chapter 14. And

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we're getting into one of these sections. It's a new section and it's what I like to

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call the relief sections. These are really good in the book of Revelation. It reminds

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me of like I don't know if you've ever gone white water rafting or kayaking. There's normally

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some pretty heavy paddling and some rapids. But then every now and then once you get through

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a big rapid there's like an eddy and you get this nice little place of rest and relief

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where you can relax and recover before you get into the heavy stuff again. And that's

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what this section is. It's our eddy in the midst of the book of Revelation where we get

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this nice little recovery because we've been talking about some pretty heavy stuff, some

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pretty fearful things you know. Jesus has been saying all that's going to happen and

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you see all this stuff about this beast who comes out of the sea and then guess what?

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There's another beast who comes from the earth and there's this dragon and all of these creatures,

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beings are here and they're distorting creation and you know corrupting human hearts and they're

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trying to gain allegiance for the beast and Jesus is saying hey here's all this horrible

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stuff that's going to happen and pretty much everybody in the world whose name isn't written

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in the Lamb's book of life, they're all going to give their allegiance to this beast and

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they are going to have his mark on him and ultimately these people are going to be burned

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in the lake of fire and so here's all this horrible stuff that's going to happen and

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then Jesus takes a step back and goes but here's the good news and this is where you

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get Revelation 14. Here's the good news, here's what you have to hope in. So yes it is better

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than that but here is the hope and it follows a nice pattern right? So I want you to pay

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attention to this and if you, if the type of person who takes notes feel free to take

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notes but it's always important when you're reading scripture to notice patterns and as

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we go through the book of Revelation we're talking about these three series of sevens

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right? So you have the seven seals then you have the seven trumpets and then you have

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the seven bowls of God's wrath and something interesting happens with each one of those

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sections. You get the seven things of judgment and then you get a vision of heaven. You get

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a little glimpse of glory, you get one of those little eddies where you can rest and

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relax and have your, you know, your hope assured and you have this great hope to look forward

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to. So it happens after the first six seals, what happens is Jesus says but here's this

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vision of the 144,000 who are with the Lamb and you remember John heard that number and

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then he turns and he sees this multitude that no one can count and so God's saying yes

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all the seals just going to be judgment on earth, it's going to be pretty bad, stars

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are falling, suns burning things up but here are God's people in heaven so that's your

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future have hope in that and then you get the seven trumpets and right after the seven

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trumpets you hear about the war and the two beasts and then you get Revelation 14 and

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God says but remember this is where we're going right so like yeah all this stuff is

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pretty bad, going to be a rocky road getting there but this is your destination and then

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it's going to happen again with the seven bowls of God's wrath which is ultimately going

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to culminate in the marriage supper of the Lamb. So all this bad stuff, whole bunch of

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judgment but then here God and his people and so that's what we're getting into is what

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I like to call a little glimpse of glory and it's just a refresher, an assurance to remind

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us to keep persevering in the faith because Jesus will have the victory and we will get

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to take part in that victory so I want you to look at with me Revelation 14 beginning

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in verse one it says then I looked and behold on Mount Zion stood the Lamb and with him

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144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their forehead so a couple

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teaching points here right so Mount Zion all throughout the Bible this is the city

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of God this is where God dwells this is where God will be with his people it's the city

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of God and he's surrounded by people and who are these people? It's the 144,000 right

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yes so if you'll remember when we talked about this originally in Revelation chapter

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seven we said that this is a group of people that are going to be with the Lamb and there

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are a couple descriptions here so first notice about the 144,000 that they have the name of

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the Lamb and the name of the father written on their foreheads and then at the end of

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verse three it says that they are those who have been redeemed from the earth so we're

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getting a clear picture they've got the name of God on them they've been redeemed from

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the earth and then verses four and five give this description of this group of people it

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is these who have not defiled themselves with women for they are virgins it is these who

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follow the Lamb wherever he goes they have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits

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for God and the Lamb in their mouth no lie was found for they are blameless so let's

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break it down let's identify the 144,000 as we said back in Revelation chapter seven

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there is one view that says that the 144,000 are Jewish people who come to faith during

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a seven year tribulation period and as I said that is entirely possible that is one understanding

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of Revelation and as I've said pretty much every sermon I've ever preached in every lesson

