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If you're curious, yes, my preaching calendar is incredibly messed up.

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We're supposed to be in Colossians 3 today, and we're not through Chapter 2.

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So the preaching calendar is null and void at this point, but we are continuing in our

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study of Colossians going into Chapter 2 and the final part there.

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And shortly after the Lord saved me, I began participating in a non-denominational contemporary

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worship service held in the building of a traditional Methodist church.

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Have you heard that one before?

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Probably not.

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It actually happened.

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Yeah, there was a traditional Methodist church.

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It was my home church where I grew up, and they allowed a non-denominational contemporary

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worship service to be held there.

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And so I was participating in that, and I was playing music for them, and that's also

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where I started preaching my very first sermons.

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And I often pray for those people for having to listen to those very first sermons, so

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God have mercy on their souls.

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But it was really interesting because it was at that time that I felt the Lord was calling

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me into pastoral ministry.

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And I had the church confirm that.

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A lot of people told me that I should consider going into ministry.

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But the problem was, in order to go into ministry, I needed to go to school, and I wanted to

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go to North Greenville because I think they have the best Christian studies program anywhere

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in the country.

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And so I wanted to go to North Greenville, but the problem was I had a debt at North

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Greenville that prevented me from being able to reapply.

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Because if you remember, I went to North Greenville for a semester, and then I was temporarily

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paralyzed, had a dropout of school, and I had a debt there remaining that I could not reapply

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until it was taken care of.

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Now the debt was not big.

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It was about $1,200.

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But I was making $100 a week at this worship service.

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So that was a year's salary for me.

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So it seemed insurmountable to me.

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I didn't think I was going to be able to pay that off.

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And then something interesting happened, I was having a conversation with the guy who

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was leading this service one day.

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His name is Chris Pitts, and I believe in giving credit where it's due.

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So his name's Chris Pitts, and he pulled me aside into a separate room, and I thought,

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oh man, I'm in trouble.

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It was something I said in one of my sermons.

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I'm about to get kicked out of this service.

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But he pulled me aside, and he said, hey, Andrea and I, Andrea is his wife.

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He said, we see how the Lord has blessed you.

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And we see that he's calling you into ministry, and we really want to help contribute to that.

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We want to see you go through and go back to school.

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And so he handed me a check for exactly $1,200.

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And he said, we just got our tax return.

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We wanted to give this to you.

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I hope this can help.

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Now that might not have seemed like a lot to him, because I don't know what they got

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back on their tax return.

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It could have been a lot more than that.

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It might not have seemed like a lot to them.

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But to me, that act was everything, because by that one act, he was taking care of this

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problem from my past.

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He was canceling a debt that was being held against me, and he was giving me the opportunity

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to pursue the future that God was calling me to.

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And it's amazing.

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I was thinking about that as I was studying this passage, because that's very similar

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to what Paul is saying here in Colossians chapter two.

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He wants the Colossians to understand that as Christians, there are certain benefits

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that you have, but he also wants you to understand that those benefits only come to you through

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Jesus.

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You do not get them through worldly philosophy.

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You do not get them through religious legalism, or even through mysticism or being super

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spiritual.

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They only come to you through Jesus.

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And I want you to notice, if you have your Bible and you write in your Bible, you can

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get a pen, I want you to notice how much of an emphasis Paul puts on Jesus in this passage.

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You can start in verse nine.

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The Bible says, in him, circle that phrase, in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells

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bodily.

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In verse 10, he says, you have been filled in him.

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Verse 11, he says, in him, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.

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Verse 12, he says, and you were buried with him in baptism, and you were also raised with

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him through faith.

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In verse 13, he says, God made us alive together with him.

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And in verse 15, he says, God triumphed over rulers and authorities in him.

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So my question, church, who is the passage about?

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It's about Jesus, right?

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It's very clearly about Jesus.

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It is all centered on and rooted in Jesus.

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He's saying these benefits, yes, they come to you, but they only come through Jesus and

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what he did for us on the cross.

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And so the point he's trying to make is that we get to enjoy the blessings of new life

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in Christ because Jesus paid it all.

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We get to enjoy the blessings of new life in Christ because Jesus paid it all.

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And that's the title of this message this morning.