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I've ever told on Revelation we don't have to agree right everybody good we don't have

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to agree that's the great thing there are all sorts of views about Revelation people

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a lot smarter than I are taking different views that's okay so we don't all have to

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agree on this we all believe in Jesus and that's what ultimately matters however I will say

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and this is the view that I put forward is that the 144,000 is representative and symbolic

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of all of God's people throughout all times spanning both covenants so this just refers

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to all of his people and I believe it's because the number 144,000 is symbolic because you

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have 12 times 12 times a thousand that equals 144,000 so there were how many tribes of Israel

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how many apostles of Jesus 12 and then the number 1000 in the Bible is used for a complete

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thing or the fullness of something so like a day is as how many years for the Lord a

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thousand and a thousand years is like one day so it's just a complete set of something

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and so it seems too ironic or too similar for it to be by accident in other words when

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you get 12 times 12 times a thousand to equal 144,000 I think it's a symbolic way of referring

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to all of God's people throughout history spanning both covenants and I have a few more

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reasons for this and we'll put them up there.

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Maison if you could go back to verse number one for me I want you to notice this what

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it says about them in verse one is it says that they have the name of the lamb on their

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forehead and also the name of the father now we mentioned this last week when it came to

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the branding on the forehead what does it represent you remember who owned them right

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so slave masters would brand their slaves on their forehead to show ownership and so

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when it says that we have the name of God on us it's a way of saying that we belong

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to God he owns us we are his people and notice this it's the seal of God but here's what

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really drives it home for me it says that everyone who is there has this name on them

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now something the book of Revelation has made clear to us is that everybody's going to have

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a name on them right the Bible says you're literally going to have a name on you and

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you cannot do anything about that you're either going to have the name of the beast on you

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or you're going to have the name of God on you so all people everywhere without exception

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are going to have a name on them and so I think it doesn't give any credence to the

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view that this is a hundred and forty four thousand literal Jewish people who come to

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faith to say that it's them when what is said about them that they have this name on them

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is true of every single person who believes in Jesus if you are a follower of Jesus if

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you've come to faith in Christ you have the seal of God on you you have his name on you

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and not the beast so it is true of every believer in Jesus because there are only two options

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here's another question that I think is interesting is did you notice this other description about

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the hundred and forty four thousand and I noticed not enough of you became uncomfortable which

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is curious to me because most of you have children and grandchildren did you notice

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that about the hundred and forty four thousand it says that they are virgins who have not

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defiled themselves with women so what do we do about that does this mean that these people

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are literally virgins yeah that's what it says that's true that's what it says so it is technically

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possible though I would say highly unlikely for a few reasons it seems to give the reason

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that they're there is at least in part because they are virgins who have defiled themselves

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with women but that would almost mean that there's another way of salvation like almost

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indicating that hey if you can just remain a virgin then you can be part of this group

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of people because that's one of the things that is necessary in order to get to heaven

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so if you'll just be a virgin that's one way to get to heaven but the Bible says in Acts

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four twelve that there is salvation and no one else other than Jesus for there is no

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other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved also notice too that

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it specifically says that they have not defiled themselves with women so it would mean that

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the hundred and forty four thousand if it is literal would most likely just refer to

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men and not women so if this is literal Jews who are going to come to faith and it means

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that none of those Jewish people who are going to come to faith are women because at this

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time they wouldn't have certainly said that it was possible for a woman to defile themselves

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with another woman it is technically possible but they wouldn't have really been thinking

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about that at this time so it would just mean men are going to heaven and specifically this

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so I don't think it's referring to literal virgins here technically it possibly could

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mean that but I think it is a reference to the faithfulness to God when it says that

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they are virgins who have not defiled themselves with women it is referring to Christians who

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have remained faithful to the relationship with God and not played the adulterous as

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so many have I mean one of the main ways that God reveals his relationship to his people

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throughout the Bible is in terms of a what a marriage right yeah a husband and a wife

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God is the husband and his people are the wife even in the book of Revelation the book

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is going to end by describing the church as being a what adorn for her husband a bride

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right it's the language of the book of Revelation and Revelation is even going to go on to talk

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about playing the part of an adulterous with all these other systems that are in the world

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and so what I think it's referring to here is the hundred and forty four thousand are