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It's also why I had Mazzan sing that hymn earlier like we did.

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I love that hymn.

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Jesus paid it all.

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In the fifth verse, you might know it, but Baptists typically don't sing five verses,

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but the fifth verse, it says this, and when before the throne, I stand in him complete.

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Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat.

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Jesus paid it all.

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All to him I owe.

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When had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.

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And I can't help but wonder if the author of that hymn was thinking about and reading

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Colossians as she wrote it because that's exactly what Paul says here.

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We are complete in Christ and we will stand before the throne of God complete and even

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then, even after we've been there 10,000 years, we will still say I am here for one

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reason and one reason only and that is because Jesus Christ paid it all.

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And so here's the question I want us to consider this morning.

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If there are benefits to being in Christ, what are the benefits of new life in Christ?

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What are the benefits of new life in Christ?

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And Paul's going to mention at least two of them here that we get to enjoy now because

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Jesus paid it all.

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You can see the first one there in verses 11 through 12.

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Notice it says, in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by

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putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

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Having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through

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faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.

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Now Paul is going to mention here as he does two rites or two rituals and they are circumcision

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and baptism.

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And both of these were Jewish rituals.

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You might say, hold on pastor, that's baptism, that's a Christian thing, that's not a Jewish

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thing.

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Actually it is a Jewish thing.

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The Jewish people practiced baptism before the Christians practiced baptism, different

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kind of meaning to both of them but some similarities there.

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But the reason that Paul is mentioning these two things is because the false teachers who

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were coming into the Colossian church trying to corrupt them and lead them astray were

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insisting that you must be circumcised in order to be saved.

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So if you were a male believer they said it is impossible for you to be a Christian unless

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you were circumcised.

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And this was going on not just in the Colossian church but it was widespread.

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We read in Acts 15.1, but some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers

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unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you what?

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Cannot be saved.

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It's impossible for you to be saved.

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So think back to the Old Testament.

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Jewish males were circumcised on the eighth day of life.

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And this was a physical act that was intended to correspond to a spiritual or inner reality.

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When you put aside the flesh you were saying symbolically, spiritually I am committing myself

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to putting aside the life of the flesh and living according to the flesh and the sins

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of the flesh.

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I am committing myself to living for God and following him.

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And this was also the sign of the covenant.

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Now here's the problem with circumcision and it became the problem with baptism as well

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by the way.

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People were taking the ritual and they were treating it like it was a magic charm.

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And so people were basically saying as long as I am circumcised or because I have been

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circumcised I am absolutely right in God's eyes.

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I am absolutely going to heaven when I die.

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I have no doubts about my salvation because I have been circumcised.

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You see the same mentality today with baptism as well.

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Do you not?

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I wish I had a notebook for this where I have recorded every single time because I cannot

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tell you the number of times I have had a conversation with someone about salvation.

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And I ask them, do you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ?

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And their response is yes sir pastor, I was baptized when I was seven years old.

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Fantastic.

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That's great.

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I was baptized like four times.

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Okay, so imagine what that means to me.

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I didn't ask you if you had ever been dunked before.

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I asked you if you had a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and listen to me church,

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your baptism does nothing to answer that question.

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Do you understand that?

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Do we get that?

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Just because you've been baptized does not mean you're going to get to be with God forever.

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But that was the problem.

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The ceremony stopped representing this inward reality and instead it became this magic charm.

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And you might say, well pastor, surely no one at the time actually believed that circumcision

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saved them.

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But they did.

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In fact, the Jewish rabbis at the time had two very famous saints.

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The first one was circumcised men do not go to Gehenna.

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Circumcised men do not go to Gehenna.

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And the second one was circumcision will deliver Israel from Gehenna.

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So what were the people of Israel trusting in?

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Circumcision right?

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Yeah.

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So their trust was not in God's saving power to deliver them and rescue them.

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All of their hope and their trust was placed in circumcision to deliver them.

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And Paul is confronting this idea and notice he doesn't say, therefore now go and be circumcised.

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Instead he says, in him you were circumcised.

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The circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of flesh, the circumcision of

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Christ.

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And you might say, well, what does that actually mean pastor?

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What is the circumcision of Christ?

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It's referring to Jesus's death on the cross, his crucifixion.

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At the cross it wasn't just part of his body that was cut off, but it was his entire body

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that was cut off and put to death at the cross.

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And the Bible is saying that when we are united to Jesus by faith, we partake in that circumcision

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and get to benefit from it.

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So obviously it's not speaking literally here, but spiritually, because we did not literally

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die at the cross, but spiritually speaking we were put to death at the cross of Christ

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and so were our sins.

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So was the body of flesh because we get to partake in his death through faith.

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And spiritually speaking, I mean circumcision was always understood to represent something

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spiritual.

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Moses even said all the way back in Deuteronomy 10.16.

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Is therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn.

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So what is he saying there?

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You went through with the ritual.

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That's great.

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That's fantastic.

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But unless that ritual corresponds with an inner spirituality, it's meaningless.

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And the same thing is true of baptism.

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If after your baptism you continue living the same way you did before your baptism, then

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your baptism was a lie because it doesn't actually correspond to something inward and

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spiritual about you.

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You just went through the waters.

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And that's great that you did that, but it's useless and meaningless unless it corresponds

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to something true of you spiritually.

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And you need to understand that both circumcision and baptism, they have to do with cleansing.

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In circumcision when you put aside the flesh, it was a cleansing of the flesh.

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It was symbolically saying I'm putting aside the sins of the flesh and living according

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to the flesh.

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And so you are cleansed from those sins.

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The same thing is true about baptism.

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The water in part symbolizes being washed clean of all of our sins.

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And also this passage here is why we as Baptists baptize by immersion.

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I mean for one the Greek word baptizo, it means literally to immerse.

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And so we baptize by immersion, but also it's because of the picture that we get here from

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these verses.

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And if you're a visual learner, I've included a picture for you to look at.

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But notice what this passage says and how it corresponds to baptism.

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You think about the act of baptism.

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As we descend into the waters, it is a picture of us dying to ourselves, dying to our flesh,

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dying to our sins and being buried with him.

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And so that's exactly what it says here in verse 12, that we were buried with him.

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That's the picture of descending.

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And then as you rise out of the waters, it's a picture of having new life in Christ, of

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being made new and washed clean and raised to life with Christ through faith in him,

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as it says here in verse 12.

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So that's the whole reason that we do that by the way, and there's just a picture for

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you.

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But here's what I want you to understand.

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So everybody pay attention to this.

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Listen to this.

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That is what baptism pictures, but baptism cannot make that a reality.

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Do we understand that?

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That's the picture of baptism, but baptism does not actually make that a reality.

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You can think about it like this.

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Anna and I, we know this couple, and they were serving as missionaries in Africa.

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And they used to post pictures all the time with updates from their ministry and marriage

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and videos and pictures and everything.

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And we would look at them and we'd think, man, everything is going great over there.

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Like this is amazing.

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They've got this thriving ministry.

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They look so happy together.

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Everything seems to be going great.

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And so we called them recently to find out how we could partner with them in their ministry

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over there.

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We wanted to be part of it.

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And when Anna called, that's when she found out that not only was their ministry completely

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over, but their marriage was over because the wife had cheated on her husband with another

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man.

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And it was a painful reminder to me that you can post all the happy pictures you want to

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try to portray your life and your marriage in a certain way to other people.

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But listen to me.

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You posting those happy pictures can actually give you a happy marriage.

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It can picture it, but it can't make it a reality.

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In the same way Paul is saying that circumcision and baptism, they cannot make you right with

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God.

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They cannot save you.

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Only Jesus can do that.

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You have to turn from your sins and trust in Him.

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And when you do that, the Bible says you will be cleansed.

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And so the point that Paul is making here is because Jesus paid it all, he has completely

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cleansed us from all our sins.

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Because Jesus paid it all, he has completely cleansed us from all our sins.

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And the great news for you as a Christian this morning is that Jesus has cleansed you

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so completely and in such a way that none of your past sins and none of your present

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sins and none of your future sins can damage or corrupt the cleansing that Jesus has brought

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about in your life.

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You might ask, well, how's that possible pastor?

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Because here's two things I know about everybody.

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Number one, nobody in this room is perfect.

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Amen.

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Yeah, we should all agree to that.

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And then number two is that every single person in this room, your pastors included still

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struggle with sin.