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all those who do not commit adultery with the world or with the system of the beast

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they do not walk out on God they remain faithful to God at all times they will start their

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faith journey and they will end their faith journey by having faith in God and I want

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to just add some relief here from some worries that might be arising because maybe you're

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reading this and you're thinking well I haven't been faithful I haven't always been a faithful

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person in a relationship with God I have given into sin I've given into temptation I haven't

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always had a perfect walk with God and so maybe that's concerning you because you're

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like well if this is true I have played the adulterous many times in my life I'm not this

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perfectly faithful person that is describing here and I want to just encourage you by reminding

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you that the Bible isn't saying that those in heaven are those who had a perfect relationship

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with God it's saying that those who are in heaven with God are those who never abandoned

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their relationship with God I mean just think about a marriage for a second right you think

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about marriage marriage isn't always perfect is it there are difficulties there are highs

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there are lows there are ups and downs there are some heated arguments and some slamming

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of doors and going to a different room like marriage is not always picture perfect but

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but here's here's my thing when you look at people and you would say they have a good

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marriage and you you aspire to have the type of marriage what makes it so good is not that

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it's always been perfect and easy what makes it so good is that they're still together

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that's what makes a good marriage it's not that you never have fights it's not that you

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never have your disagreements the the sign of a good marriage is even through all the

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fights and even through all the ups and downs you're still committed to each other you've

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said that this relationship is worth committing ourselves to and no matter what happens we're

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staying with it and that's what the Bible is saying here about our relationship with

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God God's not expecting perfection he's expecting endurance and the best news about all of this

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at least for me is your ability to continue in your relationship with God is not dependent

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on you and that's good news for me it's not about how strong your faith is it's not about

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how tightly you cling to God the reason you remain in the faith is because of how tightly

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God clings on to you that is the reason you're still in the faith Jesus said that he would

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lose none of those whom the father gave to him no one can pluck us from his hand and

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so ultimately it's not about you it's about God the reason you will never depart from

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the faith if you're a true believer is because God will not allow his glory to be diminished

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or his power to be questioned by losing any of his people you see if if God was able to

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save someone and that person was able to truly leave the faith and walk away from the faith

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they would be questioning the character of God not you they would be saying what is his

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power to save what is his power to preserve his people God will not allow his glory to

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be diminished like that the best thing I can tell you and this is the encouraging news

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for me is that the father will not allow his son to shed his blood in vain if you are cleansed

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and covered by the blood and the father has saved you in Christ Jesus you will never leave

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the faith because the father will not allow his son to shed his blood in vain Jesus will

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receive the reward for his sufferings and so we will be with him forever in glory because

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he will not allow us to be lost he will hold us fast and we need to notice this other description

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here of this group it says that they are the ones who follow the lamb and again this is

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true of every single person who is a Jesus follower not just a select group of people

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it goes on to say that they have been redeemed from mankind as first fruits for God in the

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lamb and again this is a reference to all Christians not just a future group of Jewish

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converts because James says in James 1 18 of his own will he brought us forth by the

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word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures who's he referring

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to there to Christians yes good job guys to Christians Jesus is the first fruits of God's

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new creation and all of his followers all those whom he saves they become first fruits

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of his creation as well and if the Bible says here that Jesus has redeemed us so here's

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my question to you this is a word we throw out all the time in church redeem redemption

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what does it mean what does it mean that Jesus redeemed us save us from our sin pay the price

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okay anybody else okay cashing in yeah we got some right hitters here Brian I'm gonna

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say you're a little bit the closest here yeah Jesus paid a price the word redemption or

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redeeming the Bible literally means to purchase with a price in Greek the word is literally

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used to mean to buy something and the Bible says in 1st Corinthians 6 19 through 20 you

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were not your own for you were bought with a price so glorify God in your body so the

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Bible is saying that Jesus literally paid a price for our freedom and salvation and

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what was that price that he paid his blood his own life right he gave himself and shed

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his blood to buy us back into redeem us and so we are not our own and I want you to just

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think for a moment because I know we we read Jesus redeemed us and we kind of give it a

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little bit of thought but we move right along but I want you to just think about the implications

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this has for our lives because it means that we don't just get to do whatever we want to