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Right?

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None of us are perfect and we all still struggle with sin.

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And so if sin is what condemned us in the first place, how is it possible that we can

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still struggle with sin but it not actually damage or corrupt our soul?

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Well, as many of you know, I used to work at Lowe's and when I worked at Lowe's, I worked

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in the flooring department.

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So I was working with tile pretty much every day, which is not good for your back or knees,

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but I did it and it was not fun.

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So I don't plan on going back there.

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So y'all keep me around for a little bit, but I worked with tile and it was interesting

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because I'd have people come in and they always made sure to get their mortar and their tile

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and their grout.

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They're pretty much the three main things they got.

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And I always told them, make sure that you get a sealer for your grout.

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And that's a skipped step, but there's a reason you do that.

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It's because when you seal the grout, it keeps dirt from damaging or corrupting the grout

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itself or from losing color.

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It's also really helpful because any bit of dirt that does get on it, you can just easily

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remove it without it corrupting the grout underneath.

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In a very remarkably similar way, the Bible says that when Jesus saved us, God did not

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leave us unsealed.

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If Jesus had simply died on the cross force and then left us unsealed, the very first

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time you sinned after your salvation, your soul would be corrupted again.

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You would be damned all over again.

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And yet the Bible says that when Jesus died for our sins and when we trust in him, that

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God the Father seals us with the promised Holy Spirit.

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And because we have the promised Holy Spirit as our seal, our soul is completely unable

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to be corrupted or damaged again by our sins.

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That's the great news for Christians is that no matter how much you still struggle, God

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has sealed you and he keeps you and he will not allow you to fall or be lost or allow

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your soul to be corrupted because you have this sealing brought about in your life where

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you had sin that stains you now.

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The Bible says our garments have been washed white as snow.

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You read about that in Revelation 7.14.

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They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.

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Are you thinking back to the song that we sang earlier, sin had left a what?

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A crimson stain.

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He washed it white as snow.

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And so really what the point here is that if you are in Christ, this blessing is yours,

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you now are called to put off the body of the flesh and live a new life for Jesus.

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So listen to me say it like this.

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You cannot claim to be a Christian and you cannot claim to have new life in Christ if

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nothing about your life actually changes.

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There has to be some visible change that comes about in your life.

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We read in Romans 6 verses 6 through 7.

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We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be

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brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has

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been set free from sin.

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And so it is in Christ that you have this freedom and it is only those in Christ who

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can actually live life to the fullest because it is only those in Christ who are no longer

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under the domination of sin.

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We're no longer enslaved to sin.

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Jesus has set us free because at his cross he paid it all for us.

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I want you to notice also this other benefit here in verses 13 and 14.

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It says in you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God

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and made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record

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of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

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This he set aside nailing it to the cross and all of God's people said, Amen to that.

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I mean these are some wonderful verses and I think it's something that's really clearly

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articulated here but hopefully you didn't miss is that these verses make it very clear

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that salvation is entirely, not partially, not mostly, salvation is entirely a work of

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God.

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Do you see that here?

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The Bible says you were dead and God made you alive together with him.

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These verses do not say that you were made alive because you decided to be made alive

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one day.

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These verses do not say that it was because you tried your very best to be made alive

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and these verses do not say that you did your part and met God halfway and God honored your

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effort and decided to make you alive together with Christ.

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These verses teach that you were dead but God made you alive together with Christ.

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And it has to be a work of God.

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And the reason it has to be a work of God is because here's the thing about dead people.

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Dead people can't do anything.

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And so if you are truly dead in your sins there is nothing you can do to help yourself.

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You can't make a decision, you can't do anything that is pleasing to God without God first

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doing something in your heart.

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Think about it like this, if I were to suddenly die here in this pulpit as is my dream though

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Anna tells me I can't say that anymore but if that were to happen today and I were to

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drop dead in this pulpit it would be absolutely pointless for you to come up here and shake

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me and say Pastor Alex do you want us to continue with the service?

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Do you see why that would be ridiculous?

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Because dead people can't make decisions folks.

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Dead people can't do anything.

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It is one of the key defining characteristics of being dead.

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And so these verses are not saying good for you, you did everything that was needed to

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be done and God honored that.