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simply because we want to do it I mean you hear the phrase today a lot my body my choice

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right well actually it's literally not your body and theologically it's also not your

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body the Bible says here that your body belongs to Christ my body belongs to Christ my mind

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belongs to Christ my time belongs to Christ my money belongs to Christ whatever I think

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is mine is actually Christ and so we don't get to just do whatever we want with the things

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that we think are ours all that we have and all that we are belongs to Jesus because Jesus

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is the one who paid the price for our lives he bought us and so we are not our own we

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belong to Christ and I just think like if we took a moment to just think about the implications

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this would have in our lives if we actually believe this and live this out I mean if it's

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true that my time belongs to Christ then it means I should be using my time in such a

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way that is honoring and glorifying to God it's okay to rest all right I have to remind

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myself that I'm very bad at it but I do like to remind myself it's okay to rest but there

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is nothing good about wasting time there's nothing redeemable about that you are to make

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the most of the time that God gives you so yes rest when you need rest but when you have

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time use it to the glory of God for things that are going to be honoring to him if it's

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true that my money belongs to Christ then it means that I shouldn't be indulgent but

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I should use my money in such a way that it's going to honor Christ and further his purposes

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in the world if it's true that my body belongs to Christ then I should use my bodies in my

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body in a way that's going to bring honor and glory to Christ if my thoughts belong to

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Christ then I've got to do what Paul says in 1 Corinthians and I've got to take every

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thought captive and make it submissive to Christ because he owns even my thoughts in

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my mind if it's true that my mouth belongs to Christ then I should be using my mouth

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to bring honor and glory to God not tear other people down and defame the name of Jesus

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I want you to just think about your life for a second everything that you are and everything

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that you have belongs to Christ how much of it is actually dedicated to him how much of

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it are you actually using for his honor in his glory I mean do you see how drastically

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our lives would change if we actually believe this and lived it out that we belong to Christ

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because he purchased us with his blood this is what separates God's people from the rest

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of the world by the way it's not that God's people just go to church sometimes that's

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not what separates us from the rest of the world what separates us from the rest of

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the world is that we are slaves of righteousness rather than slaves of sin that we live our

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lives to the glory of God alone and not just for ourselves and this passage goes on to say

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that this hundred and forty four thousand people they are blameless you see that they

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are the end of verse five everyone who is a part of the hundred and forty four thousand

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how do we feel about that one pretty confident okay that's good yes there you go I know none

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of us would actually say that we are blameless in and of ourselves right we're all good on

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that we're on the same page unless we just got some really great people in here like

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you know what actually all my best days maybe no I think we're I think we're all in agreement

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like we're not in and of ourselves we're not blameless because we know ourselves too well

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for that don't we we know our past we know all our shortcomings and all our failures

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all our mistakes we know the sin that still cling so tightly to us but this is as Monaco

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is alluding to the beauty of justification by faith alone in Christ alone because the

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Bible tells us that when we repent of our sins and trust in Christ though we are ungodly

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and though we are guilty before God the Bible says that God declares us to be right in his

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eyes on the basis of Jesus's own righteousness right so a lot of theological jargon here's

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how that plays out actually right imagine a bank account we all have an account with

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God and you might be thinking well it's not the greatest account right no it's worse than

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that because some people are like well I guess my accounts at zero you wish it was at zero

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okay actually our accounts in the negative like infinitesimally in the negative just

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to infinity it is in the negative to God we have this huge debt that we could never actually

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pay back to God and so here's what happens when a person repents of their sins and they

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trust in Jesus for salvation God transfers the righteousness of Christ to our account

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he credits it to our account so that now our account is not just back at zero it's all

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the way in the positive and we have this right standing with God not because of something

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we've done or something that we've earned but because Jesus has given it to us freely

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and the father has credited it to our account and so we have a right standing with God that

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is how we can be declared blameless it's not because we actually are blameless it's because

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we have the righteousness of Christ credited to us so that when God looks at us he no longer

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sees our sin he sees our righteousness in Christ he sees the very righteousness of Christ

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do you know how good this is for us because I'll tell you what I remember my sin on pretty

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much a daily basis I mean I go through it all the time and here's what I know about

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Christians sometimes we get hung up on that sin and when you look at yourself in the mirror

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sometimes all you see is that sinner that failure and the encouraging thing for you to know

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this evening is that when God looks at you that is not what he sees he doesn't see that

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sinner or that failure he sees a child who has been washed by the blood of Jesus and

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has the righteousness of Christ in his account so that he treats you as a son and a daughter

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and he loves you with the love of a father that's good is it not I mean that's so encouraging

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maybe just for me I don't know it could just be for me but that is really encouraging I

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think it should help us move past a lot of things in our life because here's something

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I know that we a lot of us struggle with and a lot of people that I counsel struggle with

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is that they get so hung up on past sins and things that they've done that they say I could

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never forgive myself for this and they don't they continue to let it rule over them and

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dictate their feelings about themselves and they say no matter what I could never forgive

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myself for what I did here's what I want to say to you this evening I know that might

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seem like a righteous thing to do I know it might seem like a humble thing to do do not

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act as though you are a more righteous judge than God and here's what I mean by that if

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God can forgive your sin you should be willing to forgive it as well and I know that's hard

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to move past because it does affect us and it has played a huge role in our life but

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you are not a more righteous judge than God and if God has seen fit to forgive that sin

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you have to be willing to accept that forgiveness and forgive yourself as well and know that

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God is working on you that you're not the same person you were he is transforming you

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more and more into the image of his son and he is sanctifying you by his spirit that is

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the hope that we have here and finally I just want you to listen to this the voice of this

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great multitude verses two through three it said I heard a voice from heaven like the

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roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder and the voice I heard was like

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the sound of harp is playing on their harps and they were singing a new song before the

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throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders no one could learn the

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song except the hundred and forty four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth and so

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notice this about God's people the united voice of God's redeem it says powerful as

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a waterfall it's as loud as thunder and yet it's as melodic as a harp with one voice

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the redeemed of the Lord sing in and what exactly are they singing they're singing a

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new song that no one can learn except those who are redeemed of God and what exactly

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is this new song well I don't know exactly the words to it yet I will one day praise

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be the Lord but I have an idea it is a fresh perspective on an old truth you know some

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of our old hymns some of the old hymns have these nuggets of wisdom in there that are

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so applicable you know the old hymn I love to tell the story right we all know that one

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pretty well I wonder if you picked up in that hymn that it's referencing revelation here

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because it says these beautiful words and when in scenes of glory I sing the new new

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song revelation 14 to will be the old old story that I have loved so long you see when

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we sing that new song it is a new song but it's a song about an old old story that we

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have loved so long it's a song about God's redemption of his people in Christ but it's

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going to be new because at that moment we're going to have the full experience of God's

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redemption at that point we will be like Christ because the Bible says we're going to see

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him as he is and we will become like him for we will see him face to face we will experience

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glorification as our final state in the completion of our full salvation there'll be no more

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hindrances between us and God we will experience God personally and because we will have a

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completed salvation we'll have the full story and not just hearing it but by living it and

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in that moment we will raise our voices and we will sing this new song about an old old

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story that we have loved and treasured all the days of our life this is the destiny of

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God's people this is our hope this is our assurance and I want you to notice that God

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is not giving a picture of a possible future he's not saying hey best case scenario this

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is what happens right like all this stuff about the beast and the dragon if things play

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out our way this is what we're hoping for one day and the Bible says this is what's

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going to happen and it is going to happen exactly as it is written this is a certainty

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this is where we will end up this is who we will be with and what it will be like and

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it's written to encourage us not to lose faith through all of life's difficulties and trials

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through the beast persecution and opposition persevere in the midst of them resist the

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beast forsake the world cling to the lamb and look forward to the glory that is to come

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and know that this is going to happen one day and you will get to be there and not a

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single person in heaven will be bragging no one's going to be looking around going I know

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why I'm here not sure why you're here I know what I did I'd like to see your list it's

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not going to be that way all of God's redeemed will be there and we will be singing of one

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person the lamb of God who made our salvation not only possible but actual who not only

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saved us but preserved us and we will be with him forever because he will not lose even

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one of his eye that's the encouragement that we have here do you notice how that's an

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eddy now we went through the turbulent waters we went through the rapids and God says here

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have a breather good things are coming this is a glimpse of glory and it is very sweet

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to our souls alright Doug give you the word of wisdom tonight