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According to what these verses are saying and marvel at it with me these verses are showing

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and displaying the unbelievable mercy and grace and love of God towards His people.

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That He would look at people who rebelled against Him, who deserve death and damnation,

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who can do nothing for themselves, who are literally dead in their sins, unable to do

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anything to save themselves, make themselves alive or do anything pleasing to God and for

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no other reason than God's own glory and because of His great mercy He decided to make you

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alive together with Christ.

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So long before you ever made a decision for Christ and I know that's our common phrase

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in the church we made a decision for Christ, listen to me say this, long before you ever

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made a decision for Christ God made a decision for you.

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And He decided to show you mercy and grace when you deserve death and damnation and He

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breathed new life into you and made you alive together with Christ.

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Praise God for what He has done.

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And you might ask well how did He do this exactly?

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How are we made alive?

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It says by forgiving us all our trespasses and canceling the record of death that stood

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against us, this He set aside by nailing it to the cross.

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And there's actually a really beautiful parallel here that maybe you haven't thought about

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before.

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But if you remember the crucifixion of Jesus the Bible says they nailed a sign to His cross.

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I've included a picture here for you to look at.

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It was written in Aramaic, in Greek, and in Latin so that everybody could read it and

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see.

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And this is what the Bible says in Matthew 2737.

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And over His head they put the charge against Him, now you can write that word down, circle

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it, underline it, keep that in mind.

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They put the charge against Him which read this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

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Here's what you need to understand.

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This inscription was meant to declare to the world and everybody watching the crucifixion

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the crime for which Jesus was being crucified.

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This was the charge so that anybody who looked at the cross they could see this is why He's

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dying.

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Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews.

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The Jewish people said that that was blasphemy and so He deserved to die for that blasphemous

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sin in their eyes.

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But here's what's amazing.

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That was only the visible charge that was nailed to the cross.

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The Bible tells us here that there were all sorts of other charges nailed to that cross

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that no one except God knew about.

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The Bible is saying that God took every single sin you have ever committed.

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And He took every single sin that you would ever commit.

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He took every single reason He had not to love you and not to include you in His family

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and not to give you eternal life.

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He took every single reason to condemn you and then God nailed it to the cross.

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And those were the charges for which Christ actually died.

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Nothing that He had done.

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Everything that we have done.

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And those were the charges against Him.

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That's why the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 that He made Him to be sin who knew

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no sin.

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After that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

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When Jesus shed His own blood the payment for our sin was made and the record of debt

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that stood against us was canceled forever.

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And so the point is because Jesus paid it all, He has canceled our debt entirely.

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Because Jesus paid it all, He has canceled our debt entirely.

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Now everyone in here knows this this morning, right?

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Yes, this is nothing novel.

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Everyone knows this because this is a common church thing to know.

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But maybe you haven't thought about the implications for your life.

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Because here's what I've noticed just from my interaction with other Christians.

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If you're a Christian the Bible says that all of your sins have been forgiven, yes?

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But I talk to people and they say, I know that God says I'm forgiven but I can't forgive myself.

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The Bible says in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10 that God chooses to remember our sins no longer.

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Yet it has been my experience with Christians that they can't seem to forget their sins.

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The Bible says here that the record of debt that stood against us has been canceled entirely.

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And yet how many Christians today are still holding that debt against themselves?

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My question to you is if God no longer holds your sins against you then why are you still

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holding your sins against yourself?

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If God has truly canceled our debt then church, shouldn't the guilt that came with that debt

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equally be canceled?

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I love the story the great reformer Martin Luther told of a dream he had one night.

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And he said in this dream Satan came to him and Satan brought with him this scroll and

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he unrolled it before Luther.

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And written in that scroll in Luther's own hands were all the sins he had ever committed.

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And it was signed at the bottom with Luther's own signature.

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And Satan asked him, did you really do all of this?

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And Luther said yes, I did.

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And so Satan continued to bring him scroll after scroll after scroll and each time he

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would ask him, have you really done all of these things and you think that God loves

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you?

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You think you're going to get to be with God forever?

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You think that you're saved after you have done all of these things?

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And Luther said that he was overwhelmed by guilt in that moment until he reflected on

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the gospel message and he finally looked to Satan and he said it is true.

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Every word of it.

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But mark it out and write across it, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from

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all sins.

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Luther went on to say, when I look to myself, I can't see how I could possibly be saved.

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When I look to Jesus, I can't see how I could possibly be lost.

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That is what Jesus has done for us.

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And I want to warn you about this.

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Satan still does this same thing today.

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The Bible calls Satan the accuser.

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And he loves nothing more than reminding Christians of all of their sins, reminding Christians

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of all the reasons God shouldn't love them, reminding Christians of all the debt they

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owe to God because of their sins.

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And you know what happens when he does this to us?

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How often are we like Luther and we're overwhelmed with our guilt?

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And we feel burdened by it.

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I know myself personally, I carry this around all the time when I think back over my life

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and all that I've done, and that guilt weighs on me and it burdens me.

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And I'm tempted to believe the lies of the accuser, which is why it is so important for

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all of us to remember in those times that it is not the cleanness of our living, and

465
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:45,120
it is not the greatness of our life that will silence the ancient enemy Satan.

466
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:51,240
The Bible says it is the blood of the Lamb that silences the accuser.

467
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:56,840
Revelation 12.11 says, And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word

468
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:03,200
of their testimony, for they love not their lives even unto death.

469
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:08,920
You see the way the Bible pictures it is that Satan is like a prosecuting attorney in the

470
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,560
courtroom of God.

471
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:21,080
And just as much as Jesus lives to make intercession for his people, Satan lives to accuse God's

472
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:22,720
people.

473
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:28,040
And he goes before the Lord and he throws out accusation after accusation.

474
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,760
And he demands that God give his people what they deserve.

475
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:34,360
These people are horrible.

476
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:35,360
They deserve death.

477
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:36,440
They deserve damnation.

478
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:37,800
They deserve nothing good.

479
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:44,840
And he says, God, if you were just and if you were righteous, you will condemn them.

480
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:47,480
But then praise be the Lord.

481
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:52,120
The Bible says our defense attorney, Jesus, stands up.

482
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:57,720
And he says, Father, Your honor, everything he says is true.

483
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:01,200
They are guilty on all counts.

484
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:06,200
But everything that he has just said, I've already paid for.

485
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:11,600
And everyone he's just accused is covered by my blood.

486
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,720
And with that, the case is settled.

487
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:20,080
That's why the Bible says in Romans 8, verses 33 and 34, who shall bring any charge against

488
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:21,960
God's elect?

489
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,960
It is God who justifies.

490
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:25,960
Listen to that church.

491
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:27,800
You don't justify yourself.

492
00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:29,680
Your life doesn't justify you.

493
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,200
Your baptism doesn't justify you.

494
00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:36,960
Satan cannot bring a charge against God's elect because God is the one who justifies.

495
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:38,320
Who is to condemn?

496
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,020
Not Satan, because Christ Jesus is the one who died.

497
00:33:42,020 --> 00:33:48,560
More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God and is indeed interceding

498
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,360
for us.

499
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:56,720
How great is that to know and to remember on a daily basis that as often as Satan gets

500
00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:03,360
up to accuse you, Jesus gets up to defend you and to plead his life and his blood over

501
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:04,360
you.

502
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:08,160
Jesus will not allow a single charge to go unchecked.

503
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,560
He will not allow a single accusation to stand.

504
00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:17,520
He has paid it all for his people and the accuser can do nothing to us.

505
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:22,120
He cannot condemn us because Jesus has redeemed us.

506
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:25,740
This is what God offers us in Christ church.

507
00:34:25,740 --> 00:34:29,880
This is the freedom that is offered to us in Jesus.

508
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:32,160
Freedom from bondage to sin.

509
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:34,160
Freedom from corruption by sin.

510
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:37,120
Freedom from the condemnation because of sin.

511
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:38,840
Freedom from the guilt of sin.

512
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:43,040
This is ours in Christ.

513
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,840
Because he paid it all, we've been cleansed completely.

514
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:51,760
Our debt has been canceled entirely and we now get to live the abundant life that Christ

515
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:53,480
promises his people.

516
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:57,040
And it is all for one reason and one reason only.

517
00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,600
And that is because Jesus paid it all.

518
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:00,600
Amen.

519
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:26,600
Let's pray.